I have mentioned this sort of thing previously, but this past Sunday I was again reminded of how strong the pressures of society and culture are. As usual, I went to Llano Grande for our house church meeting, expecting to meet in the home of Gilbert and Fanny and to have basically their family in attendance. To my surprise and pleasure, the family who lives in front of them opened their home for the meeting. (The group used to meet there, but for several Sundays they had various problems, illness, other commitments, and couldn't host the meeting.)
That was encouraging because this family, although having made commitments of faith in Jesus, still are involved in the local Catholic church. Why? Not because they have examined scriptures or doctrine and found that the Latin American Catholic Church is correct or even close...but because the societal and cultural pressures are so strong. This particular church has active children's and youth activities. Most children in the community are involved in them. So, it's hard to not let your children participate in what their friends are doing.
The problem is not that everything isn't done just like we do it...for instance...the young son wanted to say the closing prayer...a good thing. He stood up very straight, made the sign of the cross, said, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," and proceeded to recite a memorized prayer. Now, I'm not being critical of doing something in the name of the Trinity, or for saying a memorized prayer. Most of us learned bedtime or mealtime prayers as children. Ok, let's be honest. Many still say what amounts to memorized prayers, in that we say the same thing nearly every time we pray. I could never be critical of a little boy praying to the Lord, no matter what "form" he uses.
The challenge is that what they learn is not always all the truth. That's why we are here...to somehow bring truth to as many people as we can. (I might mention that truth isn't just "our" truth, but is based on Holy Scriptures...only.) Do they get some truth in the churches of the culture here? Sure, some. But rarely all, and often with enough deviation to cause it to not be truth. Elements of truth with slight alterations can be even more dangerous than total untruth. It is also harder to overcome.
