James T. Kirk, Captain of the Starship USS Enterprise. By NBC Television via Wikimedia Commons

The Prime Directive term has its roots in the 1960s Star Trek series, a.k.a. “original Star Trek.” The directive forbids Starfleet personnel from interfering with the development of other cultures and civilizations. This law applies particularly to civilizations that fall below a certain threshold of technological, scientific and cultural development.

Starship crews are prohibited from using their superior technology to transpose their own values or ideals on them. As As time travel became a recurring feature in the series, the concept was expanded to a Temporal Prime Directive, forbidding Starfleet personnel from interfering in history.

Though the term originates with Star Trek, Christians have a prime directive all our own. Of course we do share the charge to boldly go where no man has gone before.