Can anything good be found in man or the world apart from the grace and\npresence of the Lord Jesus Christ? What would the world look like if only one\nnation had the Bible? It would look like the days of Jeremiah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In those days, only one small country has had God\u2019s laws for 900 years.\nThey live at the junction between Europe, Asia, and Africa. Around 725 BC,\nIsrael was conquered by Assyria and deported (2 Kings 17:6). Over a hundred\nyears later, Jeremiah is given the prophecy found in the 10th<\/sup>\nchapter of his book. Now the southern kingdom of Judah is about to be conquered\nby Babylon (Jer. 9:16). At this time, God gives a warning for all the people in\ncaptivity because they will be living near and meeting different peoples of the\nworld\u2014the Gentiles. What warning does He give? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Do not learn the way of the nations\u2026 For the customs of the peoples are delusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The way of the nations is their culture. The word could be\ninterchanged with the \u201ccustoms\u201d of the Gentiles found in the next verse. In the\nNT, Peter uses the words conduct, behavior, and manner of life to describe the\nbasic actions of a people group (1 Pet. 1:15, 18; 2:12; 3:1, 2, 16; 2 Pet. 2:7;\n3:11).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing in 1828, Noah Webster defined \u201cculture\u201d like this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe act of tilling and preparing the earth for crops; cultivation; the application of labor or other means of improvement. 2. The application of labor or other means to improve good qualities in, or growth; as the culture<\/em> of the mind; the culture<\/em> of virtue. 3. The application of labor or other means in producing; as the culture<\/em> of corn, or grass. 4. Any labor or means employed for improvement, correction or growth.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Our contemporary use of the term shows that today culture means the way\nof life that brings about the best kind of life. A culture represents a\nsociety\u2019s best attempts to make true judgments. This is what we think good\nmanners in children look like. This is what we think good music is. This is\nwhat we think just laws look like. This is the kind of character we think\nproduces prosperity. Today there is a globalized popular culture that has been\ngrowing exponentially since about 1960 because the forward leaps of technology\nhave been so massive as to sometimes approximate flights of scientific advance\nrather than mere steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, some things that some\ncultures do are wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These nations had ways that were immoral and impractical,\nand it is a mercy from God that some of the foolish ways have changed through\nthe growth of the Christian religion. When their cultures should have been\ndedicated to the improvement, correction, or growth of the society, instead\nthey were degrading the people under their influences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of the ways of every nation bear a resemblance to every\nother, and in some ways they each differ. What can account for the similarities\nas well as the differences? From what spring comes culture? <\/p>\n\n\n\n That is the subject of the next entry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Can anything good be found in man or the world apart from the grace and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? What would the world look like if only one nation had the Bible? It would look like the days … Continue reading
Jeremiah 10:2-3<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n