Cultural challenges and responses to pluralism

[Interpretation of Pluralist Culture]

Oral narration╱Shao Wensi‧Compilation╱Wang Shufei

If we understand the relationship between culture and worldview, we will understand that understanding the biblical worldview is the basis for our ability to interpret pluralism in a fair way. Multiculturalism (or pluralism, Pluralism) is different from multiculturalism; multiculturalism represents a social condition, while multiculturalism represents a kind of thinking and belief.

According to the definition of Cambridge Dictionary, multiculturalism believes that it is a good thing for people of different races, religious beliefs and cultures to coexist in a society; the British Dictionary explains that it means that people of different social classes, religions and races coexist in a society, and still Maintain their distinct traditions and interests. The dictionary believes that the core belief of multiculturalism is the full participation of minority groups in mainstream society while maintaining their cultural differences. These definitions mainly believe that diversity is beneficial to society.

The definition of multiculturalism in the philosophical community does not focus on cultural groups, but focuses on thinking and stance. The concept of multiculturalism has had an earth-shaking impact on all levels of social life.

Now we will focus on agnostic pluralism, which is in great conflict with the Christian faith.

Agnostic Pluralism

Agnostic pluralism, which holds that it is impossible to know what will happen in the future, is most harmful to the Christian faith. This is a view that favors pluralism and diversity for its own sake, seeing diversity as a conduit for the enrichment of human life. But Jesus said that He came so that people might have life, and have it more abundantly. The more abundant life that people can have is given by the Son of God, and it is a life that is united with the Lord in the Lord.

Agnostic pluralism believes that there must be different tentacles to make human beings evolve and become richer, and opposes the use of any thinking, viewpoints, or efforts to achieve a unified stance for everyone's views.

Kevin Vanhoozer, a biblical scholar who has had a great influence on the theological community in modern times, believes that "these pluralisms arise from the desperate assumption that truth is unknowable to humans." This is what we often hear "How do you know what" is true?".

Vanhoozer believes that pluralism is opposed to unifying, universally coherent truth claims. He said:"It goes far beyond any version of our definition of culture. Pluralism holds that any claim to truth that has any coherent meaning must be treated as a joke, as a form of racism, and intolerance of others. Beyond that, trying to change the other person's mind until he or she sees the problem in a different way is clearly violent and can only lead to a side effect.ProduceGood, the partisan conflict we have now abandoned, ushered in a darker era. "

Pluralism emphasizes openness, tolerance, and humility before the great mysteries of life, which are the hallmarks of a truly pluralistic and free society. The main target of attack is actually the biblical account of God’s creation. When Christianity advocates that God created the universe, it has already adopted an intolerant attitude towards other religions and must put an end to them; any attempt to change the other's mind, or even to convince the other's worldview and thinking, is not allowed. Doing so is tantamount to ideological violence.

Therefore, missionaries have to work very hard in some areas that are very hostile to Christianity. In this generation, loud voices and thoughts have arisen against God. In fact, Psalms 2 and 8 clearly predict that in the last days, there will be a collective voice that rises up against God.

Agnostic pluralism has three major propositions. The first is that it requires openness. It is required to accept different religions, thoughts, and positions, and not to try to persuade. It is required not to insist on Christian faith, insist that Jehovah is the only true God, or claim that Christ is the only savior and the only way to truth and life.

Secondly, you need to be tolerant. You must tolerate other people's values that are opposite to yours, and don't object. For example, the owner of a Christian cake shop was taken to court after he refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

The third is to be humble before the great mysteries of life. Don’t think that what Christianity preaches is the only truth, because every nation, culture, and religion has its own truth; truth is relative, not absolute.

These ideas are all wrapped up in the appearance of today's culture. We must be able to distinguish them and have the wisdom to know how to face them.

Characteristics of facing the challenge of pluralism

DA Carson once analyzed the four major natures of challenges to pluralism.

1. Pluralist groups are gradually increasing

There are three trends in the general understanding of pluralism. First, pluralism may refer to the growing diversity in Western culture, such as the coexistence of various races, genetics, religions, and value systems.

The second is that pluralism may refer to the value of tolerance for such cultural diversity. That is to say, you cannot insist on the only truth, because whatever people believe may be the truth. What I think is reasonable and applies to me is the truth.

Third, pluralism refers to the philosophical stance. This position insists that tolerance is necessary on the grounds that "in the ocean of diversity, no current has the right to take priority over other currents." That is, in the coexistence of multiple cultures, no one culture or way of thinking can A culture or mindset that claims to be superior to others. The only absolute tenet of pluralism is pluralism itself. It does not allow any thought, or any religion, to claim to be the only truth.

The third trend is most harmful to the Christian faith. As Carl Henry said, when a culture or cultural group loses its belief in absolute truth, pragmatism becomes the core. However, the scope of faith revealed in the Bible is wider than pragmatism. If it is limited to the scope of pragmatism, it will eventually lose the absolute truth revealed by God.

If a believer is self-centered and judges his faith by whether it meets personal needs or whether it satisfies inner emptiness, he falls into the category of pragmatism. Such a Christian faith is not the gospel conveyed in the Bible. When a society or culture relies primarily on pragmatism to make decisions, chaos will result. Pluralism does not invite ethnic groups with different beliefs and ideas to have open rational dialogue to promote mutual understanding and joint exploration of the truth, but to find the conclusion of the dialogue. If the conclusion is not to accept pluralism, it offends them and violates their thinking.

2. Limitations of Pluralism

The first limitation is that those who insist that "all opinions are equally valid" have greatly weakened the second trend mentioned above, which is the position of mutual tolerance, listening and respect for others. They have a dogmatic attitude towards pluralism in the third sense, thereby expelling pluralism in the second sense. Therefore, in the name of openness and pluralism, intolerable behavior sometimes occurs.

The second limitation is that American culture is not entirely an active pluralism, because in multiculturalism various thinking and ethnic groups compete with each other for credibility and can get along well without common beliefs. The only common position is that there is no belief. Not pluralism. The reason why a culture has a long history is that it has a framework of beliefs and common values that serve as cohesion to form a nation, such as the nation of Israel. But pluralistic groups do not have this cohesion, because they do not have common values, only repulsion, rejecting any group that does not accept them.

The third limitation is the control that the media has over the entire social life. The ideas spread by the media have a great impact on society. According to research, the media creates an impression of greater diversity than is actually the case. The continued promotion of diversity through education, media, entertainment and mainstream denominational leaders contributes to the impression of advancing diversity, but this impression may be slightly overestimated.

The fourth limitation is that the concept of a "good life" has become increasingly narcissistic and materialistic. The values instilled by pluralism make people think that individual rights are inviolable and that living a good life is the most important pursuit in life. Narcissism and materialism become common values. Although the pressure of secularization does not mean the abolition of religion, it does push religion to the margins of life and thought.

The Christian faith is reduced to a mere agent for meeting individual needs and helping to stabilize families. The views on church and salvation have gradually strayed away from the teachings of the Bible, forgetting that God in His kindness calls rebellious people to reconcile with Himself. Only returning to God and returning to God’s glory should be the core of the church’s thinking.

3. The focus of tolerance changes

In a so-called open society, the best form of tolerance is tolerance of people. Even if your thinking strongly disagrees with others, be tolerant. The trend of Western pluralism actually pays more and more attention to the collision of thinking. If your thinking collides with mine, I cannot tolerate you, but you must tolerate me.

Pluralism believes that when Christianity conflicts with pluralist thinking, Christians cannot insist on it and must accept pluralist thinking, nor can they be asked to accept Christian thinking. In the past, we sought to understand each other through dialogue so that the other party could understand Christian thinking and also for us to understand each other. In the past, dialogue focused on people's thinking, but now the pluralist groups who oppose the Christian faith focus on the battle for ideas.

Thinking determines cultural values; the determination of cultural values affects the overall direction of the church. If values and thinking that are contrary to biblical revelation are brought into the church, it will become a force that will destroy the church from within.

4. The separation of church and state stipulated in the constitution is changing its focus

For a long time, the American judiciary has limited the influence of Christianity in society through the separation of church and state mentioned in the Constitution. As Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, liberal Protestants, evangelicals, agnostics, Satanists, and atheists fill mainstream American culture, judicial restrictions promote nihilism and become the first pluralism. The public virtues of three groups. The result is a double standard: essentially secular beliefs are supported by the state, but other beliefs are not tolerated, and the United States has gradually moved away from the original intention of establishing a Christian country.

▲The values instilled by pluralism make people think that living a good life is the most important pursuit, and are full of materialism and narcissism.

Christian correspondence

How should Christians respond to the challenge of pluralism?

In fact, the challenge of pluralism has existed since the Old Testament. What the Israelites faced in Egypt was Egypt's pluralistic religious beliefs. After they entered Canaan, they lived in an environment of diverse cultures, races, and beliefs. After the division of the North and the South, they continued to integrate with pluralism. The captivity in Assyria and Babylon and the challenge of pluralism took on a deeper and broader dimension. In the New Testament era, the early church’s attitude toward contemporary pluralism in the social culture of Greece and Rome was to firmly believe in one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

The second step is to recognize that the main controversy that contemporary pluralism has over Christian faith lies in the Doctrine of God. In the past 15 years, the latest and most active research topic in the theological community has been the Doctrine of Trinity. Scholars have found that the church is generally weak, especially Protestantism, which has unknowingly lost its core doctrine—the doctrine of God, that is, who the God we know and believe is.

Some churches only know the Lord Jesus: they are saved and healed by Jesus in times of suffering. For example, in villages that lack medical equipment, people who are seriously ill cannot seek medical treatment. I heard that there were people who believed in Jesus in other villages, and they could be healed by praying to them. When I went there, I was actually healed. As a result, the whole village believed in Jesus.

If you only know Jesus but lack a coherent understanding of the overall context and thematic information of the Bible, how can you form a faith with a solid foundation? Facing this era, the most important thing is to return to the Bible and listen to the concept of God.

Religious pluralism also has various arguments and views on the Trinity. The doctrine of God that a person believes will greatly control his life and thinking. It will have a profound impact on the perspective of man and his ability, the nature of sin, the nature of the gospel, and the nature of spirituality.

Again, discussions about pluralism cannot avoid revelation. The Christian's view of God is closely related to his understanding of revelation. Many events in the Old Testament focus on revealing who God is. Jesus Christ is the revelation of the incarnation and the ultimate revelation of God. The entire Bible also reveals God’s attributes and actions. Yet revelation is not accepted in pluralist public forums.

In recent forums, issues of revelation and truth have appealed to the practical practices of exegesis, one of the most difficult areas of pluralism's challenge. Theological circles in the past believed that the Bible could be correctly interpreted through systematic study. Some contemporary hermeneutics believe that there is no certain correct interpretation of the biblical text, but it depends on the reader or interpreter's view of the text.

Pluralism holds that there is no absolute truth and that different people can have different definitions of truth. Even if they have conflicting views, they may both be correct, and they even advocate that biblical texts should be interpreted based on the projection of the cultural situation at that time. They also believe that truth is systematic rather than absolute.

However, under the premise that God can reveal Himself, we need to understand that the biblical text has a transcendent cultural standpoint. All issues should be based on this standpoint to construct a perception of reality and establish analytical methods.

An adequate response to pluralism must work outward from a deep and deepening grasp of the blueprint of the biblical story. When Christians preach the gospel, it is insufficient to simply ask others to believe in Jesus. Christian witness increasingly needs to confront the confusing worldview with the complete biblical story leading to the climax of the gospel.

In the face of many challenges, we can still have a positive response. First, we can learn how to deal with multiculturalism from the New Testament. Secondly, recognizing the fact of globalization can help the church have global thinking. And in the soil of globalization, church leaders and scholars, on the basis of respecting the authority of the Bible, sincerely communicate and correct each other. And experiencing the storm of pluralism can actually help us understand the core truths of the gospel more clearly.

Questions to think about:
• What characteristics do you see in contemporary pluralism? What impact will it have on your family, career, and social life?
• How have you observed the church being affected by pluralism?
• How do you respond to pluralism?

Bibliography and sources:
• Carson, DA, and John D. Woodbridge, ed. God and Culture. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1993.
• Larkin, William, and David Cashin. Culture and Worldview Course Curriculum. CIU, 2006.
• Sire, James W. The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2004.
• Smart, Ninian. Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.
• Vanhoozer, Kevin J. “The World Well Staged? Theology, Culture, and Hermeneutics,” in God and Culture.

Mrs. Shao Wensi, currently pastoring a church with her husband and pursuing a PhD in theological studies; she has worked in professional business management, finance and taxation, and computer communications. While educating his children at home, he completed a Master of Divinity; he has devoted himself to theological education, home education, marriage and family ministry, discipleship training, Bible teaching, Eurasian missions and church planting, and preacher training. They have three adult sons, one daughter, and four grandchildren.