The Disciple
Sincerity
83
of Holies in the temple. For us, such reverence in the use of religious words is an important form of inner chastity. We are very cautious in using God’s name. From a letter: it is important to be straightforward and honest about your true feelings. Rather be too rude than too smooth, too blunt than too kind. Rather say an unkind word that is true than one that is “nice” but untrue. You can always be sorry for an unkind word, but hypocrisy causes permanent harm unless special grace is given.
the Youth Movement, in which our community has its roots, was marked by a search for what was genuine, and though it was not a “religious” movement, there was something of Jesus alive in it.* The first question people asked was not whether a thing was right, good, or true, but whether it was genuine. They preferred to have someone innocently say something incorrect or awkward than to have to listen to insincere religious *The German Youth Movement, or Jugendbewegung, a wide spread phenomenon of loosely organized youth groups, was active mainly from 1913 to 1933 and rejected the established conventions of society in favor of simplicity, freedom, genuineness, and a love of nature. Eberhard Arnold, who founded the Bruderhof in 1920, was a nationally-known writer, speaker, and leader in this movement.