Charles Spurgeon affirmed that “A smiling world is worse than a frowning one”. He added that “Christians are not so much in danger when they are persecuted as when they are admired”.

The prince of preachers further stated, “It is not when we are hissed at and hooted that we have any cause to be alarmed; it is when we are dandled on the lap of fortune and nursed upon the knees of the people; it is when all men speak well of us that woe is on us”.

A genuine, uncompromising counter-cultural Christian is historically unacceptable to the sinning world. At the same time, some Christians conform with the world whom we usually call “Unbelieving believers, nominal Christians or cultural Christians”. Like chameleons, they easily adapt to their environmental cultures.

Culture and Christianity Explained

Cultural Christians

The “Christians” are those who are regenerated in Christ. They were given the name “Christians” (Greek-Cristianos) meaning, “Followers of Christ” at Antioch in Syria. Acts 11: 26. Earlier on, Christ’s followers were called “The people of the Way”. See Acts 9: 2.

Culture

Culture is the arts, customs, lifestyles, backgrounds and habits that characterise humankind or a particular society or nation. It is the beliefs, values, behaviour and all that constitutes a people’s way of life. Ordinarily, everybody, every community, and every nation has its own culture.

What is wrong are those ‘cultural norms’ and ways of life that are contrary to the Christian tenets. The Christian Community has its own culture which the apostle Paul distinguished from the Jewish culture and the diverse or heterogeneous cultures in Corinth. 1 Cor. 11: 16.

A cultural norm is an unwritten “rule” followed by those within a specific culture, often unquestioningly. These rules can take the form of practice, belief, diet, ritual or expectations that come to govern all aspects of their life.

Cultural norms are the attitudes and patterns of behaviour that are considered normal, typical, or average within the group. For instance, sex with temple harlots was considered normal and part of the idol temple worship in Corinth.

Culture and society

All societies have cultural norms influencing their lives, what they value and their behaviour, yet they are unaware of this influence. Cultural Christianity points to Christians being influenced by the culture of their residence. Throughout history, all Christians have lived in specific cultural contexts, which they have to some varying degrees embraced or rejected.

Either positively or negatively, all Christians must respond to their surrounding context. Christians can pick the language, music etc of the home culture so long as it does not conflict with Christian values. Hence, a strong stand must be taken against vices such as polygamy, drug and alcohol abuse, divorce, abortion and other similar issues.

Cultural Christianity in the Greco-Roman World

The gospel of Jesus Christ was planted in the Greco-Roman culture. How was the early Church affected by this culture? Nadya Williams is a military historian of the Greco-Roman world. She defined cultural Christians as individuals who self-identify as Christians but whose outward behaviour, inward thoughts and motivations are largely influenced by the surrounding culture rather than their Christian faith and teachings of Christ.

They adopt a variety of modern locally acceptable behaviours but which are antithetical to the traditional Christian teachings and practices. Such practices include the key areas of life like cohabitation before marriage, accepting abortion, gambling, lack of compassion for others, playing the dirty games of politics etc.

Cultural Christians – Historical Perspective

Were there cultural Christians in the early church? Is cultural Christianity a modern concept? Some Christians who were concerned about our increasing secularity in the modern world have longed for the primitive Christianity of the early church where they believe that cultural Christianity did not exist but only real Christians uninfluenced by the world. Williams Nadya, from her studies and research, disputed this as being far from the truth.

Resident cultures

Nadya Williams has written a fascinating account of how Christians have since ancient times faced the temptation to imitate resident cultures rather than adopt an authentic Christian life. Understanding the struggle of Christianity and culture in antiquity can help us understand our cultural struggle presently.

It must be understood that while Christianity ultimately transformed Roman society, early church brethren struggled to resist the surrounding culture as much as believers of today.

Cultural Christians

The modern world of the cultural Christian derived its roots in the sources of Christianity. Despite the persecutions under Roman domination and Christian martyrdom, the Bible provides abundant evidence that these counter-cultural Christians were not the norm. Others compromised their faith in Christ.

According to Williams, there is another history of the early church to be told, one highlighting the extent to which most early church Christians struggled to reject the values and the social obligations of the secular Roman world. The essence of this revelation is for us in this century to see our blind spots and vices in the mirror of the ancient world.

We remember Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 who lied about their giving to the church. Demas went back, forsaking Paul having loved the things of this world.  2 Tim. 4: 10. A North African Bishop wrote a treatise for the women of his church exhorting them to resist culturally normalised yet immodest behaviours.

The Example

An example in their cosmopolitan Roman city was the mixed public bathing in the nude and wearing excessive amounts of jewellery. The treatise appears more striking when we realise that the scandalous individuals addressed were single women who claimed to have dedicated their virginity to Christ, that is, the nuns.

Such stories and many others in the first five centuries of the church, challenged the general assumption of the public today that the earliest Christians were all zealous converts who were much more counter-culturally devoted to their faith than churchgoers today.

Examples Of Cultural Christians

Cultural Christianity In America

Somebody has described America as the fruit of a mixed marriage; a child of both Biblical Faith and Enlightenment.

American culture seems to be erected on the triple denial that has corrupted Christian culture at its roots: the denial of metaphysical reality (existence of things outside the human perception):

Also the denial of the primacy of the spiritual over the material and the social over the individual. America has given its citizens everything to live for and nothing to die for; America has gained a continent but lost its soul. Yet all ministers of God are commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to seek and recover America’s lost soul.

Richard Dawkins calls himself a cultural Christian. What does he mean? He is referring to somebody who doesn’t buy the Christian faith but likes hymns and churches and loves to live in a nominally Christian country because it is decent. Dawkins is a vocal atheist who left the church and stopped believing in God at the age of 13 later becoming an evolutionary Biologist because he believed only in what science can prove.

The current President of France Emmanuel Macron identified himself as an ‘Agnostic Catholic’.

Italy

The liberal writer, Benedetto Croce wrote in his book titled, ‘Why we cannot call ourselves Christians’ expressing the view that Roman Catholic traditions and values formed the basic culture of all Italians, believers and non-believers; he described Christianity primarily as a cultural revolution.

Thomas Jefferson, a founding father of the United States, considered himself part of Christian culture, despite his doubts about the divinity of Jesus.

Indicated that some 71% of the people identify themselves as being Christians, but the majority were non-practising Christians.

Conclusion

Child of God, the Lord Has planted us in our cultural environment to make changes; changes in the people’s way of life; changes in their vision of Christ; and changes in their understanding and knowledge of God. We shall not be absorbed and carried away by the flood of the world in Jesus’ name. You can read more similar on our Bible teaching page of the site. Remain blessed.