Counter-Cultural

Recently I read that a church used Taylor Swift songs during their worship service. I don't know which of her songs they chose. But regardless of the question if the lyrics of her songs were suitable for a worship service or not: Taylor Swift stands for worldliness. She represents the worldly, secular culture that is dominant in the West. In contrast to that, Christianity has always been counter-cultural. The teachings of Jesus have been and still are in contrast to any culture at any given place and time.

This seems obvious from Christianity's humble beginnings. Christians had to meet secretly in catacombs and were persecuted to death in public arenas. It looked like a change when Christianity first became the state religion of the Roman Empire and later the dominant religious force in medieval Europe. The more western societies were transformed by Christian values, the more it seemed that Christians could live very well with the current cultural standard. But a closer look shows that true Christians have had a lifestyle that was always against the mainstream, even against the so-called Christian religious mainstream. 

Martin Luther's fight against the church's doctrine of indulgence or the Baptist movement against the doctrine of baby baptisms are just a few examples where believers were going against the cultural standard of their time. Right now, we are living in a time where Christian values are disappearing from western societies at a radical speed. One would think therefore that the degree to which believers are going against the cultural norms would increase. Instead, it looks like many believers prefer to squeeze the current cultural values into their belief system, like this church that included Taylor Swift songs in their worship service.

In the end this cannot work out at a time when cultural and Christian values are contradicting one another more and more. Christians are to refrain from merging their beliefs with the current cultural standard at all costs. Going against mainstream beliefs in society has to be the norm for Christians, not something unusual. It's part of Christianity itself and reflects the fact that believers love God more than their fellow citizens in society. Being counter-cultural means to uphold biblical values and not give into temptation to just go along with the flow.