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Cultural Issues for Native Christians.
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We value the dynamic moral beliefs held by our
Native people, as well as the diversity of languages and tribal
histories that give us our identities as Native Americans. We affirm
that there are many good traditional values within our Native
cultures, which enhance the lives of both Christians and
non-Christians, such as love and respect for elders, family,
language, arts, crafts, and hospitality. Our Native worldviews,
however, include beliefs that are clearly inconsistent with biblical
revelation. Therefore, as Christians:
1.
We acknowledge the supreme and absolute authority of the Scripture,
which is the divine revelation of God to man.
(II Tim. 3:16)
2.
We honor the triune God as
the Creator who is above any created thing and worship only Him.
(Gen. 1:1, 26; John 1:1-3)
3.
We believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as
the basis of our salvation; we cannot add anything to that work to
improve our relationship with God.
(Eph. 1:19-21; Gal. 2:16)
4.
When we walk in the Spirit we will not be a stumbling block to our
Christian brethren in other cultures, or hinder our witness within
our own culture through the practice of and participation
in unbiblical cultural activities that grieve the heart of God.
(Gal. 5:16, Eph. 5:11-12, I Cor. 8:9, II Cor. 6:14-18, Rom.
15:2, Gal. 5:1)
5.
We encourage the spiritual unity of the Body of
Christ based on Scripture and love for all the brethren across
cultural and tribal boundaries. (Eph. 4:2-3)
We acknowledge that some of our cultural concepts
have religious connotations that are different from one tribe to
another. A Native Christian who obeys God’s Word and follows the
leading of the Holy Spirit, and who is accountable to the elders of
the local church, will discern through prayer what is good and evil
in his Native culture.
The evil should be renounced and forsaken, such as
the current issue of bringing ceremonial drums, smudging, and
ceremonial dancing into the worship of the Christian church. When
these elements of idolatry are blended with true Christian worship,
this is syncretism.
Even non-Christian traditional Native religious
leaders believe syncretism is a desecration of their religious
practices because in many tribes they pray to the ceremonial drums,
use smudging as a medium for spiritual cleansing, and use ceremonial
dancing to connect with the spirit world. A true disciple of Christ
should avoid any form of idolatry and syncretism because such is
forbidden in Scripture. (Ex. 20:3-5, I Thess. 1:9, Acts 26:18, Rom.
6:21-22, Eph. 6:10-17, Col. 1:13, I Peter 5:8-9)
This statement was originally published by Christian
Hope Indian Eskimo Fellowship (CHIEF). Used by permission. For more
information about CHIEF or to request a copy of the statement in
brochure form, visit www.chief.org
or call (602) 482-0828. |
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