The Bible commands Christians with unmistakable clarity not to love the world and its sinful indulgences. The words of the apostle John are among the most notable in this regard:
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father; but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (I John 2:15-17).
But some Christians, sadly, take these admonitions too far. Those doing so, to be sure, can safely be called a decided minority among professed Christians, whether in our own time or throughout the age of the church. The inspired counsel of Ellen White urges God’s people to “shun the extremes, both of indulgence and of restriction” [1]. While in context the above statement is addressing issues of diet and physical health, the inspired consensus gives the clearest evidence that this counsel applies to all areas of faith and practice so far as believers are concerned. But as far reaching as this principle should be relative to Christian life and thought, even a cursory glance at sacred history and contemporary culture makes plain which tendency has been—and continues to be—most prominent in the professed Christian community.
Nevertheless, it is important for us to pause for a moment and consider the extent to which excessive contempt for the world can injure the outlook and witness of sincere followers of Christ, in particular those looking and preparing for His soon return.
Examples
How, some might ask, can Christians go too far in despising the world around them?
We could talk about the various forms of monasticism that certain Christians have pursued through the centuries, whether in the conduct of Catholic priests, monks, and nuns or of various extreme factions in the Protestant fold. But for most of us, these examples have little meaning or practical relevance. Far more common, from the present writer’s perspective, is the knee-jerk reaction of zealous converts (whether in or out of the church) against the world and all its popular assumptions, prevailing ideologies, and accepted norms, not merely those which defy the counsel of God.
One way in which this knee-jerk revulsion can occur is when young people with a history of sexual immorality experience conversion. Such persons can reject their sexuality so strongly as a response to their sinful past that they presume themselves gifted with the ability to practice celibacy, after the manner of the apostle Paul (I Cor. 7:7), only to find themselves—often with very negative spiritual consequences—sorely lacking the apostle’s gift. Others may react to such a history with less draconian but nevertheless extreme measures, sincerely adopted but without the inspired authority which alone can enable Christians to execute their Lord’s will [2]/
Such unqualified contempt for the world can also cause Christians to neglect and even renounce their duties as godly and responsible citizens of society. Such persons at times perceive the secular political world to be so corrupt and dominated by Satan that they refuse to inform themselves regarding civic issues and candidates for office, often refusing to vote altogether. Sometimes this mentality leaves devout Christians vulnerable to crackpot conspiracy theories regarding who controls the world and its major institutions, theories which often lead far afield relative to inspired predictions regarding end-time events and the anti-God powers foretold to be operative at the close of human history.
Strange Fire
Unfortunately, what at times may be connected in a convert’s mind with one’s pre-conversion past can be rejected less because of a clash with the inspired pen than simply because of its association with one’s life prior to conversion. If, for example, certain secular political or social causes formed a part of one’s pre-Christian life, it becomes easy for the converted one to assume the worst regarding such causes even without inspired authority for doing so. The assumption arises that whatever was part of one’s pre-conversion experience had best be shunned, irrespective of what God’s Word may or may not say about it. The guilt-by-association fallacy can cause such persons to paint with a broad brush, relegating anything belonging to one’s worldly past to the spiritual garbage heap.
Many present-day conservative Christians, including some Adventists, are making these broad-brush assumptions. Such movements as the growing interest of many in social justice, the “Me-Too” phenomenon relative to sexual abuse and harassment, environmentalism and the threat of man-made climate change—anything certain ones are pleased to dub “politically correct”—have become targets for generalized vilification in certain Christian circles. Some apparently forget that the enemy of souls specializes in the mingling of truth and error (Gen. 3:5), and that the Christian’s task is to carefully distinguish those causes and ideas which adhere to God’s written counsel from those that do not. Moreover, too many wrongly associate the notion of “political correctness” with one particular side of the cultural, political, and social spectrum, not realizing that such notions exist in every ideological system, whatever its position on the left-center-right continuum. .
It can’t be stated often enough that the God of Scripture is not a Democrat, a Republican, a libertarian, a capitalist, or a socialist. All of these are imperfect man-made constructs which lie on a totally different plane from Biblically-defined spiritual reality. When Christians assume without qualification that one set of beliefs from the above genre arise from godly values, while one or another set arise from godless infidelity, they are offering strange fire before the Lord as surely as did Nadab and Abihu in the wilderness sanctuary so long ago (Lev. 10:1).
Conclusion
Just because “friendship of the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4) doesn’t mean every cause, every idea, every social structure existing in the world is evil. Just because we know the world is dominated by Satan doesn’t mean anyone with something bad to say about the world is telling the truth. Unqualified hatred for all institutions, agendas, and causes in our contemporary world is not appropriate for the Christian. Wicked and in rebellion though it surely is, the world of today is not wholly lost. Those awaiting the return of Jesus should not withdraw themselves from society, but should responsibly and deliberately measure the world’s ideologies and practices against the written counsel of God.
REFERENCES
1. Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, p. 319.
2. ----Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 333.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan