We Believe

I've become a student of culture. Not necessarily of the diversity of cultures, but really the idea of micro-cultures. And I wonder if Postmodernism has uncovered (rather than created) that truth seems to take a different form depending on what culture you are in.

My friend Lance Finley has recently had the opportunity to attend some major black denominational meetings. At one recent one, before the Presidential election, John Kerry spoke. Lance said it was really weird because little old black ladies were talking about Kerry like little old white ladies talk about Bush. The "truth" was dependent on the culture.

We tend to think our beliefs about God and the Bible are beyond culture. They are not. PD (as Dan would like to be known) said that the inerrency and incorruptibility of the Bible are their number one core value. Phil noted that he struggles with some people's desire to use the KJV. Those are issues of culture. I don't live in either of those cultures. The Bible for me is a witness to the journey from creation to consummation. It is an honest reflection of the struggles of God and humanity to make an intimate connection that brings wholeness to our lives. It was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic and our translations are a matter of cultural interpretation.

It is a guide to life but interestingly says little about things like marriage and then in fact gives us hardly any positive examples of marriages. It has some wisdom about money but then Jesus says to one man to give all his money to the poor in order to be saved. It is a wild note that Jesus himself says to one man that he must be born again, but to another man that he must give away all his money, and yet to another that salvation will depend on one's willingness to meet the needs of the least of people (Matthew 25).

I was talking with a man this morning as I was doing premarital counseling. I asked him about God and he told me. I asked him where Jesus fit in and he said, "Oh, we're going to talk about doctrine." I hope not. I hope Jesus isn't doctrine to us. He is the living King of the Universe for me, who speaks and asks me to follow rather than to believe. My sorrow for my sins is only crucial as it makes me turn from it and follow Him as He moves through my home, my church, my community, and the world.

The United States (let alone the world) is full of micro-cultures where the "truth" has to find itself true to that culture. How do we write a "We Believe" book that is useful as a tool in that context?