As you drive through the byways of Pennsylvania on the way to Shippensburg Bible School, it is quite common to come across the horse drawn buggies of the local Amish. And when you leave on Sunday mornings, you can sometimes see whole groups of these buggies gathered around a barn, for their Sunday meetings. These scenes are almost unknown outside North America, where, in addition to the Amish, you can come to know, as I have done, members of such groups as the Hutterites, the Mennonites, and the Brethren. All these groups strive to maintain their separateness in different ways:
- The Amish physically live among other Americans, but by their way of life and their restricted employment live lives quite separate from others. Their use of technology is strongly limited: no mains electricity, no power use in farms etc.
- The Hutterites work among the general population, (the one I knew was a local school teacher,) but live communally. They have few restrictions on the use of technology.
- The Mennonites are similar to the Amish in their restrictive use of technology, but will use powered implements on farms.
- The Brethren both live and work among the general population, but by their dress are markedly different. They will use modern technology (they drive cars) but are careful to avoid any semblance of “flashiness”.
All these groups carry out the Biblical injunction to “be not conformed to this world” (Rom 12:2) by following a set of rules and discipline (German “Ortnung”) that defines in precise detail expected behavior and dress. None actively evangelize: all grow largely by their high retention rate and large families. And none will participate in war under any circumstances: they, along with the Quakers, are known as the “Historic Peace Churches.” Indeed, John Thomas, when he met the Brethren in 1835, was most interested in this aspect of their beliefs.
So are these groups an example for us — or a warning? As I consider the attitude towards separateness in our community, I can sense a tension between the commandment to,
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,” (2Cor 6:17) and that in John 17:15,
“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”
In addition, Paul comments in 1Cor 5:9-10:“ I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.”
Which is an implied injunction to be very careful before we cut off all friendships with anyone outside our community.
We also have the command in Matt 28:19-20 :
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
So how do we balance these disparate requirements to both be separate, but to make our light shine before men? Is it by withdrawing to our own circle of Christadelphian friends, by keeping our children separate, by dressing in ways that identify us as different, by refusing to use the wonders of our technological age? Or can we keep ourselves “unspotted from the world” (James 1:27) without withdrawing from it? It is a difficult balancing act, and different Christadelphians will (and have) come up with different conclusions.
- You can utilize home schooling, and by that reduce the moral perils that association with the children of those not in the Truth provide. Or you can believe in the enhanced opportunity for normal social interaction that a typical school provides, and feel comfortable with imbuing the children with the correct moral imperatives at home.
- You can feel comfortable in having no friends “In the world”, and thereby reducing a whole host of temptations to conform to the ways of the world. Or you can cast your net of friendship wide and far, hoping to encourage by word and deed those who might otherwise not seek to acquire the knowledge of Jesus.
- You can be careful to dress at all times in ways that show what you are indeed are following the precepts of 1Tim 2:9 “that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;” even if it means dressing in long skirts when most women would wear jeans, or men wearing jackets and ties when most would wear t-shirts. Or you can consider that avoiding the extremes of modern fashion by dressing modestly by current fashion is an adequate response to the admonition of Paul.
- You might consider it quite unacceptable for any to show up for memorial service in anything other than their “Sunday best” — that “all things be done decently and in order” (1Cor 14:40). Or you might instead remember the comments by James in his second chapter about the requirement of respect for all persons, independent of their dress.
- You might object to the evil influences of the Internet, avoid any use of such technology, and refuse to allow television in your house. Or you could embrace the advantages that come with the technology embedded in the web, and welcome the way television can enlighten as well as entertain.
It is impossible to derive, from the Bible, a specific set of guidelines in this area. It is clear, however, from the comments by Paul about meat offered to idols, in 1Cor 8, that it is the effect on others of our freedom in Christ that is paramount.
We might be perfectly entitled to do all sorts of things, because it will not harm us personally in our walk. But if it might cause others to offend (and I do not include to cause offense) — of course we should refrain from that action. So we might be quite comfortable in using Twitter, for example, to keep in touch with a small circle of like-minded friends. But if we know one of our members who is addicted to wasting time with such technology, and is using our use of it as a justification — we should perhaps terminate our use. Or we might enjoy a little wine with our meals (medicinal purposes only!) — but if one of our members is a potential alcoholic, our little pleasures might be inappropriate.
But what we cannot do is provide our own set of Christadelphian “Ortnung” — our own set of prescriptions on the length we can grow our hair, the way we dress, the cars we buy — or cannot buy. Our desire is not to separate ourselves from the world physically, but morally. We should not attempt to stand out by our dress, but by the way we behave. We should not stand out, as the Amish do, by refusing to use the benefits of modern technology. We should not separate ourselves into our own little Christadelphian communes, as the Hutterites do. There is no evidence the early Christians were distinguishable by their dress or occupations (apart from soldiering) from those around them. But it is clear that by their faith in Our Lord they convinced multitudes of the reality of salvation through the Lord Jesus. There are many ways we can cope with the temptations that surround us, and we must all make our own decisions as to where and how to draw the lines. But cope we must — as we strive to remain “unspotted from the world”.
It is an area in which there are no hard and fast rules, either given in the words of Scripture or in our Statement of Faith, which includes, of course, the Commandments of Christ. As clause 15 says “ Be not conformed to this world: love not the world” (Rom. 12:2; 1 John 2:15). And again, clause 33: “Let your light shine before men: hold forth the word of life. Do good to all men as ye have opportunity” (Matt. 5:16; Phil. 2:16; Gal. 6:10). It is the tension between being in the world, so we can communicate the light of the true gospel, and being not conformed to the world, that lies at the heart of many of the dilemmas we have in this complex, high technology world around us. But if we let Christ dwell in our hearts, by faith in him and his mission, we can ensure all our actions ultimately resound to the glory of our God and His Son.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One