Bad Company Corrupts Good Morals
by Curtis Knapp
“Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’” – 1 Corinthians 15:33
These are the words of the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth. False prophets had entered the church and were denying the resurrection of the dead (see 1 Cor. 15:12). Paul quoted these words from a poet named Menander – “Bad company corrupts good morals” -- to warn the Corinthians about the consequences of tolerating such false teaching and associating with those who taught it. Paul told them not to be deceived.
What were they being deceived about? First, there was the primary deception regarding the resurrection of the dead. Denying the resurrection would lead to a host of evil consequences. First, it would mean that Christ was not raised (v. 16). If Christ was not raised, then faith in Him was worthless. Unless Christ was raised, there was no forgiveness of sins. Consequently, everyone who had believed in Christ for salvation would still be in their sins. Life would therefore be meaningless, and immorality would be irrelevant. Hence, Paul’s quotation in verse 32 of Isaiah 22:13, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
If Christ was not raised, there was no living Savior. If there was no living Savior, then everyone would die in their sins. If everyone will die in their sins, then we might as well indulge sin to the fullest, because we’re all going to hell regardless, and this life is the only enjoyment we’ll ever have. That is the pernicious logic of denying the resurrection.
But there was another deception connected with this one, and it was the deception of which Paul spoke in verse 33 above. Namely, the deception of thinking there was no danger in tolerating false teaching and false teachers. It was the lie that we can fraternize with bad company and not be corrupted by the exposure. In this verse, we are taught a powerful but sobering truth: bad company corrupts good morals. Bad people corrupt good people. Bad apples spread rottenness to good apples. Good apples do not spread their goodness to bad apples.
This raises two questions: What is bad company and what is good morals? In response to the first question, it is clear from the overall teaching of the Bible that every unbeliever has the potential of being “bad company.” This is why Paul tells the Corinthians (and us) not to be bound with unbelievers in 2 Corinthians 6.
“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.’ Therefore, ‘COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,’ says the Lord. ‘AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN,’ and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.” -- 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Yet, even though we are not to be bound together in any kind of intimate way with unbelievers, it is also true that we cannot avoid some association with unbelievers. In 1 Corinthians 5:9-12, Paul makes clear that it is impossible for us to avoid unbelievers without leaving planet Earth. So, even though each unbeliever has the potential to be bad company, it seems more likely from the context that Paul is referring to unbelievers who aggressively exert a bad influence over others.
Is not those who sin. It is those who try to influence you to sin. It is not those who believe false things. It is those who teach false things. It is not to those who think wicked thoughts. It is those who habitually verbalize their wicked thoughts. It is not those who have anger. It is those who frequently vent their anger. It is not those who have meddlesome thoughts. It is those who gossip.
The second question concerns good morals. Good morals are right beliefs and behavior. Bad company corrupts the right beliefs of those who hold them and the good behavior of those who practice it. Consider the following example in Proverbs 22:24-25: “Do not associate with a man given to anger, or go with a hot-tempered man, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself.”
In this example, good morals refers to the self-control that a man has over his anger. A believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling inside him and has the fruit of the spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22). The Holy Spirit dwelling within us goes a long way toward mortifying our sinful anger. Nevertheless, we still have a sinful flesh that can be provoked to anger. Being a companion to a hothead will excite the sinful anger in our flesh, and we will find ourselves losing our temper much more than we would have. In that sense, bad company corrupts good morals.
This doesn’t mean that a true believer will lose his salvation or lose all good influences of the Holy Spirit. But it does mean that the believer will be influenced to outbursts of anger himself if he keeps company with a hothead. An unbeliever who has been morally educated to control his anger will likewise be degraded by the bad influence of a temperamental person.
Paul warned the Corinthians not to be deceived about this principle. Paul was not ignorant of the devil’s schemes. He knew full well the lie of the flatterer which suggested that people of strong morals could never be hurt by the bad influence of others. We like to think we are strong. We like to think we are impervious to bad influence. We can handle it! So says the devil.
Do not be deceived. Do not think you will escape uncontaminated. Do not think you will influence bad company for the good; they will influence you for the bad. You will not elevate them; they will degrade you. They will not compromise; you will. They will not learn godliness from you; you will learn ungodliness from them. Do not think more highly of yourselves than you ought to think (Rom. 12:3). You are not as strong as you think. You are not is resistant to sin and corruption as you think. Do not be deceived!
This teaching may be shocking to modern ears, so let us search the scriptures more to see if these things are so.
The example of Lot and his wife
Lot chose to live in the wicked city of Sodom and no matter how bad the conduct of the city became, Lot wouldn’t leave. In 2 Peter 2:7-8, it says that Lot was “oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds).”
Even though Lot’s soul was tormented, he still wouldn’t leave Sodom. In the end, the angels had to drag him out of the city. As the fire began to come down, Lot’s wife looked back, presumably with longing, and was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his wife did not improve the morals of Sodom. Rather, they were corrupted by the residents of Sodom.
The example of the Israelites
“When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods (italics mine); then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” -- Deuteronomy 7:1-6
The Israelites were commanded to destroy all the nations living in the land of Canaan. The inhabitants had become detestable to God, and God was resolved to annihilate them. Israel was not supposed to try to be more compassionate than God, and they were not to intermarry with them for one main reason – the Canaanites would influence the Israelites to idolatry. The Israelites would not influence the Canaanites to worship the one true God. No, it would be the other way around.
In Judges 2:10-12, we see the fulfillment of God’s warning:
“All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals, and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger.”
In Judges 3:5-7, we see similar words:
“The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.”
We see from these passages that Israel didn’t influence the wicked nations in their midst to do righteousness. Rather, the wicked nations influenced Israel to do wickedness.
The example of Solomon
Solomon is often remembered as a king who did not keep God’s warning about marrying foreign wives. In 1 Kings 11:1-8, it is written:
“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, ‘You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.’ Solomon held fast to these in love. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.”
Solomon did not influence his wives to worship the Lord. His wives influenced him to worship their false gods. Some may smile at such an example at Solomon being used to prove the thesis of this booklet. Should an arch-polygamist like Solomon be considered as one who had good morals and who was corrupted by his wives? I grant that he should not have multiplied wives, for God had forbidden it in Deuteronomy 17:17, speaking expressly of the king of Israel: “He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.”
Solomon had good morals, however, in that at the beginning of his rule, he served the one true God of Israel. These good morals were corrupted because his wives persuaded him to turn away from God and worship idols. Following the exile in Babylon, those who returned to the land still had not learned lesson with respect to Solomon. Nehemiah 13:23-27, it says:
“In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, ‘You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?’" (see also Ezra 9-10)
Again, it is the same old story. The Israelite men were not influencing the foreign women for good. The foreign women were influencing the Israelite men for evil.
The example of gossips
In Proverbs 26:20-22, it is written:
“For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down. Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts of the body.”
Those with good principles will not reform a gossip. A gossip will infect others with his or her “morsels.” Do not be deceived! Bad company corrupts good morals.
Warnings to the church
Many may object that the examples given so far are from the old covenant, and that Christians in the new covenant cannot be so easily corrupted. But this objection will not stand up under the weight of New Testament revelation. Let us consider the evidence.
In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul confronted the Corinthians for their tolerance of a man who was sexually involved with his father’s wife (i.e. his stepmother). The Corinthians had become proud, presumably because of their tolerance and their permissive “grace.” Paul sternly rebuked them and told them they ought to have put the man out of the church. He gave two primary reasons for expelling the immoral brother: 1) For the destruction of the man’s flesh (i.e. his fleshly love of sin); 2) That the church would be protected from the leavening influence of the man’s sin.
In 1 Corinthians 5:6, Paul said, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?” Here is the same principle at work in the new covenant, just as it was in the old. The bad corrupts the good. One bad apple spoils all the good ones. And notice, it is only one bad apple.
We might be tempted to think that if enough good people surrounded one bad one, the ratio would be favorable and the odds would be good. Surely a whole church of good people with good morals could influence one bad apple. No. He will influence all of them. A little leaven – just a little – leavens the whole lump. The leaven had already begun to spread. The Corinthians should have expelled the man, but they had done nothing. They should have been mourning, but instead they were arrogant and boastful.
In 2 Thessalonians 3:5-8, we see another example of this principle:
“May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.”
Here Paul commanded the believers in Thessalonica to keep away from a brother (a true Christian) who led an unruly life. Why? The subsequent verses in chapter 3 indicate that it was because they would learn the bad example of laziness and mooching off others, instead of following the good example that Paul set for them by working hard and paying for his own food.
In 2 Timothy 2:16-18, Paul gave a similar warning:
“But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.”
Paul warns Timothy to avoid those who engage in worldly and empty chatter, for their talk will spread like gangrene. Gangrene does not stay in one place. The bad flesh spreads, contaminating the good flesh as it goes along. The good flesh does not heal the bad flesh.
A final example is given in Hebrews 12:15: “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.” A bitter person will defile many. Do not be deceived! Bad company corrupts good morals.
The example of personal experience
Scripture is sufficient to prove this point, but we are not without witness to this truth in our daily experience. Ask yourself some probing questions. When you are around a hot-tempered man, does it have a good effect on you or a bad one? When you are with a gossip, are you not at times led into gossip yourself? When you are with a person who is always complaining, do you often join in the complaint? When you are around people who use profanity and tell dirty jokes, does it help your mind to dwell on what is lovely and honorable, or the reverse? Are you as offended by their foul speech the 20th time you hear it as you were the first time, or do you find yourself growing desensitized? If you are married to an unbeliever, has your unbelieving spouse stimulated you to love and good deeds or has he or she been an encumbrance to you?
If you have passed through experiences like these without corruption, then praise be to God. However, it is possible that you are simply not aware how deeply you have been contaminated.
Why bad company corrupts good morals
Why is it that Christians with good morals are not able to improve the bad morals of others? The reason is because those Scripture defines as bad company are dead in sin and incapable of spiritual life (Ephesians 2:1-3). They are hostile to God and unable to submit to God’s law (Romans 8:7).
They are foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending their lives in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another (Titus 3:3). They are blinded by Satan and held captive by him to do his will (2 Corinthians 4:3-4; 2 Timothy 2:25-26). Furthermore, they hate true Christians (1 John 3:10-13). All your good morals will not rectify this depraved condition.
It is true that when God saves an unbeliever, He often uses the influence of the believer to do so. But God’s regenerating power must be at work. If it is not, the good example of the believer will never save an unbeliever.
In dealing with the subject of marriages in which a believer is married to an unbeliever, Paul gave this command in 1 Corinthians 7:15-16: “Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. Or how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?”
The answer to Paul’s rhetorical questions is that we don’t know whether we will be an instrument to save an unbelieving spouse. Only God knows that. Therefore, if the unbelieving spouse desires to leave us, we should let him or her leave, for we are not bound to try to make the marriage work in the hopes that we will one day save him or her. We don’t know if our spouse will be saved or not.
Why should bad company corrupt good morals? Why must it be so? Why aren’t Christians at least able to hold their own and not slide backward in the face of bad company? Jesus gives us a clue in Matthew 26:41. He wanted the disciples to pray with him on the eve of his crucifixion, but they kept falling asleep. “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The disciples meant well, but their flesh was weak. They were not able to be strong, stay awake and pray.
While we have this thing called the flesh, this remaining corruption in our own hearts, we are weak. We have a principle in our breast that gravitates downward, even while we have a new principle in our hearts that inclines upward to holiness. Paul explains this in Galatians 5:17: “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”
The reality of this inward tug-of-war means that we will not always do the things that we please. We are not in control of ourselves as much as we might like to think, and we need all the help we can get. We are commanded over and over in the Scriptures to be alert. We have an adversary, the devil, who prowls around seeking someone to devour. His craft and power are great, and he is able to successfully tempt us to sin. When we willingly choose to have fellowship with bad company, in spite of the clear warnings from Scripture, we are asking for trouble.
Objections
Objection 1: We cannot live in a cave. It is unrealistic to avoid bad company, since it surrounds us.
Answer: It is true. Bad company and bad influences do surround us, and it is impossible to have no contact with bad company. But we are talking about limited contact, not no contact. There is a way to be in the world, but not of it. We can have friends, but our friends should not be gossips, hot-heads, idolaters, fornicators, etc. We should not willingly marry an unbeliever. We may be in a workplace full of unbelievers (usually we have no other option), but we should not yoke ourselves together with them and make them our bosom buddies.
There are, no doubt, many challenges and complexities. Nevertheless, the fact that we cannot avoid all bad influences does not mean we should dismiss Paul’s warning. There are bad influences we can control. We do not have to watch ungodly and filthy television programs, commercials and movies. We do not have to read ungodly literature. We do not have to listen to bad preaching.
Objection 2: It is unloving and judgmental to separate from others because they are bad company.
Answer: On the contrary, it is biblical wisdom. Again, we must be clear on what separation means. It does not mean avoiding all contact with unbelievers. That is impossible. But it does mean that we keep our distance as best we can from bad company. In 2 Corinthians 6:17, Paul said, “Come out from their midst and be separate.” If this is judgmental, then scripture is judgmental.
It is a fallacy to conclude that it is unloving to avoid bad company. By the grace of God, we can love unbelievers and desire their salvation, even while we obey God’s command that we be separate from them. Paul is not advocating pride and self-righteous separation. When he commands us to be separate, he is not telling us to look down on other sinners and consider ourselves superior. Instead, we are to pity sinners.
Matthew 7:1-5, where Jesus prohibits sinful judging, is one of the most misunderstood passages in all of scripture.
"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”
Jesus is not here prohibiting all forms of judgment. He is prohibiting hypocritical judgment, wherein we condemn others for the very sins we commit. We must take the log out of our own eye before we can remove the speck in our brother’s. We are not qualified to fix someone else when we are failing in the very same way.
If Jesus was prohibiting all forms of judgment, then he would not tell us in the same chapter to beware of false prophets. How could we beware of false prophets (and know them by their fruits) if the mental faculty of exercising judgment was inherently sinful? Hundreds of other verses in Scripture require us to show discernment and judgment. How would we obey any of them if Jesus was prohibiting judgment of any kind?
Objection 3: We should evangelize bad company, not separate from them.
Answer: This is a false dichotomy. Evangelism and separation are not mutually exclusive. It should be noted, first of all, that evangelism is not the only duty God has given us in Scripture. He has given us many commandments and we are to obey them all. It is popular in many circles to treat evangelism as the greatest commandment to which all other commandments must yield. But where is this written? We do not have a right to set up evangelism as ultimate, while ignoring commands such as “come out from their midst and be separate.”
Furthermore, obedience to one commandment should not result in disobedience to another. If our obedience in evangelism results in disobedience to the commandment to be separate, then we are not truly evangelizing. We are compromising. Evangelism is a proclamation of biblical truth to unbelievers. We may proclaim the law to them to show them that they have violated God’s commandments and thereby show them their need for a Savior. We may refute false notions to which they subscribe, thereby taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ.
We may proclaim the good news of the gospel, that Christ is sufficient and able to save all who come to God through him. But such proclamations do not require us to be in fellowship with unbelievers or to be like them so that they will hear our message. If we do that, we will prove that unbelievers are better at evangelizing us than we are them.
Objection 4: But Paul said we should become all things to all men so that we might save them.
Answer: Yes he did. But what did he mean? He did not mean that we should become worldly so that worldly people would like us and listen to us. He did not mean that we should water down our sermons and avoid hard things in Scripture because lost people would be offended if we didn’t. He did not mean churches should entertain lost people, secularize the music and strip the church service of anything holy so that lost people would feel comfortable in church. When churches follow this route, they prove that bad company has already corrupted good morals.
The text in which this famous quotation is found is 1 Corinthians 9:20-22. It reads as follows:
“To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.”
Paul was not saying that he became sinful in order to win sinners or worldly in order to win worldly people. What he meant was that he was willing to submit to certain non-sinful externals in order to win the people he was evangelizing. With the Jews, all observed the ceremonial laws so that he might not offend them unnecessarily. On the other hand, he could set aside those laws when ministering to the Gentiles, who did not have the law. To those who were weak in faith and thought you could not eat meat, Paul abstained from eating meat in order to win them. There is no conflict between the love Paul demonstrated in his example and the separation he commanded in 1 Corinthians 15:33.
Ramifications
1) Missionary dating is a bad idea. You should not date or marry someone you know to be lost in the hope that you will influence him or her to be a Christian. You may know of some success stories, but even if you have judged those situations correctly, that is evidence of God’s grace and patience, not the legitimacy of missionary dating. You cannot presume upon God’s grace and expect to be blessed by violating the clear teaching of Scripture
2) You should not attend a bad church. If you are in a church with an unconverted pastor, if you have to ransack each sermon looking for the needle of truth in the haystack of error, if you are surrounded by unconverted church members with whom you have no fellowship, you are endangering your own soul. You will not reform the church you are attending. You will not change them for the better. They will change you for the worse. You are not as strong as you think you are. Do not be deceived! Bad company corrupts good morals.
You need solid food. You need the fellowship of other believers. The hand cannot say to the foot, “I don’t need you.” If you have to drive an hour or two to get to a good church, do so. Your soul is precious and your spiritual growth is worth the sacrifice of time and gas money. If there is no good church within any feasible driving distance, you should consider moving close to one. Your soul is more important than your job or your career or your house. Many people will move across the country for the sake of the job. Why not do so for the sake of your soul?
3) You should not attend a “Bible” college or a seminary where the Bible is twisted and undermined. You will not improve the institution with your good morals. You will be corrupted by the bad company.
4) Believing pastors should not associate with unbelieving pastors through ecumenical gatherings or ministerial alliances. They will be the worse for it if they do.
5) If you are in a church that does not practice church discipline (according to 1 Corinthians 5 and Matthew 18:15-20), it most likely has been thoroughly leavened with sin. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Some “churches” have been in existence for decades and have not practiced church discipline in the entirety of their existence. Consequently, they are rotten to the core. If this describes your “church,” you should find a new church immediately.
6) Christian parents who expect their children to be missionaries in the public schools should carefully consider that bad company corrupts good morals. Putting aside for a moment the fact that many “Christian” youth give no evidence of being born again and therefore cannot be missionaries in the public schools, let us assume for a minute that your child is a true Christian. Will he influence the unbelievers, or will they influence him? They will influence him for evil.
The entire church at Corinth could not influence one immoral man, except by expelling him. Will your child really be able to influence his ungodly peers? Do not be deceived! Bad company corrupts good morals. Let each parent carefully consider how this warning applies to the schooling of children and follow a biblically informed conscience. I understand the difficulties and challenges, but consider your children’s souls.
It should also be stated that parents who homeschool and parents who send their children to private schools are not exempt from this warning. It is to be feared that many “Christian” schools are not very Christian, when their theological teachings are compared to Scripture. Furthermore, private schools can be a receptacle for troubled children, whose parents send them there in the hopes of reforming them. Consequently, private schools are not necessarily worry-free.
Parents who homeschool their children should beware of the self-righteous leaven of the Pharisees which too often characterizes homeschool families. They should beware of pride in themselves and in their children and the attitude which says, “I thank God that I am not like these others.”
Conclusion
No doubt this booklet is strange teaching to a generation that has been raised on an unbalanced diet of misguided non-judgmentalism, unbiblical evangelism and the secular version of tolerance. Yet the Scripture has plenty to say about the need for separation from the world. Do not be deceived! Bad company corrupts good morals.
Even as we seek the conversion of our unbelieving neighbors, let us remember the words of the apostle James.
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world (italics mine).” -- James 1:27
“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” – James 4:4
