Faith and Culture: Diversity in Shades or Puritanic?

Koot van Wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD) Visiting Professor, Department of Liberal Education, Kyungpook National University, Sangju Campus, South Korea, Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College, Australia

                   
This is the Adventist church in South Korea. At the top center is my own congregation, Yonghwa church below Sonri-Mountain. A small congregation with 7 attending members. The three congregations are all in the Sanju region which is as large as Seoul-city area. Even larger. But that doesn’t make us city since the three congregations are in the country-side. The next congregation to the left of ours is Yongpo church. It is the same as our church which is the case of a layman owner who decided to built a congregation in a building bought or house. So it is a house-church. The third large congregation is Sangju Church. One can call this congregation also a city-church. There is a difference between a city church and a country church. The country church is nearly 99% farmers. Farmers not in the sense of Texas or South Africa or other economical farmers but large yard farmers. Our topic is “Faith and Culture”. The church on the far left is Sahmyook University church in Seoul. It is a city church with maybe 1% farmers or even 0%. The styles are different between the city and country churches but that is not the topic here. The topic is that Christ asked all of us to let our light shine in this world so that people can see our good works and glorify the heavenly Father. 

  
In this picture, also here in South Korea, we are surrounded by other churches. In this case we have the Catholic church on the right and the Protestant church on the far left. The light of the Catholic church is given the color black because they are the R&D for Sunday-Sabbath substitution of the day of worship, instead of Saturday, they keep Sunday. They are also black since their theology has kidnapped the Holy Spirit as God’s representative on earth of the Son of God and their substitution of him by the role and function of the papacy or Holy See as they call it. It should thus be a black light. The Protestant churches left the catholic church in the times of Luther and Calvin in the 16th century for exactly this reason of the role of the papacy. But, they did still shopping in the Catholic Church and bought from them the concept of keeping Sunday as day of worship. Thus, I would give them a brown light and not yellow.

                 
Yonghwa church has in this picture the perfect light of Christ but that declaration cannot be made by a human, only Christ can make that conclusion. But, based upon approaches to the Word of God it may be considered perfect within that domain.  A yellow light. In the aspect of Faith and Culture they are shining to the world in their area. They are yellow and not black or brown simply because they are in the doctrine and lifestyle following the Bible as standard and is not held down by what Calvin, Luther or the papacy says.

          
The two churches at the far right is the USA and South Africa. For now, what I know about them, their light is also yellow. It may become more brown if they in future push for the woman-ordination case since that is not biblical and even those who push the case knows it. That is why Sahmyook church is given a brown influence from the Protestants and is not completely yellow. I would mix yellow and brown to represent Sahmyook since on the issue of woman-ordination and also on the issue of music style borrowed from Protestant churches of the cities. Sanju church is not brown, but I would give it the color of Orange mixed with yellow on the aspect of food-preparation or cooking on Sabbath contrary to the Bible in Exodus and Numbers and the Spirit of Prophecy but in line with the Synod of Orleans in 538 AD when the bishops of the Catholic Church declared it permissible to “cook and travel” on Sabbath “since we are not heretics or Jews“. Yongpo church gets the same orange color for the same reason.
We must remember that the Seal of God is the Sabbath and Sabbath keeping. The mark of God will be given to those who keep the Sabbath (see Gordon Collier, The Seal of God [1970], 44) for a whole book full of biblical and Spirit of Prophecy statements on the same issue.
So if Seventh-day Adventists have this variety in light that they shine to the world, is it fine to have different colors of light as long as it is a light? The Bible explains that God is in agony about this. The problem with the ancient remnant in the Old Testament is their permissiveness to embrace and incorporate diversity in one system. But, you may say, our Fundamental Beliefs 13/Korean 14 tells us that we should embrace and tollerate and be patient with diversity. Let us read it carefully.

14. 그리스도의 몸 안에서의 연합

교회는 각 나라와 족속과 방언과 백성들 가운데서 불러냄을 받은 자들로 구성된, 많은 지체를 가진 한 몸이다. 그리스도 안에서 우리는 새로운 피조물이다. 그러므로 우리들 사이에서 민족, 문화, 학문, 국적 등의 구별이나 높은 자와 낮은 자, 부자와 가난한 자, 남자와 여자간의 차별이 분열의 요인이 되지 말아야 한다. 우리는 모두 한 성령으로 말미암아 우리와 그리스도, 그리고 우리 상호간을 하나의 친교에로 결속시키는 그리스도 안에서 동등하다. 우리는 편견이 없이 솔직하게 서로 섬기고 또 섬김을 받아야 한다. 우리는 성경에 기록된 예수 그리스도의 계시를 통하여 같은 신앙과 소망을 나누며, 모든 사람에게 동일한 기별을 가지고 나아간다. 이러한 연합은 우리를 그의 자녀로 삼으신 삼위 하나님이 일체가 되신 것에 근원을 두고 있다.                                                         – 기본 신조, 14.
Notice one thing: It is through the “revelation of Jesus Christ in scriptures” that we share this common bond. Our fellowship is not just a feeling good, social high, a good time, a happy get-together. It may include that but fundamentally and in essence it is the Bible and what we do with it. The digimodernist says: “I do not need to carry my Bible with me, I can use my smartphone”. A smartphone Bible is there but you cannot underline it, mark it, write in it. The memory fades as one gets older and therefore it is essential to always sit with a Bible and a pen. The post-modernists with their power-point craze comes to church without a Bible since everything will be for them in power-point even the Bible verses. So why carry a Bible? A Bible is essential for proper education of the mind takes place when the hand, eyes, ears, mind listen, understands, summarize and write in the margin of the verse for memory purposes and to re-use the information later for friends or colleagues or even preaching. Salvation by Power-point is not sufficient. The topic is Faith and Culture and how my modern culture affects my faith and even water-down my experience with Christ and worshipping God. We are talking about the dangers of Spiritual malnutrition. Ellen White says that more missionary efforts are helpful from our sides in life.

이 지상에서 이루어지고 있는 당신의 사업은 하나님께 매우 보배로운 것이다. 그리스도와 하늘의 천사들은 교회 사업을 항상 살피고 있다. 그리스도의 재림이 임박할수록 우리들은 더욱 더욱 선교 사업에 우리들의 노력을 기울이게 될 것이다. 하나님의 은혜의 새롭게 하시는 능력에 대한 기별은 진리가 온 세상을 띠로 두를 때까지 모든 나라와 지방에 전파될 것이다. 인치심을 받는 자들 중의 다수가 모든 나라와 족속과 방언과 백성에서 온 자들로 이루어질 것이다. 하나님의 보좌와 어린 양 앞에 설 자들이 모든 나라에서 모여서 “구원하심이 보좌에 앉으신 우리 하나님과 어린 양에게 있도다”(계 7:10)라고 큰 소리로 외칠 것이다.
                                     - 부모와 교사와 학생에게 보내는 권면 532

Gordon Collier, The Seal of God page (1970), 44.
She says all these things will happen “until the truth shall belt the world” and for me that picture looks like the following sketch:

                    
It brings us finally to the message of Jeremiah about Faith and Culture in Jeremiah 12:14-17. God is angry with remnant in Judah but also angry with the surrounding nations since they have taught the true remnant outside cultural aspects that they incorporated in their faith so that their lights became either black, brown or mixed with black and brown or even orange. God decided to punish them. But then God had a very hopeful message in verse 16. He speaks of “my people” who is the remnant but he also speaks of the goi or nations who are the unfaithful people. Those who do not follow the truth of God or the Bible as revealed by Jesus Christ in Scripture are the goi even though their church may read: Seventh-day Adventist Church of whatever city or town. The Lord says in verse 16 that if these unfaithful nations have learned from “My people” = remnant, the truths of the Bible and subsequently says “The Lord is life” instead of “Baal or surrounding cultures/jurisdiction/philosophies/psychology/ideas/permissiveness is life” then the Lord will place them within the center of His people. They become His people. It is a mixture of am = people and goi = nation (other than God’s people) in the Old Testament that we also see with Isaiah and Moses. Any country or religion that is afraid of proselytizing or evangelism to the other faith, should be, because there are cracks in their own and they have no mechanism for effective ideological explanation other than to persecute or arrange to be persecuted anyone who is involved in proselytizing. 

12:14 내가 내 백성 이스라엘에게 기업으로 준 소유에 손을 대는 나의 모든 악한 이웃에 대하여 여호와께서 이와 같이 말씀하시니라 보라 내가 그들을 그 땅에서 뽑아 버리겠고 유다 집을 그들 가운데서 뽑아 내리라
15.내가 그들을 뽑아 낸 후에 내가 돌이켜 그들을 불쌍히 여겨서 각 사람을 그들의 기업으로, 각 사람을 그 땅으로 다시 인도하리니
  

  16.그들이 내 백성의 도를 부지런히 배우며 살아 있는 여호와라는 내 이름으로 맹세하기를 자기들이 내 백성을 가리켜 바알로 맹세하게 한 것 같이 하면 그들이 내 백성 가운데에 세움을 입으려니와
17.그들이 순종하지 아니하면 내가 반드시 그 나라를 뽑으리라 뽑아 멸하리라 여호와의 말씀이니라
  
Dear God
Grant that what we are unable to do with our own perfection following the Example of Christ will also for us individually be filled up with the Substitution of Christ so that our iniquity is also forgiven and we join others into heavenly Zion with the remnant at the Second Coming. Amen