Come Out From...
/Come out from Among Them
The lunatic dance of the world isn't tied to any particular place or time.
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"Be ye separate". That was the advice Paul wrote to acolyte Christians in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17. It was sound advice. In the years around 54 AD, Corinth was an Idol-on-every-corner sort of city. Invitations to debauchery and false ideology flickered like neon harlots at every turn. It's never easy being a Christian, especially in a morally-dissolute cosmopolitan burg like first century Corinth.
Paul's advice made sense: "Come out from among them, and be ye separate".
It still makes sense. Corinth of two thousand years ago doesn’t seem much different than right now. Debauchery and false ideology are abundantly available. If you're looking for something else; that may take a little longer.
Meantime - "Can I interest you in this . . ."?
The lunatic dance of the world isn't tied to any particular place or time. "Come out from among them" isn't about any particular place or time. It's about stepping outside the dance of the bacchanal altogether.
Fads, fashions, and all the other glamor of, up-to-date and here-and-now, are always singing their Siren songs. Maybe, like Odysseus, you could lash yourself to the mast, listening to the Siren's song, but safe from the Siren's spell, because tightly lashed to reality.
Maybe you don't care about any of that.
Maybe you're a laissez-faire secularist who thinks right and reason are only matters of opinion. I'm not talking to you.
You can stop reading.
I'm talking to those who understand that right and reason are not matters of opinion, but matters that cannot be breeched without consequence. Such people aren’t necessarily Christian. Such people are necessarily certain the winds of popular culture aren’t blowing anywhere they want to go.
They agree on no direction in their tack against the prevailing wind other than, away. You go your way. I'll go mine. Let the others go where they will.
My tact is to steer clear of the zeitgeist: restrict my attention to the classic works of Art, Music, Literature, History and Philosophy; have a little whiskey, a good cigar, and give no thought to the daily parade of "happening" fantasy.
The true origin of the phrase "Stop the world, I want to get off" Is unknown; probably because the sentiment is ancient.
St. Paul had it right all along: "Come out from among them, and be ye separate".
By K. L. Shipley
Website: https://www.eclecticessays.com