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 In the article "When the World is on Fire, Christians Can’t Just Tend Our Gardens," the author writes - "My main objection to talk of cobbling married couples together into artificial communities centered on religious subcultures is spiritual. I worry that it will turn us inward in ugly ways. It will encourage sectarianism where we need to be ecumenical. It will feed our esoteric "crunchy" obsessions while the world is in fact on fire. ...The pro-life movement, like the abolition movement in its day, is the single biggest force for spiritual renewal in America. I think it is how the Holy Spirit has begun to answer Jesus’ prayer that we may all be one. (John 17:21)" While I think the author's objections to The Benedict Option are likely due to not thoroughly reading the book (perhaps he just read the title and scanned a chapter here and there), I fully agree that Christian unity, the pro-life movement, and inter-racial harmony and equal rights are the primary issues that can heal the world's ills today. To illustrate his point of being "in the world but not of the world," the author quotes from a second-century Christian document, the "Epistle to Diognetus" as follows: Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign. And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law. Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonor, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they, rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens, they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred. To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world. As the visible body contains the invisible soul, so Christians are seen living in the world, but their religious life remains unseen. The body hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures. Similarly, the world hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but because they are opposed to its enjoyments. Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body’s hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together. The soul, though immortal, has a mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven. For more on Christian unity in the Early Church, go to my Free Literature page. Also, read the full article to get the whole story! And subscribe below to get our free weekly newsletter: |