Christians have always had to think through how to engage with the culture around them, especially when cultural practices have some connection to other religions.
Our church recently had occasion to think about this in relation to Onam. For those unfamiliar with it, Onam is a major festival in Kerala, the southern Indian state where many of our members trace their roots. It has religious associations within Hinduism, including traditions connected to King Mahabali. It is also associated with family gatherings, cultural programs, traditional dress and, very importantly, a fairly elaborate vegetarian meal called a sadhya.
The gathering that prompted this article involved the meal. There were no religious rituals or observances connected with it. We were simply sharing food together.
The question I am interested in is this: How should Christians think about participating in cultural practices when those practices have some religious history or association?
I think we sometimes answer that question differently depending on whose culture we are talking about.
My parents, who worship with a local assembly in Kerala, do not celebrate Christmas. Part of the reason is that they do not see a biblical command to observe it. There was also a strong association with drinking and revelry in the context in which they grew up, practices that did not bring glory to God.
Many evangelical Christians in Canada would immediately say, “But that is not what Christmas means when we celebrate it. We are celebrating the birth of Christ.”
I think that is a fair response. But it also means we already understand that the history or wider associations of a practice do not always tell us what someone is actually doing when they participate in it.
1 Corinthians 10:14-31 gives us a helpful framework.
Flee from idolatry
Paul starts with a very strong command: “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (1 Cor. 10:14).
Paul does not want the Corinthians participating in pagan worship and then explaining that it does not mean anything to them personally. In the verses that follow, he points to the Lord’s Supper to show that participation at a religious table actually means something.
Christians belong to Christ, and that allegiance is exclusive.
So personal intention cannot settle the issue by itself. If something really is participation in idolatrous worship, Paul’s instruction is straightforward: flee.
But eating a traditional meal associated with a festival is not automatically the same thing as participating in the religious observances of that festival.
The gospel does not make us culturally rootless. It brings our culture under the lordship of Christ.
Eat whatever is sold
Then you get to verse 25:
“Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience.”
Some of the meat being sold in Corinth could previously have been connected with pagan sacrifice. Paul knew that. What catches my attention is that he does not tell the Corinthians to investigate where it came from.
He does not tell them to trace its religious history or make sure it had never been associated with pagan worship. He simply says to eat it.
His reason is simple: “For ‘the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof’” (v. 26).
If you start digging into the history of ordinary customs, you can find all kinds of things. Some Quakers historically avoided the ordinary names for days of the week because of their associations with pagan gods. Thursday carries the name of Thor, and Saturday is connected with Saturn.
The same thing happens with weddings. Search long enough and you will find claims connecting flower girls, wedding rings, veils and bouquets with ancient religious practices or fertility rituals. Some of those claims are more reliable than others. But even where there is a genuine historical connection, it does not follow that the practice carries the same meaning today.
A flower girl scattering petals at a Christian wedding is not performing a fertility rite because someone can trace a similar custom back to an ancient one.
At some point, we need to be careful that we are not giving our conscience a new job: finding more things to be troubled about.
There is also a cultural blind spot here. There are examples of missionaries to China strongly criticizing local customs they believed were originally influenced by idolatry, while being uncomfortable when Chinese Christians applied similar scrutiny to Christmas.
We are often better at spotting the religious baggage in someone else’s culture than in our own.
Paul’s own distinction is useful. At the idol’s table, he says flee. At the meat market, he says eat.
The question is what we are actually participating in.
Use your freedom to build others up
Paul then says, “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up.”
And then: “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (vv. 23-24).
But Paul is not content to stop at, “Is this allowed?”
Christian freedom can easily become another way of insisting on our rights. “I have worked through the issue. I know this is permissible. Everyone else should be fine with it.”
Paul’s concern is different. What will build up the person beside me?
I think this becomes especially important in a mixed-culture church. Someone who grew up in Kerala may have one set of associations with a cultural event. Someone born in Canada may have another. Someone from a Hindu background may experience a practice very differently from someone who knows it mainly as a family or cultural tradition.
We should be careful about binding someone’s conscience where Scripture gives freedom. We should also be careful about using our freedom in a way that ignores another believer.
And Paul eventually lands here:
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, …… do all to the glory of God” (v. 31).
That is useful for far more than an Onam meal. It applies to weddings, cultural festivals, visiting religious sites, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and plenty of other situations where culture and religion overlap.
Paul does not give us a master list. He gives us enough to think carefully.
Does this compromise my allegiance to Christ?
What am I actually participating in?
Am I turning something into a conscience issue that Scripture does not?
Will my freedom build up the people around me?
Can I do this to the glory of God?
For me, that is the balance worth keeping. There are situations where Christians should simply walk away because our allegiance to Christ comes first. There are also plenty of ordinary cultural practices we can receive with freedom and gratitude. And in both cases, Paul keeps bringing us back to the same priorities: faithfulness to Christ, love for one another, and the glory of God.
