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How Christians Are “No Part of the World”The Watchtower—1977 | October 15
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How Christians Are “No Part of the World”
CHRISTIANS everywhere are familiar with Jesus’ statement in prayer to Jehovah God: “They [Jesus’ disciples] are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17:16) What does this mean? What constitutes the “world” of which Christians must avoid becoming a part? In what way must Christians keep themselves separate?
The apostle Paul told Christians that they should not be making use of the world as do others, “for,” he said, “the scene of this world is changing,” like the fast-changing scenes in a stage play. (1 Cor. 7:29-31) And the apostle John described what Christians are to avoid about the world when he wrote: “Everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world.”—1 John 2:16.
Certainly the immorality and the greediness that promote stealing, extortion, murder and other crimes, as well as the pursuit of materialism, arise from “the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes.” And aiding and abetting such wrongdoing is the world’s tendency toward “the showy display of one’s means of life,” which begets a lust for power, prominence and status. It fosters pride, nationalism and racism, resulting in hatred, wars and revolutions.
The Christian, therefore, must avoid all these manifestations of the world’s wrong desires.
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How Christians Are “No Part of the World”The Watchtower—1977 | October 15
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In following Jesus Christ, his disciples obey his command to be “no part of the world.” It is essential for the Christian to have no part in the world’s religions or in its political or military affairs. Christians are neutral. They avoid interfaith movements or participation in any strife or wars between the world’s factions.
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