Cultural vs grace driven Christians

Broadly speaking there are two kinds of "Christianity" in ¹America:

1.  Cultural Christianity (the majority)

2.  Grace-driven followers of Christ

The first is more a worldview. The second is a relationship and posture with God or state of being if you will. 

A. Cultural Christianity acknowledges certain fundamental truths of the Christian faith. Some of the basic and common elements in contrast with a secular world view are...

·      Man has the capacity for good but is naturally inclined toward selfishness i.e. corrupt by nature.

·     There are moral absolutes and values i.e. there is objectively right and wrong and these don’t change.

·      Mankind should be and will be held accountable by His Creator (God) for his choices and actions if not in this life, the next.

These are very important and distinct from a non-Christian worldview which generally asserts or assumes three contrary beliefs...

·      Mankind is basically good and corrupted by his environment - i.e. from without vs within.

·      Morality is relative and subjective. We have our own truth. What is right for you is not necessarily right for me or others. There are no absolutes -- a key tenant of postmodernism.

·      This life is all there is, so eat, drink, and be merry i.e. make the most of it... if it feels good do it, and the like.  

Prior to postmodernism, a cultural Christians worldview was common among the majority of Americans - particularly after the 1st Great Awakening from the early 1730s on - though it has slowly declined from when it was a majority-held view in America (not only among the general population but among institutional heads and centers of influence to a great extent) up until the 1960s. Since Postmodernism, the contrast between a Christian and non-Christian world view has become more pronounced and clear. The fundamental differences of cultural Christianity are very significant when compared to a non-Christian worldview and for this reason alone is important. So I do not want to dismiss its significance entirely. As a result, how a cultural Christian approaches life is very different compared to a nonbeliever. Holding these different views is not insignificant. 

B. Grace-driven Christianity is rooted in the good news that God did all that was needed to restore us to himself and free us from our inclination to serve self. He did this because we were not able to free ourselves. It agrees with and holds to the same fundamental truths/values as the Cultural Christian but goes beyond these i.e. these cultural aspects will still be a key part of a grace-driven Christian's worldview but is not the essence of what defines or drives them to action. To say it another way, their worldview influences their approach to the world but does not alone or in itself empower them to rightly act i.e. for the glory of God. Only the Spirit of God via the grace of God extended to us in and through the gospel can empower us to live for God.

The distinction between cultural and grace-driven Christians is important for two reasons:

1.  Non-Christians do not understand this difference (because they have not partaken of and experienced the power of grace and God's perfect forgiveness) and therefore lump these different "kinds" of Christians into the same group. Why does this matter? Many attitudes and approaches to various cultural issues can be very ³differently between cultural and grace-driven Christians. As a result, grace-driven Christians are attributed certain views and attitudes the cultural Christian holds which they don’t necessarily agree with. For these reasons, these two approaches may look and sound the same to a non-Christian (and on the surface, they are in fact similar) but they are driven by a very different reason-motive. 

2. Those who adhere only to cultural Christianity do not necessarily understand or agree with the message of grace and may in fact be Christian only culturally in how they view the world (the first 3 bullet points above). They are not, in fact, followers of Jesus as the bible defines it i.e. they may not be true believers when it comes to the central message of Christianity — the gospel of grace.

So the differences are not immediately apparent on the surface to a nonbeliever (or even necessarily with those who claim to be Christians - what I am ⁴calling a cultural Christian). It’s not until you look “under the hood” that you see the difference that drives these externally similar yet very different flavors of Christianity. 

So is cultural Christianity truly Christian? Yes, in so far as it adheres to these fundamental principles but not in so far as one's relationship and posture before God as his child is solely based on God’s work, not our work or views. There are many within and without the Church who are cultural Christians i.e. Christian in name only. 

To say it another way, the views of a Cultural Christian may be aligned with the Bible and in that sense are Christian, but this alone does not make one a true believer (a follower/disciple of Jesus) as defined by scripture. The Bible is clear that one’s standing before God is based on the good news (gospel) of grace (the work of Christ on our behalf) and accepting God's offer of righteousness earned by Christ, not in only adhering to a certain worldview or moral values or even being able to explain the gospel. I have known several nonbelievers that can explain the gospel well who professed to be a Christian but never expressed true affections for God. I also know those who claimed to be a believer but later professed true faith, acknowledging they never understood grace or had genuine saving faith prior to then. 

For a grace-driven Christian, these same worldviews held by cultural Christians are also adhered to but are the fruit of their relationship with God, not the grounds or cause of it. It is only by grace we are restored to a right standing and heartfelt relationship with God i.e. saved, not believing certain things taught in the Bible. As James says, demons believe in God and tremble... but they're still demons. 

For a discussion on why there are hypocrites in the church click here. 

For a discussion on the church's tendency to legalistic morality, click here. 

For a discussion on the difference between the gospel and religion click here. 

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¹and elsewhere though this appears to be more common in the western church and particularly in America. 

²there can be some blending of worldviews between cultural Christians and nonbelievers but generally, if someone adheres to one of the distinguishing fundamentals of a cultural Christian worldview, they tend to adhere to all of them i.e. they all tend to hang together or not at all.

³"Cultural Christians" tend to be more rigid and unyielding in their approach to life. Their emphasis is more about being right than caring i.e. loving your neighbor. Grace-driven Christians tend to be more patient, understanding, and loving (though not automatically). To say it another way they bear the fruit of the Spirit. Like their Lord, they operate by grace and truth, and in that order. They understand the key essence of how we live is based on loving God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves i.e. truth is vital but love is the primary driving force of their lives. They also understand to love God with all our heart... we must first know the love of God personally -- our love for Him and obedience to him is a response to His love for us. For more on this click here and here. Of course, there are always exceptions among any of these various groups. 

⁴I make this distinction based on my own experience not theory. What do I mean? I used to be a cultural Christian to a great extent up until around 1998 (I came to Christ in 1971). And this was after I had gone to Bible College and been involved in lay ministry for several years. I have found there is a huge difference between being able to articulate the gospel message (which I could do well) and actually experiencing grace. I think I genuinely knew Christ before then but it was far more in my head than my heart. I have concluded there are many (maybe most) within the church today that are like I was rather than how I am now. I think many of those folks are truly Christians as the Bible defines it, but I have observed many who may not be.  Only God knows their hearts we do not. Christ did say however by their fruits you will know them. Loving God and our neighbor is the greatest evidence and fruit of grace (Spirit) driven followers of Christ. 

We know Christ said he will separate the wheat from the weeds one day (i.e. they both exist within the church and will until Christ returns) and it is not our job to do so or decide who is and isn't a true follower of Christ, but for now, they are mixed together. To hear the words "depart from me, I never knew you" by someone who has done "many wonderful works" in God's name is a scary consideration. One we should all examine our hearts carefully over.