Sunday, June 21, 2009

Cultural reflection

In our small group we briefly discussed that most of the Corinthian believers were gentile, mostly Greeks. The Greeks had a cultural tendency to pick their favorite philosopher or politician and hold them up on a pedestal, sometimes to the point that they treated them like gods. We see an example of this in Acts 14 when Paul and Barnabas performed miracles, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The people responded to them by calling them zeus and hermes and they wanted to sacrifice animals to them. The Corinthian believers were doing this, some liked Apollos, some Paul, some Cephas (Peter), some just said Christ meaning they didn't need anyone to teach them. They weren't just saying I like this teacher over the other they were saying we are better than you because we follow the teachings of Apollos or Paul and so on. This was causing divisions in the church and it was tearing up their unity. The question I have been reflecting on and would like you to reflect on is, What cultural baggage, if any, are you bringing to Christianity? to your church?