THE HEART OF OUR CULTURE

This week, I enjoyed reading “The Happiest Refugee” by celebrity comedian Anh Do.  Anh comes from a Vietnamese background but, despite several traumatic events, his book is almost outrageously positive. His story is rich in cultural insight, not just about the Vietnamese culture of his birth but also about his family’s adaptation to Australian culture.

Marriage is a crucial aspect of any culture and, when Anh married an Aussie girl, the coming together of two vastly different cultures and backgrounds made for some wonderful reading.

Most Australians really enjoy the interaction with people from different cultures. Different food, different protocols, different rituals. These are just some of the things that we can enjoy about our multicultural society.

The difficulty with multiculturalism, however, lies at a much deeper level of culture. Every culture has a core of worldview which, in turn, gives rise to a range of moral values. At this level, we cannot have a foot in different camps. A syncretistic worldview, drawing bits and pieces from here, there and everywhere, can only lead to confusion and frustration.

Why? Because, as someone said, the different religions could all be wrong but they certainly cannot all be right!

Jesus once asked His disciples if they wanted to join some others that had stopped following Him. Peter replied: “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know You are the Holy One of God (John 6:68,69 – NLT).”

Following Jesus means that we cannot also follow Buddha, Mohammed or any other teacher or guru. For Christians, the very heart of our culture is Christ Himself. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

Cultural differences at the surface level are (usually) harmless and fun. Cultural differences at the deeper levels, however, are far more serious. It’s good to understand something about these differences but, for Christians, everything comes back to Jesus. Why would we want to study alternatives that would negate our commitment to following Him?