Christ vs. Culture: The battle for the soul of Christianity

By Feyi Boroffice

It’s time to end the culture wars!

 

We live in a polarized world with people moving to extreme ends of the cultural spectrum.  Culture, religion and politics have collided in unprecedented ways and the world is becoming increasingly unstable.  In the midst of all of this chaos Christians nee

• Language: English
• Publisher: Feyifolu Boroffice
• Release date: Dec 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9780998530208

Feyi Boroffice

Feyi Boroffice, a Harvard Business School trained MBA,is an advisor to churches, companies, and countries. She has over 20 years of experience serving in ministries and churches with different demographics and at different stages of growth. Feyi has a global career in public policy, advising governments on key development issues in nations across Europe, Asia, and Africa. She is married to Pastor Ope Boroffice and they have two sons.

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Preface

I have a hard time responding when people ask me where I am from. Having been born and spending my early childhood in the US, my formative years in Nigeria and my entire adulthood back in the US until my recent return to Nigeria both cultures have had a significant impact on shaping who I am. I am literally African American in the literal sense of the word. I am a committed Christian who has served in various roles in ministry and church leadership for the past 20 years. I believe the Bible is the literal word of God and an accurate account of the history of the nation of Israel, and not a bunch of fictional stories. I believe Jesus is the Son of God who came in the form of man 2000 years ago, and He died on the cross to save the world. I have had the opportunity to work extensively in ministry and in churches of different demographics and at different stages of growth. I have worked closely with pastors, church staff and other ministers in running churches. Professionally I have a global career in public policy, advising governments in nations in Europe, Asia and Africa. My immersion in diametrically different cultures, coupled with my work around the world has given me a unique insight into the inherent similarity in people despite our different cultures. We all laugh when we are happy, cry when we are sad, feel pain and bleed red when injured. We all want to be safe and to be able to provide for our families. We all want to be loved. The thing that differentiates us the most from each other is our culture. The best definition of culture I have found is one by the Oxford dictionary: the ideas, customs and social behavior of a particular people or society. We all grow up influenced by prevalent ideas, customs and social behaviors the leave an indelible mark on us. Having had the opportunity to experience Christianity in different cultures, I have a unique lens through which I see the Christian faith. It is clear to me that culture has an undeniable impact on our Christian walk. As Christians, our faith is supposed to supersede culture. In fact we are warned not to conform to the patterns of this world. (Romans 12:2) We are supposed to shed the parts of our culture that are contrary to our faith and embrace the teachings of the Bible. However, given that we tend to evaluate the world through our cultural lens, in many cases it is difficult to see where culture ends and Christianity begins.

In the US, Christianity has become so enmeshed in the political system which makes things even more complicated as it is unclear where politics ends and faith begins. On the right we have conservative Christians who focus on pushing for the passage of good laws that will restore order to what they see as an immoral society. On the left we have the liberal Christians who champion equality with a flexible interpretation of Christian principles. Is one less of a Christian if they vote for the party that prioritizes civil rights and climate change? Is one more of a Christian if I vote for the party that prioritizes individualism and low taxes? What is a Christian to do?

I started writing this book over 12 years ago as a reaction to what I saw as a dangerous precedent in the US electoral process which basically resulted in Christianity being very closely associated with a political party. My thoughts on the topic have become more nuanced over time, however I see the threat of dilution of our faith by our culture today more prevalent than ever before. The purpose of this book is to present a biblical basis for how we as Christians can engage with the world while being mindful not to let cultural trends or popular opinion dilute our faith. While the book is available to everyone it is mostly meant as food for thought for Christians – those who believe Jesus died for their sins and who believe that the Bible is the living, active and ever relevant word of God – not some historical relic that needs to be updated. I hope and pray that it is life changing and leads to a more relevant Church that is living up to its purpose as the light of the world.

This book would never have seen the light of day without the help of my fabulous editor Adeola Fadumiye who I met in 2014 (year 10 of my journey!). She was able to make some sense of the jumbled mess of words I had strung together and help me along the path to finally finishing my labor of love! I am ever so grateful to my sister-friends Lola Oguntomilade and Kemi Ogunleye and my brother-in-love Ayo Sopitan who gave me much needed feedback and helped to shape the final product. Finally I am blessed to have a father Folorunso Folowosele who instilled the love of writing in me by his example and a husband Ope Boroffice who is the most supportive husband on earth and always pushes me to be my best self.

Part 1: The Problem - Culture Invading Christianity

Chapter 1 The Culture Wars

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:8

Christianity and Public Policy

A decade ago, two important events revealed a seismic shift in the Christian world and highlighted the starkly differing viewpoints of conservative and liberal Christians in the United States. These events led to inflamed state of the global culture wars today.

On June 7, 2003, the American Episcopal Church voted to appoint Gene Robinson as the Bishop of New Hampshire. This move rocked the church worldwide and led to a split within the denomination, because Robinson is openly gay. In defense of the selection, Bishop Frank Griswold, the Presiding Bishop at the time said, I think the confirmation of the Bishop of New Hampshire is acknowledging what is already a reality in the life of the church and the larger society of which we are a part.[i] The prevailing sentiment of liberal Christians was that this act gave hope to a once alienated and marginalized population as described by Bishop John B. Chane of Washington who took part in the consecration of Gene Robinson at the Washington National Cathedral.

A little over a year later, on November 2, 2004, conservative Christians became a force to reckon with during the United States Presidential elections. They turned out en-masse to vote for the Republican ticket making up a third of new Republican voters[ii]. It was no coincidence that G.W. Bush won the election with 78% of the votes of those who considered moral values the most important issue in the election[iii]. As Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina put it, The 2004 election saw the moral concerns of Americans rise to the surface. The election of a pro-life and pro-marriage president, and the overwhelming support of marriage amendments from coast to coast, sent a clear signal across our great nation.

These two events seem different, but they are similar, because they are reactions to cultural trends — the former being a liberal response and the latter a conservative one. The differences between conservative Christians and liberal Christians are evidenced in every area of life today. And given that whatever happens in America has ripple effects across the world both events have significantly impacted the state of the global Church.

The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) helps us evaluate and understand the conservative approach on major social and economic issues. The NAE represents more than 45,000 local churches from 40 different denominations and serves a constituency of millions. Evangelical is a catch-all term for Christians who believe the Bible literally, with a focus on the good news of salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ and the belief that lives need to be transformed through a born-again experience and a lifelong process of following Jesus. The NAE has been active in public policy since its establishment in 1942 and heralded the values voting era in 2004 with a 12 page document titled For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical call for Civic Responsibility which outlines NAE’s position on several core public policy issues. On the other end of the spectrum the United Church of Christ (UCC) provides a framework to assess the liberal perspective. UCC was established in 1957 by four groups — the Congregational Churches of the English Reformation with Puritan New England roots in America, the Christian Church which got its start with the American frontier, the Evangelical Synod of North America, a 19th-century German-American church of the frontier Mississippi Valley, and the Reformed Church in the United States, initially composed of early 18th-century churches in Pennsylvania and neighboring colonies. UCC is a member of the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. It currently includes about 6,500 churches with approximately 1.8 million members. The UCC is proactive in its advocacy effort based on actions submitted to its General Synod (the national decision-making body for the denomination) by local churches, Associations, Conferences, and national ministries. Its annual Public Policy Briefing Book presents issues identified as priorities for upcoming advocacy and legislative work.

Good and Just Laws

Liberal and conservative Christian vanguards propose different ways to influence society. The liberal ideology advocates for just laws that lead to equality in all areas for all people regardless of their faith. UCC hinges their approach to public policy for 2013-14 on Isaiah 10:1-3, Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey. The UCC’s main priorities include economic inequality, strengthening voting rights, restricting gun rights, expanding access to health care, immigration reform, climate change, marriage equality, public education and racial justice. They also have a strong international focus championing causes like ending violence around conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, stopping the drug war in Mexico, and investing in peace (and not war) in the Middle East. NAE, on the other hand, responsibility advocates for the passage of good laws based on Christian principles believed to have the power to alleviate the ills of society. The organization cites the responsibility God gave man after creation in Genesis 1:28 to Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. This NAE’s main priorities include religious freedom, nurturing family life, sanctity of human life, charity for the poor, peace, and the support of faith based agencies and religious liberty globally.

Analysis of both liberal and conservative approaches, shows that though arising from good intentions, nevertheless they are both unduly influenced by culture. In no area has there been more controversy in the church than in the area of human sexuality, and I will therefore use this as the basis for describing the shortcomings of the two approaches.

Liberals quest for just laws – Allowing culture to dilute faith?

The election of a gay bishop