Cultural Blindspots

American schoolchildren are taught that on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbour without provocation, devastating the US Fleet and killing nearly 2,500 Americans in the deadliest attack on American soil until 9/11.  The Japanese who attacked are viewed as cowardly, deceitful, and murderous, attacking an innocent party without warning.

Japanese schoolchildren are taught that, in the years and months of growing global tension preceding Pearl Harbour, the US had levelled economic sanctions against Japan, withheld oil, and built up military forces in Asia in an attempt to keep Japanese ambitions in check.  The US had not entered the war yet, but if they did, the Japanese would certainly be a target of attack.  Viewing the economic actions and military buildup as a preparation for war, the Japanese chose to strike first, seeking to disable the US fleet at Pearl Harbour in order to protect themselves from what they viewed as a certain eventual American invasion.  In other words, the Japanese viewed Pearl Harbour much as Americans viewed the 2003 Invasion of Iraq – as a justified, pre-emptive strike against an enemy who was preparing to attack them.

Interesting, no?  Two completely opposite views of the exact same event.  While the Japanese perspective in no way diminishes the horror of the attack, it does show us that there are always multiple sides to a story.  We will see this pattern repeated over and over again, in virtually any given historical situation, with opposing sides coming to completely different conclusions from the exact same event.

As much as we would all like to believe that our own perspective is absolutely pure, it simply isn’t.  We are all products of our culture, our upbringing, our gender, our biases, our worldview, etc.  We don’t see things purely, with a righteous heart and clear mind – we perceive everything through the many filters of who we are. 

This affects how we interpret God’s Word, how we do church, how we discern His will, and how we walk with Him.  This struck me very clearly on a ministry trip to Zambia, where several pastors told me that we were living in the end-times, right now.  When I shared that most from my country would think of the end-times as a series of future events, the pastors thought I was crazy!  As Africa was being swallowed up in disease, violence, warfare, martyrdom, poverty, and widespread death, they saw the book of Revelation being lived out around themselves, every day.  In our safe and comfortable North American worldview, we see no such thing.  Our cultural worldview causes us to view things in a certain way, just as the Zambian cultural worldview caused them to view things very differently.  Both sides are Christians, reading the same Bible, filled with the same Spirit – yet coming to very different conclusions. 

Even the early apostles were not immune to cultural blindspots.  Spirit-filled and anointed as they were, their Jewish worldview caused them to initially question the Gentiles’ right to participate in the Church (Acts 11:1-3).  One can’t blame them; that was the only way they knew.  It was how they had been raised and taught.  Even in the purity of the revelation and power of the early Church, their flesh, influenced by their culture, was still at play.  It took an act of God to get them to alter their views (Acts 11:4-18), which thankfully they did, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The point is, we all see things dimly, and in part (1Co 13:12).  If the apostles were not immune to such errors, then neither are we.  We are all products of our culture, and our culture is not necessarily always right.

What is one to do?  Be willing to admit that our worldview may be wrong, for one.  The apostles did, and it unlocked tremendous blessing for the church.  Like the apostles, we must be open to a different viewpoint.  Listen to various perspectives, and weigh each on their own merits.  Understand that our authority is not in what the culture says, or even what the Church says, but upon what God says.  Where we have been in error, we must repent and move on.  And we must remain tied to God’s Word, constantly seeking the truth of His revelation.  Our personal cultural perspectives may be impossible to overcome completely in this life, but if we are aware, humble, and open-minded, then perhaps we can do better, and better, and better.