I am thinking that in the end, man belongs in the city not snuggly and happily in the country but getting out there around the masses in the city.
Someone once challenged, “Prove to me that we should be living in the city rather than the country, prove to me that that is more biblical.”
I love the idea of city life, never mind I can not parallel park or find my way out of a paper bag and I’m prone to road rage. Nevertheless, the mass of humanity, the commerce, the lights, the tall buildings, the variety is alluring. In comparison, country life seems quaint, idyllic, bucolic, simple and maybe simplistic.
Man starts in a garden:
“The Lord God panted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed… Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” 
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And ends in a city:
“Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
“The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it.”
“The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass… The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones…”
Progression from a garden at youth to a city at maturity seems to be implied. Like, you need to grow up before you are fit for city life.
The city does have it’s definite down side. When we live close to one another, we have to do the hard thing of getting along. It is easy to think we get along with people when we don’t really have to. It is easy in theory to live close to our neighbor, easy to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Funny thing that follows that command is, “But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another.”
That seems to suppose we will be near enough that we want to bite and devour one another. It is probably where we are most effective in influencing one another, hopefully for good.
But I am guilty. I love my four walls, my house a good distance from my neighbors. I like being the one to decide if I will rub shoulders and I really mostly prefer to stay home. I am an introvert.
In theory I love the city and I love the city for the weekend, when I am there then I think I want to live there always. But my four walls and an open sky are very comfortable to return to. I like not dealing with people mostly.
But is that selfish?
Any thoughts?
I just want to put a plug in here for Lisa’s paper which she has a link to in her comment.
Left a good job in the city.
A city, yes. A garden city lined with trees, sparking with gems and flowing water, where you will rest in peace under your own vine and fig tree (1Kg. 4:25; 7; Rev.22). No, really a garden zoo city (Is. 65). You’ll have every sort of pet, too.
I never knew what he was singing! As a 10 year old I always sang out a slurred, “Loved a good dog and the ditty…”
But as to cities and being selfish… living in a city may cause you to rub shoulders more, on crowded streets and busses, or in your apartment buidling, but it doesn’t mean you actually talk to those nameless faces. Let alone get along with them. I think people have the potential to be MORE selfish in a city, or at least just stay out of everyone’s business.
I know, and also, it is easier to sin without accountability because of the hugeness of a city and the ability to be anonymous.
Living out on your own in the big wide open will give you the same lack of accountability and ability to avoid rubbing shoulders or being involved in anyone’s life. It can lead to the same selfish end. But it does remove the temptations that a city has to offer.
It is harder to be involved with anyone else’s life when you live a long way from others though.
Maybe it needs to be community within a city. Or maybe community in a town. Or maybe really purposing to be a part of community when you do live way out.
The start in the garden to the ending in the city in the Bible was intriguing.
I am still rolling the whole thing around in my mind.
This is one of my favorite topics. I have found the eschatological progression from garden to garden city to be very interesting as well. I think it is important to note, however, that when the patriarchs establish new civilizations, they do not simply build a city out of nothing, but cultivate one from the roots of agriculture. Our ultimate goal should be the city, but, as the first commenter observed, this is a garden city. I don’t think there is anything wrong with living in the country so long as the goal is to grow and mature ones community into a vibrant city.
I wrote a paper on this subject, which can be found here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AUW0aqN5SBejZHNyYjlkN18xMmQyc3Zic2Nx&hl=en
Yet Dr. Leithart’s pithy comments on my paper are probably much more valuable: http://www.leithart.com/2008/12/26/the-city/
I just want to put a plug in here for Lisa’s paper which she has a link to in her comment.
A few quotes that crystalized things for me:
“The pastoral has been exalted over the urban since our exile from Eden.”
Yes, there is this idea that country and homespun is more wholesome and more godly than urban or city.
The Old Testament cities were wicked not because they were cities instead of gardens but rather because they were unwilling to “‘patiently grow a city out of a garden’ but sought to reap of the harvest without sowing godly dominion”
Babylon and the city of Enoch, and the city of Nimrod seek to make a name for themselves not a city of God.
Progression from a garden to a city for God’s glory is critical.
“Jerusalem is distinctly different from Enoch and Babel. It looks different from the Garden, but only because the Lord has matured and developed the way in which a civilization is to be established.”
“As His people, we are to build communities where the Lord shall dwell among His people, the church.”
I knew I loved the city, I knew it is a sinful place, I knew that pastoral living wasn’t better than urban, I knew maturity had to take place to make the city work.
Lisa helped clarify my thinking
introverted? REALYY?!
You don’t think so, Beth?