Investiture Achievement/Companion/Making Friends

Standard Level

Requirement 1

Discuss how the media strengthens or weakens our relationship with others.

The media is a collection of methods by which people communicate with one another. In most cases, it is for the few to communicate with the many. It includes methods such as:

Print

Newspapers, books, newsletters, magazines, etc

Broadcast

Radio, television

Recorded

Theater, DVDs, music, streaming

Digital

Internet, blogs, social media sites, electronic mailing lists, etc

Advertisers make use of all these forms of media, which is both good and bad. Because of advertisers, many of these forms of media are inexpensive or free to consume. This makes the media available to a much wider audience than would otherwise be possible. However, one must always remember who is paying for the media (the advertisers) and why (to sell a product). Advertisers often work by trying to create a desire for a product - a desire that a person might not otherwise have. If we are not careful, these desires can take over our lives, and the consumer becomes the consumed.

The media keeps us informed of what is going around in the world around us, and forms the basis of modern culture. This gives us the opportunity to share ideas with the people we meet. By using the media, we have a point of commonality between ourselves and others, so we can connect with them.

However, the media also has the capability of drawing us in to the exclusion of other things. Instead of talking with one another, we watch TV. Watching TV is not a social event - it feels about the same when we watch alone or with our friends.

Social media (Facebook, Twitter etc) can be used to draw people together. A Facebook group can help keep members of a youth group connected and informed of upcoming events, even helping facilitating planning. Social media can be a good way to keep track of friends you don't see often. However, social media can become a way of escaping real friendships and reducing interaction to 140 characters. Do we follow this exchange from the hit sitcom Big Bang Theory? Sheldon: " I have a very wide circle! I have 212 friends on MySpace!" Lenard: " Yes, and you never met one of them!" Sheldon: " That's the beauty of it!"

It is up to us to use the media wisely. We can make it a springboard for communicating with others, or we can use it as a substitute for communicating with others.

Requirement 2

Fulfill requirements #1, #2 and #3 of the Cultural Diversity Appreciation Honor.

1. Define culture and cultural diversity.

Culture

The arts, customs, and habits that characterize a particular society or nation. The beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that constitute a people's way of life.

Cultural diversity

Cultural diversity is the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole.

2. Define stereotype and identify how you may have stereotyped people in the past.

Stereotype

A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image. A person who is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type.

Stereotyping means that we make a judgment about a person based on what we think we know about that "type" of person (i.e., because of the person's race, sex, religion, etc.). Sometimes this judgment is subconscious, and we are not even aware that we have made a judgment at all. An example would be a sudden feeling of fear upon seeing a person of a different race in a lonely place, or the automatic assumption that because a person is female, she must like to bake or sew, or she cannot repair an automobile.

3. Study the following Bible texts and answer the questions.

a. 1 Corinthians 9:20 How does this text explain the importance for a Christian to have a cultural diversity awareness?

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
— 1 Corinthians 9:20 (NIV)

In order to reach people of a different culture, it is important to understand that culture. For them to feel accepted by you, you should consider adopting some of their practices, as Paul did. This shows that you have an open mind and are genuinely interested in them. It will also serve to encourage them to build trust in you.

An extreme example is Adventist Frontier Missions where missionary teams move into cultures where there are no Adventists (and often no Christians). The missionaries learn the language and study the culture as thier first steps. So long as a cultural practice does not conflict with their faith, they adopt the new culture completely. In a muslim country, this may include wearing the hajib and praying to God in a mosque.

For cultural practices that can not be reconciled with the Adventist faith, an alternative is developed. Instead of a ceremony involving witchcraft when moving into a new house, they might have a home blessing ceremony that invites God intonthe home. Rather than try to change a whole culture, they contextualize the Christian faith into the worldview of the existing culture. Christianity can and should fit within every culture, changing hearts, not trying to turn everyone into typical Westerners.

b. Galatians 3:27 What does this text say about all who are in the family of Christ?

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
— Galatians 3:27 (NIV)

This passage indicates that all believers are equal in the eyes of Christ. Being "clothed in Christ" means that the Christian's sins are covered. Instead of God seeing your sins when He looks at you, He will see His Son instead. This means that no matter how heinous your sins were, God will still accept you if you accept Christ. This also applies to Christians of other cultures. No matter what terrible things the others have done, they will be forgiven in the eyes of God. This makes you no better than them (and vice versa).

All Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ, God's children. The worship of a Christian Jew who worships using a Jewish style of worship, a Canadian First Nations church that follows native cultural practices, and a African tribesman who prefers singing for story telling are all equally valid in God's eyes. Do not look down on others for any reason because they live in a different culture than you. And remember that a person does not need to live far away tonbe in a different culture. In North America, for example, try visiting a Adventist church that is rooted in a different culture than your own (African American, Spanish, Korean, mainly white, even big city vs small town) and experience how we all have the same faith but we express it within our own cultural contexts.

c. Ephesians 2:14 What should be the result of accepting Christ Jesus into our lives? How do you plan to apply this message to your everyday life?

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.
— Ephesians 2:14 (NIV)

The cultural barrier spoken of in this verse is the one that existed at that time between the Jews and the Gentiles. However, the lesson can be applied between peoples of any two cultures, and should not be viewed as having an application only between Jews and Gentiles. Christians should accept and love other Christians as Christ does.

When this honor was written a Pathfinder generally had to look across an ocean to study another culture. They would need to seek out someone who grew up in a different culture to complete the honor. Today, in much of the Western world, the world's cultures have come to us. In North America recent studies show that non-hispanic whites will soon be less than 50% of the population, and that traditional minorities, collectively, will be the majority. Europe and Aus-NZ are also experiencing an increasingly diverse population. What can you do to reach across cultural divides and build friendships that incorporate cultural diversity?

Not only that but Christians should accept and love non-Christians from every culture because this is the only way that people will meet Jesus as their Saviour. If everyone had a greater appreciation for cultural differences the world would be a safer, happier, less violent place - more like Heaven will be.

Trail Companion

Requirement 3

Complete Companion requirements.

You must complete the requirements listed above this one on the current page.

Requirement 4

Complete the Cultural Diversity Appreciation Honor, if not previously earned.

There are only four requirements for this honor, and the Companion has already met three of them. For the remainder of the honor, we again refer you to Cultrual Diversity Appreciation in the AY Honors.