“You cannot drive down a road without encountering it in bumper stickers, billboards, license plates, and advertising signs…. making media an inescapable part of our world. The New Testament makes clear that the world presents a problem for believers. Understanding this requires grappling with what worldliness means.” - Don Johnson
“We need to recover apologetics as a matter of the heart and hands as well as the head. We need to recover apologetics as a project for the whole church and not just for those who enjoy arguing.” - TGC
“In 1 Thessalonians 5:17-24, God provides guidance on making decisions. These instructions apply in every circumstance of life, including musical choice.” - P&D
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In our previous installment, we saw that human culture and technology are a necessary part of the creation mandate and as such should not be viewed as necessary or intrinsic evils. Moreover, we argued that religion is part of human culture, and it will, therefore, employ some of the tools of culture.
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What biblical reality do we need to add to creation and the fall in order to cultivate a more balanced view of human culture? What part of the biblical picture do the “counter-cultural” only Christians often miss?
The simple answer is “grace.” According to the Bible, God does not completely abandon mankind in his sinful state, but he shows kindness or grace. To be more specific, God bestows two kinds of grace: common grace and saving grace.
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Since culture and technology describe what humans made in God’s image do and make, it shouldn’t surprise us that the Bible has something to say about them. And I believe it would be useful for us to develop a biblical and theological framework for human culture and technology before we attempt to relate them to church ministry.1 As we look at the biblical data, what we discover is that the Bible portrays human culture and its corollary human technology as good, as bad, and as both good and bad.
“Business harnesses human creativity and energy to benefit mankind in unique and powerful ways. Far from being immoral, business and markets help people develop virtue as they create value and wealth for themselves and others.” - L&L
“Nearly 90% of Americans say a church should be ‘easily identifiable,’ and eight of 10 say they want the building to ‘reflect the beauty of God.’” - Church & Culture
“the creation mandate is nonetheless rightly called the dominion mandate, at times—and the cultural mandate, as we’ll see.3 It could just as easily be called the ‘multiply mandate’ or the ‘subduing mandate.’” - Mark Ward
“The factor perceived as least important is being a member of the historically predominant religion, according to Pew Research Center surveys conducted in 36 countries in 2023 and 2024.” - Pew Research
