Keeping Pure
My discussion groups for fans of C. S. Lewis is having a discussion on the notion of 'keeping pure'. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, the core idea is that as Christians, were supposed to be engaged with the world, but not to be corrupted by it. One of the posters on the list, Donald Williams, wrote a post that I found interesting, so I asked him for permission to repost it here.
How do we maintain Christian virtue in a corrupting
world which is dangerous to us but which we must know
and touch in order to reach? Three passages are
essential to any biblical view.
”I have given them thy word; and the world has hated
them because they are not of the world, even as I am
not of the world. I do not ask thee to take them out
of the world, but to keep them from the evil one”
(John 17:14-15).
This is where we get the formula “In the world but not
of it.” Forbidden are two approaches to the world:
identification with it and isolation from it. There
is a sense in which we do identify with the world: in
its need and its suffering, as our Lord modeled. But
we do not find our identity in the world, we do not
allow it to define us, and we do not allow ourselves
to be forced into its mold (Rom. 12:1). We identify
not with the world but with Christ. He defines us, he
transforms us, and we find our identity in him.
Unfortunately, the easiest way to avoid identification
with the world is to try to withdraw from it, that is,
to practice isolation. We create our Christian ghetto
and withdraw within its borders so we won’t be
corrupted. We write our own music and books and
create our own TV, all of which somehow turn out to be
strangely cheap imitations of what the world is doing.
But this is a false approach, and Christ makes it
clear he does not mean us to take it, both by his
prayer here and by his example, hanging out with
publicans and sinners and scandalizing the religious
of his day.
Somehow we must be “in” and “not of” at the same time.
But that is difficult. Instead, we create our
(partially) insulated parallel universe, with borders
guarded by ever-increasing lists of Rules. “We don’t
cuss, drink, smoke or chew, / and we don’t go with
girls that do.” But we can do all of that in the
flesh. We do not have the ability to be “in” and “not
of” at the same time. That requires the wisdom and
power of God; that requires discernment. And so it is
not to be thought of by half-hearted Christians; and
so it is seldom seen.
Yet that is precisely what is commanded: not isolated
prepositions in the flesh, but the integration of the
two prepositions in the Spirit. But how can we do
that? A good question: it leads us to the next verse.
”Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if
there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of
praise, let your mind dwell on these things” (Phil.
4:8)
What kind of command is this? It is a positive
command. It is about what we are positively supposed
to dwell on. But in our application we have almost
universally turned it into a negative command, about
what we are not supposed to read, watch, or listen to.
Why have we been so inattentive? Because the
negative approach is easier. It is easier to boycott
all movies than to use discernment; it is easier to
swear off of “secular” music or “rock” than to listen
critically to what the world is actually saying in
these media, understand with empathy the cries of its
lost voices, but then choose the good, and dwell on
that.
I repeat: this verse says not one word about what we
cannot read, watch, or listen to. It says not a
single word about what we must turn a blind eye to,
pretend isn’t there, or be ignorant of. It says a lot
about what we should nourish and feed our minds on. I
read Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings twice in 1968,
the year I discovered it, and have read it annually
since. That is what the verse is talking about.
I am not saying there is nothing so raw, so evil, so
corrupting that we should not expose ourselves to it.
But our strategy is too often negative, while the
Bible’s is positive. This makes Phil. 4:8 the answer
to the dilemma raised by Jesus in John 17. How do we
live “in” the world without becoming “of” it? Do not
focus on what you can not read, watch, etc. Rather,
positively feed your mind on what is Good, True, and
Beautiful, and then it will respond rightly to the
rest.
”If you have died with Christ to the elementary
principles of the world, why, as if you were living in
the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as
‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ . . .
These are matters which have the appearance of wisdom
in self-made religion, self abasement and severe
treatment of the body, but are of no value against
fleshly indulgence” (Col. 2:20-23)
It is not just that the negative approach is less
valuable. The Apostle says it is of no value at all!
Why? Because you can abstain not only from Rock but
also from Country--hey, Mozart and Wagner were
supposed to be immoral people, so we’d better abstain
from Classical too. You can abstain from everything
except the Psalms in the original Hebrew sung to
Gregorian Chant, and still be proud, envious,
wrathful, slothful, greedy, gluttonous, and lustful.
The absence of the Evil (or even the Questionable)
does not equate to the presence of the Good (or
Virtue). A negative photograph of the “world” is not
necessarily a positive portrait of Jesus.
O.K., so what does work? Phil. 4:8. The cornerstone
of our approach to maintaining Christian virtue in a
corrupt world should not be the things we do not read,
watch, or listen to. It should be a mind really fed
on and nurtured by the Good, the True, and the
Beautiful, as we find it in Scripture and in the best
of the Christian and classical traditions. You cannot
keep the “impure” out of your mind. But you can keep
the fresh water of Scripture flowing strongly through
it, so that the impure is constantly being washed
away. And that is the only way to keep it pure.
CONCLUSION: Milton asked, “What wisdom can there be
to choose, what continence to forbear, without the
knowledge of evil? He that can apprehend and consider
vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet
abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer what is
truly better, he is the true warfaring Christian.” He
concludes, “I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered
virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies
forth to face her adversary, but slinks out of the
race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not
without dust and heat.”
Feed your mind on the Good, the True, and the
Beautiful, and it will respond properly to the rest.
Develop uncloistered virtue: positive, discerning,
unafraid. Then we may say with Bunyan’s Pilgrim,
“Apollyon, beware what you do; for I am in the King’s
highway, the way of holiness; therefore take heed to
thyself.” And the gates of Hell will not prevail
against us.
How do we maintain Christian virtue in a corrupting
world which is dangerous to us but which we must know
and touch in order to reach? Three passages are
essential to any biblical view.
”I have given them thy word; and the world has hated
them because they are not of the world, even as I am
not of the world. I do not ask thee to take them out
of the world, but to keep them from the evil one”
(John 17:14-15).
This is where we get the formula “In the world but not
of it.” Forbidden are two approaches to the world:
identification with it and isolation from it. There
is a sense in which we do identify with the world: in
its need and its suffering, as our Lord modeled. But
we do not find our identity in the world, we do not
allow it to define us, and we do not allow ourselves
to be forced into its mold (Rom. 12:1). We identify
not with the world but with Christ. He defines us, he
transforms us, and we find our identity in him.
Unfortunately, the easiest way to avoid identification
with the world is to try to withdraw from it, that is,
to practice isolation. We create our Christian ghetto
and withdraw within its borders so we won’t be
corrupted. We write our own music and books and
create our own TV, all of which somehow turn out to be
strangely cheap imitations of what the world is doing.
But this is a false approach, and Christ makes it
clear he does not mean us to take it, both by his
prayer here and by his example, hanging out with
publicans and sinners and scandalizing the religious
of his day.
Somehow we must be “in” and “not of” at the same time.
But that is difficult. Instead, we create our
(partially) insulated parallel universe, with borders
guarded by ever-increasing lists of Rules. “We don’t
cuss, drink, smoke or chew, / and we don’t go with
girls that do.” But we can do all of that in the
flesh. We do not have the ability to be “in” and “not
of” at the same time. That requires the wisdom and
power of God; that requires discernment. And so it is
not to be thought of by half-hearted Christians; and
so it is seldom seen.
Yet that is precisely what is commanded: not isolated
prepositions in the flesh, but the integration of the
two prepositions in the Spirit. But how can we do
that? A good question: it leads us to the next verse.
”Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if
there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of
praise, let your mind dwell on these things” (Phil.
4:8)
What kind of command is this? It is a positive
command. It is about what we are positively supposed
to dwell on. But in our application we have almost
universally turned it into a negative command, about
what we are not supposed to read, watch, or listen to.
Why have we been so inattentive? Because the
negative approach is easier. It is easier to boycott
all movies than to use discernment; it is easier to
swear off of “secular” music or “rock” than to listen
critically to what the world is actually saying in
these media, understand with empathy the cries of its
lost voices, but then choose the good, and dwell on
that.
I repeat: this verse says not one word about what we
cannot read, watch, or listen to. It says not a
single word about what we must turn a blind eye to,
pretend isn’t there, or be ignorant of. It says a lot
about what we should nourish and feed our minds on. I
read Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings twice in 1968,
the year I discovered it, and have read it annually
since. That is what the verse is talking about.
I am not saying there is nothing so raw, so evil, so
corrupting that we should not expose ourselves to it.
But our strategy is too often negative, while the
Bible’s is positive. This makes Phil. 4:8 the answer
to the dilemma raised by Jesus in John 17. How do we
live “in” the world without becoming “of” it? Do not
focus on what you can not read, watch, etc. Rather,
positively feed your mind on what is Good, True, and
Beautiful, and then it will respond rightly to the
rest.
”If you have died with Christ to the elementary
principles of the world, why, as if you were living in
the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as
‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ . . .
These are matters which have the appearance of wisdom
in self-made religion, self abasement and severe
treatment of the body, but are of no value against
fleshly indulgence” (Col. 2:20-23)
It is not just that the negative approach is less
valuable. The Apostle says it is of no value at all!
Why? Because you can abstain not only from Rock but
also from Country--hey, Mozart and Wagner were
supposed to be immoral people, so we’d better abstain
from Classical too. You can abstain from everything
except the Psalms in the original Hebrew sung to
Gregorian Chant, and still be proud, envious,
wrathful, slothful, greedy, gluttonous, and lustful.
The absence of the Evil (or even the Questionable)
does not equate to the presence of the Good (or
Virtue). A negative photograph of the “world” is not
necessarily a positive portrait of Jesus.
O.K., so what does work? Phil. 4:8. The cornerstone
of our approach to maintaining Christian virtue in a
corrupt world should not be the things we do not read,
watch, or listen to. It should be a mind really fed
on and nurtured by the Good, the True, and the
Beautiful, as we find it in Scripture and in the best
of the Christian and classical traditions. You cannot
keep the “impure” out of your mind. But you can keep
the fresh water of Scripture flowing strongly through
it, so that the impure is constantly being washed
away. And that is the only way to keep it pure.
CONCLUSION: Milton asked, “What wisdom can there be
to choose, what continence to forbear, without the
knowledge of evil? He that can apprehend and consider
vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet
abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer what is
truly better, he is the true warfaring Christian.” He
concludes, “I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered
virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies
forth to face her adversary, but slinks out of the
race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not
without dust and heat.”
Feed your mind on the Good, the True, and the
Beautiful, and it will respond properly to the rest.
Develop uncloistered virtue: positive, discerning,
unafraid. Then we may say with Bunyan’s Pilgrim,
“Apollyon, beware what you do; for I am in the King’s
highway, the way of holiness; therefore take heed to
thyself.” And the gates of Hell will not prevail
against us.
posted by Mad Jurist at 9:43 AM
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