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In discussions on culture in a recent doctoral intensive course, it was said that human culture is temporal.
Does any human creation enter the Kingdom?
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(C) Laura Springer
Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Probably a new culture will emerge within the Kingdom...but are we talking about the thousand years or the eternal? Each would be different, I think.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about the eternal Kingdom. I tend to think that something of human culture enters eternity, but the more I think about the question, the less sure I become. I wonder, if human cultures are perfectly cleansed of the corruption of sin, what will remain? Maybe the prof is right and eternity will have only one culture, God's. I'm just not sure.
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts?
Well, I think that Adam and Eve were given instruction by God to replenish the earth and to rule over it....or have dominion over it. Maybe free will is what brings about culture. If sin hadn't entered into the equation then a sinless culture would have developed. We know that God wanted all of the Garden to be cared for...well, Adam and Eve would want that too, and their free will would give them choice on how to go about it. The way we do things is what a culture is..isn't it?
ReplyDeleteMichael, good point. I do think it has to do with humanity bearing the image of God. It's still the multiple culture issue that I wonder about. Here in time we have such difficulty communicating across culture that, though I do not think we'll have such a difficulty in heaven, it's difficult to see what such communication looks like.
ReplyDeleteLet's look at the first family. Was sin a factor in Cain becoming a farmer and Abel becoming a shephard? Gen. 2:5 says that "there was no man to till the ground". This is before man was created. So, this verse makes me believe that sin didn't play a role in men becoming farmers, nor do I believe that sin is what caused men to be shephards. God has gifted man in many ways, and men are going to discover those gifts and put them to use. Already in the first family we see different ways of life. I would think that human culture will enter into eternity, but not what we see now. It might be more like this....think of America, and how, for the most part, we have a common culture throughout. Now, as you travel from the east coast to the west coast and from the south to the north, we have a difference in culture within the culture. We have different accents, style of dress, foods, etc. A lot of this is based on the geography of America. Minnesota is a lot different than California! A lot is also based on the history of how people have done things. We could say "there's more than one way to skin a cat!" And that will play a role. There are many ways to fish, but God provides the fish. There are many ways to build a house, but God furnishes the materials, there are many ways to cook a chicken, but God provides the chicken.
ReplyDeleteWhat about "preference" and "creativity"? What about "All things new"? Do we have evidence of God establishing culture? Do we have evidence of man establishing culture around God? What about the new culture that developed because of Christ? Weren't christians persecuted for abandoning the law and following Christ? The culture we see is tainted. Sin has marred it. I doubt that what we see around us now will matter very much when we see Him in His glory! So my answer would be that what we created here will not enter, but once there, we will be creating in light of His glory!
ReplyDeleteOn my 9:33pm post I left a couple of things out. When mentioning America, I meant to pose this question: "What will the geography of the new earth be like?" I also meant to finalize my America example with, "There will probably be a common culture, but also a variety of "cultures" within that culture. That is where "preference" and "creativity" come in to play.
ReplyDeleteGiven that a large part of culture is beliefs and values, I agree that the metaculture in eternity will be one, for the beliefs and values will be centered on God in Christ. As for creativity and preference, these seem to be part of our bearing the image of God, so it would be logical for these to remain.
ReplyDelete