“Be ye separate” – 2 Cor. 6:17
The Christian, while in the world, is not to be of the world. He should be distinguished from it in the great object of his life. To him, “to live”, should be “Christ”. Whether he eats, or drinks, or whatever he does, he should do all to God’s glory. You may lay up treasure; but lay it up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves break not through nor steal. You may strive to be rich; but be it your ambition to be “rich in faith”, and good works. You may have pleasure; but when you are merry, sing psalms and make melody in your hearts to the Lord. In your spirit, as well as in your aim, you should differ from the world. Waiting humbly before God, always conscious of His presence, delighting in communion with Him, and seeking to know His will, you will prove that you are of the heavenly race. And you should be separate from the world in your actions. If a thing be right, though you lose by it, it must be done; if it be wrong, though you would gain by it, you must scorn the sin for your Master’s sake. You must have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Walk worthy of your high calling and dignity. Remember, O Christian, that thou are a son of the King of kings. Therefore, keep thyself unspotted from the world. Soil not the fingers which are soon to sweep celestial strings; let not these eyes become the windows of lust which are soon to see the King in His beauty – let not those feet be defiled in miry places, which are soon to walk the golden streets – let not those hearts to be filled with pride and bitterness which are ere long to be filled with heaven, and to overflow with ecstatic joy.
-C.H. Spurgeon
1834-1892
Christ Alone Wyoming 
“Therefore, keep thyself unspotted from the world. Soil not the fingers which are soon to sweep celestial strings; let not these eyes become the windows of lust which are soon to see the King in His beauty – let not those feet be defiled in miry places, which are soon to walk the golden streets – let not those hearts to be filled with pride and bitterness which are ere long to be filled with heaven, and to overflow with ecstatic joy.”
Contrast these sound words of Spurgeon with:
“Try…listening to new music (Christian pop fans would do well to tune in the hardcore station), listening to new teachers (Christian-radio fans should tune in to a sexual talk program like Tome Leykis or Howard Stern), and watching a movie you normally would not.” (Mark Driscoll, The Radical Reformission, p.131-132)
Regarding fundamentalist Christians (those who believe as Spurgeon expressed above), Dan Kimball says:
“(These are) people who are always saying negative things about the world, are anti-gay, take the whole Bible literally, are card-carrying Republicans, are pro-Israel, read end time novels, and endorse snake handling and fire-and-brimstone preaching. They think of King-James, finger-pointing, teetotaling, vengeful people who credit God fur using natural disasters to punish people for sin,, and who use Christian jargon and are arrogant and unloving toward anyone but themselves.” (“They Like Jesus But Not The Church”, Kimball, p.191)
To Emergents, this whole concept of being unspotted from the world, is “Phariseeistic”, and even “un-Christlike”. And because people love the world, and the things of it, they hate this talk of separation, and heap up teachers that tell them it is actually more Christ-like to immerse oneself in the world so as to better “understand” them. But since when does any Christian need to do that? We already WERE immersed in the world, we already understand what it was like, and have chosen to leave it to follow Christ. We have been cleansed from the filth of the world and it’s ways by the Blood and the Word. It is utter foolishness, and disobedience, to return to the mire for any reason.
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