Christ and Culture: What’s Missing at the Water Cooler

I will begin, without segue.

The problem for the non-Christian in understanding the relationship between Christ and Culture is the destructive misinterpretation of the separation of Church and State. Supreme Court decisions over the past decades have rooted an illogical understanding within the mind of the everyday citizen: religion and faith have nothing to do with politics and government. The natural chain of erroneous thought has led to religion and faith have nothing to do with culture. Some may not be so bold as to make this claim, but many do.

Is the cliche not widely known that the two topics you don’t discuss at work are politics and religion. Yes, that’s partly because they are hot button topics, but also because we have bought into the lie that you can have a good relationship with your coworkers without ever knowing a thing about their faith and religion. Isn’t that why talk around water cooler is so boring and superficial? You only discuss things people don’t truly care about. What kind of existence is that? Wouldn’t it be better to mature as an adult by learning how to discuss important subjective matters like faith rather than pretend they don’t exist or matter? You were messy as you grew up from a tiny baby. Why should it be any different when you grow up from a tiny emotional/social baby? Just because there is friction and debate doesn’t mean it’s bad.

It’s funny how we choose which times in life to hide and which we choose to be strong. The choices seem arbitrary except that you choose to be strong and provide for you family despite how often you want to scream. That’s friction! Yet you don’t run away and hide. You know you have a responsibility to your family. Just because popular culture doesn’t always acknowledge your responsibility to be true to your ENTIRE self doesn’t mean you are any less responsible. What you believe resides within the core of your being. It influences every single decision you make.

So why is Jesus taboo in our culture? Kanye West, though by no means a standard of the Christian Faith, composed a song that incorporates this question. He said that they won’t play his song on the radio because he says the name “Jesus.”

Well, he got his song on the air, but I think it’s probably because the song doesn’t really espouse much of the character of the faith. Rap rarely does, but that’s another issue (prelim – any type of music that gains popularity from the proud and boastful attitudes of the artists is a mixed well. attitude should match words or the words are false).

Kanye took a more spiritual song and mixed it with his rap to create a song we will likely forever associate with the movie Jarheads. Kanye’s approach is nothing new. Anyone who watched Ray or has been a fan of Ray Charles knows that sampling hymns and spiritual songs for R&B has been done before. Both artists gained popularity from the controversial or at least unusual mixture of musical genres.

But that’s not the point. The point is that we seem to be losing important little bits of ourselves because they are supposedly too controversial and therefore must be destructive and are therefore labeled culturally insignificant.

Did you know that even today, scientists around the world make scientific claims in public that disagree with other scientists’ theories and beliefs? How politically incorrect! Every scientist should respect his peers enough not to speak controversially. Wait… No more dialogue between disagreeing scientists would mean that claims to truth could not be challenged nor affirmed. That would mean an end to scientific progress.

Interesting.