Culture War

Some of you probably at least have read or seen in the news something about a “culture war.” Maybe you wonder what that is and, if it is a war, how it is fought. The word “culture” isn’t in the Bible anywhere, but it’s still a good word to use to represent a particular thought, concept, or idea. The best way, I believe, to understand culture is to think “way of life.”

When people discuss “culture,” they will talk about certain cultural issues. A lot of issues relate to the way people live. A specific example you might hear today in the realm of the contemporary culture war is the issue of same-sex marriage, children’s curriculum in a school, or legalized or illegal abortion. The definition of a man or a woman falls under culture. Those are a few examples, but there are many that also address different categories than those do.

True Christians judge their way of life based on the Bible. They also evaluate what a school, town, state, or nation should allow or accept as a way of life. A personal or group standard or position on cultural issues falls under a general category of “worldview.”

The Oxford English language dictionary defines worldview as “a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world.” I believe Wikipedia is right when it defines “Christian worldview” as “the framework of ideas and beliefs through which a Christian individual, group or culture interprets the world and interacts with it.” Since Christians judge the culture based on the Word of God, it’s also called a “Biblical Worldview.” It guides something as simple and important as ‘what’s right and wrong.’