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Why Having More Christians Won't Necessarily Change Our Culture
Charisma News ^ | 5/27/2013 | Os Hillman

Posted on 05/28/2013 6:58:35 AM PDT by xzins

For centuries, Christians thought culture would change if we just had a majority of Christians in the culture. That has proven to be a false assumption. Culture is defined by a relatively small number of change agents who operate at the top of cultural spheres or societal mountains. It takes less than 3-5 percent of those operating at the top of a cultural mountain to actually shift the values represented on that mountain.

For example, this is exactly what advocates in the gay rights movement has done through the "mountains" of media and arts and entertainment. They have strategically used these avenues to promote their cause and reframe the argument. They are gradually legitimizing their cause through these two cultural mountains through a small percentage of people in society operating at the top of the media and arts and entertainment mountain.

Mountains are controlled by a small percentage of leaders and networks. James Hunter, in a book entitled How to Change the World, highlights what sociologist Randall Collins says about civilizations in his book The Sociology of Philosophies. According to Collins, civilizations have been defined by a very small percentage of cultural philosophers who influence seven gates and supporting networks since our birth as a civilization.

Hunter summarizes, “Even if we add the minor figures in all of the networks, in all of the civilizations, the total is only 2,700. In sum, between 150 and 3,000 people (a tiny fraction of the roughly 23 billion people living between 600 B.C. and A.D. 1900) framed the major contours of all world civilizations. Clearly, the transformations here were top-down.”

What an amazing piece of information. Imagine that. Culture has been defined since the beginning of time by no more than 3,000 change agents, a tiny fraction of the population.

That is why we must realize that making more converts will not necessarily change culture. It is important to have conversions, but it is more important to have those who are converted operate at the tops of the cultural mountains from a biblical worldview.

Those at the tops of these mountains are expressing their liberal worldview through these cultural spheres. The more godly the change agent at the top, the more righteous the culture will be. The more ungodly, the more liberal we will become. It doesn’t matter if the majority of the culture is made up of Christians. It only matters who has the greatest influence over that cultural mountain.

Our Current Status in Culture

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan” (Prov. 29:2).

For the last several decades, culture has become increasingly secular and liberal in the United States. But God has always raised up His change agents to represent His interests and agenda on Planet Earth. God is raising up His change agents for such a time as this.

We know that Jesus will return for a bride, that “He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). So, despite the trends we may see, I believe we need to operate from a victorious eschatological viewpoint. God’s current activity in the marketplace is part of this.

He is calling us in His church to “love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart, with all [our] soul, and with all [our] mind” (Matt. 22:37). This means applying God’s mind to the natural order expressed through the cultural mountains of society.

Changing culture rarely happens without the cooperation of other like-minded change agents pooling their resources and influence capital to make change.

William Wilberforce Solves the Slave-Trade Problem
William Wilberforce was a British politician and philanthropist who lived in the late 1700s and was a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 and became the independent member of Parliament for Yorkshire (1784-1812). He was a close friend of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger.

In 1785, he underwent a conversion experience and became an evangelical Christian, resulting in changes to his lifestyle and his interest in reform. He was 28 years old at the time and wondered whether he could stay in politics and remain a follower of Jesus Christ. His good friend John Newton, who was a converted slave trader and author of the famous hymn "Amazing Grace," convinced him to stay in politics to model his faith in the public sector. His life was dramatized in a 2007 movie production from Walden Media entitled Amazing Grace.

In 1787, Wilberforce came in contact with Thomas Clarkson and a group of anti-slave-trade activists, including Granville Sharp, Hannah More and Lord Middleton. They persuaded Wilberforce to take on the cause of abolition, and he soon became one of the leading English abolitionists, heading the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade until the eventual passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.

The Clapham Group
Wilberforce was part of a small band of influential leaders in England called the Clapham Group. They were a small group of leaders operating in the governmental "mountain" of influence. Its members were chiefly prominent and wealthy evangelical Anglicans who shared common political views concerning the liberation of slaves, the abolition of the slave trade and the reform of the penal system.

The group's name originated from Clapham, then a village south of London (today part of southwest London), where both Wilberforce and Thornton, the sect's two most influential leaders, resided and where many of the group's meetings were held. They were supported by Beilby Porteus, bishop of London, who sympathized with many of their aims.

After many decades of work both in British society and in Parliament, the group saw their efforts rewarded with the final passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807, banning the trade throughout the British Empire and, after many further years of campaigning, the total emancipation of British slaves with the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. They also campaigned vigorously for Britain to use its influence to eradicate slavery throughout the world.

It was not a large group. It consisted of less than 20 leaders. However, these leaders were passionate about their faith, their causes and their commitment to those causes.

If we are going to have a positive influence in culture, we must rethink our strategy from "getting more people saved" to "getting more kingdom marketplace leaders operating in the places of influence." Both strategies are important, but cultural change will only happen when a small group of kingdom marketplace leaders operate at the top of these cultural mountains by solving societal problems and bringing a Christian worldview into their leadership.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: academicbias; christendom; christianculture; christianity; civilwar2; civilwarii; culture; culturewar; culturewars; dnctalkingpoints; elites; enemedia; ivorytower; lavendermafia; mediaelites; mediawar; moralabsolutes; morality; morals; philosophy; pinkjournalism; politics; sociology; yellowjournalism
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To: xzins; red irish; fastrock; NorthernCrunchyCon; UMCRevMom@aol.com; Finatic; fellowpatriot; ...
Culture is defined by a relatively small number of change agents who operate at the top of cultural spheres or societal mountains. It takes less than 3-5 percent of those operating at the top of a cultural mountain to actually shift the values represented on that mountain.

Ask Joe Biden. He gets it. Sadly.

41 posted on 05/28/2013 8:15:53 AM PDT by narses
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To: xzins
Reagan was right about unilateral disarmament alright, but why was he right? Why did anyone ever think such a policy would work in the first place? Answer, because the Christian concept of Man as being inherently flawed has been replaced by the secularist viewpoint of Man being perfect, marred only by "culture", "society", or "the past". The constrained view of humanity, once almost universal, has been gradually replaced with an unconstrained view.

Thus, the liberals/secularists/humanists pushed unilateral disarmament because they say such an example will reach out to our enemies, appeal to their better natures, remove all possible threats and therefore encourage understanding. Christians know this is nonsense, partly on practical grounds but mostly because we know that people do not HAVE a better nature, except as God works upon them.

The point is that we cannot fight this evil by just simply denying liberal demands, which is how politics works. We have to show people that the underlying philosophy behind these liberal arguments is just flawed. Should we be storming the gates of hell? Yes, but remember, as C S Lewis said, the gates of hell are locked on the inside. Its probably more appropriate to say we should be yanking people out before they can shut the gate. :)

42 posted on 05/28/2013 8:19:26 AM PDT by Vanders9
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To: Romulus

We need Christians that are Salt and Light!!


43 posted on 05/28/2013 8:28:05 AM PDT by chicagolady (Mexican Elite say: EXPORT Poverty Let the American Taxpayer foot the bill !)
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To: Dilbert San Diego
The homosexuals made it to television just as that medium was being tubed (that's a pun) ~ as all pre-recorded entertainment shifts over to the internet, we don't have to watch any of it.

Note to self: on this topic don't forget to mention the Korean history dramas ~ no gays ~ guys have several wives, your next door neighbor spends all his money on booze and goes broke he ends up as a slave on a farm ~ total escapism!

Further Note: Their criminal courts are held right at the jail with headchopping being done immediately after what looks like a sort of preliminary hearing. Torture is the real deal ~ those ol'boys back in the day would have laughed about waterboarding.

44 posted on 05/28/2013 8:31:14 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

You have to watch it on the tv though?


45 posted on 05/28/2013 8:33:48 AM PDT by stuartcr ("I have habits that are older than the people telling me they're bad for me.")
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To: Buckeye McFrog

I think history is a pendulum, eventually the libertines will take it too far, then the pendulum will shift back the other way......rinse.....lather.....repeat.


46 posted on 05/28/2013 8:35:46 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: stuartcr
Broadcast or Cable ~ no, not really. If I go to a website and pick a Korean language history drama I play what I want, when I want ~ some of them have over 80 1 hour segments! Korean shows can totally supplant the drek put out in English if you want.

No gays! Women in large shapeless dresses. Compelling drama based on real lives.

Worth it to watch the food ~ try Jewel in the Palace for a starter. There's a 'nurse ratched' in there, so be forwarned. She kills people by poisoning them, or by tricking the authorities into believing an innocent is really a traitor ~ Actually well acted ~ great costumes, good dialogue ~

47 posted on 05/28/2013 8:39:27 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

I try to watch it when I’m in Japan, but it’s all in Korean with Japanese subtitles. I don’t think they show the same shows you watch. Mostly it’s 1/2hr dramas where everyone in restaurants are wearing padded jackets or boy bands with lots of make up.


48 posted on 05/28/2013 8:43:11 AM PDT by stuartcr ("I have habits that are older than the people telling me they're bad for me.")
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To: Buckeye McFrog
I think you are correct, but they HAVE convinced a large number of people they are doing the right thing. I'd say minimally around 47%......

I've had a lot of days since November 2012 when I feel like the dude described in that story I posted, and then I try to remind myself of Yogi's advice.

I think that made sense......:-)

49 posted on 05/28/2013 8:47:05 AM PDT by Lakeshark (!)
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To: stuartcr

HISTORY DRAMAS ~ far different sort of thing. Try internet websites and you can get English subtitles with Korean language. Might put together a list of these things with URLs ~


50 posted on 05/28/2013 8:52:49 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

Thanks, but I don’t enjoy watching movies and stuff like that on the internet.


51 posted on 05/28/2013 8:54:26 AM PDT by stuartcr ("I have habits that are older than the people telling me they're bad for me.")
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To: Vanders9

How are you going to show people that the underlying philosophy behind these liberal arguments is just flawed?


52 posted on 05/28/2013 8:56:51 AM PDT by stuartcr ("I have habits that are older than the people telling me they're bad for me.")
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To: stuartcr

I can’t provide any universal answer to that. For some, it’s a threat to their families. For others, it may be a threat to their faith or their principles (although such threats tend to be amorphous). Others may take a stand for profit or other self benefit.

Whatever line we draw as individuals, the time is fast approaching when we will need to decide.


53 posted on 05/28/2013 8:56:57 AM PDT by IronJack (=)
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To: Romulus; Jim Robinson
We don’t need more Christians; we need the kind that keeps the ancient apostolic faith, within the Church founded by Jesus Christ. The privatized DIY American model is hopelessly inadequate and defective.

I am getting kind of sick and tired of the Catholic bigotry take over of FR.

I don't mind that 1/3 of the posts have explicit or implicit Catholic overtones but when this kind of junk is thrown in it starts to get to me.

54 posted on 05/28/2013 8:56:59 AM PDT by nitzy (You can avoid reality but you can't avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.)
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To: Alex Murphy

Alex, I also cannot disagree more. I observed first hand what happens to a society in which God and faith in Him are systematically undermined, attacked, and eliminated from the population at large by the government during my travels in the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s. When Communism collapsed, multiple generations of people were set adrift. When the law of the state was eliminated, the people became lawless — there was no sense of a higher power beyond the state. When the all powerful government no longer kept the common criminals (as opposed to those with KGB credentials)at bay, it became every man for himself. The prostitution, drunkenness, drug use, extortion, fights and anarchy I observed on the streets of Moscow in July & August of 1992 as social order disintegrated, was wide spread and common. It was a tough, cruel world to view. -— I can contrast that view with what I saw of massive crowds at TEA Party events where freedom loving, well armed, and mostly God-fearing people gathered in an incredibly safe environment with little to no police supervision. No one got robbed, no fights, and they left the streets and parks cleaner than when they got there. This was a group of people largely influenced by Christian faith.


55 posted on 05/28/2013 9:00:07 AM PDT by Bill Russell
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To: stuartcr

If you want to watch broadcast TV it’s pretty empty these days.


56 posted on 05/28/2013 9:00:42 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: IronJack

We all know, or think we know, what we want, but so far no one knows how to get it done...for the last 2k yrs or so.

Why do you think the time is fast approaching and what are the lines that are to be drawn?


57 posted on 05/28/2013 9:01:02 AM PDT by stuartcr ("I have habits that are older than the people telling me they're bad for me.")
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To: nitzy

‘I am getting kind of sick and tired of the Catholic bigotry take over of FR.’

Which is why having more Christians won’t necessarily change our culture...as I said earlier, unless all Christians are of the exact same mindset, one group or the other is going to insist they are right, and the other is wrong.

God made humans with the free will to choose their beliefs throughout history.


58 posted on 05/28/2013 9:05:52 AM PDT by stuartcr ("I have habits that are older than the people telling me they're bad for me.")
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To: muawiyah

I guess that’s really up to the individual and what they want.


59 posted on 05/28/2013 9:06:47 AM PDT by stuartcr ("I have habits that are older than the people telling me they're bad for me.")
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To: xzins
For centuries, Christians thought culture would change if we just had a majority of Christians in the culture. That has proven to be a false assumption.

Really? Where was this disproven?

A critical mass of Christians in the society absolutely does change the nature and tone and direction of a society.

If the writer doesn't know this, he needs to get out more.

Furthermore, as our own culture takes its dive into the tarmac, we are finding that politics can't fix what ails us, because politics rests upon a moral foundation that either is or isn't there. And that moral foundation rests upon a spiritual one.

You can have a government that is worse than the people it governs but you will only rarely and briefly have a government that is better than its citizenry. In general, if your government is corrupt your people are as well though they may prefer not to recognize it. This is a moral problem, and this is a spiritual one. Solve that, and the political problem will take care of itself. Fail to solve it and you get to watch while each and every election cycle takes you deeper into disaster.

60 posted on 05/28/2013 9:08:11 AM PDT by marron
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