Culture

I think it's pretty funny, let me just say right off the bat, that I would be doing a post titled "Culture."  Growing up in the rural South with a graduating class of 77 people, I am probably not the most likely candidate to speak about anything refined.  But when I think about the culture we live in, it seems to me that we are so far off track that there will be no way of going back.

I started to think this morning about our country and the state of things.  And immediately I also was reminded of Sodom and Gomorah.  But God promised that if there was just one righteous person to be found, He would not wipe them from the planet.  I hope that is what will save our country from complete ruin, that there are a few righteous people left here, to spite our current culture.

On Sunday, there was a guest speaker at church and he talked about marriage.  He talked about how many things Christians have embraced and "normed" into our marriages that had pagan origins.  He went through a whole list of things, and I was amazed to see how many things we do as a Christian family that are not Biblically sound.  Down to the wedding march we play at our services!  Can you even fathom it?  We are starting our marriages to the tune of a pagan hymn.  It's no wonder that American marriage institution is in such disarray.

But the saddest thing to me about our culture, and I think this is a world-wide phenomenon, is how little we value life in it's natural state and how much we crave "perfection" (and I put that in quotes because the world culture defines perfection differently than Christ defines it.)

A friend was telling me a story yesterday that has continued to echo in my mind since I heard it.  She and her son and her son's friend, were outs somewhere together.  They passed a little girl and her mother holding hands, walking in the other direction.  My friend's son saw the little girl and said, "Isn't she cute!?"  The boy that was with them said, "You think she is cute?!?"  You see, the little girl had Down Syndrome and my friend's son, who has obviously been taught the beauty of life, not aesthetic beauty, just saw a precious child.  His friend, who has obviously been taught to judge on the standard of what the world defines as beautiful, did not see the precious creation, the adorable little girl, and the spritely spirit of the toddler, he only saw a "defect."  My friend said if they hadn't been in public, she would have squashed the boy!  :)  But I'm sure her words were effective in getting the point across to him.

At any rate, I just think that our "culture" has  become unrefined in the ways of the Lord.  I think we have gotten so far off the right path, that even as Christians sometimes we aren't able to differentiate between true Biblical commands and worldly expectation.  It's hard to know what to believe and where to turn.  I need leadership and mentoring spiritually, but how do you know where to draw the line on what's too much theatrics?  It seems to me that we are so engrossed in today that it's almost impossible to discern what God thinks of all this.

I'm clearly not making much sense. I am jumping from topic to topic, I'm just trying to process so many things right now that I don't hardly know where to start.  And maybe it has something to do with all the snow.  You know, Southerners are not equipped in any way to deal with so much time in the house! :)

Psalm 32:8
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you."