2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
I again refer to the church of today. It basically defines holiness by who Christ is, or said differently Christ is our holiness for we cannot be holy. Therein lies the half truth. It is true that in our own selves, we cannot be holy, but when changed by the Living Savior and filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit we can be holy and live without sin!
I read a book about holiness during a week stay at Seyfert Campground in the summer of 2015. I went there for spiritual renewal; a time of study, fasting and prayer. I read a book I found in the closet of my room on holiness. I was hoping to find out about holiness of the past, after all I was at a holiness camp... but I quickly realized that the book was about today's view of holiness. Don't get me wrong it was good to read and challenging (no, I didn't finish it. I would have had to stay a couple months), but it left out what I believe was the success of the church back in the early to mid 1900's. Instead the author pushed the idea that the past had it wrong: Holiness isn't about what you do or don't do. It is about what you think and desire. It used to be a about actions but now it is a mindset. Just this past week in SS class we talked about how friendship with the world was not talking about the people, rather it was talking about the mindset or philosophies of the world that we are not to be friend with. Each of these examples have truths in them, but it is not the whole teaching of scripture.
Look again at these verses again. Do not be yoked with unbelievers... wickedness and righteousness are like light and darkness, they can't co-exist. The temple of God and idols come from opposite view points. We must come out from them and be separate (vs 17). When will God receive us as his own children? When we touch no unclean thing. We must purify ourselves from all that contaminates. Not just in our spirit but in the physical body as well (vs 1). You see, it is both what we think and what we do. Your spirit has not been cleansed if the body is still contaminated. This can be said in another way as well... If you contaminate the body with sin your spirit will be soiled as well. We are complete beings mind, body, soul, and spirit. Each is directly connected to the other and each suffer when the other touched by sin.
A and K, You are not an animal. You are more that a body. Your mind does not think on its own. Your spirit and your soul co-exist within you. I do not understand it all, but I do know that if you mix with the world, finding pleasure and fulfillment in what it sees as important in life, you will fall spiritually. 1 Cor. 6:12 to the end of that chapter talks about joining with a prostitute and how in doing so one dishonors God, because the act joins evil with God. Should they be united??? Never! Sexual sins are more egregious, but joining anything of the world to your life is wrong.
Daughters, be it music or dancing, drinking or smoking, gambling, movies, or tv, be it anything else of the world... if you do these, your whole being will be affected. Do not unite yourself with the world, rather put off everything the contaminates your body and spirit (vs 1), and so purify yourself that God may be revered in your life as you perfect holiness. You know this Biblical theme is the closest to my heart. And so are each of you. I love and care about you. That is why it always comes back around to this when I read or write about God's Word. May you be dedicated wholly to the Lord, so that your entire being may be truly holy before the Lord.
~Dad
PS... what, still not done?... About the list I wrote... those are things that most churches used to believe were wrong. Many of them were evils in their day, many still are. Certainly how you do some of them determines if it is evil or not, but know this: if the world finds pleasure in them, we shouldn't be there with them, otherwise we become one with them... Never! not even when other "christians" are.
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