This week in my Family Relations class, we discussed validity between cultures. Are some cultures more valid than others when it comes to bad and good, right and wrong? My initial reaction and thoughts lead me to say yes but after discussing it more with other people, it is becoming more challenging to deem what is really “bad and good,” and “right and wrong.” And I’m not talking about race or ethnicity when I say culture. Though there are some cultural behaviors that are associated with groups of people of certain races or ethnicity but their culture can reach well beyond their race and ethnicity.

Approaching this question from a Christian point of view, I have to say that not all cultures are equal. I believe that it is hard to base every single culture on a single set of values, especially since each culture has developed according to various values. What may be considered “right” in one society may be viewed as the worst “wrong” in a different society. Because these two parties have been raised differently, they have a different way of judging good from bad, wrong from right, wicked for righteous. Therefore, one must be very careful in determining or saying outright that a culture is wrong or bad or wicked. Before doing so, you must learn more about them and why they think the way that they do.

If we look at patterned throughout history, we can learn and predict possible outcomes by the way cultures shift over time. Almost every culture begins with roots from another culture. They have humble beginnings; thriving villages, towns, cities, countries, and civilizations that prosper and are close nit. As time passes, cultures continue as traditions but begin to have slight tweaks to adjust to the times. Civilizations and countries have fallen to ruin when certain cultural shifts take place.

We must also remember that God only judges us based on the level of light and knowledge we have received. A culture who has no knowledge of the gospel should not be automatically considered wrong, especially since we have no idea how they might act if they did have some knowledge of the gospel. Remember the Anti-Nephi-Lehites? They were the vilest of sinners, until they received knowledge of the gospel. After recognizing the errors of their ways they changed completely and were a perfectly righteous society. They showed that even “bad” cultures can learn and change. Therefore, not all cultures are equal, nor should be considered as being equal, unless they all have the same amount of light and knowledge.