Multiculturalism?

[Hashe]

In many countries in the West there is a debate about Multiculturalism. Some people see it as a good thing that enriches people’s lives with difference experiences and should be fully embraced. Others feel a sense of fear of losing their culture and their cultural identity. I think this shows that there are both good and bad things about multiculturalism.

One of the things I like about multiculturalism is bringing in new ‘foreign’ foods. Some of them have an inviting smell that waters the mouth. They are ‘foreign’ to the local scene but this doesn’t make them attractive to people.

When we start to follow Jesus we enter the kingdom of God. We are no longer ‘strangers and aliens’ (Eph 2:19) to God’s people but are part of God’s family. Then we become ‘citizens of heaven’ rather than this world, and therefore are ‘aliens’ in this world.

For some our ‘being foreign’ (or ontoxenos) will be a negative thing. Jesus’ died for our sins because none of us are ‘good enough’. Some people get offended with the idea of not being good enough. When we live out a life that truly knows we aren’t good enough to earn God’s love and just receive God’s love because he is love, this can offend some people.

On the other hand, if we truly live out loving one another as Jesus as loved us, then this will be attractive to others. When we truly live out a Christ centred community people will be attracted to this.

It makes me wonder how much I contribute to this sort of community. Where do I do this? How can I help this happen?

It also makes me wonder ‘how do others see my community’? Do they think it is loving? Do they think it is attractive?

(Taken from http://ontoxenos.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/multiculturalism/ used with persmission)

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

Depends what culture you are from

 

[HammerStone]

Hashe, I think you raise some of the positives and negatives associated with multiculturalism. There are certainly positives in the sense of introduce to new sensory experiences: great food, unique music, art, etc. Imago Dei seems to suggest that God created us to be creative, and therefore we appreciate these sort of things as both creators and experiencers.

There is a phrase that I do not like, and it's: "diversity for diversity's sake." Diversity that naturally arises is one thing, and this should be true in God's kingdom. It is, after all, go forth and make disciples of all nations rather than certain nations.

To me, the thing we should do is seek to understand, appreciate, and ultimately reach others through their culture. That is a good and holy thing. The bad comes, just as with anything else, when we elevate the concept of multiculturalism above gospel and God.

 

[Secondhand Lion]

We were driving down the road a couple of years ago and a government sponsored commercial was on the radio about multicultural communities and "making your community" one. My daughter, who was about 10 at the time, looked up at me and asked "What do they want us to do daddy? Plant some Chinese people?". A lot of wisdom in that question.

 

[lforrest]

Before deciding if multiculturalism is a good or bad thing, I would need to first know if culture is a good or bad thing.

Culture tells us what we should do based on what is socially acceptable. People may do what they do not want to do for the fear of being ostracized. These actions the culture dictates may be positive or negative. People may feel obligated to do good deeds such as tithing, or visiting the sick, or watching over their parents when they are older. But the culture can also stir up peaceful people to racism and violence.

Forgetting the negative aspects of culture for the moment, are the positive aspects really positive if they are done out of a since of obligation? Unless these things are done from the heart I believe they are only of benefit to keeping social order. They are dead deeds, of no benefit to the soul of the person doing them.

But let us suppose there were no cultural obligations, would people do what they should out of love for God or for one-another? It should be fairly obvious that fallen people will fall short of doing on their own what the culture demands. Then you also have people doing evil for selfish gain. So to keep social order with a collection of fallen people you need to have a moral code, and laws.

How strict of a moral code do we need? I would prefer one that is as liberal as possible. Leaving much freedom to do things of my own volition, while not allowing others to take advantage of me. This freedom invites us to do good deeds, but it also tempts us towards depravity. The majority of people are not sons or daughters of the Kingdom, so this makes the moral decline into depravity inevitable in a free society, which is where we are today in America.

As we know from the bible, the Church is supposed to show an alternative to the worldly system. This will draw the children of God to the church. Where will the sons and daughters of Satan be drawn?

 

[Secondhand Lion]

It dawned on me as I was reading forrest's post that what I posted could be misconstrued as me being a bigot or something. My post was merely to point out "diversity for diversity sake" and what exactly do they think I can do to "make" my community one? There are 5 houses within a 2 mile radius of my house.

As I was thinking about this subject I got to wondering, would the community at the tower of Babel have been considered multicultural? If so, what are your thoughts on that? Seemed that they could accomplish anything together, but it was all self gratifying maybe? Bleh, does anyone else think it maybe qualified as pertinent or am I barking up the wrong tree?

SL

 

[lforrest]

As I was thinking about this subject I got to wondering, would the community at the tower of Babel have been considered multicultural? If so, what are your thoughts on that? Seemed that they could accomplish anything together, but it was all self gratifying maybe? Bleh, does anyone else think it maybe qualified as pertinent or am I barking up the wrong tree?

SL

Seems like a fair question to me. Is attempting to bring the cultures together going against the will of God since he deliberately scattered everyone?

 

[Hashe]

Seems like a fair question to me. Is attempting to bring the cultures together going against the will of God since he deliberately scattered everyone?

The problem was they didn't want to 'fill the world', which was what God commanded them to do.
Instead they were working together so that they wouldn't 'fill the world'. God responded by changing language, so they were scattered and 'filled the world'.

In Acts 2, the gift of tongues works as a mediating way of bringing together people, this is a good thing.

 

[River Jordan]

I think a lot of this is generational. The older folks ( ) largely grew up in a more homogeneous culture where most of the people around them were....like them. My dad tells me that he's been hearing all his life about how "the day is coming when whites will no longer be a majority in the US", and how that's generated a sense of fear of sorts in white society. So "multiculturalism" is oftentimes seen as something negative in white people who grew up and have lived in this era. IOW, "multiculturalism" = "working towards making society less like what you've known all your life".

But with today's kids (sometimes called the "Rainbow generation"), there really isn't a sense of multiculturalism as a goal, a concept, or a policy. It's something that just is. I'm in my mid-20's and I have sisters still in their teens, and we've grown up around Latinos, east Asians, Native Americans, Indians (from India), Muslims, gays.....and even Canadians!! And it's not something we even notice or really think about as unusual, until an older person starts talking about "how things used to be". Not only that, but our media and entertainment isn't as homogeneous as it used to be.

Another thing I've noticed is that with my younger sisters, in their world the more diverse your ethnic background, the better. It's like a contest to see who can name the most different ethnicities or something. And keep in mind, we live in a relatively non-diverse part of the country. If we lived in say Seattle or Portland....

So yeah, I think this whole question will become moot surprisingly fast.

 

[BrainofJT]

As long as cultural traditions do not take a God-like role in people's lives, and isn't contrary to the will of God, then it is fine with me.

 

[River Jordan]

As we become more diverse and more comfortable around different people....

THINGS LIKE THIS

...will hopefully become a thing of the past.

 

[aspen]

multiculturalism is not a theory - it is the dynamics of the world we live in.

 

[IanLC]

"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands." (Revelation 7:9)

God recognizes and understands the diversities of people, cultures and tradition that are here in our world. Yet God instituted a righteous culture one acceptable to Him and that was first Israel and now the church and to come the kingdom of God. One fact is that from every culture, tradition, understanding of God or religion there is some measure of fact yet fact is different from truth exp. The Truth. One example of diversity is Christianity upon the slaves and then now into the present African American church. The coupling of African traditions and Christian doctrine, theology and belief have contributed to a powerful movement in the Holiness and Pentecostal traditions.