All followers of Christ belong in His Church Visible, “outside of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation (WCF 25.2).” It is not good for man, or woman, to be alone. Only when that lonely son finally came to his senses did he humbly return to his family where his father welcomed him home.Įvery proud loner needs to come to his senses, seek human companionship, and learn to listen to advice. Wrathfully, he rejects the advice, and off he goes on a whim to a far country, where he promptly wastes his money in riotous living and is soon friendless, stuck feeding pigs, whose slop he was hungry enough to eat himself. Imagine the Prodigal Son in Jesus’ parable being told he was going to lose his money and be lonely if he left home. Say to such a person, “Look, it is not good for you to be alone (Genesis 2:18),” and he will rage. If he could marry, he would marry himself, a small modern fad that has attracted attention lately as people hold wedding ceremonies for themselves alone. He showers the church, society, and his family with scorn. Give and take, accepting advice, or serving others is not for him. It is his way and his ideas, or he takes his ball and goes home. What is a loner at heart? He wants what he wants. People who require much patience, or who differ on some point, or even worse, who offer advice, are not for them. They listen to radio preachers, read Christian books, and even hold “church” at home. Many claim the name of Christ, but proudly steer clear of His Body, the Church. “Elijah, what are you doing here (I Kings 19:9)?” How does the loner think? Everyone else is unworthy! “People are fools.” “No one understands my genius.” “People let me down.” “I like to make my own decisions.” “I don’t fit in here, I am a foot, not a hand (I Corinthians 12:15).” Even Elijah when he ran to Sinai by himself, whining, “I, only I, am left (I Kings 19:10),” earns God’s rebuke. People doggedly moving ever farther away from one another constitute hell in C.S. But the loner is someone who purposely holds himself aloof, like the Unabomber, Mathematician Ted Kaczynski. “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me.” And solitary survivors like Robinson Crusoe, or the hero in the movie Castaway, fascinate. Some people live alone because friends and families have abandoned them. (JB) The man who holds aloof seeks every pretext to bare his teeth he defies all sound judgment. Who lives by himself follows his own whim he is angered by advice of any kind. Proverbs 18:1 – A man who isolates himself seeks his own desires he rages against all wise judgment. Biblical Wisdom College Admissions A Man Who Isolates Himself.
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