I want the whole world to believe in Jesus, but at the same time i wouldn’t want Buddhists to stop building their temples and learning about Buddha, for Jews to abandon their idiosyncratic religious rites like Torah study/interpretation, for Muslims to stop going to the Kaaba and so on. What do you guys think?
I think this is something we should let these groups of people sort out, because it isn’t about what you want.
I grew up in a protestant family that believed the Earth is ~6-10 thousand years old. There were some very good things I learned growing up, but in other ways I haven’t preserved my old culture and the thought of ever doing so brings a slight shudder down my back.
Although - for good reasons - different cultures are portrayed in a respectful manner, there are many aspects of other lifestyles & belief systems that limit a person’s ability to commune with God. There have been Buddhists converting to the Christian faith in South Korea in mass numbers over recent years, and many of them exceedingly joyful because of it.
A Westerner might look at Buddhism in a certain light that is - more often than not - glaringly incorrect, but an actual person that lives there will look at it differently. A Westerner might think of peaceful people and orange robes and aesthetically attractive temples in the forest. An Asian will not; they will have a picture that more coincides with the reality. This is just one example among many.
Historic buildings, figures, and certain customs, no doubt, will be preserved, as this was the case with Christianity and western paganism. The works of the ancient pagans continue to be preserved & enjoyed in our literature today, as well as various other subtleties. The ancient Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, etc, all built foundations in law, government, language, etc., that continue to echo to the present day. Yet these were also areas that were evangelized and catechized in the ancient world, thereby creating something that merged the old with the new.
So the answer to “is cultural loss a consequence of evangelization?” is yes and no. The culture will indeed change as Christianity asserts itself in a nation.
