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“Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know about this,” does not He who weighs hearts consider it? Does not the One who guards your life know? Will He not repay a man according to his deeds?” (Proverbs 24:11-12)
Our Lord has had to deal with changing cultural mores over many millennia. It seems that for many, God's law has changed, at least in their minds, in spite of the divine declaration that “Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Many have also concluded that there seems, to them, to have been sufficient evidences that natural law can account for the creation of the entire universe, and all the complexities of life, and therefore there is no need for a Creator. And still others have come to believe that God must obey (must be subject to) his own higher laws, or he would cease to be God in spite of His own declaration that He abides standalone outside of creation (he is), and is omnipotent.
The truth is changing cultural mores flows along within the streams of truth like cattle feces floating in a pasture brook. And yet the cultural herd does far more damage then what first meets the eye. Think about a herd of half-ton cows with clunky hooves climbing up and down the stream bank. The soil is ripped up, gets in the stream, muddies up the water and suffocates all that lives in it. If there are cows in the stream, the water is brown like chocolate milk, because of all the dislodged soil suspended in the stream, causing the death of the aquatic ecosystem. Cattle can destroy stream banks, and compromise the health of the entire downstream environment.
It is said that politics is downstream from culture. What is culture downstream from?
I would answer that culture is downstream from who we are as a people, our very being. The essence of who we are and what we believe, and maybe more importantly, what we think and how we live it out.
Our sacred stories and writings instill moral and ethical values into our culture. They place our joys and our troubles into context. They preserve culture. At their best, they deliver for each new generation the secrets and meanings of life. And therefore when everything goes wrong, when it gets dark and muddied up, it's typically due to the herd mentality fouling things up. The destructive consequence of the herd is that they tend to destroy the context. Our sacred stories aren't only about the text. It is also a story’s context and it’s subtext that delivers the truth in the messages. The details matter. And the herd tends to destroy details in the chaos of the mob. Regardless our ideology, our moral and ethical reasoning, or religious leanings, every person should be aware of the messaging effects of every pop culture (herd) twist taking place within the stream of truth.
Today in this post modern western culture, popular cultural mores trend toward backing up Liberal and Progressive policies, morals, ethics, values, and standards (such as they are). In our culture today the stream banks are being trampled and eroded 24/7 by herds of chaotic cattle making it nearly impossible to trust any information we see downstream. And if we have any interest in reclaiming that ground and protecting the soil, not to mention the water, then we'll need to fence off the stream bed from the mob's damaging influence. Christians should approach culture as Christians, not as politicians. That doesn't mean we should check out and live and work out our missions apart from the political culture. Our mission field is every part of the human experience. Our mission is in the academy, the arts and music, media, elite circles and yes, even politics. Whoever tells the stories and writes the songs, shapes and directs that culture. Whoever creates and circulates the ideas of a culture, shapes and directs that culture. If you see pollution in the water, you must travel upstream to find the source of that pollution.
And we'll need to preserve our sacred stories, they are the erosion control against the power of the storm waters. We'll need to reestablish a stabilizing vegetation along the banks, and as usual, always remember to drink upstream from the herd. The upstream realms are inhabited by human beings made in God’s image, and likewise so too are the downstream communities. We should care about them all. The first and best thing we can do is reestablish the integrity of the river banks. Scripture is clear that God will hold us to account for our thoughts, words and actions. There is no excuse for Christian indifference, or retreating into our holy huddles. Jesus is the word and his word is the ultimate solution to the problems in the world, not politics or politicians.