Imitation of the Wise is True Independence

“In Scrpiture, learning is profoundly incarnational. But we have been taught (in countless ways) that true knowledge is abstract and disembodied. When people begin to self-consciously imitate their parents and elders, it is not long before the charges of ‘mind-control’ and ‘cult’ begin to fly. Part of the godly fruit of incarnational imitation is like-mindedness, which the Bible praises in a number of places (Rom. 15:5-6; Phil. 2:2; 20), and which our modern world condemns. It is not even hard to find Christians who are wary of like-mindedness. Instead, they say, you have to be an individual. Be your own dog. You must not imitate others, period. The result of this vain exercise (like throwing rocks at the moon) does not eliminate imitation; it only guarantees the imitation of fools” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 13).