Cultural Issues....
There are things written in the New Testament that only applied to that specific culture. Critics of this view claim we are picking & choosing what to follow out of the Bible. I'm not going to go into that whole argument here, but check this out if you're interested. (scroll down to question #31-32)
My interest is in what happens when we take something meant for another culture & use it for us today. I believe legalism can easily be found in these circumstances. Take, for example, the passage on head coverings for women. (1 Corinthians 11) The point of this passage is that Paul wants women to look & dress like women (feminine) and for men to look like men (masculine). As cultures change, this standard might change as well. For example, a man would never appropriately be seen wearing a dress today, but in Jesus' day, they wore long robes that resemble dresses. Even today, in other parts of the world men wear robes like this. From this passage we can tell that men never wore head coverings, but it's completely masculine to see a man wearing a ball cap or cowboy hat today. My point is that, as culture changes, the standard of what is feminine & masculine clothing changes as well. But if we're being legalistic, our men might all still be wearing dresses & be seen in this culture as feminine. If that happened, we would then come full circle and actually going against the very point of Paul's (& God's) expectations of us!
Another example is a certain parenting book that claims to be the way of the Almighty (red flag right there, if you ask me.) It advises against children sleeping in bed with their parents. Like everything they recommend, they imply you're not doing it God's way if you go against their advice. Let's look at that culturally. In many countries co-sleeping is the norm. Not only do they feel it builds community, there is often no money for more than one bed! I wonder what these authors would tell those families.
Am I saying that culture should define morality? Absolutely not! It's clear from the Bible what God wants our moral standards to look like, and those shouldn't change. What I'm talking about are issues that are either not directly addressed in the Bible or are covered by the above "cultural issues". Some people are guilty of taking a wonderful principle and attaching actions & rules to that principle that aren't necessary. (And other times, even the basic principles behind the rules is unnecessary.)
2 comments:
"My interest is in what happens when we take something meant for another culture & use it for us today."
What your opinion on tithing related to this issue?
I believe that tithing is one of the circumstances that was meant for another culture, in another time period and has somehow managed to make it's way into our churches. I've done a lot of studying on the issue after feeling a massive amount of unrest about tithing. I attended a church service where the pastor gave the whole "You're robbing God if you don't give 10 percent every month" speech. I felt both annoyed and terrified that I was told that I was robbing God but also that I might have been overlooking something really important. So my husband I started tithing 10% of our income every month, even though we couldn't afford to get by. Month after month I felt a sense that what we were doing wasn't correct and so I started to investigate.
I came across a very detailed article about tithing and why, under the new covenant, it is not biblical to preach tithing. I am sure that you know this but tithing was never once done in the form of money in the bible. Never once. It was always food. There were instances where people were called to travel distances that were so far that they couldn't carry their food and God instructed them to sell the tithe food, carry the money to the meeting location and then buy food to tithe. When the 12 tribes were given inheritances by the lord, all but the Levites were given land inheritances. God commanded the tithe to support the Levites who were the clergy and civil servants. Since they had no land to grow their own food, the rest of the tribes were called to bring a tenth of their best crops and put it into the store houses. It was to support the Levites.
When Jesus came and died on the cross he said that we were no longer held to the old laws. From Jesus's death onward, tithing is never mentioned in the new testament. What is mentioned is offerings and the bible says that you are supposed to give what you decide to be right and give in secret.
As I said, I feel that tithing is a custom that was meant for another culutre in another time and that under the new covenant, we are not required to do it anymore.
That's so funny you posted this, bc my "part 3" was going to be on whether we are under the OT law anymore. And I actually do agree with you. I haven't heard it preached much at all, but 10% is completely an OT rule. We are not bound by it today.
BUT, that's a little scary to deny for me, bc if you look at giving in the NT, it seems like MORE than 10% was the norm. It seems like the main principle is always to give whatever you can. I think for most people, that would be more than 10%. I do think 10% can be a good rule of thumb & a good guideline as long as we're not being "legalistic" about it. :) Because, like you said, it's not a rule we're still under today.
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