Monks and Today's Society The strict ideals taken by Christian Monasticism (Monks, etc.) are quite different from those views or values that are taken in the modern day United States. A majority of the United States citizens, today, are more likely to have values that are opposite of those seen through the three monastic vows (poverty, chastity, and obedience). As a whole the inhabitants of these monasteries (Monasticism as a whole) discipline themselves, through the three vows, in order to reach a high spiritual purity. In other words, their strict discipline was to obtain a closeness to God throu