Culture meets Scripture workshop

If your family and friends pressure you to do something that doesn’t honor God and doesn’t edify your neighbor, what do you do? How do you bear witness to Christ under such circumstances? What do you choose to participate in—and what do you choose not to? And how do you decide that? How do you persevere?

These kinds of questions were discussed during the “Culture Meets Scripture” workshop, which took place during the third round of workshops at the EMDC (Bible Use) conference in Thailand. These are timely questions that most Christians face on a daily basis in a broader culture that does not know or follow Christ.

The goal of the workshop was to reflect together on these kinds of questions and to find answers to them based on the Bible. I took this course as part of my role in “Scripture Engagement” for NSG (Nusantara Service Group), a Wycliffe partner organization in Indonesia.

I worked with colleagues from Indonesia, and we focused specifically on the phenomenon of “suanggi,” a form of witchcraft common among ethnic groups in eastern Indonesia. When disasters strike or many people fall ill and die, this is quickly attributed to witchcraft, and people try to find and neutralize the 'suanggi' who supposedly caused this. This can happen in various ways, and among the Korowai, it even led (until recently) to execution and cannibalism. Out of fear and under pressure from family members, it is very difficult for a Christian not to participate in these kinds of 'suanggi' accusations. We discussed various Bible passages that can help Christians continue to trust in God and refrain from participating in this.