Here is Paul, stung by an abuse of culture and a transgression of civility, laying into the highest religious official in Israel, complete with name-calling and threats of retribution from God.

I love it.

C’mon. You love it too, because we’ve all felt this way at one time or another. We see the way people use public office for mere self-aggrandizement, or produce culture that is demeaning and disgusting. We hear the language people use and see the slip-shoddy way they do their work, and we recognize that, hey, these people don’t care about anybody but themselves, and it ticks us off big time.

So sic ‘em.

That’s what Paul did. It’s what Jesus did in the temple, when He whipped up on the money-changers who were abusing their cultural privileges at the expense of others. It’s what Elijah did when he humiliated the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Moses and Aaron, Daniel, Jeremiah, Peter, and John – throughout the Scriptures we find evidence of God’s people weighing in against the unloving cultural activities of self-serving individuals, and they don’t spare the rod as they bring the hammer of judgment down.

Of course, we have to practice all the nuances of speaking truth in love. Nevertheless, as Paul and all the others managed to have a good – and loving – conscience toward God and men when they challenged the unloving culture of their day, so must we.

We’re engaged in a conflict of worldviews with a culture of narcissism, relativism, and self-indulgence, and we’re gonna have to knock over a few idols along the way to achieving a culture of love.

Guidelines for engaging unloving culture

Allow me to suggest a few guidelines for addressing forms of culture which are focused on something other than love for God and neighbors.

First, make sure you know whereof you speak. Over the years, lots of rumors have been circulated throughout the Christian community about this or that atheist and what he or she is alleged to have said, this or that corporation and its diabolically subtle undermining of traditional values, or this or that musical group, filmmaker, or author, concerning his motives in what he does. Before you turn over the tables of these cultural purveyors in your Sunday school class or on the Internet, make sure you have your facts straight. Do some research. Get your own quotes from those writings or products you intend to confront. Let their own words and ways speak against them as you challenge their abuse or misuse of the culture entrusted to them.

Second, moderate your response. Yes, I know Jesus used a whip and Paul resorted to name-calling. But we are neither Jesus nor Paul, and so it’s likely that, if we resort to great passion in responding to abuses or misuses of culture, we’ll end up looking worse than the fools we’re trying to expose. Use questions in your response. Guard against hyperbole, ad hominem arguments, and facile conclusions. Speak the truth in love, but speak it plainly and clearly, so that there’s no mistaking you do not approve of that which you are denouncing, and for good reasons.

Finally, wherever possible, confront those who are perverting the truth through their abuse or misuse of culture in a private setting. Think of Jesus and Nicodemus, Peter and Cornelius, or Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4).

To whatever extent you can, try to develop a relationship with those whose cultural activities you intend to challenge. Take a co-worker out for coffee. Work through email to get to know a writer. Talk with a fellow believer in private. Give those who are misusing or abusing their cultural privileges the opportunity of reflecting on and amending their ways in private, but don’t hesitate to speak the truth in love wherever it is appropriate to do so.

Look, if we don’t stand up against unloving forms of culture, we’ll be overwhelmed by them.

Remember Paul in front of the high priest, and go get ‘em.

Next steps

Can you think of any situations in your life right now where someone is using culture in other than loving ways? Is there anything you can do about this? How might you begin to seek to change this cultural practice and, thus, improve the cultural environment toward a more loving culture?

Additional Resources

Download this week’s study, The Purpose of Culture.

You can also download the two previous ViewPoint studies in this series, Engaging Culture and Redeeming Culture, by clicking here and here.

For a brief study of what it means to pursue culture every day for the glory of God, order T. M.’s book, Christians on the Front Lines of the Culture Wars by clicking here.

Sign up for ViewPoint Leaders Training and start your own ViewPoint discussion group.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.