Culture at what cost?

My next short term mission trip will be to Mexico.  Now I’ve never been to Mexico but I have been to quite a few countries, inc 5 Latin American cultures.  Nevertheless we’re doing a lot of reading/discussion and there is a fair amount of concern about cultural sensitivity.  Why, you might ask, would ‘cultural sensitivity’ be so important?  Is it really worth the cost of all that time?

I recall my teenage years when anything to do with culture was – as far as I was concerned at the time – a complete waste of time.  What value was there in ‘culture’ anyway?  Ironically I felt that way because I was so deeply immersed in late 70’s rock culture that I couldn’t conceive of any other way of looking at things.  From my vantage point at the time any other viewpoint was just ‘ignorant’ (I word I used - in that culture -  to denote blind stupidity, not mere unawareness).  Looking back, it’s so sad it’s almost funny – because at the time my own ignorance was blinding me to what life was/is supposed to be.

This last week we’ve read the conclusion of the Shafia trial, where a son, a father and his wife were convicted of murdering his 3 daughters and his other wife.  I find it fascinating that neither he nor his convicted wife seem to understand the gravity of what they’ve done.  In their eyes it was an obvious step mandated by their culture and there could be no other appropriate outcome.  A madman you say?  In an article in the Montreal Gazette, several of the Shafia’s relatives affirmed that killing for the family honor could be mandated.  Now consider the obvious implication that where the family is from (that particular part of Afganistan at least) such a culture must exist.  Certainly they didn’t create that culture while immersed in a Canadian one, where such a mindset is not only inappropriate, but criminal. 

That culture separates us to the point of prison time is not such a foriegn concept.  The Shafia’s were polygamous.  Polygamy is also a crime in Canada.  We see it as such because we understand the suffering that it creates (an excellent article on this in the National Post today – see link at the bottom).  To the people in charge in a polygamous society however, it is not only a way of life, but a cherished way of life.  They do their level best to reinforce it on a regular basis.  Why?  Because such a way of life is useful to them, and if it’s useful to them then why change it to the betterment of others?  Really, it boils down to who gets to ‘rule’ in their immediate circle of influence. 

My own worldview changed drastically on March 16^th, 1985 when I became a Christian.  All at once I understood a completely different culture and all at once I dropped the culture I was part of.  We Christians talk about it that way – using the term ‘worldview’ – because we know that the way we look at the world is different than the way general society looks at the world.  What we are effectively saying is that our whole culture changed when we met Jesus Christ – we just say that using the language of our new culture.  What we mean by it is that we no longer ‘rule’ over our lives, but Jesus Christ rules.  If I can coin a catchphrase; Change your king, change your culture.

Ultimately, the Shafia family suffered and now will always suffer because they could not adapt to a new culture – because they could not change their king, even after they changed their country.  Meanwhile, we in the ‘new’ culture shake our heads in disbelief at such a failure to adapt.  It is inconceivable to us who enjoy the benefits and freedom of our culture to grasp why they so wrongly held to what was so obviously harmful.

Meanwhile, our neighbors, friends and even relatives (those we know who are ‘unsaved’, if I can again use Christianese) suffer and in fact will always suffer IF they cannot adapt to the coming eternal culture.  For when our King arrives, His culture will be manifest physically around us as it already manifested spiritually in us.  Then, the crime of holding to a harmful culture will not be mere imprisonment, but death.  And not only death, but eternal death.  

What culture do you hold to? 

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Shafia+murder+trial+verdict/6067749/story.html

 http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/02/02/libby-copeland-polygamy-is-harmful-to-society/