Headlines are made of slides in the various economic indices, ranging from New York, to London, to Hong Kong. The Dow Jones, or the Nasdaq have become household names and given the emergence of e-trading is likely to become an even more powerful force on the lives of many. Babylon represents power and pleasure, the things which the world desires to have. And a day is coming when all of this will be broken. Thus the true church of Christ is exhorted to separate from the alluring tentacles of Babylon.
Christians are, and here perhaps, the Christian church is, to be a part of the world.
That is inevitable. Short of asceticism, some form of involvement in the world is a responsibility and duty. The church is to be salt and light in the world. Equally, however, the church has no business being of the world. She is to be different.