The Christian and Culture

Here are some interesting comments by D. A. Carson on the gospel and culture in ‘A model of Christian maturity-An exposition of 2 Corinthians 10-13’ on pages 50 and 51. While no one is with out a culture, any one who claims Jesus is their Lord will find that their faith must have a decisive say in what cultural practices and norms they will encourage or avoid, promote or challenge:

“Paul recognized that the gospel itself is non-negotiable…The gospel will purify and transform any culture; or, more accurately, the gospel will purify and transform the people from any cultural heritage who bow unreservedly to Jesus Christ. By this means it will modify or eliminate many of the culturally transmitted values of those new Christians; and they in turn may in some measure influence their culture and society as salt exerts its influence on food (cf. Matt 5:13). But there will always be some who are controlled by a lightly “Christianized” version of their own culture: i.e., their controlling values spring from the inherited culture, even when such values are deeply pagan and not Christian. Christian language may be there; yet the control lies, not with the gospel, but with the pervasive values of the surrounding society and heritage. At that point Paul is inflexible.”

When we look at Zambian society, we see a lot of this. People use Christianity for a good public name but have no problem with using witchcraft, recommending abortion, or divorce for any reason. Christianity to them is just a “spice” in their life, that they can take in the areas of life where there is no clash, no conflict of public opinion or personal taste. It is religion in the back pocket, but definitely not one where there is a servant-master relationship with the King of kings.

Carson goes on to say, “As far as Christians are concerned, wherever there is a clash between a cherished inherited culture and the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is the former that must give way and accept modification and transformation. Failure at this point calls in question one’s allegiance to the gospel.”

He adds even stronger terms by saying “unreserved commitment to the priorities of the inherited culture, with select elements of Christianity being merely tacked on brings with it Paul’s inevitable conclusion that the Jesus being preached is “another Jesus”, the gospel being proclaimed is a “different gospel,” and those who proclaim such an Evangel are “deceitful workmen masquerading as apostles of Christ” (2 Cor. 11:4, 13). Moreover, those Corinthians who show themselves to be sympathetic to this non-Christian orientation of values must at very least examine themselves again to see if they really are in the faith (13:5).”

This also has value for the debate on Zambia as a Christian nation. Is Christianity a controlling influence in society or is it being used as a status label? Is Christianity affecting our culture, or is have we given the social norms and taboos a diplomatic status where the demands of the Bible are concerned? The gospel must mould culture. Where gospel does not challenge and improve practice, perhaps the gospel influence is not as pervasive as many claim. The whole lump of dough must be leavened!

The Zambian Christian and the Challenge of Funerals

If you are a Zambian Christian I am sure that every time you attend a funeral there are certain practices that you take exception to or that leave you with at least the suspicion that Jesus would not approve of them.

The following is taken from an article by Zambian theologian Joe Simfukwe on Funeral and Burial Rites:

“Sometimes misinformed Christians try to forbid other Christians from crying, forgetting that the Bible does not deny the emotions of grief. Jospeh a man of faith, ‘threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him’ when he died (Gen 50:1). People are often presented weeping or even wailing aloud (see mark 5:38; Luke 8:52; Acts 9:39). Nowhere is such wailing condemned. Excesses are certainly frowned upon but sorrow is expected”. P 1462 Africa Bible Commentary Word Alive Publishers.

“Some of the rituals associated with burial reflect a fear of the deceased. Thus in Zambia the body must be buried in the right direction to prevent the deceased from returning to haunt the living. The burial may be followed by other rituals designed to protect the living, such as passing through the funeral house and washing in medicated water before dispersing. Many tribes have an inheritance ceremony where the name and status of the deceased are passed on to some chosen relative. Ritual protection of the widow or widower is common, with the widow sometimes being inherited by a relative of the dead husband. The ritual cleansing may even require the surviving spouse to have intercourse with a relative of the deceased in order to protect himself or herself from the spirit of the deceased coming to seek sexual union, which is believed to be both possible and dangerous. The cleansing ritual is also a way of releasing the surviving partner so that he or she may safely enter new sexual relations with the blessing of the dead relative. Because of the spiritual and physiological power of such rituals, Christians should not simply ban them, but should thoughtfully and sensitively replace them with alternative rituals that will meet the spiritual and psychological needs of the fearful widow or widower” P 1462 Africa Bible Commentary Word Alive Publishers.

Sweeping to the Glory of God

This is quotation is from Zambian theologian Joe Kapolyo, the quotation is a part of a larger discussion on the implications of the fact that human beings are stewards of creation on aspects of Zambian culture (Genesis 1:28-31):

"stewardship affects our relationship to nature as well as our relationship to human beings. It seems to me that in regard to nature we are to be good stewards, and in relation to each other we are to love each other to avoid mindless exploitation of others. In both spheres our record is not something we can be proud of. Growing up in Zambia I have observed many a diligent house wife wake up early in the morning and Begin the day by sweeping around the house. Traditionally the implement used is called in bemba umukusao or iceswa. This is a small bundle of twigs about a metre long held in one hand and used to sweep dirt. This implement is very effective - perhaps too effective. It sweeps all before it, including the layer of top soil so necessary for sustaining growth of any kind. Every year tons of good top soil are swept away by hundreds of thousands of overzealous housewives; other sweepers and the rain come and take it all away and dump it into rivers, which take it down to the sea. As sweeping normally starts at the point of contact between the house and the surrounding area, in time the foundations of the house get exposed and some of the cracks that appear in many houses in the townships are a result of this form depletion of soil."P 62 the Human Condition Inter varsity Press

Tribalism

Over the past few months tribalism has been headline news, with public figures claiming their tribal group has been wronged or marginalized. In response their political opponents respond by saying that pursuing tribal interests through politics is tribalism. What is tribalism and how should the Christian think about it?

What is a tribe? A tribe is a grouping of people usually linked by common descent, culture, language and land. The Bemba people for example are a group of people who are descendants of a group of migrants from the Luba-Lunda Kingdom and who share a common culture that includes the Bemba language. What is tribalism? Tribalism is exercising some form of social discrimination against members of other tribes. The root of tribalism is based on the beliefs that ones tribal affiliation is their primary identity and that a person’s tribe is culturally and morally superior. Tribalism can be expressed in several ways. Take for example if a member of the Tonga tribe socialized exclusively (or preferentially) with members of their own tribe. Tribalism can also occur in the workplace if a person in a position of influence uses tribe as a basis for making recruitment and promotional decisions. Tribalism can also be expressed in more negative ways such as genocide.

When we think of tribe Biblically we should realize that though we may be part of a group with a common decent that goes back a few hundred years, it is a fact that “He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth” (Acts17:26) This means that any persons primary identity is that they are a human being created in the image of God just like any other person. Therefore, while my fellow Bemba is my brother by tribal decent, ultimately all mankind are my brothers by virtue of common decent in Adam.

The Christian is also to bear in mind that in the Church despite a diversity of tribal and racial origins there is unity in Christ (Galatians 3:28). It follows from this that there is no place for tribal discrimination in the Church. Indeed for a Christian their main identity ought to be the fact that they are Christians as opposed to their being a member of a particular tribe. In my opinion, if this truth were embraced by all professing Christians we would not have denominations that are primarily associated with particular tribes. Further, I believe it would eliminate the practice of such Churches using the language of their preference as opposed to the language commonly used in an area. (It must be noted however, that these facts do not mean that tribe is non existent nor has no value. Indeed, in the Bible part of the glory of the Kingdom of God is that people from all nations, tribes and languages will be saved from the judgment of God. - Revelation 14:6)

I believe that there are other aspects of tribalism that the Zambian Christian ought to consider. For example some people practice tribalism because they feel that their tribe is culturally or ethically superior to other tribes. As we assess this we must bear certain Biblical facts in mind. First, we should remember that Adam’s sin has extended to all men and there is no person or group of people that are less affected by Adam’s sin (Romans 5:12, 18). Therefore in an absolute sense no group of people is morally superior to another. It is however true that; a particular group of people may be guiltier of a particular sin or set of sins than other groups. One of the most famous examples of this is the case of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18 & 19. This group of people was so sinful that God decided to exercise judgment on them in particular. Secondly, all men by virtue of being created in the image of God have some innate sense of right and wrong (Romans 2:14 &15). It is this sense of right and wrong that allows people to behave in an ethical manner. The Bible and personal experience tell us that not all people or groups of people are equally virtuous. Certain people on a purely human level are regarded as being unusually virtuous. This fact can also be true of groups of people. It follows that a tribe’s culture may incorporate and stress particular moral virtues to a greater extent than the culture of other tribes.

So how is the Christian to respond to mankind’s common grace and common falleness? Firstly, we ought to respond with a sense of cultural humility. Whatever the moral virtues of ones tribe, it must be realized that our tribe comprises sinful descendants of Adam just like any other tribe. We therefore, ought not to feel or act morally superior to any other group of people. Secondly, in light of the fact that our tribe has its own cultural sins we ought to repent of the sins of our culture and show others how certain cultural practices are sinful. In the New Testament we see Paul urge Titus to warn Cretan Christians to repent of the sins of their culture. (Titus 1:12, 13). The Christian will therefore not hold on to sinful cultural practices such as polygamy by virtue of the practice being a part of their culture.

A further factor that should shape Christian thought about tribe is that tribes are temporary facts of life. Acts 17 reveals God has limited the time that every nation and group of people will flourish and prosper. In the case of Zambia, this is seen in the fact that Zambia’s current tribes have existed for a few hundred years. Before this our ancestors were members of other tribal groupings. As such our cultures are time bound and dynamic. This gives the Christian freedom to discard non productive cultural practices in favour of new practices that have been developed locally or adopted from other tribes and nations.

Finally, the Christian’s primary pride should be in the fact that they a part of a group of people described as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into the His marvelous light”. (1 Peter 2:3) In relating to non Christians the Christian will display humility since they are a member of this “chosen people” by the grace of God and before they were a member of God’s people they were rebels against God just like everyone else. Lastly, as a member of God’s people the Christian will be obedient to their King’s commission to tell the world the good news that people from every tribe and tongue can escape the coming judgment by trusting in Christ.