The Harsh Deception of “Countercultural”

It’s still so trendy for Christians to declare themselves to be countercultural. It offers up the rebel-thrill justification of any departure from the mainstream.

The only problem is it just isn’t true.

We don’t oppose every part of culture — not even most of it. Neither did Jesus. In fact, it only ever applies to a rather narrow set of values which insiders can’t ever seem to agree on.

Culture does not set itself against the fruits of the Spirit.

Indeed, most of the values we can agree on are shared, at least in an abstract sense, by the broader culture.

Calling ourselves countercultural makes us dependent on culture to know what to oppose. And even worse, it doesn’t help us or anyone else to identify what we’re for. Just what we’re against.

Some of us, at least.

Some of the time.

Turns out, it’s just a smug-sounding, hollow, divisive label.

Which, uh, isn’t actually all that countercultural now, is it?