Dear Friends,
I have often been on the wrong side of trendy. I wear the right clothes in the wrong generation. I listen to last year’s music. I say phrases that totes no one, like, said, ever. These things are largely unremarkable though in comparison to the impact of being Christian.
Rarely is a biblical view of things trendy – in fact it is usually the exact opposite and we should expect nothing less! We live in a world that is walking away from Jesus, serving itself rather than Jesus and worshipping anything but Jesus. Being a Christian is to be decidedly counter-cultural and it is getting harder and harder to walk with Jesus. Those like us who want to trust God and believe his Word are often shamed and excluded for doing so from within the church and without.
Here is one analysis of why.
A NY Times article by David Brooks titled, “The Shame Culture” noted that anthropologists have identified a distinction between a guilt culture and a shame culture. In a guilt culture you know you are good or bad by what your conscience feels. In a shame culture you know you are good or bad by what your community says about you, by whether it honours or excludes you. In a guilt culture people sometimes feel they do bad things; in a shame culture social exclusion makes people feel they are bad.
It is argued that the omnipresence of social media has enable shame culture to emerge in our midst. The desire to be embraced and praised by the community is intense. People dread being exiled and condemned. In this day and age then, moral life is not built on the continuum of right and wrong; it’s built on the continuum of inclusion and exclusion.
In this shame culture, people are extremely anxious that their group might be condemned or denigrated. They demand instant respect and recognition for their group. They feel some moral wrong has been perpetrated when their group has been disrespected, and react with the most violent intensity. Think Margaret Court…
Brooks finishes his analysis by saying, “In an era of omnipresent social media, it’s probably doubly important to discover and name your own personal True North, vision of an ultimate good, which is worth defending even at the cost of unpopularity and exclusion.”
My personal True North is Jesus, as God has revealed him in the Scriptures and the life of faith described therein. I am willing to defend this with everything I have.
What about you?