Cultural Constraints

I'm pretty sure this is a record for me.  4 weeks into starting this blog and I've posted something every week!  My poor Poop Engineer blog maybe gets 4 posts per year (hmm, just checked and my last post was in 2017, oh dear, how I've neglected the world of poop treatment)!!!

This is my second post looking at why, perhaps, some people don't trust in Christ: some reasons to not believe. This time I'm focused on the cultural constraints that can make it difficult to take the simple steps to faith.

Of all the reasons I've listed, I think this is the one for which I'm least qualified to comment because it's outside of my own personal experience, though it's undoubtedly a big deal for a lot of people.  If you've been raised in a culture where religion is a big part of what you do as a family or in society as a whole, then it must be really tough to go against those traditions.

The one experience I can retell is of a friend to whom I spoke about the gospel message and he seemed really interested.  To him historical facts about Jesus and His claims made sense, but he was Indian and came from a family with strong Hindu traditions.  If he ever made a decision to follow Jesus, it would undoubtedly cause major frictions for him and his family.  I lost touch with him so I don't know what he did with Christ in the end.

Western culture is, for the most part, secular and so it is tough for us to get our heads around other nations and cultures where religion is more intertwined with everyday life. I'm not going to get into the good and bad of the "separation of church and state" here, but as I've traveled the world I've seen that many other cultures have a more integrated view on the spiritual. In a way it's sad that in separating churches from government (which many see as a positive thing), we went the whole hog and separated moral and spiritual guidance from our society as a whole.

But I digress.  The focus of this blog is on how it's tough to break from your cultural constraints and choose to follow Jesus.  Rather than trying to talk about stuff I know little about, I want to point the reader to a couple of organizations that do know a lot about taking a stand for Christ despite, or in direct opposition to, the surrounding culture.

VOM

The first organization to look at when discussing counter-cultural Christianity is the Voice of the Martyrs. This organization was founded by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand and his wife Sabina back in the 1960's.  Their story is told in the book Tortured for Christ which is also now a movie. They stood for Christ in the face of hard-core Communism in the worst of Cold-War era Romania.  Today this organization helps believers in a whole bunch of countries where it's either illegal to become a Christian or life is made very difficult if you do.  They currently have a list of 41 nations in the world where the government restricts a person's ability to become a Christian.  Many of these nations are OK with you being a Christian and visiting the country, but if you're a local and want to become a Christian then that's actually illegal!  In other nations it's not illegal to become a Christian but your rights or ability to do basic things like renting accommodation becomes very difficult. I encourage you to look at their website for more info. If you're a Christian, I encourage you to sign up for their prayer info.

Poster on my wall from VOM shows nations where it's tough - even deadly - to be a follower of Christ

RZIM

The Ravi Zacharias International Ministries is a group of speakers from around the world who are "apologists" i.e. they are experts in answering tough questions about Christianity and giving compelling reasons to believe. Their tag line is "HELPING THE THINKER BELIEVE. HELPING THE BELIEVER THINK." Several of their speakers come from non-Christian cultures. Most notably, Abdu Murray is of Lebanese heritage and a great speaker on a whole bunch of topics.  Another person to look for is Nabeel Qureshi, who passed away last year. He wrote an award winning book describing his journey from Islam to Christianity. Check out the RZIM website or listen to one of their many YouTube posts for more info.

Is it worth it?

Ultimately a decision to believe in and follow Jesus comes down to the question "is it worth it?" In my little corner of the Western World choosing to follow Christ means some people think I'm a bit odd, maybe a moral person, maybe a hypocrite, maybe "religious," or maybe a bigot, at worst.  But in other corners of the world, choosing to follow Him may mean losing prestige, losing family, or even losing your life.

In talking about the cost of following Him, Jesus said:

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?"

In the same  discussion He says:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

In other words, you need to be willing to give up everything for Him, including your own preferences, desires, wants or needs. Ultimately you have to be willing to give up your life for Him. In some nations today, many believers do just that. They think it's worth it. Or, I should say, they think He's worth it.

Let me finish with something Paul wrote. It's a bit long, so forgive me, but I think it's worth reading it all as it captures well the sentiment of those that understand the benefits and joy of knowing Jesus:

"But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

 Paul thought it was worthwhile giving up everything to follow Jesus. Many people around the world do too, including me.  Do you?

Whenever you're ready to get off the fence, this website that I posted in my last blog might be helpful... https://peacewithgod.net/

Comfortably Numb

The child is grown
The dream is gone
And I have become
Comfortably numb.
  (George Roger Waters, David Jon Gilmour)

In my last blog I said that this just might be the top reason for people in the Western World to not respond to God.  With all the conveniences of modern life we rarely think about eternity. I once heard a speaker say (I think it was Robert Lewis or maybe it was Belinda Carlisle??!!) that we are the first generation to expect heaven on earth.

Whether you gauge human existence using something like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs or Max-Neef's fundamental human needs, it's not hard to argue that at least the basic needs for a comfortable life on earth are within the reach of a large portion of people in Western nations.  Our modern homes have running water, toilets, electricity, central heating and air conditioning.  We can drive in our own vehicles to the local grocery store or take an airplane half way around the world. Add to this, the advances of modern medicine and we are living in an age that would blow the minds of our great grandparents.

So here we are in the 21st century, living our long lives of ease with not a care in the world (mostly). Why worry about heaven? I can think of a couple of very good reasons...

Easy life or a Full life?

Jesus said...
"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" 

 From the start, Jesus is all about giving us a full and complete life. He doesn't promise an easy life but He does promise a full life.  In backing this up, Paul wrote "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness." If you want a full life, with meaning and direction, it makes sense to go to the One who gives meaning, the One who can give direction and, ultimately, the One who helps you find your purpose in life. A full life.  I can honestly say that in my own life, Jesus has come through in spades for me in this. My life hasn't always been easy and I certainly don't have it all together, but God has blessed me with the fullest and most purposeful life I could imagine.

This may be contentious (and I'm a little hesitant to post it, to be honest), but if you want evidence in addition to scripture, something to consider is the activity of the brain as an indication of the fullness of your life, through the fullness of your thinking.  I recently read a book called "Finding God in the Waves" by a fella called Mike McHargue who also goes by the name of "Science Mike."  I can't say I agree with his theology but in his book he has quite a discussion on how prayer and religious experience shapes our brains. It physically shapes your brain. People who pray and seek God have more activity and connectivity between certain parts of the brain than those who don't. Perhaps this shows that if we want to live out the full extent of how we're wired and meant to function, then we should seek God.  In other words we're wired to seek God.  Or in more classical terms, St Augustine put it this way: "Our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you."

If you want a full life, living out what you were wired to be, then turning to Christ is the best way to do that. So do it!

Eternity

I could have started with this one as it's the most compelling reason for anyone to consider seriously the claims of Christianity.  But I wanted to avoid the reader thinking I'm a typical "turn or burn" kind of fella and so I thought I'd ease you into it with a softer start!  Oh wait, this blog is about "getting off the fence" so what the heck...

Jesus said...
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

So Jesus is telling us that the road to life isn't easy, and may not be the most obvious, but He encourages us to seek it. If we don't, we're simply on the easy, broad road to destruction, or as the great philosopher Bon Scott called it, the Highway to Hell (take it away Angus...)

Beyond wanting a full life, or a good life, we need to be thinking about eternal life.  I recall someone posting a quote that said something like "Life is not a dress rehearsal..." but in the Christian worldview, that's exactly what it is... or more like a prelude and preparation for something much bigger and much, much better. As Saint Paul says, quoting Isaiah "It is written that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has known.  God has prepared these things for those who love him."

When I was at high school back in the UK many moons ago, I happened to have a Christian teacher for Religious Education.  In one of our lessons he told us about something called Pascal's Wager.  The gist of it is if you "bet" on there being no God and no life after death and it turns out He does exist in the afterlife, then you're toast when you have to face Him, but those that believed in Him will be fine.  But if you "bet" on God and live to serve Him and yet it turns out there is no afterlife, then your fate will be the same regardless of your belief, but you will have had a decent and moral life anyway.  On balance, it's better to "bet" on God.  At the time I hated this reasoning.  It didn't seem right that someone would make a decision to seek God based on the toss of a coin, or a base instinct to save your hide, but the logic is hard to argue against.  If you want to hedge your bets, then it makes sense to consider what God wants.

We are all mortal and will one day die. We need to think about eternity and if it exists, as I believe it does, then we'd better consider what God wants us to do.  And what He wants us to do is pretty clear to me...

John wrote...
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 If you're ready to get off the fence, this website might be helpful... https://peacewithgod.net/

10 Reasons to Not Believe

So I'm going to take a different approach to argue the case for believing in Christ by starting from the position that what is said about Him in the Bible is plain and true. If you read the New Testament at face value it's clear that Jesus was God, that He came to the Earth to die for our sins, that He came back to life after His death and that if we accept what He did and believe in Him, He promises us the same thing which is eternal life after death. No need for us to appease God, no need for us to make sacrifices, and no need for us to be perfect in everything. Just accept that Jesus died for your sins and follow Him. Done.

If it's that plain and simple, why doesn't everyone respond and believe in Him?

There are many reasons to not believe. I'm going to present 10 I can think of and over the next several blogs I'll attempt to unpack each one, giving some counter-arguments for believing anyway. My hope and prayer is that I'll help someone to face their objection, their excuse for not believing, and get off the fence. Here goes...

1. Comfortably Numb

I may be totally wrong, but I think this might be the number 1 reason in the Western World why people don't believe in Christ, or at least don't respond to Him.  We live in comfortable homes, with TV's and all modern conveniences. We don't think about eternity, we don't worry about life after death. Life is good. Until it's not...

2. Cultural Constraints

This is a big one for anyone growing up in a community with strong cultural and religious roots.  This is not something I can say I've experienced directly but if, say, you've grown up in a strong Muslim, Jewish or Buddhist family and all your family value their religion with all it's traditions, then it's extremely tough to decide to follow a different path.

3. Missing Out

If I believe in God I'll have to give up smoking, drinking, cussing, sinning, having fun, breathing, eating... oh wait maybe I got carried away.  But there is the sense that in order to follow Christ you have to give up on fun and freedom.

4. Intellectual Objections

This is the one I've read about a lot. Doesn't science prove there's no God?  How can a rational person believe in something that requires "blind faith"?

5. Plain Ignorance

There is a scripture that says "how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?" That's fair enough. If you've never heard about Jesus and what He did, then you can't respond to Him.  You can't believe in something if you've never heard about it.

6. Maybe Later

Strangely, this is the one that kept me from believing for many years.  I'd heard about Christ and "the full gospel message" and it made sense to me, but I just never responded. I figured I'd do it someday in my own sweet time but God had other ideas!

7. Peer Pressure

What will my friends or family think of me if I become a Jesus Freak?

8. Christians

Yup, they're all hypocrites, right?

9. All Paths Lead to God

This is the Hindu position, I think, that it doesn't matter which religion you follow because they all lead to God. Let's be inclusive and not be exclusive in our claims. Sounds nice but it's problematic, especially when you consider it's a belief exclusive to Hinduism. Hmmm.

10. Too Far Gone

God could never love me. He can forgive others but not me. I'm not worthy of His love.

So, I just finished writing the last blog in this series, so I went back through the list here and added in hyperlinks to each one for easier access. Enjoy!