cul·ture /ˈkʌltʃər/ Show Spelled [kuhl-cher] Show IPA noun, verb, -tured, -tur·ing.
noun
1. the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.
We come in contact and influence many people. As Adventist, I think we make the mistake of introducing them to the culture of Adventism without introducing them to those Truths that give us distinction. The only thing that some people know of Adventists are that they don't eat meat, and some do, and they go into the medical field, and some don't, and they play Rook on Saturday night, not many own TV's, we make haystacks, and go hiking or sleeping on Saturday afternoon. And sometimes they find out that we are friendly and happy and healthy, always attend Church on the day that the best children's cartoons are on TV.
With that exposure, they seem to love the people, and find a community, and decide they want to become baptized, believing they are 'converting' to the Seventh-day Adventist faith, when in actuality, they are merely seeking to be part of the Adventist culture.
While the true culture of a society stems from the Truths that said society regards as important, if we mistake the reception of Culture for the reception of Truth, then the little trials that come which separate the people from their community will also remove their handle on the Truth.
Our Truths must not only be integrated into and be displayed in our culture, but must be spoken of with a distinction that we respect them, not that we are afraid of those Truths that not only make us free, but give us Strength, Peace and a peculiarity that must be awe-inspiring.
I spoke with a gentleman friend of mine, and in conversation realized that he didn't know why he was vegetarian except for the fact that Ellen White says. I was afraid for him, but realize that many of use have grown up in the culture, which now has become our own Pop Culture, instead of what it should be: an outward manifestation of the Truths that we have been called to uphold with reverence and affection.
With the reception of Adventism merely as a culture and not as a Movement of Truth, then the Bible is reduced to a good book of suggestions instead of our Life. Ellen White is reduced to a prolific writer who some pejoratively declare as their 'favorite author,' instead of the Prophet of the Lord. If that token were applied to Christ's day, would Zecheriah be Ezra and Nehemiah's 'favorite author'? Would John the Baptist be merely a 'controversial speaker' that knows how to strike enthusiasm into a crowd of people craving for Nationalistic identity?
with the reception of Adventism merely as a culture, our choice of food merely becomes a diet, our healthy emphasis merely becomes an activity, our emphasis on mental culture is reduced to IQ and emotional intelligence. A stark reduction from that which we have been called to be: these actions are actions of obedience and repentance from our disobedience in the past. These things that others might simply term as Adventist culture must be what Paul terms a 'manifestation of Truth' in our lives.
But it can't be more than culture to us if we don't know. If we don't know or believe that we read the Bible to direct our steps. That these Truths do a work in our lives that provide a stalwart strength of purpose that is unswayed by popular opinion or novel conjectures.
Because one day we will be reduced to a people where we are removed from our society with those of similar culture. And the only thing we will have remaining to stand on are those Truths that prompted our ancestors in the societal direction that we see today. And if we don't know how that came about, we will have nothing.
