A recent article in Relevant magazine, “Confessions of a Prude”, explored the role cultural relevance has for Christians.
The author writes:
We culture-savvy Christians recoil at the labels assigned to us by society… sheltered, out-of-touch, or prudish.
True?
Well, just think of how often we seek to be culturally relevant, watching every movie, keeping up with every popular program on TV and making sure we understand the references on “Saturday Night Live.”
After all, don’t we have an obligation against coming across as self-righteous? Shouldn’t we ensure we can fluently converse with our unbelieving neighbors? And isn’t it fun to be considered hip and with it?
Well, there are some thoughts to the contrary, which this author shares:
Are we now regarding purity as a liability when it comes to reaching our culture? Is our willingness to be exposed to sexualized media a virtue?
Innocence is precious. It is OK for us to be offended by the offensive. We are not to be moralistic, but we are called to be moral. Scripture beckons us to purity (Matthew 5:8), to wholesome speech (Ephesians 4:29), to honoring the sanctity of the marriage bed (Hebrews 13:4), to discerning good and evil (Romans 12:2). Somehow, we need to learn how to be culture-savvy and yet innocent as doves.
I’m not suggesting there are clear-cut answers to every question. Like so many things about our faith, God provides us with timeless principles we then apply to our current circumstances. We have to trust the Holy Spirit to guide us through our everyday decisions of what to watch and listen to. We lean on Him to best know how to engage the culture, knowing that, in the end, we’re not being culturally relevant if we’re not ultimately presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In many ways, this is the spirit behind our Plugged In ministry. We don’t attempt to tell you what not to watch but instead share with you observations and trust you to make your own decisions.
Incidentally, with the weekend upon us you might want to check out Plugged In’s latest reviews of movies, music and television offerings by clicking here.
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