Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

Being "in the world, but not of the world" seems so contradictory. Really, how can you do that? How can you be "in" something, but not "of" it? It's like they are wanting to have one foot in the "awful world" and one foot out. It sounds like they are saying that they want to be just enough in it, and get as close as they can to the bad things without actually doing the bad things. If the world is so bad, then why be in it at all? Why is it okay to be in it, but not of it? At my last cOC, we were discussing this one Wednesday night. Preacher man had just been to an Atlanta Braves game that day. Preacher man was and still is a HUGE Braves fan. In fact, he doesn't even live in the state of Georgia, so he travels two plus hours one way to see his precious Braves play. So, he's up there doing the whole "in the world, not of the world" thing while wearing his Braves jersey and sitting on the podium is his Braves hat. I mention that sports would certainly be considered something "of the world". He disagreed! He said that being in the world and not of the world just means that you shouldn't do bad things. I then pointed out that being a sports fan could be not only "of the world" but a "bad thing" as well. He asked me how I came to that conclusion and I replied "well, there are the athletes that get paid obscene amounts of money to play a game, there is the fact that they use performance enhancing drugs, there is the fact that there are alcohol sales at the games, gluttony is encouraged at the games". He got really upset and said that he saw no evidence of any of that and that I just wasn't a baseball fan, so all I was doing picking on his hobby! He then decided to "change gears" and discuss something else, LOL.

If we are not supposed to be "of the world" then why do ANYTHING that is associated with it? Why have a job? Why vote? Why file tax returns? Why go to restaurants? Why purchase season ticket packages to major league baseball games? Are any of things of God, or are they of the world? I used to really rile some folks up with this.

That preacher man needs to be concerned about his ‘appearance of evil’, ‘causing a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother’ and ‘each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed’.

That’s the irony with the coc. We all have passages we can pull out and use to counteract any of the BCV that they use to prove a point.

It's a way for them to mentally isolate themselves to outside criticism, as well as a way for them to feel special.

It's just another way of saying "do what I say, but don't hold me accountable for what I do."

Another religious canard, rightfully dismissed.

OneStrike_ur_out wrote:Being "in the world, but not of the world" seems so contradictory.

It's a question of attitude and concern. You can google this phrase and find many attempts to explain it.
What is spiritually perceived may not match with reality. The CoC does not understand the spiritual realm. They are afraid that they may start speaking in tongues. In fact it's evil is that it's poor theology deafens you. There are many here that have trouble with this and I include myself. I am still trying to get a handle on it. The struggle is worth it. You might find John 17 helpful.

The way I think about that phrase in my own life is that I can stand back and view what is going on all around me, and I can separate myself mentally from it in order to view my behavior and motives, and others' behavior. It's just another way of saying, "Pay attention."

I actually think it's one of the more harmful doctrines of Christianity. It encourages people to have total disregard for the life and world they currently inhabit, and focuses them on the pie-in-the-sky world that they believe is to come. Many COCers (and other fundies) that I know have totally missed out on THIS life because of their focus on the next. Personally, I can allow that there may be life after this one, even though I don't believe in God... but I cannot imagine why (if, for the sake of argument, he exists) God would want us to totally disregard this life that he gave us, and not take full advantage of it.

That's interesting, GH -

One of the stories Judaism tells about judgement day (and to understand it, you have to know that Jews have ALL KINDS of restrictions in life, on what they can eat, what they can wear, who they marry, etc. We are the quintessential 'not of the world' group) is that God will ask people why they DID NOT take advantage of all the ALLOWABLE pleasures. Self-denial does not have a positive connotation in Jewish life (with extremely limited exceptions).

(That probably explains why my DH is SURE, just SURE, that Catholic priests are secretly getting some kind of super kickback reward for agreeing to be celibate! He truly cannot believe anybody would give up sex willingly, for 'nothing'.)

After all, it is right there in Genesis 1 - God created x and y and z and everything - and every single time the statement is made that God saw that it was 'good' (which actually means functional and working, but it also means, hey, this world and all that is in it is remarkable and GOOD).

Fundamentalism takes that to the highest extreme though. We all knew people in our church who would not do anything, for fear that somewhere, somehow, along the way, they might even merely appear to be doing evil, and thus condemn their souls to an eternity in Hell. They miss out on life, and it is really going to suck if this really is the only one we get!

GuitarHero wrote:Fundamentalism takes that to the highest extreme though. We all knew people in our church who would not do anything, for fear that somewhere, somehow, along the way, they might even merely appear to be doing evil, and thus condemn their souls to an eternity in Hell. They miss out on life, and it is really going to suck if this really is the only one we get!

So true. I knew people who would never attend any kind of sporting event because beer was served. They wouldn't go to a movie because it might have nudity or a bad word. They wouldn't go to a nice restaurant because alcohol was served there. I wondered what these people did for fun, but it seemed their "fun" was sitting at home studying the bible or trying to get people over for a bible study. I especially felt bad for kids who grew up in these types of families. They never got to do anything fun and they missed out on so much. But most of the kids I knew who grew up like that saw the light and left the CoC, thankfully.