Purity and Proximity
"If you practice only purity apart from proximity to the culture, you inevitably become pietistic, separatist, and conceited. If you live in close proximity to the culture without also living in a holy manner, you become indistinguishable from fallen culture and useless in God's kingdom."
This is a quote from Mike Metzger that I read today in the Book UnChristian. It was in the middle of a chapter about how sheltered Christians often are. It has been something that I have felt for a long time but never really put it into words before. If you know me you know that I absolutely loath the 'Christian' subculture bubble. In my opinion we are not far off from the money lenders Christ drove out of the temple many times. Put Jesus' name on it and sell it to Christians, doesn't matter if its a piece of garbage, they'll buy it because they are Christian. Fake. We become so caught up in the Christian subculture that we isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. No wonder they think we don't have a clue, because we don't. How can we have compassion for a world that we want nothing to do with? If we are unwilling to engage the world because they are offensive to our beliefs, we can never introduce them to Christ.
In the midst of this I came across an organization today which I had heard of before, but had never really looked into. The organization is called 'To Write Love On Her Arms.' It is the exact opposite of what I just talked about. This is a group who is out there helping the hurting. It started with a group that was helping a young girl who was struggling with cutting herself. If you want to learn more about them you can visit their website or their myspace.
Being compassionate means being willing to stand with people who are hurting. It will take many more people living that way if we are to shake the 'UnChristian' label.
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