The news media does this all the time…

An Occupy Wall-street protester robs a bank. See how Occupy Wall-street protestors are really criminals.

A Tea-party member holds up a racist sign. See how Tea-partiers are all really racists.

We define away categories of people by the behavior of the one. It creates a stereo-type… it’s a form of superiority. Oh… you are a Christian… therefore, you must believe that ….(fill in the blank).

But people are far too complex to paint with a broad brush. A group or category can never truly define the uniqueness of the person. You have to look past the surface.

Our Cultural Stories: Part 1

Individualism is the idea that individual happiness, liberty, and pleasure is the highest pursuit above all else. The purpose of life is that each of us attain our personal goals as the primary concern. While this may seem self-centered to us, it is a story that saturates our western culture.

You hear it in statements like “I need to be free to be me” or “it’s my life, it’s now or never (Bon Jovi).” I am convinced that the reason why divorce rates are so high today, is because someone in the marriage decided that their personal happiness or liberty was threatened and so bailed out. of course It makes sense if individual pursuit stands above family interests. Most abortions are decided because of inconvenience towards a sense of liberty.

However, as individuals, some of our concerns are valid. History has shown that institutions like financial corporations, governments, and churches are subject to deep corruption. Our desire for self interests can also be fueled by the need to protect ourselves from social and religious institutions.

If you ask most people to provide one word that defines the highest ideal in life, it will probably be the word freedom. Our sense of freedom centered around individualism comes from the modern era; the very driving factor of the enlightenment. But defining the word freedom in our individualistic culture is not always easy. Does individual freedom surpass the greater good of society?

“While most worldviews acknowledge the right of individuals to act freely to some degree, it is interesting to note what happens to values when freedom fights its way to the top of the virtue hierarchy. In classical thought, the four cardinal (or basic) virtues were identified as prudence, courage, moderation and justice. The idea was that a person became free when she lived according to such virtues. In other words, the limitations to our freedom were viewed as internal, moral obstacles that could be overcome by developing and internalizing these virtuous characteristics.”
— Hidden Worldviews – Steve Wilkens, Mark L. Sanford.

As I find myself critiquing this cultural story of individualism, I can’t help but realize how much I am ingrained in this mindset. I am totally wrapped up in the individual pursuit… it is a story I’ve known all my life, and it takes a lot of effort for me to de-centralize myself. I don’t really know what the proper balance is between individualism and corporatism but I do believe that in today’s western culture… we are radically shifted in one direction.

I can’t help but wonder if this is what Jesus meant when he talked about ‘dying to self.’ How much more so today, when our modern culture is far more self-centered.

Introduction
I haven’t written a blog series in a while, and I had this idea on writing about worldviews in a practical way. Most books and courses that teach worldviews do so on a philosophical level, with topics such as Rationalism; Marxism; Platonism; etc… and while this is very important, because ideas do begin in academia and filter down in various forms, most people don’t often think about ‘isms’ on this level. Or rather, they don’t see the connection between these ‘isms’ and how they play out in the real world.

It is in our cultural stories where ideas become practical, such as in movies, books, news media, and music. These often subtle ideas shape our thoughts and how we see reality. They are most powerful in narrative form which is why I’ve always felt that movies were the most influential form of media.

As I was thinking about this… I discovered a book that does this very thing. It is titled “Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories that Shape our Lives” by Steve Wilkens and Mark Sanford.

So as I am reading this book, it has inspired my own ideas in presenting some of these thoughts. I like the layout of this book… and the eight discussed views are individualism, consumerism, nationalism, moral relativism, scientific naturalism, New Age thinking, postmodern tribalism and salvation. I would include some of these in my own list but not all of them. For example… Not sure that ‘New Age’ is a current story today… but something like ‘environmental spirit-ism’ would be. So.. I’m finding that I would fine-tune some of these and also include some others not mentioned.

Also, many of our cultural stories are not black and white ideologies. The point is not to simply address the negative aspects of the stories, but also the positive ones (as the authors of this book do as well). I hope to show examples of how these play out in our culture, and help us to recognize these stories behind the stories.

In my mind, there is nothing more important then understanding our cultural worldviews and the impact they have on our lives. In the next couple of months, I look to discover and clarify these narratives and hope these thoughts are useful for you as well.

I was reading this excellent article in Prospect magazine by Edward Doxc titled ‘Postmodernism is Dead” and wanted to share some thoughts on it. If Postmodernism is truly dead, then what comes next? and Docx defines the initial characteristics of an emerging era to be at least three ideas – specificity, values, and authenticity. All of which stand in contrast to postmodern thought.

Of course Postmodernism is not really dead, nor is modernism or pre-modernism. Aspects of each of these movements live-on and continue to be evident in our culture. However, there are definitely broad viewpoints that define historical eras, and these sweeping collective thoughts shape our society in huge ways , such as trends, ideologies, politics, etc…

Much of what I’ve read about Postmodernism seems to indicate that we are now on the brink of a new paradigm. I agree with Docx on these initial ideas, and here are some areas where I’m starting to see those ideas play out.

The post-postmodernist realizes that…

There is an authenticity about the local farmer, as opposed to the mass production of processed foods (modernism) or the superstore variety of the branded products (postmodernism)

There is an authenticity about the uniqueness of a musical artist, as opposed to the mass saturation of one particular music style (modernism) or the re-branding of the artist to fit different trends and styles – via Madonna and Lady GaGa (postmodernism)

There is an authenticity about the specifics of a particular narrative, rather then the imposing of a top-down narrative (modernism) or the flattening of all narratives to be equally valid (postmodernism).

I do believe that the youth will be (if not already) thirsty for authenticity; not something that is simply true for them or what their emotions happen to be in a given day, but something very real. The crumbling economic and political structures in the West will force them to make a stand for something, and call it ‘true.’

Even the advancement of technology in the social virtual world will be a wake-up call to see the value of something more authentic. As Edward Doxc states:

“Certainly, the internet is the most postmodern thing on the planet. The immediate consequence in the west seems to have been to breed a generation more interested in social networking than social revolution. But, if we look behind that, we find a secondary reverse effect—a universal yearning for some kind of offline authenticity. We desire to be redeemed from the grossness of our consumption, the sham of our attitudinising, the teeming insecurities on which social networking sites were founded and now feed. We want to become reacquainted with the spellbinding narrative of expertise. If the problem for the postmodernists was that the modernists had been telling them what to do, then the problem for the present generation is the opposite: nobody has been telling us what to do.”

It will be interesting to see how these new movement of ideas eventually replace the ideologies of postmodernism. Will authenticity be the main thrust of the movement? or one idea among others? How will this change our perception on how we view religion, politics, academia, etc…

The World is ready for change, and I for one would welcome the age of authenticism.

I’m attending a tech conference this week, and the idea of ‘disruption‘ was mentioned in various presentations. The term was used in context to describe a radical change in either an industry or a product.

For example, the music industry just went through a disruption in where the business model for distribution has completely changed. There is disruption happening right now in the book publishing industry with the rise of ebook devices.

Disruption is often necessary, as new landscapes evolve. But during the time when disruption is happening, it can be painful and tragic. People lose their jobs; companies shut down; financial models shift; and economies falter.

When you extend the concept of disruption to other areas:
in nature, disruption is an earthquake or volcano
in families, a disruption is a sickness or death
in communities, a disruption is a catastrophe to the neighborhood

Unlike the business examples of disruption, these are more difficult to assess. Sometimes we can see the good or value that comes from disruption, other times we simply cannot. They are different ecosystems.

Disruption in Christianity
In Christianity, there have been disruptions. The 16th century in Europe was a disruption (Protestant Reformation); the 18th century in the Americas was a disruption (the Great Awakening).

There are disruptions all the time on a smaller scale, and whether one considers them to be good or bad, the question I would ask is are they necessary?

Of recent, I believe that the emerging church movement was a disruption. Even though it is fragmenting to an end, I believe it was a necessary event. Sometimes disruptions are meant to impact complacency or stagnation. They put things in motion again.

Today when I was at my local video store, I noticed a huge selection of ‘new’ movie releases which followed a certain pattern. The images displayed here are actually just a sampling – I could have shown at least 10 more of these.

I’m not referring to the story-line, just the cover imagery and the visual theme. I’m also not passing judgment, just making an observation. It appears that the cultural attraction these days is ‘angry dudes with guns.’ People seem to like the vigilante style; don’t mess with me; I’ll kick your butt; check out my piece; and I’m angry about it; attitude in movies.

I get the whole James Bond ‘good stomping out evil‘ attraction, and I love superhero vigilante flicks as much as anybody. But James Bond wasn’t necessarily an angry tough dude; he was a slick guy doing his job. It seems like the extra added dimension these days is doing it with anger – punishing the villain with swagger.

I wonder how much of this type of ‘hero’ mentality filters into the cultural mind-set of how we perceive real goodness in life. Is goodness the idea of finally defeating your enemies? is goodness revengeful?

My wife had a conversation this week with somebody who argued that there are many evangelical Christians who are just waiting for Jesus to come back and cut his enemies to pieces (seriously stated just like that). He was referencing an article somebody wrote… who pointed to Tim Lahaye’s Left Behind series -  specifically the last of the books ‘kingdom come’ where Jesus does just that.

Are there Christians who really love the fact that Jesus will come back and destroy people in the end times? I actually don’t think the majority of Christians do ‘love that,’ of course you will always find some in all groups who do, but it’s not fair to generalize, and that was my wife’s point.

However, I do think that the cultural perceptions of how heroes are defined can be troublesome. I would caution that we don’t fit Jesus into our cultural paradigms of heroism. Victory by dying on a cross looks a lot different then victory by shooting up a casino of bad guys. It radically shatters our ideas of winning.

If we allow the culture to define Jesus, he may end up looking like this…

Technology gadgets are all around us. As I’m writing this, I have two laptops in front of me (Mac and PC), a PC desktop on the far right of them, and an iPad to the left. I have a Droid phone in my pocket, and an iPod docked in an audio player. That’s only several of the electronic/digital devices in my household, and I know I am not alone.

Sure, I can justify it by saying that I need these gadgets for work purposes, but if I’m really honest with myself, I know I can do with much less. One good thing that happened this past year (which I credit all to my wife) was after I purchased an iPad, I returned it because other then reading books… I couldn’t justify the purchase based on any production value. I fought my wife on it… but she was right, and so I returned it. Then, later in the year I happened to be working on a project that required iPad functionality, so the company I work for bought me one. Darn.

The thing about gadget envy, is defining the purpose of the gadget. Do I want it simply because it’s cool and gives me worth? or is it a means to a goal? Is it a matter of having the latest and best, therefore a step above the rest, or am I really using it for productivity? of course not all gadgets need to be productive, they can be for entertainment or gaming… but again, the focus here is on ‘the desire. And here’s the problem, I can always find a way to justify the latter if I tried hard enough. I can always fool myself into thinking I need it.

This post doesn’t end with me giving examples of how to conquer the technology idol. I know I fall victim to this all the time. I do think its healthy to have ‘unplugged’ days… works well for me when vacationing, but harder to do when I’m at home. This requires turning off anything digital… cell phones, email, laptops, etc…

As with many idols… technology gadgets are not evil, they are incredibly appealing for us in society. It’s our desire for them that elevates them to a higher status. If you must have them to be satisfied… you will discover that you never really are satisfied because the next gadget is just around the corner, and yours is beginning to look a lot less useful.

“If today’s Christians hope to be proactive, they must acquire artistic literacy. Only then will they get ahead of the cultural curve and learn how to speak God’s truth anew to each generation.” – Francis Schaeffer

What is the language of the culture? what makes culture tick? It is the sights and sounds of the environment, the artistry of the symbols, and the entertainment in creative form. The presentation layer of the culture is that which stirs the emotions and drives the convictions.

But the presentation is not void of the message, but the carrier of it. What is the message behind what you consume? ‘That’ message will inform you of your identity… or help you define it. If your kids watch 40 hours of television a week, not to mention the multitude of media forms they have access to… the consumption helps them to shape an identity. Why? because they must fit into the world that they are observing.

The idea however, is not to hide from the cultural language, but to move ahead of it. Instead of consuming the language, become a writer of it. Acquire the literacy by understanding the worldviews being shaped… and subvert them towards truth.

I can’t explain how to do this… I’m figuring it out myself as well, in terms of my role in doing so. But I’m convinced that this is where it’s at.

There are elements of truth in all worldviews, simply because we all come from the same Creator and have been bestowed with common values. In our cultural stories, there are sometimes a glimpse of the Gospel narrative… this is often evident in so-called secular movies or art forms. The idea is to extract the Gospel principle like an acorn in a forest, which is sometimes subconsciously buried within.

Take for example some of our fairy tales. Beauty and the Beast is the story of a man’s curse that is finally broken, when love has reached out to save him. He discovers that he can truly love… having been loved first. Sleeping Beauty is the awakening of death from a lovers kiss. Even Frankenstein (the original tale), depicts a creature reaching out for his creator for acceptance… Here is the monster speaking to Victor, who is Dr. Frankenstein:

“Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.”

But apart from virtuous or interesting elements of truth, sometimes the Gospel is more prominent. Consider the 1999 cartoon animation ‘The Iron Giant’ which is an excellent resource to describe the Gospel to your kids. Of course it’s not a perfect analogy to compare the Giant to Christ, as it is to compare Aslan the Lion of Narnia to Christ. The fictional characters are not meant to be perfect representatives, only to provide a glimpse.

The Iron Giant story is one of a being (Giant) from another world who friends a young boy on Earth. The townspeople are misguided to see the alien as a threat, but when they find themselves in a situation of peril, the Giant gives his life (substitutionary sacrifice) to save the boy and the townspeople. In the end, there is even a hint of a resurrection theme.

The Iron Giant is a great secular movie that gives us a glimpse of the Gospel.