Po-Mo: East Meets West

There has been this ‘marriage’ between the East & West, “for better or for worst.” When I visited UK a couple of years ago, some English people looked at me with this ‘apologetic’ look. It was as if they were saying, ‘I am sorry that we 'ruled' over you and destroyed your culture.’ While, that might be true to a certain extend, I am indebted much to the West for bring the gospel to this land. Otherwise, I, for one would not be a believer. So for the record, let me say, how grateful I am to our brothers and sisters in the West for bring the gospel! We owe our lives to you.
I have been a Christian for about 25 years now. Initially, after receiving Christ, to my shame I wanted to have nothing to do with my old religion and culture. (I think this might be a natural tendency due to our own insecurity). But now, I think I am able to revisit my past and begin to discern between the good and bad from my own culture and background. (Don Richards in his book ‘Peace Child’ writes about how God works in every culture to provide links to the gospel.)
I think to a certain sense we cannot run away from this marriage but we need to work through some of these critical issues. The challenge for the churches in the East are: to think through what we download from the west and secondly, to share the gospel with those who are in the West.