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Muslim children are grounded from birth in the concept that they are Muslims. When they become teenagers, they are still Muslims. Even if they go through a stage of questioning their religious beliefs, they don't cast aside their culture. Their culture binds them to their religion. Now, as Christians, we have insisted that no-one is "born" a Christian, but that each person must choose Christ as an act of personal faith. And we are right to reject the useless nominalism by which non-churched people still hold to a token Christian mentality, as exemplified by the man at the hospital admission desk who asked his wife: "What religion are we again, darling?" But what hope do our children have if we expect them to make their own decisions about religion without any input from their parents? From the time they take their first glimpse at the world (and even earlier) we should be impressing on them the importance of faith in Christ and solidarity with the Christian community.
I met with our church's youth leader one Saturday morning for prayer and God showed me a vision in my mind of a road that, for a little while, passed through some treacherous, dangerous mountains before reaching the relative safety of the open land beyond. That mountain pass was the teenage years and our kids were being targeted for ambush during that phase of their lives. I thought that the answer was to teach our young people about spiritual warfare and the armour of God. (EPH 6:10-18) But now I see that we need to surround them with a full spectrum of real life Christian culture so that their identity as Christians can mean something important to them.
Young people in any religion will occasionally face times of doubt where they are tempted either to walk away or to recommit themselves in a more personal, mature way. And, in an increasingly secular world, the decision is getting harder and harder. The reality, though, is that a strong cultural component in their upbringing will inevitably call them back to their roots. The Muslim peoples, for instance, have proved extremely resistant to the Gospel or, for that matter, any other form of radical change. The reason is that their primary identity is found in their culture and their culture is their religion. But with Christianity, I fear we have over-emphasised individual choice and under-emphasised culture. We have prayed, pleaded and debated on matters of doctrine and moral values but we have not sufficiently demonstrated a collective Christian lifestyle. Therefore, we have inadvertently prejudiced each new generation against the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we have had to re-evangelise each successive generation.
What could be more important for Christian parents than passing on their way of life to their children and grandchildren? The doctrine of individualism, as we have already seen, is a formidable enemy. Many parents now refuse to teach their children about God because they say they want their children to "make their own decision". That's true, in a sense, but this only conveys to our children that religion doesn't matter. How many parents would tell their children to make up their own mind whether or not to play in the middle of a busy street? Or to feel free to experiment with the medicine cabinet? Hardly! We don't allow our children any choice at all in the very critical issues of life.
Besides, the Bible explicitly commands us to teach our children about God.
For example, after a few words of introduction, the book of Proverbs begins as follows: "My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother." (Prov 1:8) What follows are several chapters of solemn advice from a concerned father to his children. At least a dozen verses in the next seven chapters begin with the words "My son". Chapter four begins with: "Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding; for I give you good doctrine: do not forsake my law." (Prov 4:1,2)
One of the ten commandments given by God to Moses was "Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you." (DEUT 5:16) This respect for elders, especially parents, is crucial to the survival of any culture but it is rapidly disappearing from Australian culture at the close of the twentieth century. Mothers are encouraged to find their fulfillment outside the home these days and fathers have been belittled by an angry feminist movement. The fifth commandment has become so unfashionable that our young people now find it almost impossible to obey. Yet it must be different in the Christian subculture. Parents, and (dare I say?) especially fathers, must be highly respected in their homes and families. Only then can a godly culture be passed on to a new generation because only then will the children listen.
One of the outstanding passage in the whole Bible, in my opinion, comes in the book of Deuteronomy. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deut 6:5-9)
Culture is the best possible memory aid and the above passage is a tremendous example. The parents of Israel were not just given a set of rules to pass on to their children but a faith set in cultural trappings such as frontlets (a type of symbolic ornament worn on the forehead) or signs on the doorpost. The whole elaborate system of feasts and holy days was meant to continually remind the people of Israel of their unique relationship to God. Whilst it is apparent that we are not expected to resurrect the Mosaic religion now that Christ has appeared, we will do well to heed the message that faith is best handed down from generation to generation when it is enshrined in culture.
Christian parents must not abdicate the responsibility for the spiritual education of their children. If our children cannot attend a public state-operated school without exposing them to ungodly philosophies and beliefs, then I believe we have an obligation to send them to Christian schools that will uphold the values that we hold dear. The price of such an education is insignificant compared to the loss if our children turn their backs on our faith. But such schools should not merely teach grammar and mathematics in a Christian environment. In my opinion, they should actively promote and develop a Christian culture which will equip the children with something far better than the world can ever offer.
Some years ago, I used to drive a mini-bus for a suburban Greek school that operated on Saturdays. The school was set up by parents who, although living and working in Australia, wanted their children to understand and love the language and culture of their homeland. In the Christian Church, we have our Sunday Schools but, in just one or two hours per week, they are struggling to even covering the spiritual things that children need to know. If it doesn't happen in the home and it doesn't happen in the local church, where will our children receive an appreciation of our unique culture and heritage as Christ-ians? How many of our children know anything at all about church history? Or the martyrs? Or the reformers? Or the great evangelists of the past? These are the things of our heritage. The world might not care about them but they help us to appreciate who we are. A sense of history is an important aspect of culture. It forces us to see that we are not merely individuals but links in a chain. We belong to something worthwhile that has been around for thousands of years.
My daughter once asked a JW classmate if he was going to a certain birthday party. He replied: "No, I'm a Jehovah's Witness and we don't celebrate birthdays." My daughter mentioned it to me and then promptly forgot about it. But the words stayed with me. I thought about them over and over, until this simple little conversation began to revolutionize my thinking. You see, the little boy's behaviour was determined by who he was. He was a Jehovah's Witness. Therefore he couldn't attend the birthday party. It wasn't as if someone had said to him: "You must not attend birthday parties!" Instead, his sense of belonging to something bigger than himself came into play. His decision had nothing to do with
individual choices but everything to do with who he was. Now, if this works in cults like Jehovah's Witnesses, why are we standing idly by and watching our young people slip away one by one? Why aren't we building a cultural identity that our children and young people can really relate to?
Here's a vital aspect of my vision for a Christian subculture, our teenagers saying no to drugs, alcohol and premarital sex in the same way. Can you imagine them saying: "Sorry, but I'm a Christian. We don't do that sort of thing!" I can! Praise God, I can! Educate them by all means, but educate them against the sins of the world in the context of a unique and special subculture.
The same principle applies equally well to all Christians. When I first became a pastor, I sometimes pulled myself up at the point of temptation by reminding myself that the act in question would not be appropriate for a minister of the Gospel. Of course, if it's not appropriate for a pastor, then it's not appropriate for any Christian. When we're tempted to cheat on our tax returns or lie to our children or watch a crude TV programme, we should cry out: "No, I won't do it! I'm a Christian and that's not our way of doing things!"
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." (EPH 5:8)
In current times, as I see it, culture is much more readily passed on from generation to generation than religion. Therefore, culture becomes the ideal vehicle for passing on our faith. It may take years to reverse the trend and re-establish a sense of culture in the Christian church. But we must do it. Perhaps we can set up special agencies to research and document the things that give us our cultural identity, our music, literature and values. Some Bible Colleges are already doing this very well. The cultural identity that already exists simply needs to be appreciated and understood for what it truly is.
The Amish people in America provide us with another instructive example of subculture. They live in farming communities and are deeply committed to the ideals of simplicity, purity and hard work. The men sport beards and wide-rimmed hats while the women wear plain long dresses and bonnets. They travel to their fortnightly church services in horse-drawn carriages and their code of behaviour prohibits things like telephones, motorised farming equipment and electricity. The strictness of their culture goes way beyond any biblical imperative and probably suggests that they are more interested in maintaining their culture than in following Christ. Nevertheless, the fact that their way of life has not changed in three hundred years is important to us in our discussion of subculture. The Amish people live the way they do because they are Amish people. Obviously, a Christian culture would have more flexibility than the Amish culture but we can learn from the Amish the lesson that cultural identity is the key to durability.
In all this, I am not forgetting that Christ himself is the centre of our whole way of life. But isn't it better to promote in our families and local churches the things that point to Jesus than to allow the world to point them away?
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