"The Greatest of All Cultures"

I'm currently taking an Intercultural Communications class. In this class, we are taught to avoid the vice of Ethnocentrism, the belief that one's own culture is better than all others. I largely agree with this teaching. There are good and bad parts in nearly all cultures, and with no consensus on which aspects are good and bad, it makes sense to reserve judgment. To each their own. Live and let live. And yet, despite the world's lack of consensus on this subject, there yet remains an objective, moral reality. There are laws of Goodness and Justice that exists, regardless of personal beliefs or cultural standards. And with that objective morality, we can measure the cultures of the world to determine which culture is the best or "most good" culture.

Elder William K. Jackson of the Seventy persuasively contended that "the greatest of all cultures" is The Culture of Christ. Naturally, the culture that is most good is the one that was taught and practiced by The One who is most good. Elder Jackson described various aspects of this culture, citing many of the practices and principles we follow in the Gospel. Essentially, while each person is free to choose how they live, the best way to live is to live like Jesus Christ. Granted, this doesn't mean that we should belittle anyone else. Being judgmental is not an aspect of the culture of Christ. Rather, it means that we should try to incorporate this gospel culture into every aspect of our lives. We should use gospel standards, not to condemn others, but to improve ourselves. I recommend reviewing Elder Jackson's description of the culture of Christ and identifying one aspect of that culture to more fully adopt. Personally, I'm going to work on Faith and Obedience. As Elder Jackson said, the culture of Christ "is a culture of faith and obedience. Faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of our culture, and obedience to His teachings and commandments is the outcome. These give rise to self-mastery." I would like to master myself and gain the blessings that come through faith and obedience, so these are the principles I'll focus on. I hope you choose one or two principles of gospel culture to work on as well.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is an excellent set of standards to live by. No, more than that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best set of standards to live by, and the culture of Christ is the best way to live. I hope that we all choose to more fully follow those standards and to more fully live by the culture of Christ.