Our Duty To Preserve Christian Culture
If “politics is downstream from culture,” then where does culture come from?
It comes from our worldview, which comes from our religion, the way we see the world and the people in it.
So: religion —> culture —> politics.
The sad truth of the matter is that many of us have no culture, because we have no religion. We might claim to be “believers” for any number of reasons. Perhaps our parents took us to church, or our grandparents prayed before big family meals. But these were brief moments of religion sprinkled throughout an otherwise secular life guided by materialism, pragmatism, and secularism. As a whole, though we still invoke God’s name when it suits us, we are a largely areligious nation.
This disconnect has consequences. Without true religion, what’s left upstream to feed our culture? Many believed that once we had the courage to do away with organized religion, we would ascend to a higher level of consciousness and enlightenment. Yet for all their hard work, they’ve been largely unsuccessful in ridding the public square of religion; they’ve simply created a counterfeit version, with its own commandments, high priests, rituals, and blasphemy laws. But unlike the true gospel, this false, secular humanist religion has no good news, no atonement, no penance, no absolution. It’s nothing but shame and guilt, all the way down.
Past generations looked to the legacy of their fathers, steeped in divine meaning, and said, “I want that.” This is no longer the case. Young people today receive far more “religious” instruction from strangers on the internet than from their own parents and grandparents in matters of morality, ethics, and worldview. Put another way, we are largely a nation of ideological orphans, who don’t know our place in history, even as we are taught to hate those who came before us, and to have no consideration for those who will come after.
The good news: men can, and should, put an end to this ideological drift, if not for ourselves, then for our posterity. This nonsense can stop with us, at least in our small corners of the world. Regardless of how you were raised, you can turn the tide in your family, church, or community. Children need to know where they come from and where they fit in. And it all starts with the religious culture of the church and family. Here are some practical considerations for both:
Tell stories
No one is better at telling stories about its history than the Marine Corps. From the first days of recruit training, Marines are instilled with a sense of pride and belonging by learning about the combat victories of their predecessors, along with tales of their having overcome unthinkable suffering. It’s quite rare to find yourself outside in the winter without hearing someone mention the Frozen Chosin. It’s a part of our institutional lore.
Well, your family has these stories, too. Do you know them? I recall a story about my Grandfather and Grandmother moving the family to Alaska. They drove the entire way. In this story, there are tales of what seem to be miraculous guardian angels, life-saving “coincidences,” and high adventure through the unknown back before GPS or cell phones. This story is part of the fabric of our family. There are many more like it.
Stories give your kids a sense of where they come from, where they want to go, heroes to imitate, and pitfalls to avoid. All throughout Scripture, we are called to mark and remember, from the Passover, to God’s freeing Israel from Egyptian slavery, to the giving of His Law to Moses, and more; the prophet Joel says it best,
Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.
If you don’t have children of your own, then apply this to the young men in your church. How did your church start? What trials has it endured? How has God provided, against all odds? Don’t let the efforts of faithful men throughout the ages die with you.
"I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done."
Attend church (and sing)
The Christian life was never meant to be lived in isolation. People often say, “the church isn’t a place, it’s a people,” and that is of course true. But it’s also true that all of those people regularly gather together at a certain place, and so you should join them.
But as a father (or any Christian man), though it’s a good start, it’s not enough to simply show up and sit through church like you would a boring lecture on quantum mechanics. Your children need to see you sing. Let them see you open your Bible to the selected passage. Let them see that you care about what is taking place in the house of God, and that it means something to you.
Consider the results of this 2016 Lifeway study:
When both parents attend Bible study in addition to the Sunday service, 72% of their children attend Sunday school when grown.
When only the father attends Sunday school, 55% of the children attend when grown.
When only the mother attends Sunday school, 15% of the children attend when grown.
When neither parent attends Sunday school, only 6% of the children attend when grown.
Fathers set the trajectory for the spiritual lives of their family, and men, of the church. Your children will imitate your commitment to God and His people. If you make singing and church participation seem cheesy and boring, don’t be surprised when they turn sixteen and never come back. Our children need to see that church is a fundamental part of the religious life, that it is a privilege and a joy to go to the house of God, and to worship and celebrate with the community of faith.
Better yet, don’t send the children off to a separate room/building so that you can “focus.” Worship is not about your unhindered focus or entertainment, but about the covenant community worshipping the Lord together. God is not offended by your babbling toddler, even if Linda in Pew 3 is.
“Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart."
Make your history impossible to ignore
My wife has always been really good about this. She surveyed both of our families to see which old pictures they were willing to send us, and created an entire wall in our dining room dedicated solely to displaying pictures of past generations. It’s one of my favorite places in the house. My kids can look at that wall and see all of the men and women who came before them and consider the mystery and goodness of God’s providence in blessing and protecting our family through the years. In Biblical times, families knew their lineage back thousands of years; many of us don’t even know our great-grandfather’s name. It’s sad, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Kids need to know they’re not the first ones to ever struggle or fail, and that just as God blessed those who went before us, He too will walk with them. At our church, the hallway leading to the pastors’ offices are lined with the headshots of all of our pastors, going back hundreds of years. Our children must know that they are heirs and heiresses of the Christian faith, not co-creators, and that it is their duty to pass it on to their own children without blemish or corruption; to hold fast to that which was passed down to them.
“Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.”
Pray and read the Bible together
Make the spiritual disciplines a regular part of your family life. This can look a hundred different ways, from reading a few verses and singing the Doxology before bed, to gifting your children their own Bibles when they turn a certain age. Children imitate their parents, and when they see you in private prayer before the Lord, or spending what little free time you have reading God’s Word, even if they don’t say it out loud, it does something in their tiny hearts and minds. Your words are important, but your actions are infinitely more important.
Reading the Scriptures aloud, together, also sharpens your Biblical acumen. I never could’ve imagined the questions my young children would ask, great questions I had never considered, and ones for which I had no quick answer. If you consider yourself theologically fluent or a Bible scholar, spend five minutes with a six-year-old and you’ll find yourself quickly stumped. My daughter asked me a few years ago, “if marriage is good, why wasn’t Jesus married?”
Unlike adults, kids aren’t embarrassed or afraid to ask the obvious but awkward questions. Further, when you read regularly with your children, you gain the opportunity to refer back to God’s Word throughout daily life whether at the grocery store, gas station, or just driving along in the car. For example, if you’re driving along and get hit by a massive thunderstorm, the kids always want to talk about Noah and the flood. When you make the spiritual disciplines a regular part of your family’s day life, every moment becomes an opportunity to teach, to nurture, and to edify.
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
Live a real life
We say it often that we should strive to be theological maximalists, not minimalists. We are not aiming for a lowest common denominator faith, but one full of vibrance, beauty, and culture, that seeks to plumb the infinite depths of our eternal Creator. This becomes impossible when we separate the sacred and secular, living as Christians on Sunday morning and functional atheists for the remainder of the week.
There is a prevalent belief that Christians must be dull, prudish, fun-suckers, allergic to laughter. This is pure nonsense, and the opposite is actually true. We should value modesty, sobriety, and reverence, but the very ideas of joy, beauty, pleasure, and goodness are exclusively Christian ideas. The best things in life proceed from He who is the fullness of them all, and we should embrace them (in their proper context) with great delight.
A commentator once said that good theology should come out of our fingertips. In other words, everything from the whiskey we drink, to the wallpaper in our homes, to the way we speak to our spouses and children, should reflect what we say we believe about God.
Put another way, God is glorified through the beautification of everyday things. He is honored when we feast joyfully, love fiercely, sing loudly, and go to sleep exhausted; He is glorified when we take risks, drink good whiskey and smoke great cigars with our friends, summit mountains, start businesses, and make babies. As the old hymn tells us, this is our Father’s world, and He made it for us. There are few things more attractive to a lost, sterile, dying world than a vibrant community of Christians who live as if God is real.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
Christian culture is comprised of many various elements; norms and customs, vocabulary, symbols, traditions, and more. Put another way, it’s faith in action. Most of us can state what we believe; but what do we do with those beliefs?
Theology doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We can read every book, memorize every Systematic Theology, and recite all the right creeds, but if we don’t do anything with it, it’ll all be for naught.
Whether you are married and have children or not, if you are a member of a church, it is your duty to actively preserve that which has been passed down by our forefathers. A robust Christian culture will enable us not only to attract unbelievers, but to keep our children. I firmly believe it is culture, not simply doctrine, that will keep future generations from straying. It’s one thing to say, “Yeah, my family goes to church.” It’s quite another to say, “My family loves God.”
The ball is in our court! May our faith be evident through our actions.
Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength to serve the King of kings.
God bless you,
T