Culture pt VII

There are strengths of each culture and there are weaknesses of each culture.

Our Western emphasis on justice is a strength. It is a genuine insight into the Kingdom of God. Some things cause God to burn with anger. Some things cause God to rejoice in delight. There is an absolute morality. Some things are simply evil while other things are simply good, and it is right to suffer shame, defeat, pain, and even death rather than do evil.

But our strong sense of personal injustice is a weakness. It lends itself so easily to an entitlement mentality. Which is so easily manipulated into outright evil. The root cause of so much of our sexual perversion (including sex trafficking, child porn, etc.) is the cultural mandate that "I have a right to do what I want." Our unwillingness to sacrifice for the sake of global issues like poverty and environmental degradation is rooted in this same enshrining of individual desire. It is, of course, the underlying cause of the impotence and sloth of the Western Church; we have swallowed the cultural kool-aid, and we have embraced the narcissism and unquestioned self-gratification of our host. We truly believe, even after being 'bought by the blood,' that we still have rights and that God somehow is honored by this.

A Western cultural framework causes us to emphasize our own rights which can lead to arrogance and greed, fragmentation and isolation, and ultimately a life enslaved to desire. It also causes us to recognize the rights of others which can lead to advocacy and sacrifice, service and partnership, and ultimately a life poured out for others.