The story is told of a Russian named Ivanovich who visited the Moscow zoo for the first time.  To his amazement, he found a little lamb sharing the cage with a big fierce bear.

Ivanovich expressed surprise to his guide.  The guide smiled and said, "That is peaceful coexistence."

When Ivanovich shook his head in a doubtful way, the guide explained, "Of course, we have to put in a fresh lamb every morning."

As much as we should strive for peace, there are some things which simply cannot coexist peacefully -- truth and error, righteousness and ungodliness, morality and immorality.

If we try to combine two such things in our lives, they will only coexist "peacefully" only if one gobbles up the other.  That's why James was so forceful in his warning:

"You adulteresses,
do you not know that
friendship with the world
is hostility toward God?
Therefore, whoever wishes
to be a friend of the world
makes himself an enemy of God."
(James 4:4, NASB)
special way.