Christian Worldview and Culture Essay

straight offs heathenish landscape has been shaped by the likes of MTV (entertainment), Steve Jobs (technology), and Mark Zuckerberg ( fond net go bading). Society a prominent deal prefers accepting the world guesss of these and other influential people, or else than hearing the message of the Good watchword of deliveryman the Naz atomic number 18ne which offers redemption to a f on the whole in each(prenominal)en world. We can non ignore the reality that a vast majority of heathenish advancements ar produced by non- deliverymanian acculturation-makers, who, as they snuff it much self-conscious and consistent with their anti- christian stance, get out communicate their unbe deceitf in their artifacts with increa sinningg boldness.delivererians cannot advance the impact and relevance these contri saveions bring do on hunting lodge. One of the coarse challenges believers ar confronted with is developing an showing of the brilliance of expressing and overlap o ur saviourian world gull in the midst of diverse competing ideologies. One of the hidden ideologies that secular assimilation promotes is that we can take c be of ourselves thus, refuting both image that we be dependent on messiah to meet all piece necessitate, including the need for salvation. deliverymanian dis lodge inment from cultivation is contrary to messiahs modeling of Incarnation.Christ did not consider valet shade unworthy of his attention and love. He set aside his divinity and wander on gay flesh so that he could take up us on a companionable and cultural level. The great commission is an affirmation of Christs desire for his followers to go into all the word, engaging tillage and p happening the gospel. What is socialization? Culture can be defined using three several(predicate) approaches agricultural, sociological, and anthropological. The agricultural approach to defining tillage is derived from the Latin cultura meaning to plow or till. Cu lture is netherstood from a gardening or agricultural perspective which entails the form of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock. The reference to someone beingness subtletyd is drawn from this farming metaphor. gentility in this sense is the cultivation of the mind. The sociological approach to defining farming deals with social class distinctions of high (elite) and low (mass) tillage. This esthetic standpoint is mainly concerned with the reason and exquisite achievements of a rules of order. High assimilation is associated with the highest ideals of what is (in a defeative sense) advantageously.A cultured person is one who has been acquaint with and educated in the finer things of art, literary productions, music, etiquette, socialization, as so on. The anthropological perspective regarding culture is concerned with the whole way of support of a congregation or club, not just its better achievements. Unlike the sociological perspectiv e, this approach does not make distinctions surrounded by sophisticated and primitive social groups.It patently acknowledges that all activity which is produced by a social group (texts, art, music, food, artifacts, philosophy, ethics, etc. is that groups culture. H. Richard Niebuhr states, Social behavior is always cultural and culture is the product of world achievement. Humanity Was Created For Good Works Culture, as expressed by the creativity of piece activity, is a reflection of holiness who Himself is a notional being. Human understanding of hunting lodge and beauty is only possible because of immortals magnificent man of the field and the world. graven image validated the beauty of creation when He saw all that he had made was very good (Genesis 131). worldly concern and woman were created in the miraculous image and likeness (imago dei) of deity and were entrusted by God to cargon for and tend to His creation. Man was given the responsibility of cultivating the Garden of enlightenment and in doing so bringing anchor ring to the Creator. Here we should take notice betwixt the similarities of the word cultura (plow, till) and cultus which is a concern of the divine. This should give us a greater insight regarding how the human scarper was called to interact deliberately with the earthworking, tilling, cultivating term at the alike(p) time fondly serving his divine Master and pietying his Maker. spell performed his culturative activities in response to and as a reflection of Gods imaginative acts. Competing Worldviews All of universes artistic and seminal whole workings reflect the worldview of those who created them. As a result of the Fall the imago dei has become distorted, causing humanity to shift the point of their creative and culturative activities away from exclusive worship to God. As a result humanity has developed unholy motives even though superficially our creative activities may be of some benefit.Mans creativ e egresslet is disorientedseeking to thrill himself through the workings of his own hands. at a time we understand that all human creative bowel movements are a reflection of the intimate beliefs and values of the mind and spirit, we can pass judgment the intention of human activity properly. The brood of Babel (Genesis 11) was the product of human efforts to succeed, using human ability, independent of God. Todays bug out culture seeks to create a saucily Babel in which human achievement and expert advancement create the false notion that we can live independent of God, or even worse, have no need of God.Thus, culture always reflects a callers religious and philosophic values, flowing out of the heartas it wereof the society which produces it. A Christian worldview based on Gods Word will contend the the ideological bias of the medium and ideological content of the message of non-Christian (and Christian) artifacts. This is essential for the Christian because ther e is no neutrality in the message embedded in the whole works of man. We are not idle spectators, We mustiness take sides at all times in everything we do. Christian Approach to Culture (Christ and Culture) on that point has been much debate as to the extent in which Christians are to engage the culture that we live and worship in. Should Christians correct a Monastic approach secluding ourselves from society? Or, are we to engage the world in such carriage that our Christian peculiarity is lost? H. Richard Niebuhr, in his book Christ and Culture, suggests several Christian answers to the task of Christ and culture. Niebuhr offers five approaches Christians have historically interpreted in an effort to understand their space in Christ and involvement with culture.These are Christ against culture, Christ of culture, Christ higher up culture, Christ and culture in conundrum, and Christ the exchangeer of culture. The Christ against culture approach proposes that dedica tion to Christ is a avertion of cultural society. He critiques this stance as a radically Christian answer to the problem of culture. Indeed, it is impossible for a Christian, or any person, to totally reject and reverse themselves from the influence of and involvement with culture. God has taken the arctic approach.He did not reject the world when Adam sinned, nevertheless rather engaged the world and put into work the plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. Christ stepped into our earthly realm and became subject to the influences and temptations of human culture yet was without sin (Hebrews 415). Christs blood to culture was to use the elements of culture to break out God the Father and the Kingdom of enlightenment to fallen humanity. The second model, Christ of culture, is the opposite of the against culture model. It seeks social and cultural passage of arms with the world.It attempts to make the gospel meaningful to society by extending its reach beyond a selected li ttle band of saints and is able to engage those of high and low social strata. enchantment the effort to make Christ a part of culture may reach those who would remain otherwise unreached, there is a susceptibility to distort the figure of the advanced Testament Jesus in an effort to accommodate a social-gospel agenda. This is make by relegating Jesus into what we need him to be in an attempt to address our social and cultural problems.Jesus is a great humanitarian if we are fighting for human rights or a great instructor if we are engaged in philosophical debate. Again, this model can be utile in reaching out to the culture, but we cannot compromise the truthfulness of the gospel for a specific social agenda. The trey figure of speech is Christ above culture. This view proposes that the fundamental issue does not lie in the midst of Christ and the world but mingled with God and man. By placing Christ at the center, and not against culture, this approach avoids separating the consume of clothe from cultural activity. on that point are three distinct groups in this category synthesists, dualists, and conversionists. Synthesists affirm Christ and culture (both/and) rejecting a Christ or culture (either/or) approach. They maintain that Jesus is both God and man, one person with two natures and that the works of human nature cannot be isolated from the grace of God, for all those works are possible only by grace. Essentially, Christ cannot be against culture because God created nature. likewise Christs incarnation allowed him to actively participate nd engage with the culture of his day. One area that could lead to problems in this approach is by synthesizing Christ and culture in such a manner where Christ becomes subservient to culture. If culture assumes the dominating role in this synthesis, the Church will risk becoming more cultural and less Christ-like because it has elevated culture to the same status as Christ through whom all things were m ade and exist and without him slide fastener was made that has been made (John13). The dualist approach sees Christ and culture in paradox.This view makes sharp distinctions between the temporal and the ghostlike life, or between what is external and internal, between body and soul, between the reign of Christ and the world of human works and culture. There is a line drawn between God and us. In the dualists view all of human culture is fallen. For dualists the works of Christians within the church and non-Christians outside(a) of the church are equally scotch. The dualists are in a state of paradox since they cannot reconcile the concept of virtue and grace.They fail to realize that Christ came to earth to remove the line of separation between man and God. As Christians we must understand that while the world is in a fallen state and under law, at the same time it is under grace and we are to go into all the world and preach the good news show to all creation (Mark 1615). Th e third group that embraces a Christ above culture paradigm is the conversionists. What distinguishes conversionists from dualists is their more verificatory and hopeful attitude toward culture. Conversionists see Christ as the transformer of culture. They embrace the redemptive work of Christ in the here and now. They are not purporting to some eschatological future where one day they all will be restored. The conversionists have a hopeful outlook regarding culture and look forward to its restoration from a corrupt state. Christ transforms the fallen culture in that he redirects, reinvigorates, and regenerates the life of man from a corrupted state. Once man has been regenerated, he will produce good works.The transformative power of Christ in the life of fallen humanity redeems us For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should take the air in them (Eph. 210). It is not our works which cause us to be redeem but r ather, our works are a testimony to the world that we are no longer bound by the fellow of sin and corruption. Conclusion Because we live in a period of world invoice that offers the greatest tools and opportunities for cultural engagement, we cannot ignore the importance of understanding Christ role, through the Church, in todays culture. To engage with culture, theology and ecclesiology needs to be both vital and artistic such engagements require theology to be open to the insights of cultural studies and whipping to the ways in which contemporary culture is shaping religion. Social networking sites, email, iPhones, cable TV, movies, music, art, and literature are the vehicles that are being apply to promote the beliefs and values of our society. Satan has done a great job in using culture to enslave society, tempting us to sin and forfeit our family with God our Creator.Our fleshly appetites are quelled by images of sexuality, greed, power, and self-assertion. The danger of a culturally advanced society is that it seeks to replace God with its achievements. It seeks salvation, joy, peace, and prosperity via its own human efforts and imaginations. Because we have been brought from darkness to light we must reflect the light of the gospel of Christ by engaging the culture in which we live, work, play, and worship. For this reason, every Christian must seize the luck that the contemporary circumstances present to us and boldly set out to transform the earth.