Many people may appear to be followers of Christ. They are diligent in attending church weekly. They know all the words to their favorite hymns and worship songs, listening to their Christian playlists on a regular basis. They own several Bibles in their homes. They look down on the secular world and its culture, repulsed by it. In their effort to be better, they often use common “Christianese” phrases and slogans, and yet, they still talk, walk, dress, and act as those living a secular lifestyle.
Others may take this by a different route, compromising and adapting Biblical teachings to our culture. They demonstrate their tolerance for others, showing love and acceptance to sinful nature. Some do so to rationalize and validate varying positions on purity, sexuality, and other various moral and philosophical ideologies. Others say that the Bible is full of outdated teachings that need to be brought up to date, taking it upon themselves to become interpreters of Scripture for today’s society and culture.
Jesus will say to these people, “I never knew you; Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.”
What is “Cultural Christianity”?
Claiming to be a follower of Christ during the era of the early church marked a huge target on someone’s back for persecution. To be a Christian, to willingly and openly proclaim the gospel, was a death sentence for the early church, and still applies to other countries around the globe. While Americans have been fortunate to not have this hardship, what it has meant to be a Christian to many has become perceived as an ideological stance or a social status rather than a lifetime commitment.
In recent decades, we have seen America’s postmodern “Christianity”, often dubbed Carnal or Cultural Christianity, take deep root into our society and culture. Cultural Christianity consists of people that are Christian in name only. They will claim to believe in Christ, and in many cases they may believe they are a follower of Christ, but show a severe lack of commitment in their behavior in how they live their day-to-day lives. They take on the title of “Christian” while letting their behaviors and beliefs be influenced by personal, cultural, and secular values rather than Biblical ones. They attempt to serve two masters, God, and the World.
The fruits of our faith can be seen in real time. A study conducted by Lifeway Research in 2019 found that among American Protestant churchgoers, 32% read their Bible daily, 27% read it a few times a week, 12% read it once a week, 11% read it a few times a month, 5% read it once a month, and 12% rarely or never read the Bible. Even then, merely reading the Bible isn’t a marker of someone’s faith. In another study conducted by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University in 2021, it was revealed that although approximately 70% of Americans identify as Christians, only 9% of that population holds a Biblically-founded worldview. Everyone that attends Cedarville University proclaims to be a Christian as part of our agreement in attending here. This statistic reveals an unsettling implication when applied to our student body.
Cultural Christians will display an outward appearance of following Christ, such as church attendance, prayer before eating, and occasionally reading their Bible. However, when left to their own devices, they will maintain and pursue sinful behavior without hesitation. As much as they praise Christ with their lips, they will deny Him by the way they live. They follow Christ as much as it is socially acceptable for them to do so, willing to compromise Biblical and secular values. This behavior has far more to do with how the person is raised rather than any personal relationship with Christ. Their church attendance, kindness, generosity, or wearing a cross or a Jesus shirt are part of their daily good deeds. For Cultural Christians, the gospel is merely a costless addition to their lifestyle at best, and a means to inflate their own ego at worst.
Cultural Christianity overlaps significantly with Lukewarm Christianity, which is a topic that warrants its own article in the future. Lukewarm Christians have placed a personal commitment in Christ to some degree, but end up putting their relationship with God on the side, not treating their faith and prayer life seriously until convenient or necessary in times of facing difficulty. They find great difficulty in giving up comforts and sin habits, but when given conviction by God through their brothers and sisters in Christ and/or by the Holy Spirit’s guidance, they will later find conviction and growth in time. Cultural Christians, on the other hand, have no relationship with God, and are not Christians.
Warning on Casting Judgement
Before going forwards with identifying the fruits of Cultural Christianity, it would be hypocritical not to test my own heart. It’s far better for me to pull the log out of my own eye before attempting to take the speck from others. I am far from perfect, and I expand more on this in my Introduction and Testimony. I lived the first 20 years of my life as a Christian in name only, treating faith merely as an ideology rather than a sacrifice. It led to my own self-destruction and long-term misery, and it is only God’s mercy that led me out of that double-minded lifestyle. Even as I write this article and re-read this, my heart is convicted of the various sin struggles in my life. Ultimately, I want others to experience the same mercy and grace that I have had, and that is why I’m writing this article in the first place, but salvation doesn’t come without conviction and repentance.
Judgment must come from a place of love for God and a yearning for righteousness. It is not wrong to call people out for blatant deception and sin against God; it is wrong to do so for the purpose of putting people down or building yourself up. If this judgment comes from a place of self-righteousness or a place where I haven’t addressed my own sin first, what good will it do to try correcting others?
It’s also worth mentioning for the sake of this article that I do not have the extensive Biblical training and expertise others might have. My own thoughts on this matter should certainly be taken with a grain of salt. Simply put, I hate sinful behavior because I love the sinner, and I want them to correct their spiritual walk with God. I am but one sinner showing another sinner where to find salvation, and it starts with repentance. It would be worse to sit idly by and watch blatant spread of heresies, deception, and godless interpretations of Scripture in the name of Christ. We are explicitly warned about these types of people (2 Peter 2:1-3). Here’s some symptoms I’ve noticed as a result of Cultural Christianity.
Symptoms of Cultural Christianity
Twisting Biblical truth to accommodate cultural values.
Cultural Christians often take Biblical principles and attempt to shoehorn Scripture to fit their own lifestyles. For example, they may attempt to justify behavior that the Bible explicitly condemns, including sexual immorality, homosexuality, gender theory, or anything else, often citing tolerance or cultural relevance as their justification.
Denying inspiration or parts of Scripture.
There are many cases in which Cultural Christians may question or outright deny the authenticity or infallibility of the Scriptures, instead treating them as a general guideline of how to be a good person. This demonstrates a lack of understanding of the Scriptures at best, a lack of faith at worst. The Scriptures and Church Traditions alike clearly demonstrate that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). When Cultural Christians attempt to reject or re-interpret parts of the Bible that don’t align with cultural and secular values, it demonstrates a rejection of the truth of God’s Word.
Overemphasis of Christ’s love and acceptance.
While love is a significant part of God’s nature, and that Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross was motivated by His love for us (John 3:16), this frequently becomes distorted by overlooking Biblical doctrines on sin, repentance, judgment, and obedience to God’s Word. God is Love, but that love involves hating sin. You cannot have righteous love without hating evil. Similarly, God cannot be Love without hating lawlessness. Secular love is treated as affirming people for who they are, not requiring any repentance but instead enabling rebellion against God. Influence from the secular world on Cultural Christians leads them to interpret love as affirmation for people in their current state of sin, comparing good moral standards to the world rather than to Scripture.
Downplaying the value of repentance.
Repentance is among the most essential aspects of our walk with Christ. Without repentance, we live in sin and a state of rebellion from God, and we cannot receive forgiveness and salvation (Acts 2:38). Repenting of our sinful nature requires humility and being willing to acknowledge our sins against God. Our secular culture replaces this with tolerance and affirmation of people in their current state, Cultural Christians often prioritize these values under the guise of being loving.
Diminishing Jesus’ purpose as God the Son.
While Christ taught us to love and serve others (Matthew 25:35-36), many Cultural Christians reduce Christ to a social or political activist, overlooking His value as not only the Son of God, but also God in the flesh (John 1:1-2, 14). They adapt His teachings to cultural values of social justice, excluding the values of repentance, salvation, and applying Christ’s teachings to all aspects of life.
Ignoring various elements of Spiritual warfare.
The Scriptures demonstrate that we are actively in a spiritual battle, that our struggles are not merely against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). Cultural Christians will downplay if not ignore spiritual warfare completely. The Devil and his demons are relentless in their spiritual attacks on us. We may ignore them, but they will not ignore us. The power of prayer is often overlooked, creating vulnerability to spiritual attacks and temptations. If we are not in steadfast prayer and bringing our weaknesses to God, Satan will bring our weaknesses to us.
Simultaneously claiming God’s promises and ignoring His Commandments.
Cultural Christians often attempt to minister to others by claiming God’s promises regarding success, blessings, or prosperity. They have a hyperfixation on Sola Fide, or being saved by Faith Alone. However, they overlook or ignore the parts of the Bible calling for personal sacrifice and abiding by Christ’s commandments. This is a huge contradiction of the Bible’s teachings that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26), and how we’re called for obedience to God’s Word (John 14:15). I’ve seen many cite Ephesians 2:8-9 to support living by faith alone, while ignoring the verse immediately following.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NASB 1995)
Downplaying Christ as the one and only way to salvation.
The Scriptures are clear that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Cultural Christians may try to accommodate various secular or other religious systems to suggest other means of salvation, clearly contradicting God’s Word which states there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12).
Cultural Christianity’s Impact.
Jesus explicitly warned us how few will find salvation (Matthew 7:13-14). The path as well as the gate are narrow, and we have seen the results of the path of destruction that Cultural Christianity brings. The majority of people in America identify as Christians, yet we see the same sin issues inside and outside of the church. We see the same treatment of dating culture. The church has similar divorce and abuse statistics as secular organizations.
We’ve allowed demonic child murder to run rampant in America, thousands of unborn babies killed for convenience by the very people with the God-given duty to protect and nurture their young. The same youth in our ministries are involved in rampant sexual sin and substance abuse. Christian leadership has grown weak. When secularism becomes rampant, we have denomination splits instead of casting out lawless behavior from our churches. Cultural Christianity has infected the church for decades, and we’ve been too complacent to do much about it.
Here at Cedarville, it is easy to go through the motions of worshiping, praying, even yearning for revival. But what do you do in your quiet time? Do you talk, act, dress, listen to the same music, entertain the same humor, and/or consume the same media as the secular world? We are called to live out all aspects of our lives for Christ; not merely the parts that are convenient for us.
We cannot examine our salvation status by comparing ourselves to our parents, peers, or pastors. We are called to test everything against the truth of God’s Word, including ourselves (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). Being saved doesn’t mean you asked Christ to come into your heart years ago, just for you to keep living in unrepentant sin. Being saved doesn’t mean you’re doing spiritually well in comparison to your peers or because you’ve posted Scripture on Instagram. Sanctification is an ongoing process of repentance and applying Christ in all you do in your life. Every day for a Christian should be a step towards Christ regardless of blessings or hardships. Followers of Christ will be known by their fruits.
Conclusion
Cultural Christianity is a perversion of the Faith. Regardless of intention, it undermines Scripture. Regardless of re-interpretations and compromises that Cultural Christians attempt, we must be faithful to the teaching of Scripture, guarding our hearts and minds against secular culture that distorts everything it touches. Cultural Christians are not Christians, acting no different from the secular world in their personal lives, and you will know these people by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-23).
Whether we realize it or not, secularism is its own religion, and at the end of the day, we cannot serve two masters. We will either bend the knee to the secular world and all of its godlessness, or bend the knee to Jesus Christ, our King who has authority and dominion over Heaven and Earth (Matthew 28:18).