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Based on responses, it seems a lot of folks have only seen this verse used to silence & maintain control. As result, they're hesistant to draw lines themselves. Here's why that might actually empower bullies:
Full discolure: I grew up in a tradition that used the practice of "separation" as a means of handling differences btwn Christians. I'm very sensitive to people misusing passages like this one.
As a result, I developed somewhat porous boundaries as an adult rather than reject any one or any relationships. I'd seen the damage of cutting people off & I didn't want to continue in that.
Unfortunately, porous boundaries made me prey for manipulative & divisive people. I might have honestly been seeking unity but they weren't.
So you end up w/ a situation where Person A is more than happy to stir up strife while Person B is so concerned w/ NOT being like person A that they end letting Person B continue to stir up strife b/c they can't bring themselves to create distance.
This plays perfectly into bullies' modus operandi. They don't have to have institutional power or physical control. They just have to have psychological & spiritual control.
What I learned the hard way is that if you center the other person's behavior, you'll continue under their control. By making your decisions in opposition to them (i.e not wanting to be like them), you'll miss true wisdom.
Scripture is given to us for our life & health & peace. It is often misused & manipulated. But someone else's mishandling of it does not make it any less powerful or truthful.
If *we* abandon God-given wisdom, we end up ceding even more power to those who were never following it in the first place.
I do understand the struggle. It's hard to know our own hearts. Our motives can be tainted, too. But I also know that our feelings are not the measure of reality--even our sensitive consciences.
