I think as humans, if we were could be restored to our original design at creation, we’d find ourselves doing the things that Jesus taught. I describe these (here) as believing God is with us, talking with him, listening to people’s stories, eating with each other and debriefing our experiences together.

The sad thing is, it seems that we in the west, with our Christian history, have strayed further from these original settings than the non-Christian cultures of the world.

1. God is With You – People from e.g. Africa or Asia are generally more spiritual, believing that the spiritual realm is alive and active in our day to day lives. In the west, we think more rationally, not admitting where there is spiritual influence.
2. Talk with Him – They hear voices in their heads and are not hesitant to pray to whatever god might help them. We don’t pray a lot, but when we do, many of us are not expecting to hear anything back.
3. Hear their Story – You can’t get anything done in these warm cultures without learning the context of who you’re talking with first. We often try to just get down to business.
4. Eat Together – Almost every culture outside of ours has eating at the center of their relationships and religion. I don’t know how many times I’ve skipped meals to go to meetings.
5. Debrief and Go – The teaching style of Jesus, and easterners today, is to tell a story that gets your heart engaged, and then explain it afterward so they can live it out. We try to explain everything up front, and find ourselves limited to intellectual discussions that don’t go anywhere.

What happened? I think it’s called “religion”. Our attempt to keep everyone safe (especially at church) has entangled us in cultural norms that keep us from being fully alive. These lies are half true:

1. God is With You – You’re over-spiritualizing this; take responsibility for your own actions. You’re being presumptuous; how can you know God’s will? God is with everyone; are you saying you’re more special?
2. Talk with Him – How do you know you’re hearing God’s voice? When you say “God said“, how can I have a conversation with you? God won’t say anything he hasn’t already revealed in scripture, so why listen for more?
3. Hear their Story – I wouldn’t know what to say; they should see a counsellor. My job is just to get them to church where they hear good preaching. I’m supposed to share my testimony.
4. Eat Together – We don’t really have people over, the house just doesn’t work for that. I wouldn’t want to go into their home, that just feels awkward. We’re not that kind of friends, we just go to the same church, or work at the same office.
5. Debrief and Go – There’s no experience of God to debrief; those things just happen overseas. I can’t tell people what to do; it’s only appropriate to discuss concepts. I don’t really understand the kingdom of God myself, so how could I show others?

At the same time, our default settings still affect us every day. We are vaguely aware of God’s presence. We long to hear his voice, and we sense things that might be from Him. When we see someone, we ask how they’re doing, and often genuinely want to hear their story. If they’re struggling, we’ll offer to take them out for lunch, or drop off dinner at their house. We go through all these trials and coincidences and wonder what it all means from God’s perspective.

These are built-in, knee-jerk reactions that we talk ourselves out of because we’re busy doing the things our culture has taught us: “Sorry, I’m on my way to church. Maybe later.”

Here’s us asking Jesus what we need to do to be saved, and him answering with a story about what we can learn from other cultures (Luke 10:25-37).

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”