The Bible and Cultural Issues

The Bible is God’s guidebook for everything in life in every domain, which includes personal, family, church, work, and government – everything. When I talk about everything, I could call that “culture,” which means way of life. A way of life or ‘the’ way of life relates to your view of the whole world, everything in the world. This doesn’t stop within the four walls of a church building. This is God’s world, what the hymn says, “our Father’s world.”

People, created by God, don’t get to pick and choose what of what God says that they will take seriously and believe and practice. Very large in the world right now, as it has been throughout history, is sexuality. One of the questions that arises concerns same sex marriage. Does the Bible, God’s Word, apply to this issue? Is it important? With that being said, how far does this go, that is, the regulation of the culture, our way of living? Does the Word of God guide music, dress, recreation, entertainment, art, or even architecture? Does it tell us something about what we might eat or drink or how we might take care of our bodies?

When reading scripture, designed distinctions exist that differentiate men from women and women from men. God created male and female and He wants distinctions kept between them. The man and the woman complement one another and God requires for it to stay that way. Rebellion in a fundamental way comes with the blurring, confusion, and then perversion of the designed distinctions between men and women.

What I’m writing is simple, but I’m also writing it as a kind of sample of what God guides in culture and how He guides it. Besides glorifying God, especially as Creator, He does this for our own flourishing. God loves us and we are better off when we follow what He says in these areas of culture.