The Clash of Cultures

By Esther Liu

“I have two faces I put on every day. One is my Chinese face when I’m at home—the other, my American face when I go to school. Sometimes I don’t even know who I really am.”

“I love art and received a full scholarship to attend the art school of my dreams. But my parents had different plans. They said the holy trinity of careers is: doctor, lawyer or engineer. Those were my choices and I had to obey.”

“My parents are typical, hypocritical Chinese Christians. They say one thing and do another. Their worship services bore my head off. I wonder if God falls asleep in church, too.”

These are the pained and confused voices of American Born Chinese (ABC). ABC children have grown up in two distinctly different cultures. These two cultures pull at them constantly and at every corner. OBC parents, however, have been dreadfully ignorant about the struggles of their children. In fact, I believe that OBC parents and churches have generally denied the cultural part of our human make-up. Yes, many Chinese Christians like to think of themselves as “color/culture-blind” since they’ve acquired the Christian world view. But they are blind to their cultural prejudices and how the pains and struggles of ABC’s vs. OBC’s have torn families and churches apart.

I believe that indeed the problem lies in the “blindness” of most Christians about how significant the influence of culture has on their lives. Both secular and religious cultures affect us—the way we think, the way we process decisions. We act and react toward many things based on the cultural values of our parents—good or bad, right or wrong. Such values can either dismantle or encourage the depth of our spirituality. For example: ABC’s prefers to worship God in an authentic and relational way that isn’t strapped by the “religious” traditions of their parents. The OBC’s view this type of thinking as disrespectful toward their elders and toward God. But is this really true? Or isn’t it more about a clash between cultures? So instead of OBC’s applauding their children’s hearts to want to worship God through a different approach, the parents tend to eye their children with suspicions and criticisms. And the ABC youth eye their OBC parents with distrust and deep contempt.

I have a simple, but profound test to reveal the cultural baggage within and use it repeatedly in my classroom. I call it the “test of the last name.” I would ask my students, what is the biblical reason that a woman takes on a man’s last name when they get married? Normally, dead silence in the room…and for good reason since there isn’t any. In fact, according to the Bible, I ought to be “Esther of San Diego,” just like “Jesus of Nazareth” or “Mary of Magdalene.”

Then I would ask all the male students in the room another question, Are you willing to take your wife’s last name when you get married? This time the answer is usually a resounding, Heck, NO! I would then follow up with the third question, “But why not?” Again…dead silence.

You see, my brothers and sisters, we are indeed, deeply conditioned by our culture. Just like the Muslims featured in this issue, culture and tradition will pre-condition our lives, and affect (positively or negatively) our relationship to God and the people around us. In fact, I believe that one of the reasons that Jesus came was to confront and challenge the elders and traditions of the religious establishment of his day. So we would do good to examine, reflect, and rethink when we’re confronted with different issues in life, ministry, and church. If we do this, then we will serve our people and families more efficiently and effectively, and with less conflict. This can happen if we know that we’re “cultural” beings as well as physical, spiritual, and relational.

My prayer and hope is that by increasing our awareness of this “cultural influence,” and acknowledge its power in our lives, we can journey toward a more wholistic way of living that will bring healing and growth into our homes and churches. May the God of infinite light, shine His light in your heart and release you from the cultural baggage that shackles your spiritual growth. Let the cleaning and healing process continue!