Counter Culture

Looked at some pictures of this summer when we took a few days to get away as a family and visit California.  We had a few hours one day and decided to head to the beach – choosing Venice Beach.  T and I had gone to Venice about 20 years ago.  I remembered an off beat place that offered more than just a spot on the beach – street performers, market stalls and especially the artists that you could watch as they used their talents and created original crafted works.  Well…Yeah.  Not sure if it was one of those cases of selective enhanced memories but..uh..20 years allows for a lot of change.  Off beat went to counterculture; street performers went to hawkers and hustlers, market stalls went to tourist traps and although there may have been a handful of artists there were mostly knick-knack novelty “what in the world” not quite crafted … “items”.  I’m not even going to mention the ‘ads’ for medical marijuana and incense sales.  Maybe we’ll just consider this a familial lesson in counterculture.

Pondered that term for awhile and stood still with it. Counterculture – values and norms of a group that run counter to those of the mainstream of the day; rejecting or opposing the dominant values and behavior of society.

My realization – I am counterculture.

The social mainstream of our society today encompasses relativism (all things are gray there’s not right or wrong; we each have our own truth), promoting secularism, places value on aesthetics, strives for status, emphasizes monetary gain, encourages living beyond means, rewards non-productiveness, promotes “tolerance” and… you get the picture.

Me – I believe there is such a thing as right and wrong, absolute truth, intrinsic value and reward, productiveness, work ethic, living within one’s means, and tolerance in the true sense of the word (to be fair, to be objective, to endure NOT to accept, to condone or embrace – to say it’s all equally good).

Standing Still with things, I think about how Christ was actually counterculture and that the world honestly hasn’t changed when you look at the larger picture. 

Yep, I’m counterculture and I have and will continue to teach my kids to be as well! 

1 John 2:15-17: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”