And with good reason. We are not allowed the option of cloistering ourselves in little enclaves while the world goes to hell. That is unscriptural.
Jesus' own commands.....
Matthew 28:18-20 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Mark 16:15 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Acts 1:6-8 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Baloney! The monks of Ireland spread the Gospel all over Western Europe during the Dark Ages. They also preserved on parchment many of the surviving works of the classical period after the paparyus originals were crumbling to dust after the Arab pirates stopped trade on the Med. And during the Middle Ages, the monks operated probably the best farms in Europe. Some hold that they were the first to established “business hours” for production of a range of goods, and by regular accounting created a capital surplus while lay land lords and bishops depended on the Jews.
When St,Bernard of Clairvaux perceived that the traditional abbeys were growing to “soft.” he started an order than went into the wildest parts of the land and developed it, working so hard that the average monk lived but seven years. The Friars—not technically monks,because they were intinerants, helped make Paris the great university it was and were the preachers who with a Paris Bible in their gowns, preached the Gospel in town squares all over Europe.
Paul set the example a long time ago. If you want to devote your whole life to a cause, don’t get married.