Alternative Lifestyles

I am being convicted of my American, consumerist lifestyle. Relative to the whole, my income is below poverty level, yet I still manage to buy and consume stuff at a rate that can’t be good for our planet. I talk about living “in the world, but not of it” and avoid the major sins currently condemned by conservative christianity, yet I recognize how much my thoughts and actions are conformed by this world.

What does it look like in contemporary America to reject the ways of the world and live instead according to the ways of God’s kingdom? Do the Anabaptists (and others who choose differing levels of physical separation from the worldly kingdom) have it right? Do we impact the culture around us by peacefully separating from them? That goes against mainstream evangelistic technique, but what are our techniques really evangelizing to? Do we need to follow the lead of St Francis and cast off all worldly possession? Is that even possible?

The whole story of Scripture seems clear that children of God cannot simultaneously live as children of the world. We aren’t given the luxury of living both lives; there is no “best of both worlds” paradigm. What does it look like to resist the ways of this world while carrying out Jesus’ mission to this world? Who are our modern-day examples living this life in urban, first-world settings?