Cultural Relevance Is Not an Option

What is the purpose and design of our life? Just as a computer is designed to do certain stuff according to its design, so as we as God’s creations are designed to do something according to our design. Just as a computer has a manual how it can be used and operates properly within the boundary of its design, so do we have the manual to be used effectively according to the way God has designed us. This manual is what we called God’s moral absolutes. God’s moral absolutes are the template, the form of God’s design for us. Just as we can use a computer as a seat but it will not function as it has been designed, we can violate the instruction or manual, and will not function properly as God has intended.

Within its intended function, a computer can be used for word processing, email, spreadsheet, web developing, etc. It still has an area of flexibility or freedom within its intended function. In the same way, we as human beings, God’s creations, have a freedom within that moral absolutes. God does not forbid us to wear a red t-shirt today or buy Nike shoes instead of Reebok.

Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery”.
In essence, in these areas, God does not give us absolutes, thus we have the freedom to choose and decide how we will deal with them.

As Christians, we need to know the difference between form and freedom. Form is God’s moral absolutes, the original design, the template. Freedom is freedom, the area within the form. Many Christians are confused about this. Therefore, as a result, they declare almost everything absolutes. We need to be careful regarding this matter, because if God does not declare any absolutes for certain things, who are we to think that we may know better? As Christians, we should not declare absolutes which God Himself does not.

“To require people to embrace anything beyond what is written in Scripture is to put a yoke on their necks that they will not be able to bear. Anything more than Scripture is too much”1

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