Anabaptist Distinctives

Loving Enemies, part 1: Nonresistance

2011-11-24T08:46:00.001-08:00

This article is by William Higgins from his self-published booklet, The Cross or the Sword?

Introduction
The people of God in the Old Testament bore the sword. They executed criminals and killed their enemies in war. This was done based on the principle of returning harm for harm. Yet Jesus teaches us in Matthew 3:38-48 that we are not to return harm for harm. Rather we are to love our enemies. Whatever loving enemies might mean, it certainly does not mean killing them with the power of the sword.

The central issue in Matthew 5:38-48 is reciprocity. Reciprocity means giving back what you get. You treat others in the way that they treat you.

If someone loves you, you love them in return
If someone harms you, you harm them in return

Jesus teaches us nonreciprocity. This means we don't treat others based on how they treat us-- whether good or bafd. We always give them what is good.

Verses 38-42 look at nonreciprocity in the context of an evildoer who is an authority over us. Verses 43-48 look at nonreciprocity in the context of our equals who are our enemies.

I. Nonresistance Nonreciprocity

You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who demands from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

The principle of reciprocity

Jesus begins with the well known principle of an "eye for an eye." This principle was central to Israel's legal code (and is to ours). Personal vengeance was forbidden, but through the court system one could gain retribution against one who harmed you. The principle is meant to make sure that each offense has an appropriate and equal response. It restricts unlimited retribution.

The principle is found in Exodus 21:23-25; Deuteronomy 19:15-21, and Leviticus 24:17-21. The last passage stipulates that the evildoer is to "suffer the same injury in return... the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered." In other words, the principle teaches that we can return evil for evil, harm for harm (here through the court system). If someone hurts me, I can hurt them in the same way.

The command of Jesus

Jesus counters with his own command: "Do not resist an evildoer." The word "resist" means "to set oneself against" or "to oppose." In the New Testament this word is used for opposing someone in an argument or a contest (Galatians 2:11; Acts 13:8; II Timothy 3:8, 4:15; Luke 21:15; Acts 6:10).

But it is also used in the New Testament and the Greek Old Testament for opposing a power higher or stronger than you: God (Romans 9:19); giants in the land (Deuteronomy 9:2); the people of the land (Deuteronomy 7:42, 11:25); the devil or spiritual authorities (I Peter 5:9; James 4:7; Ephesians 6:13); and finally, human authorities (Romans 13:2). In this last case the word can take on the sense of rebelling. This word fits nicely with the examples that Jesus gives which, as we will see, relate to authorities who have power over us.

Authority enemies

It is important to recognize the context of these verses. Jesus is not only dealing with not returning evil for evil, he is also dealing with this is a specific context- when the evildoer has authority over you. That is, he is dealing with oppression. The three examples that Jesus gives makes this clear:

1. The Cheek Example: "Whoever strikes you on the right cheek" (v. 39b). In its cultural context this refers to an insult rather than an assault. It is a backhanded slap done by someone in a position of authority to someone "under" them. For instance, a master can strike a slave, or a Roman can strike a Jew. It is a way of putting the person in their place and a reminder of who is in charge. In this context it is done unjustly-- by an evildoer.

2. The Garment Example: "To the one who like to sue you and take your undershirt" (v. 40). Only the truly poor had only their clothes to give in pledge for a loan. In this case the creditor is pursuing this poor debtor and forcing him to pay up by use of legal power. The creditor has a right to have the loan repaid. But according to Moses, it is oppressive to take away the poor person's clothing.

3. The Requisition Example: "Whoever compels you to go one mile" (v. 41). This was the practice of the Roman army. As victorious conquerors they had the right to requisision forced labor, among other things. This is an example of military oppression. The giving/loaning of v. 42 has to do with other requisition demands. At times occupied peoples were required to feed and give other supplies to soldiers. At times they were required to loan animals for government use, which were not always returned.

Jesus' point

The extreme actions, "turn the other cheek" and so forth are not meant literally. Indeed, it was impossible to deliver a backhanded slap with your right hand to the left cheek (the proper way to do it). When Jesus was struck by an unjust authority at his trial, he did not turn the other cheek. But he did endure the suffering (John 18:22). Jesus is teaching that one is to submit to and endure oppressive authorities to the extreme. These examples teach submission, even to the point of absurditiy. When an authority enemy harms you, don't resist or rebel. Rather submit to their authority. Yield to the oppressor. This is how we return good for evil in this situation.

The same call to non-resistance can be seen in other texts that deal with authority enemies-- I Peter 2:18-23; James 5:1-6 and Romans 13:1-7.

What does nonresistance allow?

Nonresistance does not exclude other possible actions. Jesus told his disciples they could flee oppressive authorities in Matthew 10:23. There are also example of seeking relief from oppression through appealing to a higher authority (Acts 22:25; 25:10ff). One can also speak out against oppression. But in none of these instances are we to return rebellion for oppression.

Also, we only obey the human authority when this does not lead us to disobey God (Acts 5:29; Daniel 6). But even here, we continue to submit to the authority by bearing the consequences of obeying God and not them.

Trust God for your vindication

There is another theme embedded in these verses. Each example has a subtext in the Greek Old Testament that makes a reference to God vindicating those who continue to submit but look to him for help:

1. Cheek: "Turn the other cheek." This connects with Isaiah 50:4-9. In this passage a servant is hit on the cheek, but he trusts in God. He does not resist, but endures and awaits God's vindication.

2. Garment: "Do not withhold your coat as well." This connects with Exodus 22:26-27. This passage states that if the rich lender takes away the clothes of the poor debtor, and the poor one calls out to God, God will act against the rich oppressor.

3. Requsition: "Go the second mile... give to the one who asks/demands of you and do not refuse the one who wants to borrow from you." This example is connected to Psalm 37:21. In this Psalm armed evildoers oppress the righteous. Specifically in v. 21 they borrow but do not repay. The oppressed are told not to fret (v.1), but to trust in the Lord, (v.3) and to continue giving (v. 21). They are told repeatedly that they will be vindicated by God (v.6) and that they will inherit the land (v.11). But the wicked will be judged. In the same way, if Jesus' hearers give and loan to the Romans without resisting, God will act to give them justice.

So all of these examples point to the subtexts that give a clear message: the oppressed are to continue to submit to their oppressors, knowing that God will act to bring them to justice.

More Than Flowers Need The Rain

2011-01-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

The Anabaptists began by reading their Bibles. Grebel and the others in their group were inspired by Luther, just as Zwingli was, but they didn’t just understand a new theology. They saw a new lifestyle that, at the center of it, was the reading of Scripture. When they determined to baptize each other, it was because they saw clearly in the text that which neither Luther and Zwingli saw. When they were exiled and died, it was not for love of peace, nor for love of martyrdom—it was because they loved the text better than life.

While they held the words of Jesus, their Lord, as higher than any other writings—especially in the Sattler tradition—this was not to demean their desire for the rest of the text. Rather, they saw Jesus’ words as bringing light to the rest of Scripture, the OT providing background for Jesus and the NT fulfilling Jesus. Anabaptism was community, but it was a communion of the Word. They would understand the Jewish tradition of dancing with Torah, for the Word of God is the source of life, the source of joy, the power of God. They needed God’s words more than flowers need the rain, more than they need air to breathe. Their passion for the truth of God had no limit.

Never would they have accepted our excuses to ignore the Bible. They would never have said, “The first century was a different culture,” for they wanted their society to be a culture of the Word, to imitate and to put flesh on it. They would never have said, “The Bible is full of contradictions,” for they would have embraced those contradictions, passed through them and come out the other side with God’s truth. They would never have left a passage saying, “There are many ways to understand this section,” but would have worked through it until they understood what the Spirit of God was saying through that passage to them, that day.

Why do we not reflect this passion? Why do we, the baton-holders of the Anabaptist tradition, give a nod to Scriptures as proof-texts or as the “basis” for our theological ideas, but we do not live in it as fish live in the sea? How can we be satisfied with Bible studies that are so filled with the prejudices and influences of this world’s politics, this world’s moralities, this world’s questions, not allowing the Bible itself to lead us into questions and for us to seek it as a parched traveler seeks water? Why do we leave the study of Scripture to “experts”, and just believe what they say?

Are we concerned about seeming too fanatical, too “fundamentalist”? Are we too concerned about drawing more people to the church who may not care for the radical views that may result if we actually drew the whole Word of Jesus into our hearts and lived it out? Or are we simply lazy, considering the analysis of text and impassioned stands to be the place of the schoolchild?

God save us from our lethargy! Lord, we pray with Anselm, “We ask that the words of the Scriptures may also be not just signs on a page, but channels of grace into our hearts.” Help us to love the Word more than we love life.

A Quick Course on Shunning

2010-12-09T07:39:00.000-08:00

What is “shunning”?
In conservative Mennonite practice, it is the exclusion of a member of the church due to sin. This would include eating with a member or conversing with them in some groups which have very strict interpretations of the passages involved. Biblically, this practice would be some form of separation, or lack of fellowship. Some of the biblical phrases associated with “shunning” or “excommunication” are: “Treat such a one as you would a tax collector or Gentile,” (Matt. 18:17) “do not associate with” (I Cor. 5:9), “do not eat with” (I Cor. 5:11), “drive out” (I Cor. 5:13),” have nothing to do with that one—do not treat him as an enemy but warn him as a brother” (II Thess. 3:14-15) or “do not allow such a one in your house.” (II John 9-11)

The general context
“Shunning” is the last step in a whole process that believers who are guided by the Spirit use in rebuking or correcting a believer who is involved in continual, unrepentant sin (Matt. 18: 15-17). “Shunning” should never be done to unbelievers, nor should the process even be begun by those who are unspiritual, or by those who are unrepentant of their own sins (Matt. 7:1-6; Gal. 6:1; I Cor. 5:12-13).

The Process of Judgment
1. Privately confront a believer in sin with gentleness. (Matt. 18:15-17; Gal. 6:1-2; Luke 17:2; James 5:19-20)

2. If the believer repents of his sin, then he is to be forgiven and the sin is wiped away. (Matt. 18:21-35; Luke 17:2-3)

3. If the believer in sin does not repent, speak to one or two other believers who are guided by the Spirit, and make sure the one confronting is doing so righteously. (Matt. 18:15-17; Gal. 6:1-2)

4. If the confronter is righteous in his judgment, then he or she takes the one or two believers along to confront the sinning believer, to witness either his or her repentance or lack of repentance. (Matt. 18:15-17)

5. If the sinning believer has not repented, the matter is to be brought to the church, who encourages the brother to repent.

6. If he still does not repent, then the sinning, unrepentant believer is to be treated as a “gentile and a tax-collector.” This is shunning—the final step in a process of confronting an unrepentant believer.

What does it mean to treat someone “as a gentile and a tax-collector”?
While Jesus treated those who were tax collectors and gentiles well, the typical Jewish pattern was to not eat with such a one, enter into their homes or to fellowship with them in any way. The rest of the NT seems to support the idea that when Jesus was speaking about treating the unrepentant as a tax-collector, it is to treat them as a normal Jew would treat such a one—not how Jesus did specifically.

Inside v. Outside
There is one thing we need to remember in this whole discussion: Biblically, there is a clear distinction made between those who are “inside” and those who are “outside” (See I Cor. 5:11-13). In Jesus’ day, he counted the religious Jews to be “inside” at that point, but that they would unpleasantly find themselves “outside” on the last day. While, on the other hand, those currently considered “outside” would in the end be “inside,” due to their repentance (See Matt. 21:23-43). But even though Jesus turned the definitions topsy-turvy, the distinction between those in the kingdom of God and those outside of it remained.

Even so, the church in the first century continued to understand that those inside the church were those who would inherit the kingdom of God. These are not “church attenders”, but “church fellowshipers” (so to speak). These fellowshipers are those who share in the church—do the work as well as reap the rewards of the church, those who participate in it. Those who are in the sidelines of the church aren’t necessarily among the fellowshipers (See James 2:2-7 and 5:1-6 for a description of the “rich” who seem to be attending the church and yet still not a part of it).

To eat with someone in the first century is to share some close association with them—a camaraderie. To “allow into the house” in II John probably means to invite them to attend (and possibly teach in) a church service. It is also possible that if a believer refuses to accept the church’s discipline or mandates, they will not receive the social services the church offers (I Tim. 5:11-14; II Thess. 3:10-11).

And those among the “fellowshipers” are those who continually repent of their sin. They may repent seven times in a day (Luke 17:3), but confess their sins, seeking to revoke them. Those who do not forsake their sin, especially when confronted by a loving brother or sister in the Lord, do not belong to be a part of the fellowship. To fellowship with God—to remain repentant before Him—is to share in the church; to not remain confessed, “walking in the light” is to not share in the Lord, and thus to not share in the church (I John 1:3-9).

And so it is necessary to cease fellowship with those who call themselves brothers—an “insider”—but are unrepentant in their sin, thus looking like an “outsider”.

So how far do we take this?
On the one hand, there needs to be a clear break with those who are unrepentant believers (or false teachers, such as in II John 9-11). There cannot be the fellowship/sharing as there would be for a normal believer. I believe that we can biblically support the following separations:
• No social help except that which is offered to anyone who walks in off the street.
• Not allowing participation in the Lord’s supper.
• No camaraderie or intense friendships.
• No inviting to fellowship meals or event specifically geared toward “believers only”.
• In severe cases, such as false teaching, not allowing to attend a service.
On the other hand, Paul says that a brother under discipline shouldn’t be treated as an enemy, but warned as a brother (II Thess. 3:14-15). I take this to mean that we shouldn’t treat such a one with hatred, but to remind them that this treatment is only temporary until their repentance. We ask, even plead for their repentance in order to save their souls from death (James 5:19-20).

And this is the other main point. Shunning is only temporary until repentance, which is the goal of the whole process. If we continue to separate from fellowship after repentance has taken place, then the Lord has some severe words to say to us (Matt. 6:14-15). The final step, we pray, in any process of discipline, is forgiveness and full acceptance of the believer back into the fellowship of God and the brethren.

Types of Christianity

2010-12-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

Jewish Christianity
Determining that Christianity is best represented by the race or culture of Judaism. Salvation is found by being joined with the Israel of God.
Examples: Ebonites, Nazarenes, Messianic Judaism
Positive points: Jesus was Jewish and expressed his teaching and lived his life in a Jewish context. An understanding of that context is necessary to understand Jesus.
Critique: Jesus, although a Jew, can be expressed just as well in a non-Jewish setting. Also, modern Judaism is far removed from the various Judaisms of Jesus’ day, both culturally and in their values.

Nicean Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by the earliest creeds—especially the Nicean and Apostolic. Salvation is found through faithfulness to the foundational truths about God and Jesus."
Examples: Christian Research Institute, as well as many other cross-Christian parachurches.
Positive points: The early creeds were and are well used to protect the Church against false teachers. These creeds express some important basic points of belief in all Christian beliefs.
Critique: Jesus expected not only to be believed in, but obeyed. The Spirit of God does more than the creed-based churches give him credit for. Some aspects of the creeds go beyond Scripture, but they are still expected to be the basis of salvation.

Byzantine Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by the various Eastern Churches, which date themselves to the beginning of the Jerusalem church. Liturgical worship, Trinitarian theology and the writings of the church fathers are emphasized. Salvation is found through joining and remaining faithful to the Orthodox church."
Examples: Eastern Orthodox churches—Antiocian, Syrian, Greek, Russian Orthodox.
Positive points: The simplicity of worship and understanding is welcome to everyone, no matter what economic or education level. Their focus on human sinfulness and the necessity of humility is essential to Jesus’ teaching.
Critique: The Byzantine churches were influenced by cultural changes and Platonism long after the apostolic period. They best represent the Eastern church of the 8th century, not the church Jesus began.

Roman Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by the traditions held by the Roman church, including honor and obedience to the Roman pontiff. Usually includes some form of honor and exaltation of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Salvation is found by joining and remaining faithful to the Roman Church."
Examples: The only example is the Roman Catholic Church—but that’s enough!
Positive points: The Roman Church has remained flexible enough in recent years to welcome many who want to “just follow Jesus.” The leadership of the Roman Church has exercised enormous humility in repenting from evil actions of the past.
Critique: The Roman Church’s tradition has strayed from focusing simply on Jesus’ teaching, to also welcoming various doctrines concerning Mary, the pontiff, the apostolic succession, liberation theology and other non-Biblical traditions.

Evangelical Christianity (Three types)
Christianity is best expressed by the attempts to find an apostolic tradition by emphasizing salvation by faith and grace alone, and each person’s obedience understanding and obedience of Scripture. Rooted in a religious reformation begun in 1519 by Martin Luther.

a. Lutheran Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by retaining all Roman traditions except those that directly oppose a Lutheran interpretation of Scripture. Salvation is found in faith in Christ."
Examples: Lutherans, Anglicans, Episcopalians
Positive points: Simplicity in gospel message.
Critique: Not warning their congregations against greed and other sins that would keep them from God’s kingdom. Too much emphasis on the personal nature of religion, and so neglecting the necessity to evangelize or to be bold in one's faith.

b. Calvinist Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by emphasizing a Calvinist interpretation of theology, especially predestination and God’s complete control over all events in the universe. Salvation is found by the choice of God, demonstrated by faith in Christ."
Examples: Presbyterians, Reformed
Positive points: Strong organization and emphasis on Christian education.
Critique: Having human theology, not the Bible, as the basis of their salvation. Teaching that obedience is responsibility, not mercy.

c. Anti-nomian Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by faith in Jesus, with no manner of obedience to God being necessary (except perhaps a few cultural mandates, such as gainful employment and heterosexual impulses). Salvation is found through confessing Jesus as Savior alone."
Examples: Dallas Seminary, Campus Crusade for Christ. Anti-nomian sects existed before evangelicalism, but after the Reformation, almost all anti-nomian sects joined with evangelicalism.
Positive points: Simple, easily accepted presentation of some important points about Jesus. Good focus on evangelism.
Critique: Not actually teaching the gospel of Jesus. Jesus is salvation to those who obey him as well as those who believe some doctrinal points.

Heterodox Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by an interpretation of Scripture other than the accepted, Orthodox position. Salvation is found by believing the non-Orthodox teaching."
Examples: Arians, Unitarians
Positive points: The Orthodox presentation of Christianity is weak at points when looking at the Scripture, especially in their philosophical explanations of the trinity and the nature of Jesus.
Critique: Just taking an alternative view from the Orthodox does not make one any more Scriptural. Sometimes the Scripture does not answer the questions we want to ask, and so we must limit ourselves to that.

Philosophical Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by a human philosophical construct, such as Marxism or human reason, which is used to tie together all understanding about God and the spirit world found in the Bible."
Examples: Aquinan Theology, Marxist theology, Liberal theology. Jeffersonianism, most academia.
Positive points: Jesus does communicate to the various philosophical viewpoints, and philosophy often is a needed critique of various Christian positions.
Critique: Ultimately, these positions replace Jesus with human reason or a philosopher. Many of these also deny any real spirit world, which Jesus proclaimed as being very real, and effecting humanity.

American Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by God’s recent focus is on the United States, which is chosen by God to represent his kingdom. Whatever failings that are in the United States—as determined by certain central values (such as heterosexuality and a pro-family focus)—will need to be corrected and then the United States will be blessed by God. Salvation is found by supporting and reviving the chosen nation."
Examples: Revival churches; Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, some Southern Baptist
Positive points: Certainly high divorce statistics, general acceptance of homosexuality and sexual immorality in general are indications of moral decay.
Critique: Causing those who sin to lose their rights or to be considered sub-human is not loving in Jesus’ teaching. Also, the United States cannot be a Christian nation, for there is and only will be one—the Kingdom of God.

Christendom Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by the rule of an authoritative, Christian nation. Salvation is found through belonging to and being faithful to the Christian nation."
Examples: Some Greek Orthodox, some Roman Catholic, some American Christians.
Positive points: Attempt to improve morality in a nation.
Critique: Jesus is the only king of God and the kingdom of God is God’s only nation. True Christendom can only be found when Jesus returns to earth to rule himself. Everything else is just a sham, and the wars they declare are in opposition to Jesus’ law to love one’s enemy.

Pentecostal Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by those who have faith in Christ and who display their baptism in God’s Spirit by speaking in tongues."
Examples: Assemblies of God, Foursquare, Youth With a Mission
Positive points: Good emphasis on Jesus, obedience and guidance by the Spirit.
Critique: Too much focus on tongues as being “the” gift. As Paul says, there are various gifts, and not everyone who is guided by the Spirit has the same gift.

Prophetic Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by a modern prophet whom God has chosen to interpret the Scriptures, or to give a new Scripture. The prophetic witness determines what is significant to believe and obey. Salvation is found by obeying the prophetic witness."
Examples: Mormons, Christian Science, Jehovah’s Witness, Shakers, Seventh-Day Adventist (which is not a cult), some Charismatic.
Positive points: They are all attempting to speak the gospel anew in a new place and time.
Critique: Jesus as interpreter of the Scripture is replaced by a prophet. Jesus alone is our salvation, and no prophet can replace him, for there is no other teacher that has been risen from the dead.

Pluralistic Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by a Spirit that communicates differently to different individuals and peoples. There are multiple ways to gain God’s favor, and Jesus is only one of them."
Examples: Conversations with God, Buddhist interpretations of Christianity, Bahaism.
Positive points: Emphasizes love for all people, no matter who they are.
Critique: The various religious authorities of the world contradict each other. Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Krishna and others cannot all be right, nor can they all be obeyed. Most of the teachers also require exclusive faithfulness. To accept them all is to accept none of them.

Peace Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by a moral position that includes: no violence, mutual aid, and simple living. Salvation is found in believing and obeying a peaceful interpretation of Jesus."
Examples: Mennonites, Quakers.
Positive points: Faithfulness to Jesus includes both commitment to him and obedience. Those who obey these moral positions will be living something very akin to the Christian life.
Critique: Violence in and of itself is not wrong, for God can, and does use it. Jesus’ teaching itself needs to be emphasized, not a politicized interpretation of it. A way of life is not, in an of itself, following Jesus—evangelism and endurance through suffering are also necessary to obey Jesus.

Holiness Christianity
"Christianity is best expressed by communities that have at its head those who have reached a state of “perfection”, where sin isn’t a concern for them any more."
Examples: Wesleyan church, Holiness churches.
Positive points: The Scriptures emphasize that their people need to be holy, pure of sin.
Critique: Those who think that they have no need to repent anymore are arrogant, and no longer listen to the Spirit who convicts the world of sin. The leadership of Jesus are humble enough to admit their sins and mistakes and to confess them and have them forgiven.

What is the Truest Christianity?

Jesus Christianity:
Christianity is best expressed by communities that are committed to Jesus as their only leader and teacher. They are willing to sacrifice themselves for Jesus, no matter what the cost to their relationships, finances or lives. They listen to the Spirit and are guided by him through visions, dreams, gifts and Bible interpretation to be like Jesus in all their ways. They hold allegiance to no nation or denomination, but honor God the Father above all, are fully committed to Jesus and live by the Spirit in all their lives. They are bold in their faith, loving all people, doing no one any harm, welcoming all, especially the needy and those seeking the Lord.

Communities like this can exist in almost any of the groups above, but they are often considered to be “strange”. These communities can never be accepted by the world, and ultimately—at one point or another—they will be rejected by the Christianities that care more for their traditions than for Jesus. But even in this, they are like the Lord.

The Practice of Shalom

2010-11-22T11:12:00.000-08:00

Because of God’s tremendous compassion for everyone, I beg you, my dear family, to put your congregations on the altar, as a still living but holy sacrifice to God. This is what is acceptable to God, your sincere act of loving devotion among your congregation. Don’t be formed by the thinking of this era—that of stereotypes and judgment— but be re-created, having your minds rebooted to the will of God, and so proving by your actions what the good and pleasing and complete will of God is.
I was given a message from the Lord to share with all of you: Don’t consider yourself to be better than others in everything. Be sensible, and admit that each one of you has granted each one of you a measure of faith, even if that faith looks differently….Our congregations are to be characterized by sincere love for one another. We are all to be rid of the evil in our congregations, but to grasp onto the good.
We are to have affectionate love for each other. We are to be diligent without procrastination. We are to be enthusiastic in character. We serve the Lord. We rejoice in hope. We endure in suffering. We persist in prayer. We are to give to the needs of the saints. We are to practice hospitality. As the representatives of Jesus, you know already that we are to bless those who persecute us—we speak well of them and do not verbally destroy them. As Jesus, we rejoice with the joyful and mourn with the weeping.
Well, this is how we should behave to other groups of Christians, as well as those outside the faith. We aren’t to be arrogant over other Christians, but we are to associate with the lowly and the weak among us. Don’t be self-important. Just because you’ve got the money, don’t think that you can tell the others what to do. Just because you’ve got the word of God, that doesn’t mean that you can order others around. Just because you’ve proven your faith, it doesn’t mean that everyone has to listen to your opinions. Nor does it give anyone the right to attack others, no matter what they’ve done to you. If someone does something evil to you, don’t act immorally back to them. Instead, spend time thinking ahead of time about how you can do good to everyone. With all of your ability, live in peace and community with ALL people—even fellow Christians who disagree with you. Romans 12:1-19

We Got to Start Somewhere, But There’s Just So Far To Go
What can we do? We live in a world rejecting shalom, pursuing materialism, sexual gratification and false philosophies and calling it happiness. In the midst of their self- authentication, self-actualization and self-gratification, the people of the world has destroyed well-being for others around them. The world ignores the needs of those around them, they avoid thinking of the harm they have caused others and they do all they can to shore up their hope that someday, somehow, their lives will be okay.

This wouldn’t be so bad if the church was really any different. Instead, we live in a church that has bought what the world had to say about truth and joy for 1800 years. The church flies on a pendulum which swings from a drive to punish all those irresponsible and filled with self-interest to being wholly accepting and supporting people even in their drive to destroy themselves and others.

The answer to this is the shalom of Jesus. Jesus calls us to communities of shalom—a disciplined grace which leads to peace on earth. But how can we—when all the governments and churches and non-profits in the world have failed—succeed in creating peace where only chaos and hatred has reigned?

Creating Shalom
1. Understand our baptism
First, we must understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus. To be baptized is to die, to have our old life, with its philosophies and materialism cast aside, no longer living in it. And we must live the principles of Jesus. Jesus is faithful, and we can live in that faithfulness. We must realize that being a follower of Jesus isn’t a matter of belief, but of lifestyle. So we must pursue Jesus—the real Jesus as presented in the gospels—surrender our lives and live for Him.

2. Live the principles of shalom
Then, as Jesus teaches us, we understand more and more the principles of peace that he taught us. We will learn his principles of purity, of faithfulness, of devotion to God and love of others. In all this, we will become more like the people who can create shalom in the world because we will embody shalom.

3. Accept the Anawim
As we learn Jesus’ way, we find that so many of the world’s categories no longer apply. Those which the world rejects—even for good reason!—we will welcome and offer God’s love and peace. Those who are blamed because of their poverty we will receive and share with. Those who are hated we will love and offer hope and community through Jesus.

4. Join a community of shalom
It is not enough for us to enact shalom as individuals, we must be in a community of shalom. This means participating in a group of baptized faithful in Jesus who are allowing God to transform them into shalom-makers. This must be a community welcoming to the outcast and a community ready to participate in koinonia.

5. Speak prophetically
As we live out Jesus’ life and community of shalom, then we must share with others the principles of shalom as we live them out. We cannot speak them if we do not live them, but we must share what Jesus has taught us and we do live out. We do not speak this in order to judge others, but in reality to warn them of Jesus’ judgment against those who oppose shalom.

6. Live in trust and patience
It is easy to get discouraged. We can look at the world and see what a big task it is to transform it. We can look at the church and see how faithless and fear-peddling it is. We can look at our failures to live out shalom, and throw up our hands in despair. But this is where the faith of Abraham (and of Jesus) comes in. Abraham, despite his own failures and weaknesses, despite the impossibilities of the promise God gave him, Abraham trusted that God could and would do it. He never forsook God, but continued in patience, even as he suffered for those who suffered due to their rejection of shalom. Even so, when it looks like all has failed and God is no where to be found, we need to be patient, and give room for God to work in His own time.

7. Pray for God’s shalom
Finally, Jesus tells us to pray for God’s kingdom to come, for the shalom to happen on earth. Ultimately, if peace and justice are to rule the earth, if shalom is to break into anyone’s life, it must be done by God’s work. If that is the case, then our main task is that of asking God to cause shalom to come. Pray for others, that they may experience God’s full shalom. Pray for the church, that they may understand and live out God’s full shalom. And pray for the world that it might be transformed into God’s kingdom.

The Principles of Shalom

2010-11-22T11:07:00.000-08:00

So if there’s anyone listening, let me say this to you: Have compassion on the bad guys of your life. Be nice to the mean ones. Answer well those who cuss you out. Pray blessings on those who insult and abuse you. If a cop pushes you, give him the opportunity to beat you up. If a creditor steals money from you, offer him the rest of your account. If the government demands something from you, give it freely. And if a cop steals what is yours, don’t demand it back. In whatever good way you want people to treat you, treat them that way, no matter how badly treat you.
Look, if you only feel good about those who feel good about you, do you think God will bless you for that? Everyone, no matter how bad they are, love those who love them. If you do good things only to those who do good to you, do you think God will bless you for that? Everyone, no matter how evil, does the same. If you loan out money only to people who will pay you back, do you think God will bless you for that? Evil people loan out money for a return, plus interest.
You can do better than that. Love the people you find most unlovable. Act with compassion toward them and lend them money—yes, I know you won’t get the money back. Just do it, knowing that you won’t get anything back for it, not even a thanks. But you will get more back than you would ever expect, but that from God. If you do this, you will be acting like God, the Lord of the Universe—because He, too, does compassionate acts for those who never thank Him and who do the very worst acts on earth. So be compassionate to the same extent God is.
Don’t condemn others and you won’t be condemned by God. Don’t punish for punishment’s sake and you won’t be punished by God, either. If you release someone from a grudge, God will release you. Give freely to those in need—no matter who they are—and God will give freely to you. It’s kinda like a keg party. Take, let’s say a third of keg of beer and give it to your friends. They will take it, shake it up until it fills the keg and then pour it all over you—much more than you gave them! Even so, the amount of compassion you give to those who don’t deserve it will be poured right back on you!
Luke 6:25-38, SKV

Jesus IS the Prince of shalom, the emperor through which peace and justice comes. Not only does he bring it physically, among his people, but Jesus also has given some principles upon which shalom can be built among his people.

Community
Jesus didn’t come to deliver individuals into shalom, but to create a nation of shalom. We cannot see the grace of God as only visiting individuals, but God is creating a community through Jesus who will be able to make a community of peace and justice among themselves.

Be ready
The people of God are to keep one eye on this world and one eye on the world that is to come. The meeting point between these two worlds is the judgment of God. Those who showed themselves faithful to Jesus and God will be delivered into God’s kingdom of shalom. So to be ready, we must follow the other principles of shalom to show that we are ready to be a part of God’s shalom.

Faithfulness
The first principle of life is faithfulness to God. If we live with our eyes on God, always concerned with our faithfulness and devotion to Him in all aspects of our lives, then we will be ready to experience God’s shalom, instead of the shalom of the world. We also maintain faithfulness to others—our spouses, friends, family and all others. Whatever promises or commitments we have made to them, in our relationship with them, we keep.

Do not harm
We make a point not to do anything hateful to another, with a purpose to harm them. No matter what they have done to us, we do not do harm in return. This may put us in a position of vulnerability, but we must trust that God will care for us and avenge us when necessary, not taking such actions on ourselves.

Treating others with respect
Some we are obligated to respect—our betters, our leaders. But we are also to respect those whom the world does not respect, the outcast and shamed. If we provide respect to all, then all will receive welcome and hope and shalom.

Meeting other’s needs
We are not just to not give harm, but to offer respect to others, but we must also give compassion to others when they are in need. We need to feel their pain and seek to do what we can to help. Then, we should share what resources we have to help others. This empathy and open handedness is summarized in the Greek word, koinonia.

Equality of justice
Finally, Jesus emphasizes that these community principles—faithfulness, no harm, respect and koinonia—are not just for those like us, but for everyone, even if some fail, even if some are irritating, act hatefully occasionally and are occasionally faithless. Respect and assistance is to be granted to everyone without exception.

If we are in Jesus, we are to live out these principles, create communities that live these principles out and teach it to others. In this way, we are to accomplish God’s shalom for ourselves, our communities and, eventually, the entire world

The Progress of Shalom

2010-11-22T11:05:00.000-08:00

Without exception, everyone has done wrong before God and become offensive to Him. But we all have been given the opportunity to be right before God through the deliverance from the slavery to sin and death which can be found in the Messiah Jesus. When the Father raised Jesus from an official execution, he showed him to be the path to be forgiven of our sins and to have a relationship with God. God proved his justice—which was called into question by him overlooking sins in the past and because of his patience—by making acceptable the one who enters into the devotion of Jesus, and so He proved his actions just….Jesus was given to the authorities to be punished because of our wrongs before God and Jesus was raised from his execution so that we could be made acceptable before God. Therefore, since we have been made acceptable by committed devotion, we have the shalom of God through our King, Messiah Jesus. It is because of Him that we have the right to speak to God and receive the blessings of God, on which we depend on for our very well-being. We boast in our confidence in being a part of God’s glory. You see, we can boast in the sufferings we receive—even as Jesus did—because we know that our suffering gives us the opportunity to stick with God. And sticking with God in the midst of suffering—even as Jesus did— is the test of our true devotion to God. And if our devotion is tested, then we have confidence—because if Jesus was raised by His enduring devotion, so will we. And this confidence will never be dashed because God’s love fills us through the Holy Spirit, given by God, to help us endure in the midst of our struggles. (Romans 3:23-26; 4:25-5:5)

Got World Peace?
Peace, according to the Bible is not just an absence of violence or a peaceful, easy feeling, but it is well-being in a community. When the Bible promises “peace on earth to those obtaining grace”, it is not speaking of a lack of war, but of a ruling principle and nation who would provide for all in need and offer justice and peace to everyone, without exclusion. This well-being and justice is called “shalom” in the Bible.

Stuck With Whirled Peas?
If there is one thing the world lacks, it is peace, meaning shalom. If shalom is a world-wide community in which everyone experiences well-being, acceptance, mutual assistance, and equal justice for all, then we have never experienced it. In every nation, in every era, the poor have been oppressed. The outcast have been thrown out because of arbitrary cultural mores. The religious have judged and rejected all people who did not accept their narrow guidelines. The non-religious have judged and rejected the religious because of their devotion to God. And all people purpose to harm all people who stand in the way of their culture controlling and manipulating all others.

Life on earth is not shalom. It is anti-peace.

Everyone wants peace. Most of us in the world recognize that we are all in trouble, that we don’t have peace, and all of us want to obtain it. Or create it. Or force it on others. To create shalom where there is no shalom is what the Bible calls “salvation.” Frankly, it is a utopian ideal, just like democracy is, just like capitalism is, just like communism. The difference is that the Bible claims that salvation—the creation of shalom in the world—is something that only God can do. Peace and justice cannot come simply from human effort or from anarchy. It must be a work of God that humans join with. But it is initiated by God.

Getting Better All The Time
The first step of God’s shalom-making was creation. God saw the chaos, the pointlessness of the world and made it again. And, according to Scripture, after God’s peace-making, He established humanity to rule over His creation and to keep it in shalom. This plan failed when humanity chose rebellion and chaos instead of God’s shalom.

Another step in God’s shalom-making was choosing Abraham. Abraham was not a perfect man, but he was a person who sought God alone, being faithful to Him, and trusting in Him when all else seemed chaotic. God chose Abraham because of his trust in God and said that whoever would obtain shalom, in all the world, they must be like Abraham and choose his path of trust. This plan failed because people thought that following the ritual of Abraham or being born into the family of Abraham obtained this shalom.

Another step in God’s shalom-making was to create a community of shalom with very specific rules. He chose for His people a nation in slavery—the outcast—so they would know how to treat those who were outcast. And He taught them His ways of love and shalom for all his people. This experiment failed in different ways, over the years. First, the people didn’t believe that God could really give them shalom. Then, they sought out other spiritual powers to grant them shalom. Then, they oppressed the poor, forgetting that they were once poor themselves. And finally, they took God’s rules and make them so burdensome that it became impossible to live them out.

Love Reign O’er Me
Finally, after all of these temporary experiments, God began his final plan for shalom. He sent his Son to be emperor of the world, ruler of his people. First, Jesus displayed shalom by setting people free from spiritual judgment, offering them freedom from diseases and mental illnesses and offering them a new life in God. Then he told the people the life of shalom in God, living by the principles of shalom. Then, finally, he allowed the rulers of God’s people—the priests and elders—to kill him, treating him as an outcast of God’s people. But God vindicated his Son as the only way to God’s shalom, the great Truth-teller. And a new people was created under Jesus, living Jesus’ shalom-principles and testing the world with their message of destruction of the anti-shalom and the establishment of God’s shalom.

Underground Revolution
Through Jesus, God is continually creating communities of shalom—some big and some small. These communities are made up of those who were rejected by the world and who are baptized in Jesus—namely, those who have committed themselves to being citizens of Jesus’ new nation of shalom. These baptized are committed to Jesus’ principles of peace and justice. But these principles are not enough in and of themselves, because we all are too weak, as humans, to maintain shalom. So the Emperor has allowed us to receive the Holy Spirit, who helps us in our weakness to maintain shalom, even when we do not have the strength to live it out.

Then God sent these Jesus communities out into the world. They preached the kingdom— the nation of shalom—and displayed the power of the Spirit. Communities were in this way tested—would they accept the good proclamation of shalom through Jesus, or would they reject God’s shalom? Would they practice shalom with the needy of Jesus, or would they reject them?

This time of testing continues on even today. Many communities of the world—even many who claim Jesus to be Lord—reject Jesus’ principles of shalom. Many in Jesus’ name harm and kill others. Many in Jesus’ name refuse to help the needy. Many in Jesus’ name even reject the true God and seek a distant Spirit who is unobtrusive and will never give anything, let alone shalom.

The Promise of Shalom

2010-11-22T11:03:00.000-08:00

Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious. Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a standard for the nations And assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, And those who harass Judah will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, And Judah will not harass Ephraim. (Isaiah 11:1-13)

A Really BIG Idea
The Hebrew word for “peace” is “shalom”. Shalom is used most often as a greeting in Hebrew culture, even as its equivalent “salaam” is the greeting in Arabic. To express “peace” to someone is to express one’s intent to not do violence and to give peace of mind to another. However, “shalom” in the Hebrew sense is much more than what “peace” means in English.

“Shalom” in the Hebrew Bible is used for the well-being of all of one’s physical needs, such as having sufficient food, rest, shelter, health, longevity, and even a good death, without pain. Shalom also reflects one’s social needs, such as participating in a supportive community and being accepted by that community. Shalom also has to do with one’s relationship with God, such as God approving of one’s actions and of God forgiving our sins. Shalom also has to do with the well-being of a community, such as security, justice, a lack of disasters and reconciliation between those separated by anger. And lastly, shalom applies to the destruction of all those who want to destroy shalom. So when we speak of “peace” biblically, it means a complete well-being, physically, mentally, socially and spiritually and justice within one’s community.

And where does shalom come from? People can create some aspects of shalom, but ultimately, shalom comes from God. As it says in Judges 6:24: “Yahweh IS shalom”. In the New Testament, we find that the peace and justice of God is found through Jesus alone. God gives this shalom to his people, yet we must enact this peace in the world through these gifts of God:

• through the faith of Jesus (Romans 5:1)
• through the Spirit (John 14:26-27),
• through the word of Jesus (John 16:33),
• through prayer (Philippians 4:6-7),
• and through his people (I Thessalonians 5:13)

Promise of Shalom
Yet it seems that God has withheld his peace from the world. The world is filled with disease and destruction and mental illness and hatred. If the source of peace is God, why has he withheld it?
First of all, God did promise shalom very specifically:
Psalm 37:11-- the Anawim will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant shalom
Psalm 119:165-- Those who love the law have great shalom
Isaiah 9:6-7-- The coming king will be the Prince of Shalom, there will be no end of the shalom he brings
Isaiah 57:19-21-- Peace to him who is far and near, but no shalom for the wicked
Luke 2:14-- Glory to God in the highest and upon earth peace among men who are favored

From these verses we can see a few things: First, that God doesn’t provide peace immediately. He doesn’t wave a magic wand and amazingly peace appears. Rather, God’s people have to go through a period of waiting in trials without peace before He gives shalom. Secondly, God, in these promises, say that his peace will come through one individual—His emperor who will establish shalom among his people.

And lastly, we see that shalom is not offered to everyone in the world. We quote the passage, “Peace on earth” as God’s promise, yet that promise is not to everyone, but those who are given God’s grace. Frankly, not everyone is ready for God’s peace. The people who are opposed to peace for some of the world cannot have peace. Nor can the people who are opposed to God, since the Lord is central to God’s shalom. And those who are opposed to God’s king, the Prince of Shalom—Jesus— will also not be able to experience God’s peace, for they reject God’s means of bringing shalom.

Liberal Christian Worldview

2010-10-31T08:31:00.000-07:00

There are a multitude of ways to understand Christianity. Each denomination has a distinctive sense of their focus, and every congregation has a different way of presenting their understanding of the basic truths of Christianity. In the United States, there are two foundational ways to understand the truth of Christianity, which, for convenience’s sake we will call “Conservative” and “Liberal”. The liberal understanding of Christianity has recently been called “the new Christian paradigm”, but it is at least one hundred years old, has its roots in the enlightenment of the eighteenth century and has it’s own set of traditions and theologies. Some of the basic features of the “new paradigm” are described below.

Denying supernaturalism
The liberal point of view is not that miracles don’t happen, but that miracles occur in the context of everyday, “historic” reality. This means that God is working, but he is working within the confines of material existence. For all practical purposes, the spirit world does not intersect with material reality, except in subtle, mostly unseen ways. They deny the reality of overt supernatural acts such as a six-day creation, fire from heaven and the physical resurrection of bodies.

Jesus as moral example
Jesus is seen in the liberal worldview primarily as a teacher and example of the exemplary way of life. God desires us to live a life of unconditional love and care for others, and Jesus displayed that love in the midst of a culture of rules and separation. Jesus died in a conflict with that culture, and his resurrection—which was spiritual, not physical—was God’s way of showing the superiority of that moral way of life.

Relationships as core responsibility
The central moral concept of liberal philosophy is the nurturance of relationships. To build and establish relationships, we need to display unconditional love, which is seen as full and joyful acceptance of all—no matter how one subverts the traditional moral paradigm— and assistance to those who are weak or marginal in society. Salvation is seen as receiving God’s grace to live according to this way of love, as Jesus himself displayed. To be saved is to live out the principle, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Sin as systemic
The liberal worldview acknowledges the Bible’s point of view of sin as personal acts in rebellion to God. However, the sins that need to be taken most seriously are those acts that support a system of oppression, in opposition to an ethic of unconditional love. They see the system of the world to be supporting a minority—whites, males, wealthy—while the rest are automatically placed in a secondary role, forced to submit to the oppressive paradigm. Sin, then, is supporting that system of oppression and acting in apathy to those in need. The serious sins are not those of adultery, homosexuality and rebellion, but oppression and its extreme form, violence. Submission to the dominant authority system is a sin, though less serious, for it supports the systemic sin.

Response to sin
Given this point of view of sin, personal sin is usually responded to with acceptance. If a sin is seen as just being in opposition to the primary paradigm, then there is joyful, full acceptance without a call to change. If one sins in a way in opposition to unconditional love, they are encouraged to repent and change, while still being accepted. However, every worldview has lines of acceptance and non-acceptance. Those who are not accepted are those who refuse to refrain from tearing the nurturing community down. Thus, prison is reserved for rapists and child molesters. And the liberal church has no place for those who reject the needy because they are “sinners” or “irresponsible.”

Love as Basis of Truth
The truth of the liberal paradigm is not strictly seen in the Bible as a whole. They recognize that the Old Testament does not teach this paradigm, and neither does Paul. However, they understand Jesus as teaching the basis of this paradigm, and the church is growing over time to accept this paradigm. The Bible is not the basis of morality, but unconditional love, which they see is the love of God. The Bible is not full of historic truth, but of deep metaphors that helps one understand God’s love. The Bible is simply a bridge leading from an older moral paradigm toward a new, perfect paradigm of God’s love. The locus of truth is God’s community of love, led by God’s spirit of love. This community may at times be in denial of the old paradigms, such as it was in the Jerusalem council in Acts 15, but the main focus is the display of God’s spirit, not any traditional standards of morality.

Continuity and Discontinuity with Society
They see themselves as being a part of society through tolerance. They hold as a central moral statement the acceptance and care for all people, no matter what religion they believe in or what their personal habits are. However, they also see themselves as subversive and as challenging the dominant authority system. Thus, in practical actions, the liberal church accepts homosexuals who act with unconditional love, for while they might act in opposition to standard morality, they have received God’s grace of love. They often accept abortion as a possible moral decision because a relationship has not been developed with a fetus, thus there is no moral obligation. And they typically support progressive politics which assists those who are marginalized by society.

An Anabaptist Critique of Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity focuses much on what has been missing from traditional Christianity. Like Jesus and Paul, they focus on the needs of the marginalized of society, and they accept those who are traditionally seen as “sinners” (Luke 15; Matthew 8:11-12) They also recognize that Jesus spoke of himself as a moral example, which is something much of the church has ignored in their focus on Jesus as the savior from sins and the Son of God (John 13:13-17).

However, there is much that the liberal approach to Christianity has missed in their understanding of Jesus. Liberal Christians deny the very worldview that Jesus held. Jesus did not just practice God’s love, but he practiced God’s love with God’s supernatural power, seeing the spirit world as a real force in everyday life (Mark 1:16-2:10). The NT as a whole recognizes Jesus’ resurrection as physical and historic—and, in fact, were it not, then it could not be called “resurrection” at all, but simply “death” for a spiritual life after death is what all ancient cultures understood as what death was. Resurrection meant the renewal of the body—anything else would have been called something else.

Liberal Christians also neglect that Jesus held to God’s standard of righteousness, which was not restricted to sins against unconditional love. Jesus spoke against sexual immorality, idolatry and those who did not believe in him—sins of which could be participated in while still being nurturing (Mark 7:20-23; John 58). Jesus said that the context of righteousness is love of others, but that was not the whole of God’s standard—we first and foremost must love God for who he is and obey him even though it may not seem like the kind of “love” we understand. Jesus welcomed sinners of his time, but he called them to repent, not just to be welcomed (Luke 5:32)
God’s love is unconditional, but the unconditional form of his love is limited, as well. God loves everyone by providing even those who hate him with their basic needs. However, his true blessings—his kingdom, his Spirit, his salvation from suffering—is not given to everyone, but only those who prove to be faithful to him, not only in love, but in the purity of heart and action that can only come through Jesus (Matthew 7:6, 17-27; John 15:5). Thus, followers of Jesus sympathize for those who do not believe in Jesus, but we cannot fully accept them as part of the community of God, even as others who sin against God without repentance (Romans 10:9; Matthew 18:15-17). Jesus affirms love, but also recognizes that his gospel causes deep relational ties to be severed dramatically (Luke 14:26-27)

Ultimately, liberal Christians, while drawing their ideals from the gospel, only accept half of it. They do not believe what Jesus believed or hold to what Jesus stood for. In the end, liberal Christianity is not a representation of Jesus, but just another form of the Enlightenment, denying both the Scriptures and the power of God. They want the morality of Jesus, but neglect the righteousness Jesus actually espoused.

Men will be... holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these. II Timothy 3:5

Conservative Christian Worldview

2010-10-31T08:27:00.000-07:00

There are a multitude of ways to understand Christianity. Each denomination has a distinctive sense of their focus, and every congregation has a different way of presenting their understanding of the basic truths of Christianity. In the United States, there are two foundational ways to understand the truth of Christianity, which, for convenience’s sake we will call “Conservative” and “Liberal”. The conservative approach to Christianity has been called “evangelical” and also “fundamentalist”. Although “evangelical” Christianity has existed since the early 1500s, the fundamentalist form of American evangelicalism has existed only since the beginning of the 20th century—although its roots do run deeper to the early reformation.

God as Creator
In the conservative Christian worldview, all things come from God, the spiritual entity that rightly rules all creation. There is a spiritual world that is greater than this one, and the principles of which determine our success in this world. God is the maker of all things, which he did in six 24-hour days at the beginning of creation.

Jesus as God
The conservative Christian boldly proclaims Jesus as God, by which he means a human who is equal with God in every way, including his essence. Jesus showed his authority over all things on earth, including the spirit world and nature, which indicated that he was the true maker of all these things. Many doubted Jesus proclamation of his true nature, and they eventually killed him. But the Father—the primary personage of God, along with Jesus and the Holy Spirit—rose Jesus from the dead, thus displaying Jesus’ true identity—God himself. One who wishes to receive God’s salvation—life in heaven—must believe that Jesus is God, attempt to live in the standards of God and be responsible to God’s church.

Jesus’ death as once-for-all sacrifice
Conservative Christians hold Jesus’ death to be the most significant event in all of history. They hold that God held all people under the judgment of death because of their sin, but Jesus provided a blood sacrifice through his death, which allowed God to offer forgiveness for sin instead of death. Anyone who believes in Jesus, then, is forgiven of all of their sins, no matter what they did.

Inerrant Bible
According to conservative Christians, the Old and New Testaments, sixty-six books, are the Bible. Although the Bible was written by human authors, God’s spirit directed every word in the Bible, and thus every single word is true. They understand the Bible to be interpreted literally, which means that everything in it must be understood as it would be understood by those who read it first, with allegorical sections interpreted as allegory and historical sections being taken as plain facts. The Bible expresses not only spiritual, moral and historic truth, but scientific truth as well.

The Moral Order
In the conservative worldview, it is held that God established an authoritative order. God established parents to rule over their families, governments to rule over their citizens, bosses to rule over their employees and God to rule over all. Some conservatives hold that men are also an authority over women. Bosses, parents and government leaders, therefore, are representatives of God to those under them. . This does not mean that human authorities cannot make mistakes, but the proper response to any authority over us is to submit and obey the authority. The authorities, on the other hand, are to offer proper moral guidance, punish those who disobey the proper authorities, and to provide the basic needs for those under their authority.

Family as Building Blocks of Society
Conservative Christians hold strongly to a conservative view of the family. This includes the authority of the husband over the family in the God-established moral order as well as the establishment and independence of the nuclear family. For this reason, they oppose homosexuality, abortion and secular education as things that break down the God-established order of the family.

Independence as maturity
In the conservative morality, the goal of the authority is to have every person under them be independent productive members of society. This requires the authority to provide training and punishment for each individual, until each of them are responsible in their own right. Responsibility, in this context, means that they are proper authorities over their own families, providing for them and needing no assistance from authorities to maintain their appropriate lifestyle; and that they are obedient to the requirements of their authorities without needing to be punished to correct them.

Sin as disobedience
For conservatives, sin has to do with one’s relation to the proper authority. Authorities establish law, which is an absolute standard and enforced by their authority. One sins if they disobey the authority above them, even if what the authority demands is unreasonable. Should one sin, the proper response of the sinner’s authority is to punish them, to train both them and everyone else under that authority that sin is unacceptable and will be punished.

Church as Upholder of Standard
The church, then, is the place where these conservative beliefs and morality are held as the standard and they constantly remind the people of God of these truths. This does not mean that the church in some way isn’t subversive. The conservatives hold that the world is constantly being led further and further into sin and subversive values. The church, in this case, is a beacon of light in the midst of darkness. One of the greatest purposes of the church, then, is to defend the people of God against the many forces attacking them—cults, secular humanism, communism, Islam and other religions.

An Anabaptist Critique of Conservative Christianity
The conservative evangelicals have much in their favor as a worldview. They uphold the Bible as the very highest standard, and Jesus as the very highest authority. They recognize that God’s standard may be different from the world’s in many ways and may not make sense to humans. They recognize that sin is very serious, and needs to be dealt with seriously.

However, for all of their proclamation of the Bible as God’s inerrant word, they typically have neglected what the Bible actually says quite seriously. Although they confess Jesus as their Lord, they will frequently disagree with Jesus and his teachings in the New Testament and maintain their own standards of morality instead. Jesus did not punish sin, although in the most extreme cases he did recommend separation from the church (John 8:1-11; Matthew 18:15-17). Rather Jesus showed mercy to the sinner and called them to repentance (John 12:47; Luke 5:32). Jesus recognized that authority came from God, but he also harshly criticized conservative authorities for not adhering to God’s standard and claimed that they should not be followed (Matthew 23:1-23).

Jesus actually came to earth to subvert the authorities of the world through the cross, and the “proper authorities” of this world are still acting in rebellion to Jesus’ way of the cross (Colossians 2:15; Acts 3:12-19; I Corinthians 2:6-8, 14). Jesus did not present submission as a way to uphold the authorities of this world, but as a way to subvert them and to establish God’s kingdom as the true authority over this world. In many ways, conservative Christianity is still holding to medieval feudal standards, and they see the church as being a part of this world. But the Bible says that God’s people are not of this world, but belong to a different nation, to live by a different standard, as established by Jesus, and to not just support the system as it stands (I Peter 2:4-12; Galatians 5:19-23).

Jesus death, while a sacrifice for our sins, is not limited to that. The cross isn’t something that happened a long time ago, and we can rely just on Jesus’ work. We are to continually be living out Jesus’ cross, and we are to be the people of the cross—the work of the cross is something the church continues to this very day (Colossians 1:14; John 12:24-26; Mark 8:34-38). It is through this work that we do with Jesus as our example that we gain the kingdom of God (Romans 8:16-17; Acts 14:22).

Ultimately, conservative Christianity, just like their theological forefathers, Luther and Calvin, is simply not biblical enough. For all their upholding of Jesus as the great authority, they do not give him enough authority as the One True Teacher, and we are servants of each other (Matthew 23:8-11). If one is truly going to enter God’s kingdom, we must be more righteous than the conservative evangelicals (Matthew 5:20; 23:22-23).
Jesus is not just God, but our Lord and example.

A Platonic Christian Worldview

2010-10-31T08:23:00.001-07:00

Most people think that there is simply one church, under the one leader, Jesus Christ. Why, do these idealists say, doesn’t the church just get unified? Apart from the different governing bodies that distinguish one denomination from another, there is another significant issue—there is more than one Christian philosophy. Within each denomination there exists a variety of different philosophies—all claiming the name of Christ, but in many ways incompatible. In this series of articles, we will explore different Christianities and try to understand them from an Anabaptist viewpoint.

In the third and fourth centuries, Christianity was coming into its own as a force in the Roman empire. Paganism was beginning to wane as the primary belief system, and it was getting competition from the revised Hebrew religion. But there was another belief system that was gaining popularity as well—Platonism. Platonism was begun by the philosopher Plato in ancient Athens, and held that the spirit world was the prime reality on which all of our physical reality was based.

Some platonic philosophers of this time —such as Ignatius and Augustine— saw quite a bit of compatibility between Platonism and Christianity, and came to believe in Jesus as the human face behind the platonic philosophy. Then these teachers began defending their platonic form of Christianity against those whom they saw as “heretics” and “unbelievers.” These became the strongest defenders of Christianity of the third and fourth centuries. Their idea of Christianity became enormously influential and their concept of Christianity continues to this day. Below are some of the main beliefs of a Platonic form of Christianity:

Spirit World is the Real World
According to Plato, there is an alternative universe which holds all the reality of the physical universe we see and feel. It is the Spirit world, and it is not less real than the physical world, but more real. In the spiritual universe, there is the real, pure Apple and all apples of our world are just poor copies of the original. Even so, the real Human exists in that universe, and all of us are simply copies of the true Human—and we are only trying to become like that Real Human.

God is the Primary Cause—Pure Spirit
Aristotle, Plato’s student, followed in this logic concerning God. He said that all things have a source, a cause. If creation came from the earth, then the earth came from somewhere, as did the sun and all of our universe. However, at some point one must arrive at the First Cause, because if there is no origin of all things, then nothing could exist. The platonic Christians hold that the Prime Cause is God, who is pure spirit, being made up of nothing physical, of this universe. God is the perfect being, complete Spirit, completely good, and the originator of all good, pure, spiritual things.

Flesh is Corrupt, Spirit is Good
Because God and the Spirit world is where all good comes from, then spiritual things are the only things that are good. This also means that the physical universe we live in is automatically crippled, automatically prone toward weakness. This weakness is called by the platonic Christians the flesh. The flesh is corruptible, able to drift further and further from the Spirit, which is pure good. Fundamentally, the more physical—the flesh—the more corruption and evil. The more Spirit, the more purity and good.

Humanity is part spirit, part flesh
Every human born, according to the platonic Christian philosophers, is part spirit and part flesh. The flesh, they say, is the body, which is corruptible and imperfect. But every human also has a spirit, which is the human’s connection to God. Between the flesh and the spirit is the soul, which is the basis of the mind and will. The soul is the fundamental part of humanity—neither pure flesh nor pure spirit—which determines the moral direction of the person, whether toward the spirit or toward the flesh.

Morality is based on the control of the flesh and motivation
To be a good human, therefore, we must constantly choose the spirit as opposed to the flesh. The flesh leads us to physical desire, to sexuality, to gluttony, to greed, to anger—all of the seven deadly sins are sins of the flesh, created by the platonic Christians. However, ultimately, humans are judged not on their deeds, but their motivation—that which their souls determined. If a soul chose the good, even though it lead them to corruption, then the soul may be saved though the body is corrupt.

Jesus was God Incarnate
Platonic Christians speak of Jesus as the Son of God, the human who was God from birth. Since Jesus was born as God incarnate, thus he was not human as we are human. Yes, Jesus was human, he had flesh and he had spirit, but his soul was already committed to the spirit, and so he constantly rejected the corrupt flesh. Thus, he never sinned. In this way, he had perfect faith and lived perfectly before his Father. Because of this, Jesus’ life could not really provide us with a proper example, because he had a different make up than we. So if we fall short of Jesus, that is only because he was God and we are not. Jesus died to give humanity the opportunity to be pure spirit. All of humanity has been corrupted by their flesh, but Jesus died so that such corruption could be left behind with one’s body, while the spirit and soul rises to God.

The highest Christian act is spiritual contemplation
Those of us who are Christians are those who have entered into Jesus death through baptism and the Lord’s supper. As we partake with Jesus, according to platonic Christians, we find ourselves being led by Him to act in the Spirit, and to set aside the flesh. Thus, as we find gluttony, drunkenness and sexuality set aside, we will also partake more and more in the Spirit realm through contemplation of the Pure Spirit—God himself. We can focus on God through meditation, through praise, through singing or through quoting the Scripture. But the focus is to transport oneself out of this world and into God.

The Church is Invisible
Because morality is a completely internal process, we cannot know who is more spiritual than another. While it is true that the most fleshly people would not be spiritually minded, for the most part we cannot tell. Some are spiritually minded and some are not. But the true people of God are invisible—only God knows who they are. The rest of us cannot judge.

Heaven is Living in Spirit
The ultimate goal of every platonic Christian is, therefore, the stripping away of our bodies—our corrupt flesh—and living in spirit in the presence of God. This is heaven—a pure spiritual existence. In heaven God is the continuous focus, and all who enter heaven take full satisfaction and pleasure in adoring and contemplating God, the Pure Spirit, the Source of all Things.

An Anabaptist Critique of Platonic Christianity
Platonic Christianity has tried to walk a wall that borders Platonism and the Bible—and so there are many aspect of their philosophy that reflects the Bible. Jesus himself said that God is Spirit and that we are not to worship him based on the physical. Jesus also recognized that the Spirit world is more powerful than the universe we live in, and that he himself is from the Spirit world. Jesus did die in order to help us enter God’s kingdom. And the flesh can corrupt us into doing evil.

However, the Bible takes a more balanced view of the physical world than the Platonists do. The physical world is created by God who called it “good” not corrupt. The perfect humans, Adam and Eve, were both flesh and spirit, and completely pure that way. There is no evidence in the Scripture that Jesus was not fully human, even as we are, and pure and innocent in that humanity. While the flesh can corrupt, as Paul said, it is not the flesh alone that corrupts us, but our determination to live out of balance with the flesh—to be obedient to our corrupt desires instead of God. God created sex, he created grapes, he created food, and he wants us to live in pleasure with these things. God also created limits so that we can live in the flesh, but in purity—through marriage, sobriety and moderation.

The physical world is the source of our good acts, as well as evil. It is in the physical world that we give to the poor. It is in the physical world that we love our families. It is in the physical world that we bow down and worship God. But most of all, the paradise that Jesus promises us is not a world of pure spirit. Rather, the cornerstone of his future promise is that we will be resurrected from the dead—we will not remain spiritual, but we will become physical again in God’s perfect utopia. In that time, our bodies will be incorruptible, pure, holy and completely physical.

Jesus also made it clear that what our bodies do is a reflection of our spiritual life. Thus, our moral life is not just in our minds, but equally in our actions. It is not enough for us to have the right motivation, even if we do the wrong actions. Rather, our motivation is shown by our actions. Our morality is based on the life of Jesus. Jesus’ life is not just the pie-in-the-sky ideal, but it is the paradigm for our physical life. We can—and should—be as willing to obey God, as willing to trust in God, as willing to surrender ourselves for the needy as Jesus was. This is our goal, and the purpose of our lives.

Meekness

2010-10-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

A quote from Survival Guide To Homelessness:
Violence

Let me give you an example of a successful bloodless conflict. I was packing up a storage unit one day, and I had only that day to finish. In the same facility a man was screaming at his soon-to-be-ex-wife on a cell phone, and creating an atmosphere that I found intolerable. I decided to stop this guy from yelling. I yelled at him forcefully, Hey! Shut the hell up!

Well, predictably this brought the man's wrath toward me. He started yelling at me and making aggressive gestures, and at that moment I did something he could not have expected. I submitted. I wimped out. I apologized and said I should mind my own business. I backed down.

Now, the soon-to-be-ex-wife was no longer on the phone, so he couldn't yell at her. He had no way to yell at me, or continue to bring a fight to me, because I had backed down. He grumbled and muttered and hurled a few insults at me, but he stopped yelling and I got back to work in blissful quiet. Understanding the nature of winning, the precise goals I was trying to achieve, allowed me to give my opponent the illusion that he won while I got everything I wanted.

And no one got hurt. Always seek the scenario in which no one gets hurt.

What Does It Mean To Be Anabaptist?

2010-09-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

The Anabaptist tradition
In 1525 the reformation of the church in the West was just beginning. There was a lot of excitement about Luther’s reforms, not least of all in Zurich, Switzerland. Zwingli was leading the city leaders into a reform there based on Scripture alone, but many of the reformation’s supporters there didn’t think that Zwingli was going far enough. They noticed that when he spoke about certain issues, that he was more interested in his theological point, rather than actually brining the church back into obedience to Jesus. So they baptized themselves in the name of Jesus, making each other citizens of Jesus’ kingdom instead of any kingdom on earth. This movement grew, and they were called ana-baptists by their enemies, because it was claimed that they would re-baptize their members. But in reality, the Anabaptists affirmed that they were spreading the one true baptism—an entrance into God’s kingdom through true understanding and not just assent to the society of the church. This movement has continued to this day.

What Anabaptists Believe:

1. Jesus only
“No one knows the Father except the Son”
Anabaptists hold to no theology except that stated by Jesus himself. Even as Jesus supersedes the Old Testament law, Jesus also rules over all theology that the church itself created, whether that by Paul or by Calvin or by N.T. Wright. And the focus of our belief is not a Jesus we create—such as a glorified, theological Jesus or a model of a historical Jesus or a cultural Jesus—but the Jesus of the gospels. Thus, the four gospels lead us to interpret all things through the words and life of Jesus.

Since Anabaptists affirm the superiority of Jesus, we also recognize the weakness of all things human to achieve truth or justice. Thus, any particular denomination or creed is only in a process of getting closer to or further from Jesus, but no church could ever be complete in and of itself. Various governments may attempt to achieve justice, but they all fail. Schools attempt to teach truth, but no matter how precise they are, they fail to achieve the full truth that Jesus gives us.

2. Peace
“Have salt in yourselves and be at peace.”
Anabaptists are a peaceful people. We wish to make changes in the world, but not through violence or hate speech. Rather, we believe that we need to display the actions we want in others. If we want peace in the world, we cannot create peace through violence. Yes, dramatic change must happen for the world to have peace, but God can create the dramatic change—it is our responsibility to be the ideal community the world must become.

3. Community
“Love one another”
Following Jesus cannot be done separated from others. Jesus, again and again, commands us to “love” and love cannot be done in isolation. We must support each other in communities and our communities must reach out to others outside of our community to display our love. We must also support and provide hospitality so that no one within our community has need.

4. Believer’s Baptism
“Those who believe and are baptized are saved.”
Today, it may not seem as important as an issue, but the Anabaptist communities originally began as groups who baptized only those who could understand and be faithful to Jesus. Thus, Anabaptists don’t baptize infants or assume that everyone within a particular social group is a follower of Jesus. That is a personal commitment that each person must determine individually, and lives out in their own lives.

5. Love of Enemies
“Do good to those who despitefully use you.”
Because we will not cause others to be afraid of us, that makes us vulnerable to others. Jesus showed us that even if people do disrespectful, hateful or even violent acts, that does not mean that we should return such acts in kind. Rather, we are to display God’s love even—nay, especially—to those who do terrible things to us. In order to have security, we do not depend on our strength, but on God’s.

6. Communion with the outcast
“The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”
Anabaptists know what it means to be outcast, because they have been rejected. But we are also to reach out to those who have been rejected by society. Rather than create another outcast group, the Anabaptists connect with those who are hated, and welcome them as Jesus would.

7. Assistance to the poor
“Sell your possessions and give to the poor.”
Jesus helped the poor with what resources he had, so also do Anabaptists. We see the needs of the poor, and rather than simply ignoring their basic needs, we meet them with love in relationship. We understand that it isn’t enough just to give to the poor, but to connect with them as well, because without relationship we cannot love.

What is the difference between Anabaptist and Mennonite?
Both Anabaptists and Mennonites have the same historical foundation, and much of their understanding of Jesus and life is similar. Historically, the Mennonites have a more complex life than Anabaptists, relating to particular ethnic groups, particular nationalities, forming denominations and mission groups and going through serious cultural changes over the last fifty years. Mennonites have often tried to follow Anabaptist ideals, but as a conglomerate of human institutions, they have often gotten caught up in the concerns of the cultures around them.

Anabaptists, however, are found not just in certain denominations or ethnic groups, nor are they limited to a certain historic line. Anabaptists are people who choose Jesus over any human institution, and choose to follow Jesus’ ethical pattern as a personal choice. They may gather in any denomination or create their own, separate communities. They aren’t bound to a particular theology or ideology, but are separate from them all. There are many Anabaptists within Mennonite groups, but they usually are a minority of them. There are also many Anabaptists outside of Mennonite groups, but count all people who follow Jesus, no matter what group they are a part of, as a part of their global family.

Peace Prayer

2010-09-23T17:33:00.001-07:00

Gracious Lord, we dream of a world free of poverty and oppression, and we yearn for a world free of vengeance and violence. And we pray for your peace.

When our hearts ache for the victims of war and oppression, help us to remember that you healed people simply by touching them… , and give us faith in our ability to comfort and heal bodies and minds and spirits that have been broken by violence.

When the injustice of this world seems too much for us to handle, help us to remember that you fed five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish… , and give us hope that what we have to offer will turn out to be enough, too.

When fear of the power and opinions of others tempts us not to speak up for the least among us, help us to remember that you dared to turn over the tables of money changers… , and give us the courage to risk following you without counting the cost.

When we feel ourselves fill with anger at those who are violent and oppressive, help us remember that you prayed for those who killed you… , and give us compassion for our enemies, too.

When we tell ourselves that we have given all we can to bring peace to this world, help us to remember your sacrifice… , and give us the miracle of losing a little more of ourselves in serving you and our neighbors.

Walk with us, Lord, as we answer your call to be peacemakers. Increase our compassion, our generosity and our hospitality for the least of your children. Give us the courage, the patience, the serenity, the self-honesty and the gentleness of spirit that are needed in a world filled with turmoil and terror.

AMEN

Written by Jack Knox, pastor of Salem (OR) Mennonite Church.

"Love Your Enemy"

2010-05-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

There is a great new blog giving the clearest teaching about what the Bible says concerning the command "love your enemies". Find it here:

It is by William Higgins, who I think is the best teacher of historically biblical Anabaptist doctrine alive today.

The Joy of Discovering Homelessness!

2010-04-07T10:24:00.001-07:00

Anawim Christian Community invites you to their first fundraiser, “Sweets for the Homeless”. This is a desert social, in which people are free to come, eat a variety of delicious homemade desserts, and to find out more about the homeless and the mentally ill. There will be opportunities to speak to people who have experienced homelessness and to find out what the homeless really need, as well as being able to help Anawim, a community church for the homeless in Portland and Gresham. Come for as long as you like and join the fun!

Host: Portland Mennonite Church, 1312 SE 35th Ave, Portland—just a block north of Hawthorne Blvd.
When: Saturday, April 24, 2010 from 6:30-8:30pm
Cost: Free, but please be prepared to bring donations!

Also, if you are unable to attend, please invite others in the Portland area to join in!

The Controversy at Goshen College

2010-03-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

There is much being made in Mennonite circles about Goshen College allowing the national anthem to be played at sports events. It is thought that Mennonites are separate from nationalism, representatives of the Kingdom of God, and to play the national anthem is a display of worshiping the false idol of patriotism.

From my perspective, Goshen College has been a compromised institution from the beginning. Not because they have as many conservative evangelical students as Mennonites-- that's great. No, the Mennonite colleges are simply one sign of many that Mennonites are not "representatives of God's Kingdom", but simple Americans, acting in a usual American way.

In general, Mennonites are very partisan in their politics, being pretty easily divided along party lines. Jesus isn't partisan, but shows a new way of looking at all of politics.

The colleges aren't focused on the poor, as Jesus would be. How many scholarships are there for people who couldn't afford to go there otherwise? How many homeless or poor single mothers do they house in their many rooms? Who do they assist other than the cultural core of the upper middle class they focus on?

The colleges are a part of a semi-capitalistic system, where value is measured by money and position which is given to the education and popular, rather than in the kingdom of God where value is measured by the praise of humility and service.

The education that is given, for the most part, is the standard education given to Americans with a few classes concerning Mennonite distinctives. However, should the kingdom of God be in charge of education, almost everything would be distinctive-- there would be classes on alternative economics, classes on being poor as well as helping the poor, classes on the practice of devotion, classes on the surrender of power for another's good.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not going to get all up in arms about a song being played. I suppose it's a proper symbol of what has been happening all along.

A Couple Thoughts On Pacifism

2009-11-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

War is always, has always been oppression. Even if one group has the right to fight another for self defense, the owner of the land on which the battle is held is the true victim. Every war has innocents killed, which is a crime against all humanity.

On the surface, it seems that those who refuse to kill are at the mercy of those who are willing to kill. But if it truly becomes the norm to not kill for any reason, then it becomes easy to weed the killers out and exile them. But as long as killers are trained in a society for “good purposes”, then murder will continue to be rampant.

Being Loved By The Text

2009-11-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

To be Anabaptist is to be textual. It is allowing the text of the gospels to form one, to change one permanently.

It is seeing Jesus in the text, and fleshing that Jesus out in the life we have around us.

High Volume Meekness

2009-10-10T19:15:00.000-07:00

Meekness isn’t exactly in demand today. Nobody wants it. Sure, people will buy books on love, on peace, on joy, on self-discipline—but how many people want Meekness for Dummies? Microsoft Humility? (Whoa, talk about a contradiction in terms!) McLowly? Meekness just doesn’t sell.

And why should it? Meekness doesn’t comfort us, it doesn’t make us more successful, it doesn’t help us make friends or influence people. Let’s face it—the meek in our society are rejects. They are the outcasts, the people who don’t really fit in. Let’s see, who are the professional meek in the U.S.?

• Homeless
• Elderly in nursing homes
• Those living in low income housing
• Poor immigrants
• Mentally ill
• Those who work for minimum wage
• Panhandlers
• Those on Disability or Food Stamps
• Non-English speakers

Not exactly whom you want to be like? Perhaps not the friends and neighbors? Nor your usual upstanding church members? Of course not. These are not the building blocks of society, the ones who can make things change for the better, the righteous, the acceptable. Again, the meek are the rejects. Not just the unimportant, but the unwanted, the unacceptable.

And how do the middle-class church members—the Uptight Upright—treat these folks, the meek and lowly? Sometimes they treat them with pity, feeling sorry for their plight, perhaps seeing how they can help them. That’s typically the best response. If only the best response were the only response. Often the meek are treated as a “problem” that needs to be solved, the solution of which has avoided the minds of all the mighty. The meek usually are ignored by most—best not seen, not dealt with. The apathetic aren’t interested in judging the lowly, but they aren’t interested in doing anything else with them either. But there are many that do wish to judge the lowly.

These judges use the logic of Job’s friends—These meek are in the positions they are in for a reason. Perhaps in these post-modern times we do not want to use the argument of God only offering material blessings to the righteous, but we would use other arguments. “They made terrible errors in their lives, and so they ended up where they are.” “They will have to work hard like we did and then they can get out of that situation.” “This is the land of opportunity—anyone who works hard enough can get ahead.” “They just need to apply themselves.” “Lazy.” “Addicts.” “Trying to take advantage of good people.” These labels are used on the meek, even if they are not known. And if you think you are immune to this, how many times have you ignored a panhandler whom you have never seen before because, you assume, they would use the money you might give them for their addiction? This is judging by stereotype. Would we assume such things of our neighbor who lives on the same suburban street as us?

If we looked at these meek with God’s eyes, we would see that these meek are not the insignificant and hopeless as we might first have imagined. Just the opposite. We need to remember that God does not choose the powerful, the rich, the ones who already have everything in place. God chooses the needy, the insignificant, those for whom everything is falling apart. This means, biblically, when we look at our world around us, we need to see it with new eyes. Next time you see a panhandler, instead of seeing him or her with pity or disgust, think, “This is one of the ones whom God chooses.” Next time you see an elderly woman, living alone, respond, “I wonder if God will give her a son.” Next time you meet a mentally ill person, consider, “I wonder what God is going to do in this person’s life—it must be magnificent!” Next time you hear about the starving in Africa or Asia, instead of being overwhelmed with a mix of compassion and guilt, pray that God would do a work of power there.

Poverty and illness are not dead-end streets—they are opportunities for God to act.

What is a Modern Anabaptist?

2009-09-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

A church of the 21st Century Anabaptist (just off the top of my head):
-Builds up community both within and outside of its walls
-Is not committed to a single partisan agenda, except that of Jesus
-Meets the needs of the needy, according to its rescources
-Is committed to creating peace in our nation, our broader community, our families and in how we do church
-The leaders of the church not only leads in the rituals that are important to the community, but leads in creating service opportunities, and creating harmony out of conflict

The Mennonite denomination should be supporting congregations to be this way, IF the Mennonites are actually anabaptist in this way, and not just interested in promoting all things Mennonite, whether they encourage this ideal or not. They should be encouraging mediation training, encourage knowledge of Jesus-- his life and teaching-- rather than Mennonite history, giving ways to bypass the bi-partisan thinking that dominates American discussions, creating a network of service opportunities for churches, and offering training for community connection.

The evangelical church is heading the way of service and community building. John Roth is trying to train the church to stop thinking in a bi-partisan way. Scot McKnight (an evangelical anabaptist) is trying to train people to be more Jesus-focused. The resources are out there, will the Mennonites use them?

Judgement, Cheap Grace and Mercy

2009-08-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

• Judgment is immediate. It demands the quick decision and the sentence is as swift and demanding as a guillotine.
• Mercy is slow. Mercy takes its time, deliberating, mulling over options. Mercy is often second-guessing itself, repenting of former decisions as repentance is made known.
• Cheap Grace is careless. It cares not what the issues are, and is as swift in its decision of forgiveness as judgment is of condemnation.

• Judgment is simple. Black and white, clear cut, no recourse, no compromise. Judgment sees all situations from a demanding, no fills position.
• Mercy seeks truth—no matter how messy. It deliberates, considers, ponders, discusses—but not without a goal. Mercy plods, the tortoise who wins the race, slow and steady. Mercy understands that truth cannot be found in a headline, but in a feature article based on many interviews.
• Cheap Grace triumphs the ignorant. There is no need for determinations, deliberations or decisions. The decision has already been made—freedom and blessing for all, no matter what the situation.

• Judgment focuses on the law as a principle. “The law is a standard which once broken cannot be mended. It is the Humpty Dumpty of God. It is an ancient china doll, needing to be placed behind glass—protected, served, and loved from a distance.” But the law of judgment is cold, hard and sharp as a steel blade. Judgment claims to be for the good of society, but the only one who benefits is Judgment itself.
• Mercy loves the law as a benefit to others. The law is to “love your neighbor,” thus mercy is the heart of the law. The law is to train us in mercy, to see the Other as the beneficiary of all of our actions. Mercy considers the well-being of all—even the law-breaker. Mercy’s law is comforting, light, for it always seeks the benefit of all.
• Cheap Grace discards the law. “The law was a plaything of youth, but is to be set aside as unworthy of consideration. Grace has set aside all law, especially the law of Jesus, as unworthy of God.” Cheap Grace claims to speak for Mercy, but denies the heart of God.

• Judgment demands recompense. Judgment seeks equity to the cost of the action of the law-breaker. “You broke it, you pay for it.” It seeks a balanced account book for which each debit has its equal and opposite credit—the coin of which is blood and dishonor.
• Mercy pursues reconciliation. Mercy can lead to dishonor, should repentance be the flip side of that coin. Mercy pleads for restoration, constantly seeking an ingathering together for all the saints.
• Cheap Grace rejects cost. Cheap Grace points to Calvary and claims that all had been accomplished there. Cheap Grace ignores the man who said, “All who would follow me must take up their own cross daily.” Cheap Grace demands no personal cost, no change, no death, no discipline, and so gains no gift, no new creation, no life, no restoration.

• Judgment has no escape. Once judged, there is no exit. The sentence is irrevocable, the differences irreconcilable, the community ununitable.
• Mercy offers an out—repentance. The one who has harmed another—and so has defied the law—has an opportunity to be brought back under the law. To repent, to reconcile is the extent that Mercy demands, and will seek any way to achieve that goal.
• Cheap Grace is unconditional forgiveness. It is spiritual bloodletting—seeking to heal the patient, while ignorantly killing him. Cheap Grace sees no need to gather in, to restore, for there was no separation.

• Judgment demands payment from the lawbreaker. As the law suffered, so must the criminal. As society was harmed, so must the harmer. Judgment claims the lost deserve nothing, and so gives nothing.
• Mercy sacrifices. Restoration also has a price, and the merciful takes that price on oneself. Mercy pays whatever the cost so the sinner can be restored. Mercy groans in prayer, endures attacks, forgives debts against it, pays debts against others, sacrifices its comfort, its family, its friendships, its resources, its very life—all for the sake of the lost.
• Cheap Grace gleefully ignores cost. It is the thief, stealing from God’s honor. Cheap Grace receives no payment, demands nothing, gives nothing, since there is no debt incurred. Cheap Grace celebrates at the foot of grace delivered, but ignores the call of grace transferred to others. Cheap Grace requires nothing and so gains nothing.

• Judgment never forgets. It is the elephant of virtues. It never trusts, never believes, never forgives, never restores. Judgment says “Once a sinner, always a sinner.”
• Mercy gives the benefit of the doubt. Mercy does not forget, but allows complete restoration, a rebuilding of trust. Mercy believes in new creation, a new life, which has nothing to do with the old.
• Cheap Grace always trusts, even the hypocrite. It always believes, even the liar. It always forgives, even the unrepentant. It accepts everyone and everything—except God’s truth.

• Judgment is Satan. Judgment is the accuser of the brethren, the murderer of humanity for the sake of a bloodless law. It is the prosecutor seeking the death penalty.
• Mercy is Jesus. It is the self-sacrificer, the reconciler to God, the perfect sacrifice. Mercy is the one who said, “Go and sin no more,” “The one whom the Son sets free is free indeed,” “I have come to seek and save the lost,” “Unless you repent you will likewise perish,” “I have not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance,” “Be merciful as your Father is merciful.”
• Cheap Grace is the Flesh. It is self-seeking, self-upholding, self-deceptive. Ultimately, it upholds what is abhorrent to God as the will of God. They practice sin and gives approval to those who practice it.

• Judgment is a liar. It claims that God does not forgive, sees the sin and not the sinner. It denies the power of God to change the one in Jesus. It is lost, for it has forsaken the mercy of Jesus. Those in the power of Judgment will die by God’s hand—“Judge and you will be judged.”
• Cheap Grace is a liar. It claims that God’s standard is flexible, and so non-existent. It loves the lost to such a degree that it cannot be separated from the lost. It causes the lost to remain lost, and so dead. Those in the power of Cheap Grace will die by God’s hand—“Whoever does not obey the Son will not see life.”
• Mercy is the truth of God. It upholds the law, which is to love all. It demands love, even as it offers love. It demands forgiveness, even as it offers forgiveness. It demands sacrifice, even as it sacrifices. It demands purity, even as it offers purity. It demands devotion to God, even as it offers devotion to God. “Be imitators of God, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.”

Mercy stands with God over against Judgment and Cheap Grace

Caesar and God: A Brief Bible Basic

2009-08-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

Ideally, governments are servants of God.
[Government] is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Romans 13:4

We should submit to governments, even when ungodly.
Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. Romans 13:1

We should pray for governments to create peace
I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. I Timothy 2:1-2

Money belongs to governments, therefore give it to them when they ask for it.
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's Mark 12:17

Jesus conquered all authorities on the cross.
He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Colossians 2:15

Our bodies belong to God, therefore we should grant to God His use of it.
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. Mark 12:17

We are never to disobey God, even if a government demands it of us.
We must obey God rather than men. Acts 5:29

We are not to fear a government’s wrath.
Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28

It is not a shame to be condemned by a government for Jesus’ sake, but a source of joy.
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me: Rejoice and be glad. Matthew 5:11-12

We should not take revenge against oppressive governments
Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. Romans 12:19

Jesus provides access to the Lord of the universe if we would remain faithful to him despite those who make it difficult for us.
Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Revelation 3:8

Beware!

2009-07-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

In a Destructive Way

2009-07-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Jesus and Understanding the Bible

2009-07-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

A post by Tim N on Young Anabaptist Radicals:

A few weeks ago, in a discussion thread over here, folknotions asked the question (seconded by Tim Baer): “What do radical anabaptists believe about the Bible?”. I’ve been pondering this question for a few weeks and I haven’t come up with anything definitive, but I do have a few thoughts to share. It just so happens that DenverS posted a piece two weeks ago that very much speaks to this question as well. I’d love to hear what others of you (especially women) think as well. We’ve already got a quite active The Bible so if you add your piece to that category, we could even have ourselves a “YAR on the Bible” series.

My awareness of how I read the bible has been strongly shaped by my experience of British Anabaptism through working Anabaptist Network. The second of the Anabaptist Network’s seven core convictions is:

Jesus is the focal point of God’s revelation. We are committed to a Jesus-centred approach to the Bible, and to the community of faith as the primary context in which we read the Bible and discern and apply its implications for discipleship.(read more from the AN)

Naming an Anabaptist value as a "Jesus-centred approach to the bible" helped me to understand some distinctive of my own Mennonite tradition that I had always taken for granted. I gradually came to understand that many traditions claim to read the bible in a flat way with all passages seen with the same weight. This is not the case for me. The core of Jesus message is a vision for shalom liberation for all of us. Some parts of the bible communicate, at least on the surface, a contradictory vision. For example,
when I read the story of Ehud I see the story of an exciting adventure story told ’round the camp fire down through the generations by the Jewish people. It comes out of the life of a people struggling for justice and liberation. But its a way of living out that struggle that is very from the vision of Jesus of loving your enemy and radical, cheek-turning nonviolence.

The community of faith as the primary context for reading the bible is also a central part of how I approach the Bible. I don’t find it useful to sit in the corner and open the bible at random and read it. I’m much more drawn to reading the Bible in a group or discussing it on a blog (like YAR) or reading a theologian who unpacks the social and historical context of the text.

And finally, the gospel of Jesus as a source for discipleship in our lives. The bible is not primarily a source for doctrine or a set of beliefs for us to ascribe to. Its a story in which we are all actors, not passive recipients. Jesus lays out a way of being in and relating to all of creation rooted in redemption, not just of our souls, but of our lives, our communities and our empires. The Bible is the story of God coming along side humanity in that struggle. It is a story that we are all invited to join.

My response:
I fully agree with the Jesus interpretation of the Bible, as an Anabaptist. I fully agree that the Bible is only to be understood through Jesus– the Jesus of the gospels, not the Jesus of theology.

The Anabaptist ideal I have issue with in this subject is the idea of community interpretation. Of course, we interpret nothing except through the eyeglasses we obtain through experience, one of the great parts of which is society. But what I’ve seen is that community interpretation often leads to the idea that everyone in the community has an equal voice as to the truth of Scripture, and the other problem I see is that the truth of Scripture is best found by the agreement of the selected community.

If truth is found in each individual, then everyone’s silly interpretation is possible, and we have no real truth in Scripture. If that’s the case, then Jesus is a bunch of contradictory concepts. I think that Jesus is unified and that the Bible is unified in Jesus. That doesn’t mean we can’t have disagreements– certainly different equally valid interpretations exist. But there are a number of interpretations that are not possible to support through a clear reading, and I don’t think we should give those “interpretations” equal voice.

Secondly, to say that the true interpretation is found in the agreement of the community is equally false. Communities are formed by a common worldview, even when there is dissent, and the interpretation of all things are formed by that worldview. And this worldview is unlikely to be identical with that of Jesus, or even the first century Jewish world. So, in reading the Bible in community, we tend to interpret through our own glasses, not the glasses of Jesus.

Somehow, through the grace of God, we need to get past our own ideas of what Scripture “should” say, and accept what it does say, in Jesus. And then, understanding that, we need to take on another Anabaptist principle: The purpose of Scripture is not to understand it, but to do it.

Anabaptism and Mennonitism

2009-06-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Question: The Anabaptist Vision is coming into it's golden age. Why is it that the Mennonites seem to be in decline? (from Mark Van S. on Facebook)

My response:
Because only some of the Mennonites are Anabaptist. Because the Mennonites are too focused on organization instead of spirituality. Anabaptism will reach it's peak when released from the Mennonite shackle of bureaucracy.

Only when Mennonites see that Anabaptism is a vision, not an organization that need be restructured, that Mennonites will thrive.

Who Are the People of God?

2009-06-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

We can look around at the different religions and the many different kinds of Christianity and we can wonder, who among all of these different kinds of religious people does God really care for? Some religions are strict, others are lax; some are private and personal, while others are public and in-your-face; some are meditative, others are ethical, while others are very social. And each one of them has their own ideas of what makes up the people of God and who really belongs.

Of all the people in the world, Jesus is one of the few who we can trust to really know what God prefers. Jesus lived among his people and taught and healed—but more importantly, God gave his stamp of approval on his life and teaching beyond anyone else, because God raised him from the dead. No other religious teacher or prophet or theologian could claim that. So rather than delving into theology or religious doctrine, let’s just look at what Jesus said about the subject.

The Beatitudes—Matthew 5:3-10
The Beatitudes are Jesus’ blueprint for God’s people. He didn’t come up with it himself—although he packaged it. Most of this teaching comes from the Hebrew Bible (which is usually today called the Old Testament). It is called “the beatitudes” today because each statement speaks about a blessing that the people of God will receive. “Beatitude” comes from a Latin word which means “state of bliss”. And these statements explain who will receive a state of blessing or fortune from God. Before we explain it, though, let’s hear what Jesus has to say about God’s people for himself:

3. The poor in spirit are fortunate because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
4. Those who grieve are fortunate, because they will be cheered.
5. The meek are fortunate, because they will inherit the earth.
6. Those hungry and thirsty for justice are fortunate, because they will eat their fill.
7. The merciful are fortunate, because they will be granted mercy.
8. The clean in heart are fortunate, because they will see God.
9. The peacemakers are fortunate, because they will be called 'sons of God.'
10. Those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness are fortunate, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Who are these people?
The first thing we want to look at are the characteristics of God’s people. Jesus statements about these characteristics can be divided in two: a. Situational characteristics and b. Ethical characteristics.

The Anawim of God
Some of the characteristics of God’s people relate to the awful situations they find themselves in:

• The poor in spirit (oppressed, especially economically),
• The grieving (remorseful about the situations they find themselves in),
• The meek (lowly, disenfranchised or outcast),
• Those hungering and thirsting for justice (greatly desiring right to prevail in their lives)
• And the persecuted (rejected or spoken ill of).

This isn’t exactly a top-ten of things that we want to be! These characteristics can be summarized in one Hebrew word—anawim. The Bible speaks much of the anawim, because they are the kinds of people God focuses on, and desires to help more than anyone else. (Read Exodus 22:21-24; Psalm 37:11 and Psalm 34:6.) That’s because they have no one else but God to turn to. No power on earth will pay attention to them, because most people would prefer to pretend that they didn’t even exist. Some of the anawim in our society are the homeless, the mentally ill, the elderly, the chronically sick and all the various others who are socially outcast. These are the poor, the lowly, the outcast—and they are God’s people. If a person thinks that they are of God or His people, but have never experienced this kind of rejection by society, then they are not, in reality of God’s true people.

The Loving of God
However, one cannot just be rejected or poor and be of God’s people. Many teachers and theologians today will teach that Jesus said that everyone who is poor or outcast represents him. But that simply isn’t true. Jesus said that those of his “brothers” who are needy are his people. And Jesus said that his brothers would “do the will of my Father in heaven”. In other words, they listened to and obeyed God. But what kind of obedience is Jesus talking about? Not drinking on a Friday night? Studying the Bible every day? Standing on a street corner yelling, “You’re going to hell” to everyone you see? Hmmm… let’s see what Jesus says:

• The merciful (those who do good to everyone in need without exception);
• The clean in heart (those who do what is right because they have a mind focused on God, and not because of superficial reasons)
• The peacemakers (those who do good to their enemies, who refuse to judge on appearances and who gather people to be devoted to God);
• And the persecuted for righteousness’ sake (those who are rejected because they were doing the good God said to do).

These are the people who keep two things on their main agenda: They are devoted to God first and foremost, not allowing anything else in their lives to get in the way of their love of God. Second, they are doing everything they can to benefit other people, no matter who they are. This makes sense, because Jesus said that these two things are to be the focus of everyone who lives for God (Matthew 22:35-40). They love God and they love other people. And sometimes they get burned because of it. Sometimes they are rejected or even physically hurt because of it. But they know it’s worth it.

How can it be worth it?
It doesn’t seem worth it. Jesus is saying that God’s people are those who are so focused on devotion to God and assisting others that they get hurt by it. It just doesn’t seem right. But it really is—in fact, it is a weird sense of justice that indicates that these are God’s people and not others. Just look at what God’s people get:

• Theirs is the kingdom of heaven (God lets them rule His coming nation!)
• They will be cheered (God gives them happiness!)
• They will inherit the earth (God gives them land and city to be in charge of!)
• They will eat their fill (God will give them true justice—forever!)
• They will receive mercy (God will overlook their faults and meet their needs!)
• They will see God (God will let them be in his presence!)
• They will be called sons of God (God will call them his own!)

All wrapped up, these are the blessings of God that almost everyone wants. It is peace, security, true spirituality, all of one’s needs met, a peaceful society to live in. It is winning the real lottery—obtaining true happiness that you could never get with cash.

So why do these people get it, and not others? Because only God is offering it, and only those who are truly devoted to God and His ways will get it. And how can anyone know that we were really devoted—and not just faking it? How can anyone know that we really cared about other people and weren’t just faking it? Because we acted in love even though we were living in hard times. We stayed right with God, even though we suffered for it. We continued to help others, even though people thought we were wrong to do it. We suffered and loved at the same time.

How fortunate are the oppressed because they will rule God’s kingdom!
How fortunate are the sorrowful, because God will cheer them up.
How fortunate are the lowly, because God will give them the earth.
How fortunate are those who desperately desire justice, because they will get just what they want.

How fortunate are those who act in compassion, for God will be compassionate to them.
How fortunate are those single-minded on God, for they will see Him.
How fortunate are the creators of peaceful communities, for God will make them rulers.
How fortunate are the sufferers for righteousness, because they will rule God’s kingdom!

Peacemaking 101

2009-06-24T11:35:00.000-07:00

“I can’t believe he did that!” “What a jerk!” “They are morons!” We often feel like this when people have hurt us, whether on purpose or carelessly. When we are hurt, we act in different ways—perhaps we want to run away, perhaps we want to lash out, perhaps we want to pretend it never happened, perhaps we want to “talk it out.” Jesus and his followers say that the way to respond to those who hurt us is to attempt to make peace, instead of hostility. The way of peace is to listen, confront and to accept. How to do this is explained below:

Stop ourselves from being hostile. (Romans 12:17, 21)
When we have been wronged, we often want to respond in kind or to hurt the other person in some way. Sometimes we want to just separate ourselves from the one who hurt us and never come back. Sometimes we want to lash out at the person, verbally or even physically. The first thing we must do is to ask for God’s strength to be “slow to anger”, and to not respond with punishment.

Check our principles for judging (Matthew 7:1-2)
We have to decide if we have the right to judge the one who hurt us. Are we judging them by God’s standards of right and wrong, or our own? Are we assuming what their motivation was, or do we know? Do we have our facts straight? To help with this process, you might want to look at another tract, “Judging With a Right Judgement”.

Check our motivation for responding (I Corinthians 16:14)
In everything we do to another, if we do it according to the Lord, we do it for the benefit of the other person. Do we want to respond to the hurt in order to hurt in return? Do we want to just make ourselves feel better? Do we want the other person to admit they did wrong? Do we want to insist upon our “rights”? None of these motivations are according to the Lord. Instead, if we respond to someone who hurt us, we want to help them to grow in the Lord or to allow there to be reconciliation between us.

Ask the other person for their perspective and listen (James 1:19)
Rather than being hostile, which is an easy out, our first task is to listen to the other person’s perspective. Most of the time, we will find, that people either didn’t intend to hurt us at all, or they were responding to a misunderstanding of our words or actions which caused them to be hurt. If we can understand what they were really doing, then we can better evaluate how to prevent such a situation happening again.

Speak about how we were hurt (Matthew 18:15; Luke 17:3; Galatians 6:1)
We need to let the person who hurt us know how they hurt us and what they did. This step is essential, for the person might not know that they have done anything wrong, or not know that they have hurt anyone else. Even if it seems like it is obvious, we need to tell them. We should try not to say, “you did this wrong”, but talk about the actions that hurt us, and anything Jesus and the apostles say about that kind of action. When we speak about our hurt, we need to be brief and to be gentle, hoping for reconciliation.

Listen again. (Matthew 18:15-16)
We need to give the other person a chance to respond to our statement. Perhaps they will want to reconcile, perhaps they will want to say how we misunderstood what they intended. Of course, they may also want to excuse their behavior and claim that they were right to hurt. Whatever the response, we need to give them the opportunity to show how they really feel about their action.

Accept any attempt at repentance and reconciliation.(Luke 17:3-4)
If the person who did wrong makes some attempt at correcting their wrong, we should accept them. We must not look for a particular formula of apology or reconciliation. If the person, in some way, admits a wrong they have done, and is looking for the relationship to be restored, then we need to do our part and try to restore the relationship. This is the case, even if they have hurt us time and time again!

If they don’t want to reconcile, then get someone else involved. (Matthew 18:16)
If either party of a hurt doesn’t want to reconcile—either because one thinks they haven’t done anything wrong, or because one doesn’t want to forgive a repented wrong done—then someone who is of the peaceful Holy Spirit and is objective in the situation should come in to attempt to restore the relationship. That person should be able to listen to both sides fairly and to determine, according to Jesus, what could be done.

If trust isn’t possible, bear with each other (Galatians 6:2)
If the two of us were unable to completely resolve the conflict, then the teaching of Jesus is that we are still to love each other and care for each other. That doesn’t mean that we need to be “best friends”, but we need to be able to live together and at times serve together in the community. Perhaps, over time, the issues will be resolved.

Work something out to prevent the situation from happening again. (Matthew 18:15-17)
The ones involved in the hurt should make some kind of informal (or sometimes, formal) plan to prevent the hurt from happening again. This should almost always involve action on both sides, in order not to cause another to fall away from God or His ways (Mark 7:42-50). If one party refuses to reconcile, then a separation may be necessary until they are willing to.

If the way of Jesus’ peace sounds appealing, but too difficult, consult with your local pastor to gain spiritual strength and counsel, or call the number below.

In as much as we are able, let us be at peace with everyone.

Love

2009-05-25T10:59:00.001-07:00

I know a woman who had an abortion when she was young. The infant wasn’t the product of rape, it just wasn’t the right time for the couple to have the baby. Abortion, in this case, was being used for birth control. Since it had just been legalized, why shouldn’t she take advantage of it? Years later, however, that decision haunted her and she considered that she had killed her only daughter.

A number of years ago I met a professional drunk who was homeless. He was interested in whatever help we would be willing to offer. However, he had clearly already lied to my wife and I and he, frankly, had an obnoxious personality and smelled of wine processed through his pores.

A woman who had stayed in our house for years has been struggling with drug addiction for years, but she is losing the fight. She won’t work in the house or pay rent and gets angry when I approach her about it.

This is the kind of stuff that ethics are made of. Difficult situations. Some small and some large. Libraries have been created on the ethics of abortion, homeless, drug addiction, homosexuality, war, adultery, marriage and much more. When we think about these issues philosophically, we make one ethical choice, but when we face them in real life, we might very well make another.

In philosophy, there are two names that come to the forefront of ethical thought: Mills and Kant. John Stuart Mills taught that the basis of correct moral decision is happiness. Decide what makes the most people happy over the longest period of time, and that is the correct decision. Kant thought that the basis of ethics is duty. If we know what we should do, the right thing, then to do anything else is unethical. However, neither can be completely true. If a friend of mine experienced a death in the family, my empathy doesn’t make either of us happier, but isn’t it more right to feel for him than to not? If my duty is to not lie and obey government, does that make it right for me to tell the Nazis at my door that the Jews are hidden under the panel in the dining room floor?

The heart of right action is in the heart of human existence and experience. And human experience is found in the midst of others. Most of these others are human—we come out of our mother’s womb, live in a community, learn with children, connect with neighbors, buy from retailers, read the words of authors, work with co-workers, care for pets, have sex with lovers and hopefully, die with family. Since our whole life is spent with others, then the heart of the most basic decisions—that of right and wrong—also has to do with others.

But what is the nature of our relation with others, of life in general? The basic experience of all life is need. We are all a gaping hole needing to be filled. Three meals a day. Six cups of water. Sleep. Health when we are sick. A kind word. A good talk. Support when depressed. A good story. The needs perpetuate without end—the basic truth of life. And we spend our time filling these needs. We get a job so we can get money to meet our needs. We remain in long term relationships to meet our needs. We purchase things—a comfortable bed, a good book—to meet the needs of rest and pleasure.

To see ourselves as full of need, constantly being fulfilled, is to see us as life. And if this is what life is, this is what every living being is on the planet. Around every single one of us is another gaping hole, another sponge in constant need of filling. Yea, not just one, but many, perhaps hundreds, perhaps millions, even billions. Some of us pretty much meet our own needs. But for every one that is self-sufficient, there are a thousand or a million that are not. Every child is in need of raising until they are grown. Every spouse is in need of the love of their partner. Every ill person is in need of the care of another. Every destitute person is in need of assistance. And every person is in need of another to talk to, to obtain respect from, to love and to be loved.

This is the true foundation of ethics. Not the partnership of command and submit. Not the limits of pleasure. Rather the recognition that everyone’s need is the equivalent of our own. And that even as we are in need of others to meet our need, we must live our lives to meet other’s needs. Not as a duty, although it can be considered a responsibility. Not as a part of our own pleasure, although we can find joy in it. Rather, we meet needs because it is a part of life, part of the community we live in.

To see the other’s need and to recognize it as a part of one’s own; to not only observe the need, but to feel it; to meet the need of the other and so be completed oneself—this is love. It may sound like co-dependency. But codependency is acting toward the other’s hurt, and so establishing one’s own hurt as well. Love recognizes true need, not just felt need, and fills the gaping hole. Love never turns away. Love does something.

And this is the good life. The life of love.

The woman on drugs on our house? We confronted her, but didn’t force her to leave until she had another place to be. On her own, she still struggles with addiction, but is on the road to recovery. Without basic structure, she would never succeed.

The homeless drunk? He stayed in our house one night and we found that his screaming in the middle of the night was not good for the rest of us to be able to sleep. But we had him come to dinner. And the next night he came again. The night after, he brought another homeless friend. And now we feed a hundred and fifty people a week, friends with them all, bringing love and hope to street folks and the mentally ill, meeting all the needs we can.

And, finally, the woman struggling with her decision to have an abortion? That was my mother. It was my potential sister she decided to not have. It was certainly not my place to forgive her. She needed the forgiveness of God and of the baby. But in receiving welcome, support and hope from those around her, she experienced the forgiveness of God and her fourth child.

Love truly does conquers all evil, which makes it the most powerful substance in the universe.

Monoculturalism

2009-05-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

Everyone wants to battle prejudice. To label people by their group, to stereotype an individual by who they look like or false ideas about their group is a horrendous crime. However, sociology teaches us that this is not a crime that we can just point at and jeer, but rather it is a sin within our own hearts. There is not a single person who has ever lived who has not made a determination of another’s personality, goals or vices based solely on one’s looks, one’s accent, one’s clothes or the people one is friendly with. Labeling on insufficient evidence is hardwired within us, and we will all stumble because we assume that our current experience with a person is based on a previous experience or story of an experience with someone we put in their same category. To confront a bigot, all we have to do is talk to the mirror.

It is for this reason that many Western societies have targeted certain areas of prejudice. We have laws against some forms of racism and sexism. We decry homophobia and religious bigotry. And so we should. Because to limit one’s rights or ability to survive due to one’s beliefs, one’s sex, one’s race or one’s sexual orientation is wrong. Every adult, without exception, should be allowed to make their own decisions about how to meet their needs, as long as it does not harm another. If one person has the money for an apartment, then all who can afford it and not harm others should get the same apartment. If one person can sit in a bar to drink, then all should be allowed. This is what Martin Luther King Jr. died for.

There is far to go in these focuses. Yes, an African American has been elected president, but fifty percent of all abortions in the United States are on African American fetuses. Yes, women are now able to succeed in almost any occupation men used to hold a monopoly on, but the second most popular entertainment application on an iPhone is iGirl—where an endowed cyber-woman can be manipulated by her male “master”. Most people have the freedom to worship as they please, but any Muslim appointed to a high government position will soon have to resign because of false allegations that they have associated with terrorist groups. With prejudice, the work is never done.

With as much work as must be done on the bigotry that has been targeted, there is a problem with speaking of racism, or sexism or whatever other focus one has. For every prejudice our society focuses on and tries to wipe out, a hundred are ignored and five more are created. Yes, our society has made great strides in sexism, but assumptions are publicly made daily about the poor who receive welfare—that they are lazy, are cheating the system, are taking advantage of the government. Racism has changed and in some ways gone underground, but social workers can manipulate and control the lives of the mentally ill because the mentally ill have been deemed unable to care for themselves, even when they are not under a court-ordered commitment. People are allowed to worship as they please, but people who have pot for their own use are thrown into prison, although they have harmed no one—not even themselves.

The list of prejudices go on and on—the homeless are treated like criminals for not having a place to sleep, an immigrant is treated like an idiot for having an accent, someone who criticizes democracy or capitalism is held at arm’s length, distrusted, a person over 80 is treated as unable to make their own life decisions. Why is this? Not because we haven’t been taught about tolerance. Simply because our teaching of tolerance has been limited to only a few categories. Thus, we who are white males feel guilty at just glancing at a young black man, but we can openly speak hatred against the same man if we find out he is homeless and speaks with an African accent.

The issue is not racism, or sexism or any other ism of limited scope. Our prejudice is against those who are unlike ourselves—of any other culture that is unfamiliar and uncomfortable. When one person or a group of people make a values decision that is different than one we would make—whether or not it would hurt another—that person is wrong and potentially dangerous. The different are not allowed to rule the society, because they will not uphold the cultural standards, whatever they may be. No matter how we try to attack bigotry, as long as we limit it to just a few issues, we will always fall behind our own unknown prejudices. I believe that our problem is not racism or homophobia—rather it is monoculturalism. The limitation of the “acceptable life” to only a few choices.

Our problem is not simply a lack of education. Certainly Americans would be more tolerant if they learned more about cultures, religions, and a variety of cultural mores and habits. But knowledge is not the answer to a monocultural outlook. The prejudice against women persisted because there was a mutual agreement between the sexes to not interfere with each other’s way of life, mores and areas of influence. Only when they began to live as equals, interfering with each other’s lives was there the beginning of understanding and a breaking down of the wall of sexism. The prejudice against African Americans persisted (and will continue to persist) as long as there is separation in neighborhoods, schools and cultural blocks. Only when there is a free and equal mixing between races will understanding and true hope come about.

I believe that the answer to monoculturalism is living in other cultures, being humble in a situation apart from that which we grew up. When I visited India, after living my whole life in Southern California, I was confronted and ashamed by some of the things I did which was acceptable in my own society. I learned that not only were different races, religions and languages acceptable, but so were different ways of thought. When I began to live among the poor, I learned that there was much that I had an instant revulsion to—dumpster diving, for one—that was not only acceptable, but actually a moral benefit to society.

Only if we live humbly among different cultures will we learn to accept other cultures. Only if we are forced to confront our prejudices face to face with those who we appreciate but run in the face of our prejudices will we change.

Varieties of Reform

2009-05-10T08:27:00.001-07:00

This is in response to a discussion on “A Platform for MCUSA”. http://young.anabaptistradicals.org/2009/04/09/a-platform-for-mcusa/
I got to thinking about something there and it got so long, I decided to post it seperately.

I suppose pretty much everyone on this forum is interested in reforming the church. Perhaps we don’t all agree at exactly what this reform looks like, but we agree that it must be done. There is a lot of talk here, but little action. It is time to make some changes.

But what is the most effective agent for change? What is the catalyst that will bring about the necessary reform? Let’s look at some of the reforms of the past and see how it happens:

-We could begin with one small group of reformers and live radical lifestyles. Of course, by the next generation (or possibly even before that) the radical lifestyle will be compromised to such a degree as to be un-radical. And besides, people will just exalt us as “special” or “a saint” and so separate themselves from the change they need to have. (Francis of Assisi)

-We could train the poor the truth of living radically for Jesus and let them preach openly. We just need to hope that they don’t start a war. (John Wycliffe- Lombards; Peter Waldo- Waldensians)

-We could begin a really successful writing campaign that stirs the hearts of angry young men and women until they cause an upheaval in churches around the world. Of course, we had better not get politically involved or else we might find ourselves on one side of a battle. (Martin Luther)

-We could go from congregation to congregation, teaching a single, unified message that becomes an underground movement (John Wesley; missionary movement)

-We could have a top-down decision to make some radical Jesus changes. (Vatican II, Desmond Tutu in South Africa)

-We could take to the streets, to show mass support of our important cause (MLK Jr.)

-We could teach a message that is threatening to the powers that be and have them kill us, which will plant the seed for a future generation to make the changes necessary. (Jesus, Anabaptist reformers)

There are so many ways for it to be done successfully. We don’t want to hang our hopes on just one. Reform is multifaceted and powerful and it can be done in many ways.

However, there is one component that is necessary for reform to happen. We need to have a mass of people—not a majority, mind you, but a good amount—knowing that change is necessary and is ready to make sacrifices for the change. Every reform happens in seasons of discontent and usually oppression.

How can we have reform amidst complacency? How can we have reform amidst people who feel that writing on a blog is their contribution to real change? How can we have reform when cable, DVDs, and preachers keep us entertained and satisfied with our lives? Yes, oppression happens, and our answer to it is to “click here”, and so we feel that we’ve done our part.

There is slavery in the world, the oppression of the poor, AIDS is an epidemic, the U.S. is continuing to stir up war to solve their economic woes—and the only thing we can get stirred up about is medical insurance? Just to give you a hint—the people on the street don’t care about medical insurance. They want a safe place to sleep where they won’t be bothered by the police. The people in Darfur aren’t concerned about medical insurance so much as having their family members survive. And Jesus himself is less concerned about medical insurance as he is about equity between the wealthy and the poor—which the Mennonite church seems to have forgotten about. As well as the Methodists, the Waldensians, the Unitarians and whoever else.

There’s plenty to reform. But it won’t happen until we FEEL the anger. God Himself is yelling at the world leaders, saying, “How long will you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked….You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you will die like men And fall like any one of the princes.” And the psalmists reply is:”Arise, O God, judge the earth!”

But we, the wealthy of the world are too caught up in our economic slowdown and the latest events on American Idol to feel the anger of God. We Mennonites are so fearful of experiencing that anger, of facing conflict, that we would rather take medication or slave-harvested chocolate to calm us down instead of changing the world as it should be changed.

This is why reform won’t happen. Not because of a wrong method. But because we lack empathy for the poor. And, as much work as I do for the poor, I have to admit that I am part of the problem myself. I need to be more radical. And I need to join more radical people, filled with the anger of God and ready to act, in order to make the change happen.

The Radical Anabaptist Reforming the Church

2009-05-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

A “radical” is, by definition, someone who speaks and acts in a way that is in discord with the rest of the world. An “Anabaptist” is one who believes in accordance with the 16th century “radical reformers”, holding to a radical interpretation of the New Testament, following Jesus above all else (including the rest of the Bible), speaking out boldly their convictions and attempting to reform the church to be more Christlike. The Radical Anabaptist speaks out about subject like assisting the poor, welcoming the outcast and reconciliation. These are my definitions, perhaps yours are different, but this is the base from which I write this.

I have been asked what a “radical” looks like, and how this radical will reform the church. Below is my more complete understanding:

A. The Radical Anabaptist does not just speak or write radical ideas, but acts on them. She acts on them in her life and he acts on them in the world. In the world, it is enough (in fact preferable) for a radical to hold radical opinions, but to never succeed in doing anything. The Radical Anabaptist needs to see Jesus living and breathing in the world, especially through their own lives, and so changes themselves to be active participants of the world’s change.

B. The Radical Anabaptist sees the world’s evil and refuses to participate in it. He sees the abuse inherent in pornography and so doesn’t participate. She sees the chocolate manufacturers who support slavery and refuses to buy such things. He sees the teaching of hatred and death and refuses to support it. She sees a church rejecting the poor and outcast and doesn’t attend there. The world looks at them as separatists for this, but they do so as a matter of their own right standing before God.

C. The Radical Anabaptist lives out love. Love is using one’s resources to fill the lack in others. One way in which a Radical Anabaptist might do this is selling one’s possessions and giving to the poor. But she might also take time to listen to those who are lonely. He might also invite the outcast to a party, and make them welcome. She could help the homeless with temporary housing. But most importantly, they do not let the normal limitations of privacy and the typical anxieties limit them from love. This doesn’t mean that they are unwise—they see people for their real weaknesses, not by their stereotypes—but they work through the weaknesses, and are not put off by them.

D. The Radical Anabaptist takes seriously Jesus’ statement “Deny yourself and take up your cross.” If she is offered leadership, she might accept it, but she does not act in order to pursue leadership. He will allow himself to be humiliated, if it means that another will be benefited. She will identify with the outcast and those who are separated from the world. He will accept being rejected by communities, if it means that he can love more.

E. The Racial Anabaptist isn’t just interested in speaking negatively. Although often pessimistic about institutions and ideologies, he can be optimistic about people and their growing sense of love and humility. She invites others to participate in acts of mercy and hope, and develops opportunities for people to do so. He doesn’t only create opportunities for the mainstream to support the outcast, but also for the outcast to do acts of service. She seeks not only to be a “voice for the voiceless”, but to give opportunity for the “voiceless” to speak for themselves. The Radical Anabaptist creates communities of welcome and love and service. In this way the Radical Anabaptist is no longer an “I” but a “we”.

F. The Radical Anabaptist looks at the old institutions of the church and recognizes them as part of the world, a participant in empire. Seeing that, he understands that he cannot possibly change the institution as a whole. However, she can be optimistic as to bringing change to many, many within the institution. Therefore, she must seek places and opportunities to be a catalyst for change for many. Radical Anabaptism is a movement for reform, not for separatism. And so he calls for change and will see this individual or that congregation change for the better, in many places, for many communities. The institution may change, or it may not. Probably not. But the institution can still be used as a forum for radical speech, and radical actions. The Radical Anabaptist should use that forum as often as possible.

G. Just as Jesus turned over tables in the temple, so the Radical Anabaptist must do off the wall prophetic acts to help the people of God to wake up to their participation in the world. She may protest in front of a church who has shown hatred against the outcast. He may speak to church groups about their own failures to act in accord with their own principles of love and reconciliation. She might publically decry a leader in the church who is causing others to fail to follow Jesus. Prophetic action, however, is not only separatist, but reconciliatory as well. When the church has put lines of separation down where lines of separation do not exist, then radical listening must be enacted. The red and blue must be given the opportunity to hear the other point of view and to see that the other side has a point, even if disagreed with. Trinitarians and Unitarians should not have a debate, but an opportunity to hear each other. The Radical Anabaptist leader can create not only prophetic stands, but prophetic opportunities for reconciliation.

Jesus Calls His People To Suffering

2009-05-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

We are Christians, therefore we are dedicated to Jesus—right? We look to Jesus for our salvation and trust in God that through Jesus we will be delivered from sin, Satan and death. Praise God for the deliverance we have through his death on the cross! May the cross be proclaimed from the lowest parts of the earth to the highest point in heaven!

But in our proclamation of the salvation to be found in the cross of Jesus, we have forgotten the teaching of Jesus about the cross. The cross is not just something that we look at, believe in and admire from a distance. Rather, the cross is something for us to carry. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)

The gospel is not a “feel good” religion. The source of the gospel is Jesus himself, and he himself determines what the gospel consists of. And Jesus himself declared the gospel to be the accepting of suffering and economic sacrifice— not only for himself, but for everyone who wishes to receive his salvation.

If we desire to partake in the salvation of Jesus, the cross is not just an option—it is a requirement. To lose our lives, to deny ourselves is not just something for the super-powerful saint, but for the everyday disciple of Jesus. If we do not follow him, we do not have salvation.

The New Testament is clear about the place of suffering in the Christian life. If one is not suffering persecutions, rejections, tribulations, testings or opposition because they are following Jesus, then that one is not truly following Jesus. The one who does not suffer does not receive the kingdom of God.

What do Jesus and the apostles say?

Those who are persecuted will gain God’s kingdom.“Blessed are you when men hate you and insult you and slander you and separate themselves from you for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for your reward will be great in heaven.” Luke 6:22-23
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10
“But woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers treat the false prophets.” Luke 6:26

If we are followers of Jesus, we will receive the sufferings he suffered“A disciple is not greater than his teacher, nor is a slave greater than his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher. If they have called the head of the household “Satan,” then how much more will they slander those who live in the house!” Matthew 10:24-25
“If you patiently endure suffering for doing what is right, you have favor with God. For the purpose of suffering like this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you, and thus he left an example for you to follow in his steps.” I Peter 2:20-21

It was Jesus’ purpose that his followers suffer opposition
“Do not think that I came to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace to you, but a sword will be held against you. I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household.” Matthew 10:34-36

The one who hates his life and suffers for Jesus will gain eternal life.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. John 12:24-25

We will not gain the benefits of the salvation of Jesus without suffering.
“We will not enter the kingdom of heaven except through many trials.” Acts 14 22
“Everyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” II Timothy 3:12
“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” Romans 8:16-17

Suffering is not an option. If we do not suffer for the sake of Jesus and the gospel, then it shows that we are not true followers of Jesus. If we do not truly follow Jesus, then we will not gain the kingdom of heaven or be called children of God.

Should This Man Be Head of ANY Church?

2009-04-08T22:37:00.000-07:00

I have been involved in some pretty strange things—a church planter of an all-homeless/mentally ill congregation; encouraging leaders of a mosque in Bangladesh to re-think Jesus; dumpster diving for Jesus, and so recently becoming the poster child for dumpster diving in Portland (Check out http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/archives/articles/0409-holy-diver/
and read a recent article about me—heck, just look at the pics!). Stuff like that. But when I got a call from MCUSA a week ago, that took the cake.

Someone nominated me to be the Executive Director of MCUSA.

At first I figured it must be a joke. Who would, in their right mind, think that I—radical pastor who has to bite his tongue every time he speaks to a middle class person—would make a good Executive Director? Someone just did it for a lark, I thought. Or perhaps I was recommended by someone who just wanted to shake things up. Well, that would do it. Me as taking Jim Schrag’s place? Just unthinkable.

But some of my friends weren’t so sure. They thought it was not such a crazy idea after all, but fascinating. My wife looked over the qualifications in the packet I received and she said, “Actually, you pretty much qualify for the position.” Scary. And perhaps MCUSA needs a little shaking up. And it isn’t like I wouldn’t work with whomever God gave me.

In thinking about it, I thought about the things I could stir up, changes I might be able to initiate in the church:

1. While continuing the focus of antiracism, I could also encourage MCUSA to welcome another significant group that are without a voice in MCUSA: the lower class. For many different reasons, those who are poor or uneducated aren’t given an equal opportunity to speak out in the Church, conferences or in most congregations. I would want to champion their cause, to allow them to have a voice where they currently have no voice.

2. I would want to service agencies to be more missional and missional agencies to be more service-oriented.

3. As an aspect of following Jesus, I could encourage the following programs:
-A church-wide memorization program of Jesus’ words
-Discussion groups on Jesus’ words and life, investigating the meaning of Jesus’ words and pursuing the living of them out

4. I could invite leaders from the Mennonite church all around the world—for instance, Columbia, Vietnam, India, Congo, Ethiopia, and Germany— to talk in our churches and to our conferences. We can only become a world-wide church if we participate in and interact with the world.

5. I could try to help us balance our church and conference budgets by encouraging volunteerism, discouraging restructuring, and using technology to try to reduce costs.

6. I would directly challenge MCUSA and its congregations to be less nationalistic. This could mean a name change for the Church, as well as seeking out means to be politically involved that does not involve partisan dichotomies.

7. Encourage educational opportunities that teach how to create peace and love. I would encourage the Mennonite schools to have outreach courses not taught by professionals, but by those who have been involved in ongoing acts of love in challenging areas. For instance we can have an MCCer teach about cross cultural communication in an urban setting; a CPTer teaching about how to deal with an angry person; and perhaps someone who has been working with the homeless teaching about how a church can begin to be pastoral to the poor, etc.

8. I would want to encourage the development of new monastic-type communities, who could then become full members of every conference.

9. I would attempt to create contexts in which the church can openly talk about controversial issues, like LGTBQ

10. I would want to introduce the idea of stewardship as being giving to people’s needs in a way that creates relationship, instead of money being a replacement for relationship.

One thing is certain: I never lack for new ideas.

However, as tempting as it would be, I think it would be wrong for me to apply for the position.

First of all, my own church, Anawim, is not yet ready to stand without me, because of inadequate leadership (although in another year, it may be.) Also, I couldn’t in good conscience put my name forward as long as a woman has not yet been moderator of MCUSA.

But most of all, I do not actually represent MCUSA, nor, I think, could I ever (unless it changes considerably). The Executive Director position is as much as anything supposed to be the voice and face of MCUSA. Even if I got a haircut, I don’t think I fit the bill. Finally, I am more of a prophetic, even challenging voice, and the members of the church are much more used to leaders who are conciliatory. I don’t think MCUSA is ready for me. Maybe next time around, eh?

I still think it sounds funny.

Classic Anabaptist View of Baptism

2009-02-24T10:41:00.000-08:00

Classically, anabaptist were characterized by their refusal to baptize infants. This caused them problems because in the middle ages, baptism filled the rolls of citizens, and is the basis for taxation and such. To refuse to baptize infants is to demand that people make their own choice as to whether they participate in a Christendom society or not.

The Anabaptist's argument against infant baptism was three-fold:

 Non-sacramental view of baptism. Since the water is only water, it does an infant no good.
 The scriptural pattern is always that faith precedes water baptism.
 Baptism involves a commitment to discipleship which children can’t make.

Radical in that it overturns centuries of practice

The result is a different kind of church – a believers’ church – which is different than the world. This goes hand-in-hand with two kingdom theology.
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Classic Anabaptist View of Salvation

2009-02-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

By William Higgins

From Protestants – Salvation is a gift of God’s grace, based on what Jesus has done, that must be received by faith

Salvation is not based on deeds we do, religious or otherwise. Anabaptists learned this from Luther/Zwingli.

but Anabaptists go beyond Protestantism - They do not believe that salvation is by faith alone

They emphasized that the grace of salvation, if it is real will produce acts of righteousness. Only the one who does the will of the Father in heaven will ultimately be saved - Matthew 7:21.
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As to the benefit of salvation they agree with the Protestants – Salvation has to do with forgiveness of sins

But also go beyond Protestantism - The one who believes is born of the Spirit

Anabaptists used this Spirit language often, and not the legal language Protestants emphasized.
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We are not simply forgiven sinners, who continue in sin

We are also transformed by the Spirit so that we can obey God.

o For Luther God’s grace is best emphasized when we see God as accepting us despite our continued sin. This keeps us from thinking we can earn our salvation.

o For Anabaptists God’s grace is best emphasized when we see God’s grace powerfully transforming us. All the good we do is a testimony to God’s powerful work in us.
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Summary: The salvation experience is an empowerment for discipleship, which is the necessary result of true salvation

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These are three key ideas – framework for discipleship

Now seven discipleship practices, again - not necessarily all, put key practices - briefly
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The Revolution and Wealth

2009-02-17T10:03:00.000-08:00

All institutions are based on wealth. The economics of the wealth—how the resources are moved and who controls them—change with the times and with each society. But wealth is instrumental to how institutions and powerful people operate. Ancient institutions we primarily about the collection of wealth and the distribution of it to the powerful. Nothing much has changed. As can be seen in any corporation or government, the bottom line is always about finances—who gets what wealth.

Revolution always promises to change the system of how wealth is distributed. And it always says that the lower classes will gain more wealth. And sometimes that is true. Until the lower classes become the upper classes and then suddenly they want to keep the newly-gained income they’ve achieved through their hard work. People are people, no matter which side of the tracks their on and they want to gain and keep as much wealth as they can.

Jesus is proposing a new system of distributing wealth.

The Revolution Jesus is proposing is prepared to punish anyone who uses their wealth strictly for their own gain and pleasure. In other words, anyone who has excess wealth—money or possessions that are not needed, possibly termed "disposable income"—and they use it for their own gain when there are those who have need, they will be punished. Those who keep resources for their own greed will not be accepted in a system that focuses on meeting the needs of everyone.

When the Revolution comes, they will first take all the "rich"—all those who used their disposable income for their own gain—and they will either punish or exile all of them. Then the Revolution will punish everyone who uses wealth in a way that harms those around them. These punishments will be quite severe, for the use of wealth and resources for everyone who has need is a basic tenant of the Revolution.

This does not mean that fun will not be had. Perhaps you think of the Revolution as a peasant revolution, where everyone is miserable and living on almost nothing. Just the opposite. The Revolution will be characterized by parties and feasts. The only difference between these parties and feasts and the ones you see now is that in the Revolution, the parties will not be exclusive. They are for everyone and all races, all languages, all kinds, all peoples will be involved in them.

And so, as an ethic in preparation for the coming Revolution, Jesus strongly recommends that you take any extra provision you have—any extra money or possession that you have—and use it for those who have need. Perhaps you will allow those who have need to use what you have through loans or shared use. Perhaps you will sell what you have and make the income available to those in need. Perhaps you will just give things away. But take care that you do not just collect and keep for yourself what is not necessary.

Classic Anabaptism: Two Kingdoms Theology

2009-02-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

By William Higgins

idea of two orders – comes out of the tension between

 the ethics of the sword required to run a worldly government – force, coercion, violence
 and the ethics of Jesus the sermon on the mount – loving enemies and not resisting evildoers

In a Christendom model of Christianity you have to deal with this tension because when church and state are fused together – you have Christians running the State - using the sword – ‘How can this be?’
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Catholics – two realms within one society

 lay realm that can use the lower righteousness the sword
 and the monastic, priestly realm that holds to the way of Jesus
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Luther – two realms in each person’s life

 public realm where you use the sword – if you are in office
 private realm where you are to hold to the way of Jesus

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Anabaptists – two separate realms: the church and the world

The church is a separate social entity from the rest of society which is “the world.”

This is not a Christendom model so they don’t have to be fused together.

 the world lives by the lower standard of the sword (given by God to order the realm “outside the perfection of Christ” as Schleitheim famously says)

 all Christians live by the way of Jesus no matter what position they might have
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favorite text here - John 18:36 - "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world."

Christendom models try to reduce the tension between the sword and the way of Jesus to allow for Christians to take up the sword
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But for Anabaptists - The two orders cannot be combined, they are different

awkward relationship: Christians are to respect and submit to governments . . . (in as much as this doesn’t require what is contrary to Jesus), but they cannot themselves take part in what involves the ethics of the sword.

some vagueness in the early Dutch here – some saw some possibilities for a Christian to be in government – but this faded over time – in terms of the confessional tradition.
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Note: This is not the same as our Separation of church and state – which seems to mean:

the political part of society is kept separate from the religious part of society, but they are really just two parts of one society – its just best practically, legally to keep them separate

Anabaptist view: The church is a complete social unit – spiritual and political - not the spiritual part of secular or civic society

two halves of a whole // or two separate wholes that coexist in the same place.

church has its own leader – Jesus, elders, own justice system – discipline process etc.
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Summary: The world lives by the lower standard of the sword. Christians are to live by the standard of the way of Jesus in all situations.

Classic Anabaptist View On Scripture

2009-02-17T09:49:00.000-08:00

By William Higgins, pastor of Cedar Street Mennonite Church

View of Scripture - High view of scripture, but have a unique take on it

Like Protestants they accepted the idea of Scripture Alone: Scripture is the supreme authority over the church.

- Catholic popes, councils or traditions are not the authority. Indebtedness to Luther here.

- But they went on to say that teachers like Luther, Zwingli and Calvin are not the authority – they too are not Scripture.
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Also accepted from Protestants - The literal meaning of Scripture is accessible don’t need the pope or tradition to make sense of it

but added to this – with the help of the Spirit, it is available to the common person – not just scholars

favorite text: Matthew 11:25 - "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children”

these are radical twists of Protestant ideas – but the next two points are really radical – go way beyond the Protestant positions at this time . . .
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The New Testament is the final and complete revelation and the final word on all issues. The Bible is not flat. The teaching of Jesus and the apostles takes precedence over the Law and Prophets.

The Old Testament has the character of promise. The New testament is all about fulfillment. Now that the promises are being fulfilled this should be the primary focus - especially the gospels and the Sermon on the Mount.

Since there is movement on issues of teaching - you need to see what the New Testament says on any issue

favorite text - Matthew 5:38-39 - "You have heard that it was said, . . . But I say to you”
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second really radical idea . . .

The point of reading and interpreting the Bible is to put it into practice

To put it another way - We literally do whatever Jesus and the apostles teach, whatever the consequences.

so there is a real practical focus to reading and interpreting the bible,
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but this also results in a different approach to reform.

It is not enough to take the medieval church and tinker with it (Luther, Zwingli). One must get back past the fall of the church with Roman Emperor Constantine and restore the practices of the New Testament church. This is the goal
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Summary: Scripture alone, available to the common Christian, using the standard of Jesus and the New Testament, with the goal of recreating the New Testament church
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Revolution and Institution

2009-02-02T13:08:00.000-08:00

When revolution hits, the world gets turned upside-down.

Nothing remains the same. Every government institution is shut down and replaced with systems that are realigned in accordance with the new rulers. When a government has been in place for a while, institutions are old, with policies that pile up on one another, creating a bureaucracy of injustice that can never be righted. The only thing to do is to scrap the institutions and to begin anew.

Any institution is created to serve people. If it was not intended to do that, then it never would have been created. A war department is created to provide security for the people in a particular nation. A social department is created to help those in need. A Tax department is created to serve those who work for the government—perhaps a small percentage of the population, but it still serves people. However, should an institution and the people within that institution no longer serve people, but the institution itself, then that institution is no longer worth anything.

It must be recognized that any group or institution is only as good as the people working for it. If there are people who really care about others and seek their well being, then all is fine. However, usually, institutions become entities that train people to not care about people, but to care about policies and to maintain the status quo.

This is what had happened to the Temple institution in the first century. The building and maintenance of the Temple had become so huge, that it no longer served people, but the people of the nation were conscripted to serve it. Those who were in charge of the Temple were no longer concerned with doing what they could to help people, but to keep the programs of the Temple continuing. The Temple was a contention-point of national policy and the priests would do all they could to keep it up—they required taxes, created legal loopholes so money could be put into the Temple. The whole structure of the Temple itself was changed, so that it might be maintained, without consideration of the people who were to be connected with God. Salespeople were allowed to sell their goods right where the poor and outcast were to worship.

The Temple was no longer submitted to its true king, God, but it served the interests of its builders—the Herodians--, its maintainers—the priesthood, —and its lords—the Romans. But as for helping the people serve God, it no longer did that successfully.

Rather than being a servant of people to connect them to God, the Temple cult became a block between people and God. A new way was needed to connect with God, a way that the Temple could not provide. A way that people could worship and have God hear them anywhere, not just in one place in the world.

Thus, Jesus determined the Temple needed to be destroyed. And Jesus said that when the Revolution came, it would be.

All institutions are based on the foundational institution of all societies—the family. The family provides the structure and social formation necessary to create citizens and workers. All people work and create social institutions to protect and support their families. Thus are nations created. Nations provide military and economic security so that the family might thrive. However, should nations no longer serve the needs of families, then those structures will fall. Should it no longer provide for the needy, then the nation is no longer a necessary part of life.

In the first century, the nation-province of Judea was not serving families. Rather, Rome used the government of the province to maintain its bloated government and to uphold the wealthy of its government. It moved people around at will and blocked people from their daily work to survive.

Thus, Jesus determined that the nation of Judea must be destroyed.

Every institution is only worthwhile if they recognize the authority that created them and followed the fundamental principles that they were created for.

The Jewish families of the first century were created by God to love each other and to serve God with all of their heart. However, many of these families were only seeking their own greed and power. They were insisting on every member to serve the family, or the leaders of the family, but they did not focus on serving God and dedicating all of their resources to honoring Him and helping the needy, as God established.

Thus, Jesus determined that the family must be destroyed. And his Revolution would destroy it.

The Revolution is not coming to support the institutions that already exist. Most churches that exist now are bloated and focused on self-maintenance, not on serving others. Even the “outreach” that most churches do are simple programs to grow the church, not to meet people’s needs. The United States government is out to serve the interests of the wealthy and its own policies and it doesn’t care who they need to kill or what lies they need to say in order to maintain the status quo. The Christian families are no longer concerned with serving Jesus or obeying him. Rather, they are focused on their own greed and authority in the world.

When the Revolution of Jesus hits, they will all be destroyed.

These institutions will not just be re-formed. They will not just be gutted. They will not just be given new leadership. Revolution transforms society. It rips it apart. Revolution takes all that is known and replaces it with new things.

Apathy will be replaced with love.
Bureaucracies will be replaced with caring people.
Policies will be replaced with trust.
Conservatism will be replaced with radical transformation.
Liberalism will be replaced with strong leadership.
And nothing will be the same.

Destruction of the World Corporate Structure

2009-02-02T13:05:00.000-08:00

This country is filled with injustice. Corporations and the rich receive all the benefits, while the poor are thrown in jail for small offenses. Laws are unfair and you can’t get fair treatment in the courts. And the people don’t care. As long as they have their television, they are subdued and will do nothing to change what has existed since before they were born. The few who actually try to change things either get caught up in the same system themselves or they are rendered impotent by the locked system.

Nothing can be done.

But a revolution is coming.

This revolution is introducing a new government who listens to the cries of the oppressed and looks to make a real change for them. Not just changing those in power, but offering a whole new structure of government. A structure where the poor and just will rule. Where laws are given because they encourage love and justice—not the agenda of the rich. Where there will be enough food and shelter and warmth for everyone, even the poorest and the lowest. No one will have their power cut off, no one will be without light, no one will be without heat, no one will be without food. Those with mental health problems will be listened to, not just dictated to, and they will be healed. The elderly will be cared for as honored citizens, not as outcasts. This government is concerned with everyone—especially the poor and oppressed— not just in keeping their own power and authority.

This new government has already begun in this country. This revolution is an underground movement that has ties to movements in other countries around the world. This movement already has some small facilities that feed the poor, care for the elderly and assist those with mental health problems. This movement is teaching its doctrine to millions. And its time has come.

The movement has many names. Some call it Ekklesia. Some call it The Anawim. Some call it the Way. Some call it the Truth. Some speak of the Martyrs. It is all of this—and more.

When the Anawim take over this country, the rich and powerful will be put down and the corrupt will never take up power again. When Ekklesia rises to power, both the Republicans and the Democrats will be rejected as the greedy, corrupt groups they are. When the Way takes power, every nation in the world will be reshaped and the economic structures will be destroyed. When the Truth is raised, every corruption and hatred will be exposed. When the Martyrs come, the poor themselves will rule—and rule better than the wealthy and powerful ever did.

How can this be? How can a small, poor, movement take over the governments of the world? How can there be a sudden change from the powerful to the oppressed ruling? Who will begin this revolution? Who leads this underground movement? Who started it all in the first place?

All this can be explained by one word: Jesus.

Jesus began this movement 2000 years ago. He announced the coming of a new government that would cause the structures of humanity to falter. And when that new government came, it would establish the poor and merciful as the rulers of the world, while the rich and powerful would be destroyed, receiving nothing. Jesus spoke about the corruption of religion, of rulers and of the church. And all the corrupt would be thrown out of the new nation, and the meek would take over.

Jesus’ movement is not what is commonly called “the Church.” From the early fourth century the establishment church has united themselves with the corrupt governments of the world and participated in partisan politics. Jesus rejected all earthly politics and instead established a community that assists the oppressed and needy and follows his new laws of non-reciprocity, care for those who hate you, equality for all in the community, and open sharing of all wealth. The establishment Church has never followed this ideal—some of them even promoting war, greed, national partisanship, hatred and revenge. There have been smaller movements throughout history that have held these ideals—the early Waldensians, the early Franciscans, the Anabaptists, the early Pentecostals and others. However, these movements have always been a minority, and most of them were corrupted by the establishment Church.

In the end, the establishment Church structures will be destroyed by Jesus himself. All of those who call Jesus “Lord” will be tested, and many of them will be cast out of Jesus’ new government. Jesus said, “Why do you call me ‘Lord’ but do not do what I say? When I come, there will be many who say, ‘Lord, didn’t we do this, didn’t we do that? Didn’t we heal people? Didn’t we cast out demons?’ I will tell them ‘Get out of here. I never knew you.’ ”

So forget about what the Church has done to you—Jesus will bring justice. Forget about what this or that “Christian” has done to you—Jesus will only allow those who truly followed his principles to rule. And those who want to see the world become just and loving will turn to Jesus.

Are you tired of your government? Trade it for a new one. Instead of having a corrupt leader guide you, make Jesus your leader. Make Jesus your president, your king, your Lord. Begin to follow his principles of enacting love to everyone—even those who hate you, of giving up your life of this age and begin living for the revolution.

The State Is Still The State

2009-01-25T22:12:00.000-08:00

By David C from Young Anabaptist Radicals:

Yesterday was truly a big day in U.S. history. The inauguration of the first African-American President is truly a turning point for our nation, especially given our abysmal history on race. Moreover, it was encouraging to hear Senator Dianne Feinstein’s reflections on the nonviolence of Martin Luther King, President Obama’s message that we need not choose “between our safety and ideals” and his call to diplomacy and international aid over sheer violent force and military power, and Reverend Joseph Lowery’s prayer that one day we will “beat our tanks into tractors.”
Nevertheless, I had a difficult time getting too emotional or excited over this change of guard. For, while yesterday was historical from the perspective of the United States, it was a pretty small speck when history is viewed rightly. As John Howard Yoder tirelessly argued, the locus of history is not with the state but with God’s work through his church. The state is merely the context in which the real drama of history can unfold.

So, while the words and symbolism of the inauguration may be moving, the sobering fact is that the state is still the state. Yes, Obama seems more intent than Bush on using diplomatic tactics to secure peace, but his message to our “enemy” was still virtually the same: “We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”

Not much room there for Jesus’s message to love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, and turn the other cheek. But this is as should be expected, because the state is still the state.

Ironically, with this change of guard many us open-minded, progressive Christians will begin to forget that the state is still the state. We will start to put our faith in the ideals of the state and our hope in its progress. As blogger Halden recently argued, now more than ever is it imperative (though difficult) to be resolute in our anti-empire polemics. It was far too easy to maintain a prophetic witness to the state when those in charge overtly sanctioned military aggression, torture, and seemingly unbridled increase of personal power. But when those in power seem to share many of our ideals, the temptation will be to give them a pass when they deem military violence necessary in this or that situation. And it will be difficult for us to make the unfashionable charge that those in power sanction the unjust extermination of the least of those among us. Indeed, to increase the irony still further, it may be the conservative Christians who begin to recognize with more clarity the separation between church and state (as many of my students, for example, ponder whether or not Obama is the anti-Christ!). They will now be the ones to speak prophetically, though their witness will be narrow and tainted by their continual use of political means to grasp for power.

It as at this time, perhaps more than any other, that we need to heed Yoder’s exhortation to what he calls “evangelical nonconformity,” quoted here at length:

When then Jesus said to His disciples, “In the world, kings lord it over their subjects . . . Not so with you”; He was not beckoning His followers to a legalistic withdrawal from society out of concern for moral purity. Rather, His call was to an active missionary presence within society, a source of healing and creativity because it would take the pattern of his own suffering servanthood.

Jesus thereby unmasks the pretension to use violence for the good as being a form of hypocrisy: these rulers call themselves “benefactors” but they are not servants. He who would claim to have the right to use violence, and especially legal violence, against another, places himself outside of the scope of Jesus’ mode of servanthood. This is not so much because he sins against the letter of the law from the Old Testament or the New but because he claims (with a pride intrinsic to his position) to have the right — (whether on the basis of official status, of superior insight, or of his moral qualities) — to determine in a definitive way the destiny of others. The older language in which the theme of “conformity to this world” was stated in Bible times had to do with “idols,” with those unworthy objects of devotion to whom men in their blindness sacrificed. Thus it is quite fitting to describe the use of violence as the outworking of an idolatry. If I take the life of another, I am saying that I am devoted to another value, one other than the neighbor himself, and other than Jesus Christ Himself, to which I sacrifice my neighbor. I have thereby made a given nation, social philosophy, or party my idol. To it I am ready to sacrifice not only something of my own, but also the lives of my fellow human beings for whom Christ gave His life.

- John Howard Yoder, “Christ, the Hope of the World” in The Original Revolution: Essays on Christian Pacifism, 174-75

In this time of celebration, may we not forget that the state is still the state. And we are still called to be the church.

Anawim: Radicals for Jesus

2009-01-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

On Facebook, Anawim just began an Anabaptist "cause" called "Anawim: Radicals for Jesus".

These are the core priorities:
Living a Jesus lifestyle amidst a dying empire.

1. We believe in taking risks to serve Jesus. We don’t believe in church leadership as a profession, or in upward mobility.

2. We believe in setting aside our desires and resources for the sake of the needy. We don’t believe in the American dream or capitalism, nor in our own personal property or privacy.

3. We believe in accepting persecution for Jesus. We don’t believe in staying quiet or in remaining comfortable.

4. We believe in loving our enemies and accepting persecution. We don’t put any faith in violence, empires, or cultural prejudice.

5. We believe in Jesus’ community working together to create community. We don’t believe that any denomination or church has a monopoly on loving God.

6. We believe in Jesus’ return and rule over the earth. We don’t believe in preserving our life, but are holding out for the next one.

If you're on Facebook, check it out!

Bono The Mennonite

2009-01-21T22:06:00.000-08:00

What Is Community?

2009-01-21T21:49:00.000-08:00

A community is a self-sustaining entity
A community is a collection of different ideals that coalesce into a whole
A community is an “us” that lives together
A community doesn’t always live in harmony, but issues are resolved for the sustaining of the whole
A community is usually recognized by other communities as being a unit—but even if it is not, it does not negate its viability.

Welcoming: Transfoming Culture 2

2009-01-19T10:45:00.000-08:00

Jesus told the disciples another story: "God's utopia is like a mustard seed, a tiny seed compared to most other seeds. But a man took that insignificant thing and planted it in his land and he let it grow. And when it grew up fully, it became a sturdy tree so strong that the birds rested in the branches. Even so, you, my disciples, are insignificant and the least. But when the Father and the Spirit are done with you, you shall be strong enough that the nations of heaven will rest comfortably within you."

This alternative society of Jesus is not to be a separatist society, but an evangelistic one. In other words, the church doesn’t protect its purity, but opens up its purity to all the world. All are to be welcome to be a part of the church, no matter how corrupt, no matter what they have done in the past, no matter how far from the ideal they are. The great task of the church is welcoming all who desire to be transformed into God’s people, and then to help them to become part of that.

We accept people as they are, but we are not content with who they are. All of us, should we be a part of Jesus, must be transformed into the image of Jesus. This is not something that happens overnight, nor does it happen before conversion. Rather, this is the process we go through that conversion begins. We assist each other, allowing the Spirit to create diamonds out of coal.

Thus, the church does not remain completely separate from the church. Jesus places parts of the church within the world, commanding them to welcome the world into the church. Within the world, the church holds onto its unique purity, a purity based on love of God and neighbor, and opens itself up to be understood by the world. More and more people become a part of this community, embracing Jesus’ ideals.

In this way, the world becomes the church. Individual by individual, family by family, soon tribes and even nations become a part of the community of Jesus’ love. People flock to be a part of the alternative community because it works better than other communities, and it is led by Jesus, our example of patience, faithfulness and endurance.

Tolerance

2009-01-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

Tolerance is a difficult virtue, Biblically speaking. Should we tolerate all? Should we separate some from ourselves for purity's sake?

These issues are being addressed in the series "Transforming Culture".

Transforming Culture, Part 1

2009-01-14T22:05:00.000-08:00

In his book, Christ and Culture, H. Richard Niebuhr wrote about how the church influences the world. He was right, that Jesus asks us—even demands—that we transform the world. However, he set up a false dichotomy between passivism and activism. As if those who do not act in the political manner in which he was used to, then they were not acting at all.

Jesus, on the other hand, presented a kind of transformationalism that is not necessarily politically active, but is powerfully active, nevertheless. He established the following principles:
a. Creating alternative communities
b. Being welcoming to all who desire transformation
c. Gently, patiently influencing without force
d. Attacking the forces behind the evil

1. The church as saltYou are salt—essential for the world. But if you lose the basic qualities that make you important, you cannot regain them. You will be useless, cast out of God’s kingdom and trampled.
You are light—God’s glory and truth in the world. You are the kingdom of God to come, and you cannot be hidden. Nor should you be hidden—God’s glory should be displayed, not hidden. So display the true righteousness of God before everyone, so that people will see your acts of God and so glorify the Father. Matthew 5:13-15

The church is not a building, an organization or a political force. Rather, the church is, according to Jesus, an alternative society, a unique people, a separate nation which lives by God’s law of love. The church, in the form Jesus established it, is a group of people who are living according to Jesus’ principles of love. The church is made up of the outcast of society, engaged in community not to just improve ourselves, but to love all of those in need. And we strive to live out the principles of love found in Jesus’ law—we do not insult, we do good to those who persecute us, we do not look with lust, we keep our promises, we do our religious deeds before God, not for people’s being impressed, we do not judge others, but we are constantly repenting of our sin and forgiving those who repent. And we will strive not to be put in a situation—like the military or addiction to drugs—that will cause us to act in opposition to this way of life.

We will look and act different for all this. The world will see us as strange, as ignorant, as naïve or even as hateful because we will stand with Jesus, no matter what anyone else says or does to try to promote us or to try to oppose us. At times, we will act different from that which the world calls “the church” or “Christianity.” “And this is because a majority of the church is caught up in the ways of the world, and has become a part of the world—focusing on education, on politics, on judging, on intellectualism, on power and the manipulation of it. And so they, the façade church, looks at the church of Jesus, and thinks that they’ve missed the point.

The church of Jesus is a community, not a political party. It doesn’t seek to compromise its ideals so it can fit better into the world. It doesn’t seek to give a message less than the love of Jesus, ever. If it changes it’s ideal of love and mercy and hope in God’s future, then it is no longer the community of Jesus, but a part of the very empire it seeks so hopelessly to transform. The compromised church is in a place to be transformed, not to create transformation.

Jesus' Suicide Politicians

2009-01-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

Relating to Distinctives #15 and #23:

Those who believe in a future kingdom of God to come and reign on earth are clearly dissatisfied with the system as it now exists. The innocent die, the righteous are punished, wars destroy mothers and children and the masses who have power are lulled into sleep—which is probably good as well, for the masses would only enact greater injustices than their leaders do. Yet many leaders of governmental powers are abusive, unjust and concerned only with their own position, not the good of the people or in doing what is right. God is not satisfied with injustice in the governments of the world and he has promised that injustice—especially against the poor and lowly—will be destroyed.

But there is a disagreement as to how God creates justice in the world. Some say that God is working through the wars, the court systems, and the unjust governments of the world. This is certainly true, to a degree, but Jesus was not satisfied with God working his justice through judgement and hated and killing. He established a new way of dealing with injustice, of dealing with corrupt governments. His way was based on two basic principles: 1. That God destroys rulers and governments that display injustice against the poor and lowly (Psalm 37, 82). 2. God will place in political power those who show themselves to be lowly and righteous before him (I Samuel 2:7-9; Matthew 5:3-12). Jesus summarizes it like this: Those who exalt themselves will be cast down, while those who lower themselves will be raised up (Luke 14:11). Jesus provided an example of enacting God’s justice through becoming lowly against the world’s injustice—through the cross.

Although Jesus’ example is the greatest, he also invited all of those who followed him to participate in the same upside-down justice. The way of the cross is open to all who wish to follow Jesus. But how does one cause the governments of the world to topple by sacrificing oneself?

Making oneself odious to the ruling class
Jesus made himself unacceptable to those who ruled by doing God’s will publicly, thus displaying the government to be unjust and oppressive. He healed those who were rejected by “acceptable” society—proving that they were accepted by God. He opposed some of the laws and rules placed upon the populace by political wannabes that were unmerciful to the hungry and needy (Mark 7:1-9; Matthew 12:1-13). Jesus also proclaimed that the government of the people of God was soon to pass away, and be replaced by God’s direct rule (Mark 12:1-9). Then Jesus made vague references to the destruction of the temple, the center of the government’s power (John 2:19). All of this together, made Jesus dangerous in the eyes of the government and to the ruling class in general.

Jesus also established his disciples to be people who would be on the government’s “most wanted” list. He told his disciples to go out to every town, declaring that the current government would be replaced by God’s righteous one (Luke 9:2). He taught them to accept those whom the government found unacceptable (Mark 2:17). And he laid out in detail the faults and injustices of the ruling class (Mark 7:1-9; Matthew 23). Jesus sent out his disciples prepared to be rejected by the world.

Response to Persecution
Jesus was hated by all the ruling political parties—Sadducees, priests, Pharisees and the intellegencia of the ruling governments—scribes and lawyers. They spoke publicly against him, attempted to make him look bad in the midst of those who he was teaching and made plots to kill him (Matthew 12:14, 24, 38). He was eventually arrested, tried, tortured, and killed for treason (Mark 14-15). But he knew ahead of time that all of this would happen, and he planned for it, even desired it (Mark 8:31-33; 9:31-32). And when it happened, he did not resist, but allowed the plot against him to unfold just as planned by his enemies.

Even so, Jesus promised his people that they would be hated and persecuted and killed, even as he was (Matthew 10:24-25; John 15:18-20). In the midst of this, he told them, respond as he responded. Don’t be afraid of the persecution or those who can torture you, but rather accept the fact that you will have to possibly die for the message of Jesus (Matthew 10:28; Mark 8:35-38). He told them not to fight against those who punish them unjustly, but to respond to them with good—blessings and prayers (Matthew 5:38-48). If persecuted in a town, the disciples may flee, but there will come a time when each of them will be killed for the message they carry (Matthew 10:23; Mark 10:39). In this way, the disciples remain innocent, and all evil done is on the side of the oppressor.

God’s response
Jesus cried out to God for deliverance from the oppression he was facing (Mark 14:32-39). He was willing to face the death and shame, but he saw it for the evil it was. But rather than taking action himself in vengeance for the crimes done against him, an innocent man, he relied on God, and God’s justice enacted by God’s hand alone (Matthew 26:52-53). And God came through—even though Jesus had to face shame, suffering and a horrendous death, after he was done with all that, God raised Jesus from the dead. This indicated not only Jesus’ innocence, but his authority over those who had oppressed him.

Even so, Jesus told his followers that if they suffer as he suffered, then they too would gain not only resurrection, but political authority over those who had oppressed them (Luke 6:20-26; Mark 8:35; Luke 22:28-30). But for the disciples to gain this justice, they have to cry out to God day and night, asking him for release from oppression (Luke 18:1-8). In this way, the foundation is laid and God is free to respond in his own way against true oppressors of the poor and lowly.

Successful politics
The way of the cross seems naïve and foolish to almost everyone involved in politics, whether Christian or not. But it must be remembered that some of the most successful politicians in the twentieth century accepted this same pattern of political thought—Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Stephen Beko. These followed the pattern of Jesus, and took him as their political guide. The only difference between Jesus and these politicians is that they were looking for deliverance from the world they lived in—their own people, their own governments. Jesus, on the other hand, looked for deliverance only from God—and because of this, he proved to be the most successful politician of all time.

Oppressors shall be cast down by God;
God will exalt those who sacrifice themselves for His sake.

What Is Baptism About?

2009-01-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

Baptism is the act in the Bible to show your commitment to Jesus
“Make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19
To commit yourself to Jesus, you don’t pray a certain prayer, you don’t go up to the altar, you don’t raise your hand at the right time. In the Bible, there is only one action to show that Jesus is your Lord and Savior—baptism.

Baptism is for those who are willingly choose Jesus.
“Those who believe and are baptized will be saved.” Mark 16:15
Baptism is for those who are ready to give their lives over to Jesus, totally with no turning back. It isn’t for the faint of heart or for those who aren’t sure. Nor is it for infants or those who don’t know what they’re doing—we can bless them and they can participate in the church, but they are not yet willing followers of Jesus. Only the seriously committed need apply.

Baptism means to die.
“You will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.” Mark 10:39
Baptism is a symbol of dying. In ancient civilizations, Water is the great enemy of mankind, and to enter into the realm Water is persecution, suffering and death. To be baptized in the name of Jesus is to die with Jesus on the cross. Those who are baptized are giving up of their own life and they do not have it any more—they are unable to take it up again.

Baptism is all throughout the Old Testament
“All were baptized with Moses in the sea.” I Corinthians 10:2
Noah was baptized as he passed through the flood and emerged through the storm to a new life. Moses and the children of Israel were baptized through the Red Sea, from one side to another, to be delivered from slavery into a new life. Joshua and Israel were baptized as they passed through the Jordan River into the land God had promised them. Elijah was baptized. Namaan was baptized. Creation was a type of baptism.

Baptism shows that we are dead to the world, and alive in Jesus
“Do you not know that those of us who have been baptized have been baptized into his death?” Romans 6:3
Any of us who are baptized are now dead to our old lives, our old ways of thinking, our old patterns of living. God leads us instead to a new life—which is the life of Jesus. We will live in Jesus and live the life of Jesus. Jesus is our life and Jesus’ life is the pattern of our life.

Baptism means that we receive the Holy Spirit.
“Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38
To have the Holy Spirit is to have the power of the life of Jesus. Because the Holy Spirit now fills us, we will live the life of Jesus and receive gifts which we can use for other believers.

Baptism means “inundated with water”
“I baptize you with water, but one comes after me who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” Luke 3
To be baptized, in Scripture, means to be “drenched.” Baptism isn’t only for part of us—it requires our whole lives to be dead to us and then renewed in Jesus. We aren’t partly dead. We aren’t partly filled with the Spirit. This is why we get soaked when we are baptized.

Baptism means that you are accountable to the church you have been baptized in.
“By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” I Corinthians 12:13
Those who participated in and witnessed our baptism have the right to ask how we are doing in the Lord—and they have the right to receive an honest answer.

Forgiveness

2009-01-03T22:03:00.000-08:00

A Purified Church: A Scriptural Guide

2009-01-03T07:20:00.000-08:00

Colossians 3:1-8
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.

Ephesians 5:1-5
Be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Matthew 18:15-17
If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

I Peter 2:9-12
You are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Revelation 2:19-25
'I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them-- I place no other burden on you. Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.’

Matthew 13:47-50
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

II Peter 3:13-15
According to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.

Romans 11:29-31
The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy.

Community

2008-12-29T23:41:00.000-08:00

Distinctive #26- Apocalyptic

2008-12-25T08:39:00.000-08:00

Jesus will return at any time to judge the world, and save his own people. The world can be seen in the terms of apocalyptic according to the Anabaptists: the beast and the whore (the persecuting state and the unfaithful church) verses the saints of God. This reinforced their two kingdoms outlook. It also placed their suffering in the wider cosmic context of God’s plan for all of creation.

Distinctive #25: Non-Speculative Theology

2008-12-25T08:38:00.000-08:00

One should accept traditional orthodoxy, but the real business of the church is that of forming disciple communities through catechism that uses biblical categories and terms. Anabaptists used the apostles creed. They were orthodox in their understandings of the Trinity and Christology. (Although some early Dutch Mennonites had a distinctive Christology.)

The Mission of the Church

2008-12-25T08:32:00.000-08:00

The ultimate purpose of the church is to establish an alternative nation to those who are in the world, based on the life and teaching of Jesus. It shall not be established by carpenters, city-planners or rulers. Rather, it will be established by God’s power and revelation.

The current Mission of God’s church is to restore God’s people to himself.
God’s people who are:
The lost
The poor
The destroyed
The demonized
The mentally ill
The sick
The oppressed
Those who are taught wrong
In other words, all who are downcast and lacking in faith, and yet are soft-hearted toward God. There are Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus who want to be restored to God—they just don’t know how. There are Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mennonites, Baptists, Seventh-Day Adventists, Catholics, Orthodox and those of every Christian stripe and kind who want to be restored. It is our goal to seek out the soft-hearted—wherever and whoever they may be—and restore them.

The church’s mission is not to:
-Keep the faithful entertained and interested in God
-Call those firmly against the Lord (This is the Lord’s arena, not the church’s)

There are churches and missions who train people to be hard-hearted to God and to God’s Spirit. They are training them in superiority, in judgement, in self-exaltation, in focusing on the idols and tasks of this age. They are all rejected. Most Christian rehabs are trainers of the soft-hearted to be hard-hearted.
A few true training facilities: Some Amish, the Bruderhof, Jesus People USA, Reba Place, etc.
But they need to realize that their purpose is not to maintain a community of brothers and sisters in the Lord. Their purpose is to have a community which will train God’s people how to live, behave and work in God’s kingdom.

The Lord rejects:
Plush facilities
Expensive conferences
Christian concerts
The entertaining and care and feeding of the hard-hearted “faithful”
The church is pouring out money into efforts where they can see a “bottom line”—usually in terms of numbers of people or of financial resources. In God’s work there is no “bottom line” apart from the work of the Spirit and the living out of God’s word.

The purity of the church is important, but it is not the purity of the perfect that God seeks, but the purity of the soft-hearted, those moldable by God. Those who are soft hearted will be conformed, in time, as long as the trainers are not too impatient. But the hard-hearted, although they seem to conform in all the outward ways, will never be God’s.

There is a way to tell the difference between the soft hearted and the hard hearted—by looking at their devotion and faith.

The soft hearted are devoted to God and to his ways.
The hard hearted are devoted to their principles and to their desires.
The soft hearted are obedient to God and obey his commands.
The hard hearted are obedient to principles that do not focus on God’s command. They are usually more strict than God’s commands, and insist that others follow their decrees.
The soft hearted are dependant on God and on his power.
The hard hearted will pray, but are dependant on the ways and power of mankind.
The soft hearted believe in God’s promises and will do anything to receive them.
The hard hearted desire their own goals and are often angry at God for not fulfilling their desires.
They speak of God’s promises, but do not think that conformity to the conditions will gain them the promises.
The soft hearted love others and help them toward the Father and with their needs.
The hard hearted think that it is enough to focus on God, and find reasons to judge other followers of God. The hard hearted see their own needs and desires and use them as an excuse to not help others.
The soft hearted are humble, recognizing their own lowliness before God and mankind. They rejoice in that humility and seek to be lowly.
The hard hearted believes that humility is a tragedy at all times and they complain, mourn, and cry every time they are dishonored or suffer. They reject those who reject them and seek self-exaltation at every opportunity, proclaiming it the blessing of God.
The soft hearted are persistent in their devotion to God—obedience, faith, love and humility—and no circumstance or sin against them will turn them away from this way.
The hard hearted are double-minded—desiring both the ways of God and the ways of the world. They often seem to change their minds in what they really want, but what they really want is the ways of the world. In the end, the judgement of the world is what they will receive.

Bringing Back the Lost

We need to go out to them
We need to coax them back
We need to teach them the truth
We need to encourage them to be devoted to God
We need to pray for them and listen to the Spirit for them
We need to train them in focusing on the One Voice, not the multitude of voices around and within them
We need to maintain them (but the focus of the church should not be in matainance, but on restoring.
We need to train them to take up the cross.

The E Word

2008-12-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

Originally published in the PNMC Evangel:

In the deep, dark shadows of Christian practice it is rarely spoken of. Private prayer is praised and quiet service is rejoiced in, but who dares speak in this 21st century of… evangelism. Evangelism is sometimes hated, often feared, and certainly not spoken of in polite society. And yet it is as necessary as peacemaking and offering mercy to those in need. Why is evangelism such a nasty word?

Evangelism is often regarded as offensive. This is sometimes because evangelism has an implied arrogance—“I am completely right and you are completely wrong and you need me to teach you the truth.” Tolerance and humility seems to be absent from evangelism. This kind of evangelism is similar to placing a gospel of John in the centerfold of a porno mag. Sure, the gospel is there, but the context is so offensive, that the truth cannot be seen.

Yes, we want to be welcoming. No, of course we do not want to punish someone for believing something different than we do. Nevertheless, it is important that we all believe in something. And if we believe, then we are saying that others’ are wrong about their beliefs that are different. If I believe I am in the bathroom, then those who hold to the opinion that I am in the garage are wrong (at least I hope they are!). If God is in heaven, those who hold the opinion that God is not in heaven are wrong. If Jesus is Lord, those who hold the opinion that Jesus is not Lord is wrong. Tolerance has its place, but once we place tolerance above our conviction about Jesus, then we are no longer Christians, but pluralists.

But evangelism does not have to be done arrogantly. Many people evangelize by speaking of their personal views or personal experience—there is nothing arrogant in just sharing what we experienced ourselves. Evangelism can certainly be done in the midst of teaching—a sermon for instance—but it is more often effective in a context of humility. The formerly blind man in John 9 had this kind of humble evangelism—“Of Jesus’ origins I know nothing, all I know is that I was blind, but now I see.” Later he asks the Pharisees, “Do you want to follow him too?” Although one might question this man’s wisdom, certainly his humility could not be questioned. And yet he was clearly evangelizing.

Nor does evangelism have to be done without gentleness. Evangelism has gotten some bad press by some who do street preaching and knock on doors to evangelize. Many of these people are offensive, rude and obnoxious. However, evangelism does not need to be offensive. It can quietly be done by expressing one’s personal beliefs with a friend. Evangelism can be simply inviting someone to an event at church. Evangelism can be telling your Muslim friend why you do not agree with Christians who want to kill Muslims.

Part of the problem with evangelism is its association with crusades or long monologues. But we must not confuse a manner of doing evangelism with the act itself. Evangelism is no more or less than speaking about Jesus or Jesus’ teaching to those who do not believe. It does not require an altar call or an organ. It is simply calling Jesus our Lord, and his ways are our ways. This means that if we believe in peace because Jesus did, and we are telling others’ about Jesus’ view of peace, then we are evangelizing. It means that if we believe in Jesus’ life, in his teaching, in his lordship over the earth, in the benefits we gain from him—then we cannot fail to tell others about what we know about and have received from Jesus.

So what reason should we evangelize. Let’s get a word from our Sponsor—Jesus:

• Because Jesus told us to—“Preach the gospel to all creation” Mark 16:15

• Because we must talk about Jesus to enter God’s kingdom, and to receive of his blessings—“If anyone confesses me before men, I will confess them before my Father in heaven. Whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32-33

• Because we love people too much to let them live without a chance at Jesus— “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them.” Luke 18:16

• Because everyone needs Jesus— “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 28:19

Jesus told us to tell people about him, about his kingdom, about his teaching and about his abundant life. Our speech may be simple or subtle. Our approach does need to take into account the culture and understanding of the person we are speaking to. We need to be as clear as possible. But most of all, we need to speak the word and life of Jesus. No one can receive from God unless they first know about Jesus from someone who knows him.

Let’s get out there and tell ‘em!

Sorry

2008-12-22T07:12:00.000-08:00

I have not forgotten about this blog, it is just that my computer is in the shop and they have it held against my will. As soon as I get it back, I will be posting here again.

Distinctive #24-- Mission

2008-12-05T09:51:00.001-08:00

The church must spread the gospel and establish communities all throughout the world. Protestants and Catholics felt that the great commission had already been finished. Anabaptists saw all of Christendom as a mission field. They set up extensive itinerate systems for evangelism. They were very successful for a time, threatening to become the dominant group. But intense persecution counteracted this.

What Does That Speak of Us?

2008-12-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

How we want to be like Jesus!

We want his righteousness and his ability to please God. We want to live out his life and to always hold on to what is good. For some of us, we want him more than we want anything else - more than life itself, we desire him so. And so should it be.

But it is curious, that though it is clear the gospels teach that we are to live out his life, Jesus himself only mentioned the imitation of himself in one context: that of being persecuted by others.
Jesus said, “Remember the words I spoke to you : ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you, too. (John 15: 18-16:3)”

“If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! (Matthew 10: 34-39)

To be like Jesus is to assuredly be persecuted like Jesus. To not be persecuteted is to fall short of the full call of Jesus and to be like the enemies of Jesus: “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their Fathers treated the false prophets. (Matthew 5: 11-12 & Luke 6:26)”

Even to attain godly character, the most sure way is to gain it through persecution. James says that perseverance of your faith comes only through trials (James 1: 2-4 & Romans 5: 3-5).

And Paul says that it is through the perseverance attained by suffering that we gain character like that of Jesus - and that it is through such character that we have hope in Christ!

It is not just an added benefit that we attain the glory of persecution and suffering - it is our very life! In fact, Paul said, “Anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (II Timothy 3:12)”

If you live a life of the Spirit you will be rejected by mankind. If you live as Jesus lived, you will be insulted and mistreated. If you walk in the teaching of the apostles, you will be spurned and hated. If god truly resides in you, you will even be beaten, arrested, sentenced and killed (Mark 8: 31-38).

This is the meaning of the cross we must hear. This is a daily sacrifice for those who live in God.

The fact that we rarely experience persecution as a church displays our weakness. But the fact that we do everything in our power to turn aside and walk away from the slight persecutions God gives us - that we stand up in court demanding our rights as citizens for protection - when we ought to be standing in our protection God gave us... What does that speak of us?

Jesus on Persecution

2008-12-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, 'THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.'
John 15

Distinctive #23-- Suffering

2008-12-05T09:21:00.000-08:00

Disciples must be prepared to suffer for their faith. The true church is characterized by suffering. Anabaptists experienced this from both Catholics and Protestants. There were more Anabaptist martyrs than martyrs from the early church. This helped spread Anabaptism as others saw that their faith was real. But it also caused great distress and eventually quenched the movement. The leaders were killed and the rest went underground.

4 Paths of Economic Surrender: A Scriptural Guide

2008-11-21T23:42:00.000-08:00

1. Leaving one’s wealth
Mark 1-2—Disciples left their occupations and families
Mark 10—The disciples told that they will gain eternal life and more for leaving all they had.
John 1—Disciples told to leave their occupations and families

2. Selling one’s wealth and giving to the poor
Luke 12:33—Sell your possessions and give to the poor
Mark 10:21—Sell your possessions and give to the poor
Acts 4:32-37—Many in the church selling what they had, which was then distributed to the poor

3. Becoming a patron of the poor—keeping a certain amount of wealth for the well-being of the righteous poor
Luke 8:2-3—Women who followed Jesus provided for his needs and the needs of the disciples.
Romans 16:2—Phoebe was a patroness of Paul.
II Kings 4:8-11—Elisha had a patron who provided room and board when he was in town

4. Living a life of hospitality to the poor
Luke 16:9—Give unrighteous mammon to those who will welcome you into eternal dwellings
Luke 14:12-14—Invite the poor to your festivals and parties.
Acts 28:7—Pubius welcomed Paul and his companions to stay with him for three days.
Rom 16:3-5; I Cor 16:19—Prisca and Aquilla allowed churches to meet in their homes.
II Tim 1:16—Onesiphorus gave hospitality to Paul
Philemon 1-7—Philemon provided hospitality to Paul and many others.
3 John 5-6—Send brothers on their way in a manner worthy of God.
Matthew 25:31-46—To assist the poor brothers and sisters in Christ is assisting Christ himself.
Matthew 10:40-42—The one who does the smallest act of hospitality in the name of a disciple will not lose his reward.
I John 3:17—Those who do not provide for brothers or sisters in need , yet have the resources, do not know of God’s love.

Paul and Economics, Part II

2008-11-21T22:34:00.000-08:00

Paul the apostle, the ancient missionary and theologian, has appeared on a 21st century university campus! With his good friend, Don, a professor of ancient Hebrew literature, they speak the truth of the ancient Christians to students who ask Paul questions!

Adam: Well, I am glad that the church is a bit more economically savvy, now than it was in the ancient past.

Paul: Economically wise? In what way?

Adam: You were just saying that the church provides charity for anyone in need. This system creates laziness and dependence and an unstable economic system. And you were initiating the very system that the Reformation had to do away with—paying for a priestly class that provided nothing to the community.

Paul: Ah, like your pastors today, you mean?

Adam: A pastor today is paid by the excess of a particular community. If a community isn’t fiscally wealthy, they don’t get a pastor. And the pastor is paid because of his or her superior education. So they had to prove their place. Not just show up and say, “I’m an apostle” or a monk or whatever, and expected any stranger to provide for them.

Paul: And this is superior, why?

Adam: Because the church isn’t providing assistance to those who are just taking advantage of the system. This supports the economy of the country, it is not a drain from it.

Paul: So everyone only receives that which they deserve?

Adam: That is correct.

Paul: So no one lives off of charity?

Adam: There are some people who live off of the government. However, eventually, the government will stop giving to those who don’t deserve it.

Paul: I hope so.

Adam: You do? That’s good. I was afraid that you’d be some kind of socialist…

Paul: I hope the government steps out of welfare so the church could step in.

Adam: What?

Paul: It is the church’s witness to the world, to provide charity that no one else provides. It is the demonstration of God’s care to give food to those who are not able to provide for themselves. And that without a large administration, a book of policies or hired workers.

Adam: But you would create a class of unproductive people in society. It would destroy the economy!

Paul: Not at all. Rather, you would have a group who would provide work for people that would be in accord with their ability. Remember, we began this discussion talking about work. It is a principle of the church that everyone should work, should be productive, but that the church should provide charity to everyone in need.

Adam: And you will create a class of people who only do “god work” a spiritual glut.

Paul: You are so concerned about unproductive people. Yet the economic system you support seems to have many people whom I consider unproductive. Pencil pushers, over-qualified decision makers, people who never make food or assist another person, but they only make money or paperwork appear out of thin air. The church would create a class of people who would work to build God’s kingdom. Build a class of people who will be followers of Jesus and not just speakers of Jesus.

Adam: Just as I said, lazy people—unproductive.

Paul: Is it unproductive to know people well enough to be able to meet their needs? Is it unproductive to visit people in the hospital or in prison? Is it unproductive to be friends with the friendless, to provide hope for the depressed? Is it unproductive to create places where the sick can rest in peace instead of on the street? Is it unproductive to grow food and give it to the poor? Is it unproductive to help the “sinners” of society to repent and depend on God’s grace? Is it unproductive to pick up food from those who cannot use it and give it to the needy? Rather, it is a work of honor. And even if it does not pay in this world, those who do this work in Jesus’ name will be rewarded by Him on the final day.
Adam: But you don’t understand. Such a society would economically self-destruct! There is nothing there to provide economic security—just like you were saying about the ancient economy.

Paul: If we have a whole sub-structure of society that is based on work toward mutual need and charity, it would be supported by God’s grace and power. Such a society would never need to worry about their needs because God would provide for them daily and make sure that everyone would be provided for, as long as they share with whoever is in need.

Adam: This is magic, not sound economic principles.

Paul: It seems to me that your capitalism is based on magic. Your “invisible hand” directs economic prosperity, as long as everyone is promoting their own economic self-interest. That’s the theory. But the reality is that you have to have a sub-structure of people perpetually in poverty to support your economic system. You must have a two-tiered structure—the poor struggling for survival behind the scenes, all the while supporting the “middle class” of the West, who are really the ruling aristocrats of today. The immigrants in your country, those who can only afford to work “under the table”, those who work below a living wage in your fast food restaurants and bargain stores, as well as the millions around the world who work on farms and factories— they are all the backbone on which your economic prosperity is dependant on. If you paid them for their work, rather than for the education level of their work, then your whole economy would collapse. The structure is only beginning to creak now, but soon it will fall throughout the world.

Adam: So you are a socialist, as I thought.

Paul: No. A socialist believes that the government should provide for those in need. I don’t think that we need to make demands of the rich. Rather, the Lord makes a request of those who have more than they need, and they obey if they follow the Lord. I am a Christian. I trust in God to provide for me, and do as he commands. That is my real work, to obey the Father through Jesus. And I believe that every Christian should do the same.

Adam: That is just too simplistic to be a real economic system.

Paul: Whatever you want to think. But the reality of it is that God is in control of His people. He knows what work He wants them to do, and we do it, if we are listening to Him. And part of that work is to provide both sustenance and work for those who are in need. Everyone takes their turn. Everyone, at some point, has more than what they need, and so they provide. Everyone, at some point, is in need of assistance and so they receive help.

Adam: I will never need help from anyone.

Paul: Oh, yes you will. And when it happens you will wish that you were a part of a community that assists you instead of treating you like it was your own fault. And when that day happens, cry out to the Lord. Perhaps he will help you.

Distinctive #22-- Common Goods

2008-11-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

Disciples must share what they have with those in the church who have needs. This has more recently been called - “Mutual Aid.” This comes from the teaching of Jesus (Luke 12:33) and from the example of the early church in the book of Acts. Salvation encompasses one’s economic practices. Hutterites went on to say that there could be no private property, but everyone in the congregation must hold all goods literally in common. Other Anabaptists simply held a common treasury, used for those in need in the community.

A Sermon On Swearing Oaths

2008-11-21T22:29:00.002-08:00

Swearing oaths isn’t really a popular topic today. You can find many books about divorce in the NT or about the relation between government and the Christian, yet Jesus speaks just as much (if not more!) about swearing oaths—especially in Matthew—as he does about these topics. Why don’t we speak on it? For one, it doesn’t really seem relevant. In the first century, and even in the sixteenth century, when Anabaptism began, most people would swear oaths continuously. Some common phrases throughout history are: “May God strike me if I do not…” or, “I swear before God that I will…” or, “May many curses come upon me if I do not…”. But, even so, this topic is not dead. Even though oath-making is rare in our society, the topic Jesus is speaking about is still significant for us and for our daily lives.

First, though, we need to know what Jesus was actually talking about. Let’s look at what he said about swearing oaths:
Read: Matthew 5:33-37—“ Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.' But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes ' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.”

Matthew 23:16-22—"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.' You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.' You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.”

What is Jesus talking about?
There are a couple points I want to move quickly over. First of all, Jesus is specifically speaking about the oaths themselves, and how they are problematic. In Matthew 23, Jesus goes into detail that no matter what kind of oath you are making, you are making it before God. The conclusion from this is that every oath, no matter what specifically it is made to, is made before God. Secondly, Jesus says that we are powerless to determine whether we receive a curse on ourselves or not—that is up to God. With this, Jesus says, it is better to say no oaths at all—because they relate to God’s name and they are foolish to make.

But now we have a problem. You see, Paul made oaths. They aren’t as strong as the ones Jesus speaks to the Pharisees about, but Paul states that he is swearing before God that such and such is true. An example is in Romans 9—“I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.” Again, this is not as strong as some other oaths, but he is swearing that something is true before Christ.. There are other examples of Paul doing this, and potentially even Jesus. So is Paul just disregarding the teaching of Jesus? I don’t think so.

Again, Paul is swearing that something is true—an oath to declare one’s truthfulness. Jesus is really speaking about something different. He is speaking about an oath about what one would do in the future—a promise, or a guarantee that something would be done in the future. In James, this is more clearly stated, “Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” (4:13-16). James also repeats Jesus’ statement, “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.” (5:12). So Jesus is specifically speaking to statements about the future—promises in specific.

And what is he saying about those promises? Let’s look at Matthew 5. He says, first of all, don’t use oaths to confirm a promise. Secondly, recognize that the future is in God’s hands, not ours—we have no control over the future. Third, if you make a promise, keep it. If you can’t keep it, just say no.

So what is the main point of what Jesus is saying? Keep your promises! Don’t promise to do something that you will not or cannot do. Don’t use other language to confuse what the promise is or to make it seem that you are making a promise that you really are not. Keep your language simple and do what you say. That’s it. Now, we can see that even if we don’t swear oaths, Jesus’ statement is very relavent to us today.

So let me take this out a bit and give a few applications for us from these texts.

First of all, let’s look at Jesus’ key phrase, “Let your yes be yes and your no, no”. There is something significant here that we often miss practically. We CAN say “no”. In fact, if we cannot do something, we MUST say no. Many of us have a hard time saying “no.” But, according to Jesus’ word, saying “no” is a discipline that we must develop. If we cannot do something, we must say “no” and just accept it. Yes, the person asking you to do something might get upset; they might feel that you have failed them. But you have not. You are refusing to make a promise that is a lie. If you had said “yes” and then not done it, you would have really failed them. But by saying “no” you have stated clearly, ahead of time, what you are and are not able to do.

And that brings up another point. If we are to have integrity in our promises, then we need to be self-aware enough to know what we can and cannot do. It is so easy to say, “Yes, I’ll do that,” when we don’t actually have the time, the energy, the ability, the know-how, or the desire to do it. If we are to follow Jesus’ command to have integrity in our promises, then we have to know what we can and will do. To say “yes” isn’t to say, “I want to do this.” It is to say, “I will do it.” Jesus told a parable about two sons, one who heard what his father wanted and said, “Yes, I’ll do it”, but he never did. The other replied to his father, “No, I won’t do it” and then he changed his mind and he did. Now, Jesus didn’t ask the question that most people would ask—which one was right? Which one was righteous? Rather, he asked a very leading question, “Which one did the will of his father?” Of course, the second one. Both were unrighteous in one way—they both broke their statements. But the second was more righteous because he did what his father asked him to. The first one had the desire, and he had the right response—he sounded submissive and righteous. But he was not. He had every good intention—but the significant thing is that he needed to do what he said he would do. My point is this, Don’t make a promise based on your intention. Rather, be realistic and make a promise based on what you can really do. Otherwise, say “no”. It is better to say no than to break your promise.

Also we need to remember James’ point—we don’t really know what will happen in the future. We can make a promise and then realize that we can’t fulfill it. So when we make a promise, let’s be careful in what we say. Let’s make allowances that the future is in God’s hands, and that anything can happen.
In areas outside of our normal responsibility, especially, let’s offer conditions on our statements. If I have time, if God allows me. This isn’t a loophole for the promise, but it makes our statement have more integrity.

At the same time, in our promises, let’s be clear about what we will and will not do. Oaths were made, many times, in order to complicate the promise, to get a loophole if nessesary. Let’s have our statements have integrity. We should keep our statements simple and clear, so that they can be clearly understood. Let’s not complicate it with a lot of speech, but try our best to be simple.

One other thing. Jesus said that anything but a simple promise made before God to be done—that anything beside that is evil, or from the evil one. This means that any promise we make and then break, we will be judged for that. Anytime we complicate a promise with language that makes it confusing, we will be judged for that. Jesus said, “I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." We need to remember this every time we are making a descision about whether to promise something or to say no.

Distinctive #21-- No Oaths

2008-11-21T22:29:00.001-08:00

Disciples are literally not to swear oaths - Matthew 5:33-37. This also meant that Christians could not be a part of much of the civic and economic life of the day which required oaths.

Distinctive #20-- Enemy Love

2008-11-21T22:27:00.000-08:00

Disciples are literally to love enemies and not to resist evildoers - Matthew 5:38-48. This means that Christians cannot be political leaders or in the military. This separates all disciples from the world system which demands warfare and violence.

Denominations and Partisanship

2008-11-02T23:15:00.000-08:00

I am firmly opposed to the two party system in American politics. It doesn’t really give anyone a real choice, just two sides of the same coin. Real change isn’t possible, because the issues are all blocked by partisan rhetoric and limited logic. No one can take a really effective new look at politics and effect real change. Rather, change is slow and bogged down by the fact that nothing will change until it is obvious to almost everyone that the old system has completely failed.

But is denominationalism just another form of the same kind of system? Are we locked into traditionalism this way? Can we really accomplish anything new and exciting in the Spirit through the forms of denominational agreement? Are we not locked into old institutions, with their old systems of bureaucracy, unable to enact the true change of the Spirit?

And if that is the case, then should we be supporting these old systems? And why do we support them? Because of money? If we follow the old means of doing church business, then the old money and the old resources will follow. But should we be limited by these old means? Or should we be set free to seek out the direction the Holy Spirit is going, so that we can also be freed from these old ways of doing God’s business?

I am not denying God’s Spirit in the denominations, nor in traditional ways. I know that God was there, especially in the past. But it reminds me of an ant trail. Certain worker ants, when they find food or something of benefit to the colony, leave a trail that other ants can follow to the significant resource. And that trail will last, and the ants will follow it, long after the food or resource is gone.

Even so, it seems that denominations follow these trails to the Spirit, only to find, in the end, that the old measures are empty and devoid of the Spirit’s true life. Sure, we can obtain the world’s resources through these old trails—money, denominational contacts, the support of the old guard. But when it is empty of God, what is the use?

We need to first seek God, His kingdom and His righteousness. We need to stop first seeking the resources of this world, as if that’s our real goal. Our goal should always be God through Jesus and the Spirit. If something is but the empty shell which Jesus and the Spirit left behind, then it is time to go. This doesn’t mean that I’m saying that we should leave denominations behind, necessarily. But perhaps we need to see where in a denomination God is really working. Where is the Spirit really moving? Who is living out the life of the power of God? Where is Jesus’ word and live truly being fleshed out in the denomination? That should be the direction of any denomination, leaving the past behind.

Because God is not I Was. God is I Am.

And finally, we should not allow the resources of God’s people be limited to those who are a part of a denomination. We should allow God’s resources be used by whoever is doing God’s work, and take it away from those who are only following the structure of old tradition.

Who is giving generously for the poor, not just seeking the least for the least?
Who is living successfully on faith, not just depending on a regular salary for doing the same old thing?
Who is receiving the outcast and helping them life for Jesus, not just keeping an arm’s distance from those outside the church?
Who is discipling the people of God, not just educating them?
Who is getting the world ready for Jesus’ coming, not just talking about it?
Who is building bridges between the separated, not just creating new divisions?
Who is delivering the healing of God, not just the pomp and circumstance that surrounds it?
Who is living out God’s generosity, faithfulness, mercy, truth and forgiveness, not just preaching about it?

This first group should be the focus of any denomination. The second group is the empty shell that should be discarded. However, the difficulty is that the first group is hidden within each denomination. They are the ones who cannot be found unless sought for. They are the hidden saints, the secret heart of the body of Christ. If any denomination, any conference, any board, any bishop, any minister is worth the salt of the earth they claim to be, they will spend their energy seeking these out and pouring all of their effort supporting them.

Otherwise, the denomination is no light of the world, no city on the hill. It is just another part of the shadow f the world.

Set aside the ways of the world, and find the hidden power of God within your ranks.

How I Became An Anabaptist

2008-10-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

I read a Jack Chick tract in middle school that introduced me to Christian commitment, and I took it seriously. But I didn't surrender my life to Jesus until I was 13 at a Vacation Bible School at a non-denominational church. I joined that church, which was an evangelical, dispensational-doctrine church. I eventually got involved in a pentecostal missions group, Youth With A Mission, and my participation in ministry in my home church was cut off at that point, because of their disagreement with pentecostal doctrine.

I went to Bible School, beginning in 1986. While I was there, I had many questions about the foundation of what we believe. I determined that the only thing that I believed was Jesus, based on him raising from the dead. If that was the case, I surmised, then the whole of Christian doctrine should be re-formed, beginning with the life and teaching of Jesus. So I wrote out all the teachings of Jesus, each saying on a separate index card, and reorganized them according to subject. Then I wrote conclusions on each topic on other index cards, and this was the core of my theology. In doing this, I had to re-interpret Paul, especially about what he said about faith and works, and found that understanding Paul makes more sense understood in the light of Jesus, rather than the other way around.

Later, I was reading a biography of Martin Luther. The author, rather anachronistically, said that Luther opposed a group called "Mennnonites", who believed in obeying the Sermon on the Mount literally. I said to myself, "That's the kind of group I want to be a part of" and so looked in the Yellow Pages for Mennonite churches. At that time, there were two Mennonite churches in the area. I visited both of them, but at Peace Mennonite I met William Higgins, who was an avid student of both theology and Anabaptism. His approach to theology was similar to mine and so my family and I tried the church out. One of the things that amazed us was the community involvement in the church-- some folks were living on the church grounds, and everyone was involved in each other's lives, in a postitive way. We saw this as doing what the early church did as well-- live in communities that were involved with each other.

So we joined Peace Mennonite, and later the PNMC supported our beginning a church among the homeless and the mentally ill. In looking around at other denominations, I realize that while other denominations would accept our ministry, they would not have accepted a church made up of the homeless and mentally ill, which has very little financial support.

Thus, the Anabaptists were a fit for us theologically, socially and for our calling.

Justice II

2008-10-23T21:27:00.001-07:00

O God, I look afar and I see your name be slandered
Your people-- your children O God!--
are suffering under the judgement of men.
The righteous are condemned to prison
The merciful are shown no mercy
The holy are slandered and included with the evil
The blessed are insulted and cursed
But worst of all, O God
The greatest crime
Those who claim to be following you
Those who seek you in your word
Those who use your name so solemnly yet glibly
Those who call themselves "the children of God"
They are the perpetuators of the crimes.
They revile the deeds of righteousness
They blaspheme your word by twisting it against your servants
They oppress the ones you have set free
They make war against the peacemakers
They refuse service to your poor
They harangue your prophets and apostles,
hoping to put them to death.

O God deliver your servants
Redeem them from the hands of your enemies
Take them out from under the thumbs of their oppressors
And give them freedom in your sight.

Be glorified in it, my Lord
I ask not that you redeem them by politics
I ask not that you redeem them by war
not by diplomacy
not by honors
not by memory
Rather, redeem them by the vindication of Jesus through resurrection
redeem them by the true judgment of your word
by your swift and righteous hand
by the coming of the Holy One
by the separating of wheat and chaff
by the final anointing
through a Kingdom Come.

Your Kingdom come, O God
Your glorious light shine
Come quickly now, Lord Jesus
Bring to this earth your peace and justice
And so increase your glory.

Menno Simons: Signs of A Healthy Church

2008-10-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Found in: Anabaptism in Outline

1. By an unadulterated, pure doctrine. Mat 28:20; Mark 16:15; John 8:52; Gal. 1

2. By a scriptural use of the sacramental signs. Mat 28:19; Mark 16; Rom 6:4; Col 2:12; I Cor 12:13; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; I Cor 11:22, 23

3. By obedience to the Word. Mat. 7; Luke 11:28; Jn 7:18; 15:10; James 1:22

4. By unfeigned, brotherly love. Jn 13:34; Rom 13:8; I Cor 13:1; I Jn 3:18;4:7-8

5. By a bold confession of God and Christ Mt 10:32; Mk 8:29; Rom 10:9; I Tim 6:13

6. By oppression and tribulation for the sake of God’s word.Mt 5:10; 10:39; 16:24; 24:9; Luk 6:28; Jn 15:20; II Tim 2:9; 3:12; I Pet 1:6; 3:14; 4:13; 5:10; I Jn 3:13

Distinctive #19-- The Ban

2008-10-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

When a person breaks their baptismal pledge to follow Jesus the church is to call them to repentance. If they do not repent, they are placed out of the church - Matthew 18:15-20. This is the proper way to purify the church, not persecution and death. The Christendom model either overlooks issues of immorality or it uses the criminal justice system to kill people for matters of faith.

Distinctive #18-- Community Egalitarianism

2008-10-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Within the congregation there is no sharp difference between leaders and followers. Anabaptists did not like the Catholic scheme whereby priests are placed on a higher level because they mediate God to the people. They taught that God is no respecter of persons. They had leaders, but they were common people from the congregation who seemed gifted and called to serve the rest.

Distinctive #17-- Localism

2008-10-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

Each local congregation is qualified and responsible to decide what should be taught in it. They should also call, support and discipline their own pastors. Luther thought that political leaders should decide what the faith of their people would be. Anabaptists taught that each congregation should decide for themselves - not the state or the clergy or the scholars.

Five Little Known Facts About The Amish

2008-10-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

A.J. Jacobs is a writer, who recently wrote about his year of attempting to live out every command of the Torah (including stoning an adulterer) in his book, "The Year of Living Biblically". He wrote this post on the Amish, a group that came out of the Mennonites, and published it in Mental Floss. Check it out here:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/9053

During my year of living biblically, I made several pilgrimages across America. I wanted to embed myself in various communities that live the Bible literally in their own way – from Hasidic Jews to evangelical Christians. I also invited religious people to my house. I think I’m the only person in American history to out-Bible talk a Jehovah’s Witness. After about three hours, he looked at his watch and said, “I gotta go.”

One of my first trips was to Amish country in Lancaster County. My wife and I drove down from New York (I’m proud to say that I have absolutely no urge to make a double entendre when we passed Intercourse, Pennsylvania, which I see as a great moral victory).

To be biblically honest, I was a little leery of going to Amish country - the Amish have been a go-to religious punchline for so long, sort of the Carrot Top or Jazzercise of American spirituality, and I didn’t want to fall into that trap. I didn’t want to seem like I was mocking them.

In the end, I’m glad I went. I learned a huge amount and got to experience the beauty of the Amish culture. Plus, I got to hear an Amish joke told by an actual Amish person, which was a pleasant surprise.

Here are five Amish facts I learned during my year:If you browse websites about the Amish, you’ll often see a lot of pictures of the backs of their heads. The Amish follow strictly the second commandment – you shall not make graven images. And they are also concerned with appearing vain. So they don’t like their faces photographed. They compromise by showing the back of their heads.

Amish have beards in accordance with Leviticus, which forbids the shaving of the corners of your beard. But they do shave their moustaches. The moustache was thought to have military associations by the early Amish, who came over from Switzerland in the 18th century.

The Amish do tell Amish jokes. My wife and I stayed at an Amish man’s house, and he told us one. (Note: Please lower your expectations. The Amish are working with some pretty tight constraints here). Okay, here goes:

The joke and more Amish facts after the jump…

Q: What happened when the Mennonite man married the Amish woman?
A: She drove him buggy.”

The Amish perform a foot-washing ritual, in accordance with the New Testament’s John 13:5, which says “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example…”

Amish sports are the quietest sports in the world. Here’s what my wife and I saw as we were leaving Amish country.

“I spot a cluster of about 30 buggies. We pull over to see what’s happening. We have stumbled onto an Amish baseball game. Many discourage competitive sports. But here are 18 Amish teenage boys, their sleeves rolled up, their shirts and suspenders dark with sweat. Julie and I watch for a long time. These kids are good, but something is off about the game. I realize after a few minutes what it is: This is the quietest baseball game I’ve ever seen. No trash talk. No cheering from the parents in the stands. Near silence, except for the occasional crack of the bat. It is eerie and peaceful and beautiful.”

Article: Loving Enemies

2008-10-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

Christians Send Love to Indian Leader Despite Ongoing Violence

The Christian Post reports that Christians all over India have decided to present Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik with flowers on his 62nd birthday on Oct. 16. Christian leaders and laymen have both joined in email campaigns, urging believers to wish the chief minister a happy birthday and to express "love" even after the pain and suffering the Christian community has been undergoing following violence on churches and clergies in the Indian state of Orissa. "Since we love those who hate us, please do not fail to send him special birthday greetings from the Christian community, especially from those who are impressed by his efforts to uphold the honor of women and enforce the rule of law in this state," states the email being circulated among the Christians.

Distinctive #16-- Volunteerism

2008-09-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

Each person must decide in their conscience what they will believe and should not be
persecuted for this. Each person should be able to choose what they believe without coercion or pressure. If someone wants to be baptized, let them choose it. If not, that is their choice.

How To Treat A Secular Government

2008-09-29T20:32:00.002-07:00

What to recognize about governments
 The government is appointed by God
Every government only gains its authority from God—even evil governments. Although governments may misuse or even abuse their authority, the authority itself comes from God. Thus, we need to respect the authority of the government, no matter who is using it. (John 20:11)

 The government represents God
The government is meant to do some of God’s work on earth—specifically, to punish those who do evil and to reward those who do good. This does not mean that the government is God’s servant, necessarily. Satan also punishes the evil at God’s bidding, but he is not an obedient servant of God. But ideally, the government does God’s will. (Romans 13:1)

 The government will be judged by God
Men do not have the right to judge governments. Even as a government’s authority and work has been given to it by God, so it is God who evaluates and determines the fate of governments. Often, God is patient and willing to wait for change. But some governments will be destroyed by God immediately: specifically those treat the needy badly and those who do much unnecessary violence. (Psalm 82)

 There is only one truly godly government
The only government that has been appointed, approved and having passed testing by God is the kingdom of God, led by Jesus. No other government can call themselves approved by God. Nor can any other government call itself truly “Christian.” (John 18:36)

What not to do
 Resist them when they do injustice against you
We do not resist authorities, but we are supposed to submit to them. We don’t need to complain against them, hate them or speak evil against them. Instead, if a government does us wrong, we pray about it and ask God for justice. (Matthew 5:39)

 Judge them for not following the laws or principles of God’s kingdom.
Although the governments represent God, they do not understand the principles of God, except in the most general notions. And so it is not our job to judge them or condemn them for what they do not know. We can inform them of what God says, but it is God’s right to judge them and to punish them if they were inadequate. (I Corinthians 5:9-10)

 Rebel against the authorities
We don’t need to do evil to the government. If the government is to be fought against, then we can pray for God to judge them, according to his will.
(Romans 13:2)

 Obey them when they tell you to disobey the principles of Jesus.
We must take care to always place God and God’s will in our lives above the government’s will and desire. We submit to governments in all things except when they tell us to disregard the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. (Acts 4:19)

What to do
 Give honor to whom honor is due
Government officials require that we speak politely to them, with the proper titles. Whatever honor is expected, we should give it. (Romans 13:7)

 Pay taxes when you are required to
All governments require us to pay taxes to them. Even if you feel that the government isn’t representing you or doing what you think is right, you still have to pay the taxes that they demand of you. (Romans 13:7)

 Pray for the leadership
We need to pray for government officials so that we will show respect for the officials, and also so God will direct the authorities to have wisdom to create a society of peace, so the church can do what God is directing them to do. (I Timothy 2:1-2)

 Submit to authorities, even when you come to harm
We are to submit to authorities, even if they do evil, even if they irritate us, even if they harm us. This is how we show that we are fully submitted to God and will do good, even if others do us evil. (I Peter 2:13-24)

 Obey all laws, unless they tell you to disobey God
Since the governments have the authority of God and act for God, we need to obey them. Even if you think the law is wrong or unjust, obey it. The only time we disobey, is if they tell us to disobey God. (Colossians 3:22)

 Do good to those who do harm to you
When government officials do harm to us, we are to respond with blessings and prayers for their benefit. We do not curse them or abuse them, but instead do what we can to benefit them. (Romans 12:17-21)

 Warn them away from God’s judgement by encouraging them to repent
If governmental officials do evil in God’s sight—especially if they are enacting unnecessary violence or harming the needy—they need to be warned that God will judge them unless they repent. (Ezekiel 33:9)

What you don’t have to do
 Participate in the government
Many feel that it is one’s civic duty to vote in governmental elections, sign appropriate petitions or to participate in neighborhood meetings. However, since we, as Christians, belong to the kingdom of God, we should focus our attention on participating with God’s people, not a secular government. (James 4:4)

 Agree with any particular politics or politician
Some Christians feel that a certain politics is the only real Christian choice, or that a certain politician is the “godly candidate.” However, we do not need to support any policy, politics or candidate. Rather, we need to focus on policies and decisions within the church and among those who represent Jesus. (Ephesians 4:17-19)

 Call the nation we live in “our country”
The nation of all those who follow Jesus is not the one they were born in or the one they live in—it is the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God has no king but God and no lord but Jesus and no realm on the earth. The non-godly government we live in the midst of is not “our” country. It is the country we live in . Our nation is only the kingdom of God. (II Corinthians 6:14-18)

 Protest injustices
The ungodly governments of this world will do unjust and evil things sometimes. We do not need to protest them, although we might warn them what God will do in response. Some might choose to protest, and receive what persecution comes with gladness. But it is not necessary. However, when some in the church who represent God does open evil, then we need to respond. (I Corinthians 5:9-11)

Honor government leaders, but focus on God’s will among God’s people.

Distinctiv #15-- Politcal Nonconformity

2008-09-29T20:32:00.001-07:00

Followers of Jesus must be faithful to the teaching of Jesus, even if this brings them into conflict with the political authorities placed over them by God - Acts 5:29. The church is a prophetic voice to the powers that be of the new way of Jesus. It also calls governments to account for their actions of injustice that go against God’s will for governments. This was especially the case when governments persecuted the Anabaptists.

9-11-- An Application of Two Kingdom Theology

2008-09-29T20:25:00.001-07:00

The following was written on 9-11-01, just two hours after the attack on the twin towers.

"I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." I Timothy 2:1-4

1. Pray for the victims.
Let us pray for those who have been devastated by this tragedy. Pray for the widows, orphans and husbands of those who have recently died. Pray for those in the hospital, that the Lord might heal them. Pray for those who are questioning why God would allow such a thing to happen, that the Lord might give them strength.

2. Recognize that it is not evil for the government to have some kind of retaliation.
It is normal for the U.S. government to want to retaliate when there has been such a horrible injustice done. They are operating under the principles given to Noah. “Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”—Genesis 9:6. Even so, governments today act under the same principles and so they are rightly to be feared by those who do evil. “But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”—Romans 13:4.

3. Hate no race or religion.
There is no cause for anyone to hate a people, race, religion or country because of what happened. This was the act of a small group of murderers, not of a whole people or religion.
If it was Iraq, for example, it was not the people of Iraq, who are innocently trying to live their own lives of desperation.

If it was a group of fundamentalist Muslims that perpetrated the act, it does not represent Islam as a whole. The far majority of Muslims are people trying to overcome sin in their lives by worshipping God—they do not hate Americans, nor would they support a horrible action such as this.

It is possible that it was a group of fundamentalist “Christians” who is declaring war against the world financial market and the U.S. military. If it is so, do we reject Christianity? Do we declare all Christians to be hate-mongers, and reject those who adhere to it? Of course not. Even so, there is no cause for anyone to hate another people, another religion because of what a few insane people did.

4. Followers of Jesus do not take part in retaliation.
Although the U.S. government will retaliate in some way against the group that did this, that does not mean that Christians need to support or take part in retaliation. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:43-44. Paul said, “Do not return evil for evil, but good.” This is the basic teaching of Scripture. That when people do evil against us, we are to return good to them. Even so, we should not pursue or participate in any way the retaliation that will certainly come. Let us reject the hatred that may come over us, asking for God’s strength to love those who have done such evil. Let us also reject the hatred that comes from others, looking for our support. May the Lord give us grace to gently rebuke those who, in their grief, are looking for scapegoats.

5. Pray for your enemies.
In response to those who have perpetrated this evil, let us follow what Scripture says, “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Pray for these evil people, that the Lord would cause them to repent and so that they may be saved. Pray that the Lord would work his grace among these people, and draw them to himself. Pray that they may see the faces of the dead and dying; the faces of the orphans, widows and husbands left behind and “weep and mourn and grieve” because of their sin.

6. Love those who hate you.
Also, let us encourage others to love these who are hated so. Let us ask the question, “What is the best thing for these who have performed such evil?” First of all, the best thing would be for them to repent and believe in Jesus, who taught the way of peace and reconciliation through sacrifice, not war, hatred and death. Secondly, it is best for these to be brought to trial and put in prison, both for their own safety and so that they do not commit any more crimes like this. God desires that everyone be saved, even people who commit terribly evil acts (II Peter 3:9).

7. Pray for peace for all.
Also, as believers, we are to pray for those in the government, in order that we might live peaceful and quiet lives. Not only for us, but also for the innocent who surround the ones who committed such a deed. For every murderer, there is a wife or a mother or a friend who had nothing to do with the evil deed. But if the government goes in without regard to the innocent, then this tragedy will be increased. Pray for those who are involved in responding to this tragedy, that they might hurt no one, but be able to pursue the justice of this world with wisdom and love for all, pursuing peace.

A Summary of Two Kingdom Theology

2008-09-29T20:23:00.000-07:00

Passages: Matthew 23:2-3; Mark 12:13-17; Romans 12:14-13:8; Matthew 5:38-48; Daniel 2:21,44; I Peter 2:4-25; II Cor 6:14-18; Revelation 18:2-5; Matthew 5:3-12; I Corinthians 7:17-23; Ephesians 2:19-22
Principles:

1. For the follower of Christ, God alone is King and Jesus alone is Lord of Lords. The followers of Jesus together belong to the kingdom of God, not to any kingdom of this world. The kingdom of God is made up of those who are righteous in God through Christ.

2. God is the establisher of authority over the earth. He has given authority to mankind to rule all the creatures of the earth. God establishes and desposes kings and authorities on the earth to rule mankind. These kings and authorities are often evil, dedicating themselves to idolatry, but they continue to have God’s authority.

3. While the follower of Jesus is submitted primarily to Christ, while they are living in a country, they act as ambassadors from the kingdom of God to that nation, and thus are accountable to that nation.

4. The follower of Christ is to submit to the authorities on earth they are specifically under, as long as the authority does not command the follower of Christ to reject the word of Christ.

5. The follower of Christ is not to act as those who are outside the kingdom of God, but to be separate from the kingdom of this world in action—being obedient to the Spirit and not to the flesh—and in attitude—following the principles of love as taught by Christ, not the principles of the flesh or the world.

6. On the final day, God will destroy all of the current governments and place the oppressed and righteous of his people in charge of all the peoples on earth.
7. The follower of Christ should not put themselves under the submission of the world in any way they are able to avoid it, especially in areas in which compromise one’s obedience to Christ.

8. To battle oppression by those in authority, Scripture has four methods:
a. Cry out to the Lord for deliverance;
b. Speak to those doing the evil, warning them of God’s judgment if they continue;
c. Suffer for doing good under those who are evil;
d. Create communities of Christ’s righteousness.

Applications:
1. Non-violent resistance
To resist authority, even if they are oppressing you, is opposed to Scripture. Even though the resistance might cause the authorities to yield their oppression, salvation comes from God, not from earthly authorities, governments or civil rights.

2. Patriotism
For the follower of Jesus, fealty is to be given to God alone through Christ. While they submit to the governing authorities in which they live, they do so as visitors, not subjects.

3. Partnerships with unbelievers
Any kind of partnership with an unbeliever should be rejected. This includes marriages, business partnerships, financial partnerships, or any partnership in which authority is split between unbelievers and a follower of Christ. Grants may be accepted from unbelievers, as long as they do not have strings which compromise one’s obedience to Christ.

4. Service in the police or military or politics
Service in the police or the military easily compromises Jesus’ commands by calling upon their forces to do evil to others for the sake of defense, security or vengeance. If one who has come to the Lord finds oneself in such a position, then continue to do so until the position forces one to compromise obedience to Jesus. At that point, the follower of Jesus must obey Jesus, no matter what the consequences. A follower of Jesus should not, however, join the police, military or run for office for to do so would too easily compromise one’s obedience to Jesus. Don’t make things difficult for yourself.

Distinctive #14-- Two Kingdoms

2008-09-29T20:22:00.001-07:00

The church is a separate social entity from the rest of society which is “the world.” These two kingdoms have different standards. You are either among the people of God or you are a part of the world. There is no neutral ground. The dividing line between these two kingdoms is believer’s baptism. This is a rejection of the Christendom conception of a church that is fused together with the state into one social entity, living by one standard. True disciples who live by the teaching of Jesus will not fit in with the world system around them.

Faith And Works-- A Bible Study

2008-09-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Sin leads us to hell
Matthew 5:20—Murder leads us to hell.
Matthew 5:21-22—Hatred of any kind, including insulting a brother, leads us to hell
Matthew 5:27-29—Evil lust of any kind, including adultery and lustful looking leads us to hell
Matthew 18:7-9—Causing a “little one” to stumble leads one to hell
Matthew 23:33—The Pharisees are condemned to hell because of their actions
Mark 9:42-48—Cast away anything that causes you to sin, or else you will go to hell.
Matthew 3:10—Whoever does not do good works will be punished eternally.
Matthew 7:19—Whoever does not do good works go to hell.
Matthew 13:40-42—The judgment day condemns those who are lawless and stumbling blocks
Matthew 25:41-46—The goats are punished eternally for not helping those who represent Jesus.
James 1:14-15—Temptation leads to sin, and sin leads to death
James 5:1-5—The rich will be punished eternally because of their evil actions.
Jude 1:7—Sodom and G., by their evil actions were punished by eternal fire

Those who persist in sin will not enter the kingdom of God
I Corinthians 6:9-10—Those who are characterized by evil acts will not enter into the kingdom.
Galatians 5:19-21—Those who act in accordance with the desires of the flesh will not enter the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 5:5-6—Sinners will not partake of the inheritance of Christ but will have the wrath of God.
Hebrews 10:26-31—The believer who persists in sin will be judged on the final day with fire
Revelation 21:8—those who abide in sin and cowardice will be punished in the lake of fire

Our eternal destiny is based on our actions, whether good or bad
Matthew 5:20—Unless your righteousness exceeds the Pharisees’ you will not enter God’s kingdom
Romans 6:16—One is a slave, either to sin, which leads to death, or to God which leads to obedience
Matthew 12:36-37—One is justified or condemned by every careless word they utter
Romans 2:6, 9-11—God will give to each person according to their deeds; distress to those who sin and peace to those who do righteousness
John 5:28-29—On the last day, the Son will raise the evil to punishment and the good to life
Revelation 20:12-13—All will be judged on the last day according to the deeds which are written in the book of life, whether evil or good.
Matthew 16:27—At Jesus’ return, God will repay everyone according to their deeds
II Corinthians 5:10—Everyone will be repaid according to their deeds, whether good or evil.
II Corinthians 11:15—Satan’s servants will end according to their deeds
Titus 1:15-16—Those who do evil deny God
Revelation 2:23—Jesus will give each one within the church according to the deeds done
Revelation 14:13—The dead in the Lord are blessed because their deeds follow after them.

Repentance from sin gives forgiveness and a right standing before God; But those who do not repent will be punished and condemned
Ezekiel 18:30-32—God judges everyone according to what they do. Therefore repent and turn away from your sin and God will forgive, for he takes no pleasure in the death of anyone.
Jonah 3: 1-10—Nineveh was not destroyed because they repented
Matthew 3:4-8—The people came to John, confessed their sins and were baptized by him.
Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3—John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 1:15—Jesus’ basic message was to repent and to believe in the gospel
Luke 5:32—Jesus came to call sinners to repentance
Luke 10:13—Woe to cities of Israel because they did not repent
Luke 11:32—Nineveh will condemn the generation of Jesus on the judgment day because Jesus’ generation did not repent
Luke 13:1-5—Unless you repent, great punishment will come upon you
Luke 15:1-10—The Lord rejoices at the repentance of sinners
Luke 24:47—Repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations.
Acts 2:38—Repent and be baptized
Acts 3:19—Repent so your sins will be wiped away.
Acts 5:31—Jesus grants repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins
Acts 8:22—Repent that your intention might be forgiven you
Acts 11:18—God granted to the gentiles the repentance that leads to life
Acts 20:21—Paul taught repentance and faith in Jesus
Acts 26:20—Paul taught repentance, turning to God and doing acts in accordance with repentance
II Timothy 2:25—God might grant repentance to them leading to the knowledge of the truth
II Peter 3:9—God does not desire anyone to be punished but that all would come to repentance
Revelation 2:5—Repent or else Jesus will come and take the lampstand out of its place
I Corinthians 6:11—Some of you were evildoers, but now you are justified and sanctified

We are led by God to do the pure works of the Law— the moral commands
Matthew 5:17-19—Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law and Prophets, but to fulfill them
Matthew 7:12—This is the L&P—to do to others as you would have them do to you
Matthew 22:36-40—The L&P depend on loving God and loving your neighbor
Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42—The weightier commandments of the L&P are justice and mercy—do those as well as the minor ones
Luke 10:26-28—Love God and love your neighbor and you will live
Acts 24:14—Paul believes everything in accordance with the L&P
Romans 2:13-16—Anyone who does the law is justified, even those who do not know the law
Romans 8:4—The requirement of the law is fulfilled by those who walk in the Spirit
Romans 13:8-10—The law is fulfilled by obeying, “love your neighbor as yourself”
I Corinthians 9:9-10—God uses the law to speak to his people today
Galatians 5:14, 22-23—The whole law is fulfilled by “Love your neighbor”; The fruit of the Spirit is love, etc. against which there is no law
Galatians 6:2—Bear each other’s burdens and fulfill the law of Christ
James 1:25—The one who lives by the law of liberty will be blessed in what he does
James 2:8-13—the law of liberty, the royal law is “love your neighbor as yourself”, the rest of it is just applications of it
James 4:11—Whoever speaks against a brother speaks against the law and judges it and such a one is not a doer of the law.

Faith is action based on the promises of God
Luke 18:7-8—Faith is persistant prayer for God’s justice
John 8:30-32- Those who believe Jesus follow him; those who follow him obey him.
Romans 6:5-6—Through faith, we are dead to sin.
Galatians 2:20—Having the faith of Jesus is living the life of Jesus.
Hebrews 11:8, 17, 34-35—Faith acts in obedience to God, based on his promises.
Hebrews 11:3-12:3—Faith is following the example of the saints of God and Jesus.
James 2:5-8—The promise of God is that the poor of faith receive the kingdom, and so the action of faith is to love the needy.
Revelation 14:12—Faith is obedience to God and to the Son.

The teaching of Jesus and the day of judgement
Matthew 25:31-46—The sheep are offered their reward—entrance into the kingdom—because of their obedience to Jesus’ words—the helping of those who represent Jesus. The goats are punished on judgement day because of their disobedience to Christ’s teaching in the same area.
Matthew 7:21-27; Luke 6:46-49—The one who hears and obeys Jesus’ teaching stands firm on judgment day; the one who does not is destroyed on judgement day.
II John 9-11—The one who does not adhere to the teaching that Jesus taught is to be treated as separated from the people of God and they do evil deeds.
I Timothy 6:3-5 – The one who does not adhere to the teaching that Jesus taught does evil deeds
Revelation 2:26—Whoever keeps Jesus’ deeds to the end is he who overcomes and will gain reward.

Predestination and Good Deeds
Matthew 25:31-46—Those who do what is righteous were predestined to live in the kingdom with the Father.
Ephesians 2:10—The good works of those who are in Jesus were predestined by God.
II Thessalonians 2:13—The believer was predestined by God to be holy by the Spirit.

Distinctive #13-- A Visible Church

2008-09-29T20:18:00.002-07:00

The church is not invisible - made up of those with faith in their hearts alone. One’s inner experience of God (if real) will show up in an outward conformity to the teaching of Jesus and the apostles. Thus the true people of God will be marked by baptism and a godly life. The spiritualists thought that inner spirituality was enough. Anabaptists insisted that the inner and the outer are connected. Real disciples are known by their fruits - Matthew 7:16.

Distinctive #12-- Children Are Innocent

2008-09-29T20:18:00.001-07:00

On the basis of texts like Matthew 19:14 children should be seen as innocent. There is no need for a sacrament such as infant baptism that can wash away the effects of original sin for them. They are not punished for sin until they come to the age of accountability. Therefore they should wait and be baptized as believers.

Distinctive #11-- Believer's Baptism

2008-09-29T20:17:00.001-07:00

According to the New Testament baptism is only for believers. It is the pledge of a believer to live a new life as a part of God’s community. It is about discipleship. Since the water is only water, it does an infant no good. The scriptural pattern is always that faith precedes water baptism. Baptism is like a monastic vow. All who choose it commit to walk according to Jesus’ teaching. It is the beginning of a life of discipleship, set apart from the world.

Distinctive #10- The Lord's Supper

2008-09-05T22:59:00.001-07:00

This is a memorial of the death of Jesus and is only for baptized believers who are committed to obedience to Jesus. The idea of the supper as a memorial was learned from Zwingli and/or the Dutch Sacramentists. The bread and wine are only bread and wine. They do not change in essence as in Catholicism. They point to the death of Jesus.

Distinctive #9- Non-Sacramental Ordinances

2008-09-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are simply outward signs of God’s grace working in you by the Spirit. A sacrament is “a visible sign of an invisible grace.” In Catholic thought the visible sign conveys the invisible grace by the mere performance of the act. There are seven Catholic sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, Ordination, Confirmation, Penance, Marriage, and Extreme unction. It is through these acts that God’s grace (salvation) is given to people. For Anabaptists, the two outward signs do not convey the grace. They are a means by which a person testifies to the presence of grace already within them.

Complete Mennonite Confession of Faith

2008-09-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

The whole text of the Mennonite Confession of Faith (1995) is found at this site, where the index is given for each chapter:

http://www.mennolink.org/doc/cof/summary.html

Mennonite Confession of Faith Summary 1995

2008-09-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective
1. We believe that God exists and is pleased with all who draw near by faith. We worship the one holy and loving God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally. God has created all things visible and invisible, has brought salvation and new life to humanity through Jesus Christ, and continues to sustain the church and all things until the end of the age.

2. We believe in Jesus Christ , the Word of God become flesh. He is the Savior of the world, who has delivered us from the dominion of sin and reconciled us to God by his death on a cross. He was declared to be Son of God by his resurrection from the dead. He is the head of the church, the exalted Lord, the Lamb who was slain, coming again to reign with God in glory.

3. We believe in the Holy Spirit , the eternal Spirit of God, who dwelled in Jesus Christ, who empowers the church, who is the source of our life in Christ, and who is poured out on those who believe as the guarantee of redemption.

4. We believe that all Scripture is inspired by God through the Holy Spirit for instruction in salvation and training in righteousness. We accept the Scriptures as the Word of God and as the fully reliable and trustworthy standard for Christian faith and life. Led by the Holy Spirit in the church, we interpret Scripture in harmony with Jesus Christ.

5. We believe that God has created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and that God preserves and renews what has been made. All creation has its source outside itself and belongs to the Creator. The world has been created good because God is good and provides all that is needed for life.

6. We believe that God has created human beings in the divine image. God formed them from the dust of the earth and gave them a special dignity among all the works of creation. Human beings have been made for relationship with God, to live in peace with each other, and to take care of the rest of creation.

7. We confess that, beginning with Adam and Eve, humanity has disobeyed God, given way to the tempter, and chosen to sin . All have fallen short of the Creator's intent, marred the image of God in which they were created, disrupted order in the world, and limited their love for others. Because of sin, humanity has been given over to the enslaving powers of evil and death.

8. We believe that, through Jesus Christ, God offers salvation from sin and a new way of life. We receive God's salvation when we repent and accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. In Christ, we are reconciled with God and brought into the reconciling community. We place our faith in God that, by the same power that raised Christ from the dead, we may be saved from sin to follow Christ and to know the fullness of salvation.

9. We believe that the church is the assembly of those who have accepted God's offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It is the new community of disciples sent into the world to proclaim the reign of God and to provide a foretaste of the church's glorious hope. It is the new society established and sustained by the Holy Spirit.

10. We believe that the mission of the church is to proclaim and to be a sign of the kingdom of God. Christ has commissioned the church to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe all things he has commanded.

11. We believe that the baptism of believers with water is a sign of their cleansing from sin. Baptism is also a pledge before the church of their covenant with God to walk in the way of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Believers are baptized into Christ and his body by the Spirit, water, and blood.

12. We believe that the Lord's Supper is a sign by which the church thankfully remembers the new covenant which Jesus established by his death. In this communion meal, the church renews its covenant with God and with each other and participates in the life and death of Jesus Christ, until he comes.

13. We believe that in washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus calls us to serve one another in love as he did. Thus we acknowledge our frequent need of cleansing, renew our willingness to let go of pride and worldly power, and offer our lives in humble service and sacrificial love.

14. We practice discipline in the church as a sign of God's offer of transforming grace. Discipline is intended to liberate erring brothers and sisters from sin, and to restore them to a right relationship with God and to fellowship in the church. The practice of discipline gives integrity to the church's witness in the world.

15. We believe that ministry is a continuation of the work of Christ, who gives gifts through the Holy Spirit to all believers and empowers them for service in the church and in the world. We also believe that God calls particular persons in the church to specific leadership ministries and offices. All who minister are accountable to God and to the community of faith.

16. We believe that the church of Jesus Christ is one body with many members, ordered in such a way that, through the one Spirit, believers may be built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

17. We believe that Jesus Christ calls us to discipleship , to take up our cross and follow him. Through the gift of God's saving grace, we are empowered to be disciples of Jesus, filled with his Spirit, following his teachings and his path through suffering to new life. As we are faithful to his way, we become conformed to Christ and separated from the evil in the world.

18. We believe that to be a disciple of Jesus is to know life in the Spirit . As the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ takes shape in us, we grow in the image of Christ and in our relationship with God. The Holy Spirit is active in individual and in communal worship, leading us deeper into the experience of God.

19. We believe that God intends human life to begin in families and to be blessed through families. Even more, God desires all people to become part of the church, God's family. As single and married members of the church family give and receive nurture and healing, families can grow toward the wholeness that God intends. We are called to chastity and to loving faithfulness in marriage.

20. We commit ourselves to tell the truth , to give a simple yes or no, and to avoid the swearing of oaths.

21. We believe that everything belongs to God, who calls the church to live in faithful stewardship of all that God has entrusted to us, and to participate now in the rest and justice which God has promised.

22. We believe that peace is the will of God. God created the world in peace, and God's peace is most fully revealed in Jesus Christ, who is our peace and the peace of the whole world. Led by the Holy Spirit, we follow Christ in the way of peace, doing justice, bringing reconciliation, and practicing nonresistance, even in the face of violence and warfare.

23. We believe that the church is God's holy nation, called to give full allegiance to Christ its head and to witness to every nation, government, and society about God's saving love.

24. We place our hope in the reign of God and its fulfillment in the day when Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. He will gather his church, which is already living under the reign of God. We await God's final victory, the end of this present age of struggle, the resurrection of the dead, and a new heaven and a new earth. There the people of God will reign with Christ in justice, righteousness, and peace for ever and ever.

Herald Press, 1995

Distinctive #8- Spirit Regeneration

2008-09-05T22:51:00.000-07:00

The one who believes is born of the Spirit. Believers are new creations in Christ and are thus able to do God’s will. We are not simply forgiven sinners, who continue in sin. We are forgiven and transformed by the Spirit so that we can obey God. For Luther God’s grace is best emphasized when we see God as accepting us despite our continued sin. This keeps us from thinking we can earn our salvation. For Anabaptists God’s grace is best emphasized when we see God’s grace powerfully transforming us. All the good we do is a testimony to God’s powerful work in us.

Distinctive #7- Human Choice

2008-09-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

Although all people are sinners, God makes it possible for all to choose to have faith and be saved. Luther’s concept of predestination is wrong. People do have a choice. God does not predetermine everything. Also Luther’s idea of total depravity is overstated. We are sinful, but by God’s grace we can choose to turn to God.

Distinctive #6- Saved By Grace Through Faith

2008-09-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

Salvation is a gift of God’s grace, based on what Jesus has done, that must be received by faith. Salvation is not based on deeds we do, religious or otherwise. Anabaptists learned this from Luther. But they emphasized that this grace, if it is real will produce acts of righteousness. Only the one who does the will of the Father in heaven will ultimately be saved - Matthew 7:21.

Constantine, The Apostle of Compromise

2008-09-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

Posted on the MySpace Mennonite Group under the topic "How Much Can We Really Blame On Constantine?"

There are a couple things that are unique to Constantine himself, as opposed to other emperors before him:

First of all, he made an open attempt to find points of common interest between Christians and pagans, especially sun worshippers.

Constantine's family religion was sun worship, and so he promoted sun worship in the empire. Christianity was a popular new religion and he used them to gain political leverage, especially against the other two Roman rulers who were competing against Constatine to be emperor.

So Constantine did encourage the church to worship on Sunday because Sunday was the day the sun worshippers worshipped. While some early Christians worshipped on the first day of the week, it was probably on the evening of what we would call Saturday, but the Jewish folks would call the first day.

Also, the Chi Rho, the symbol of Constantine's vision, looked suspiciously-- almost exactly-- like his family crest, which was the symbol of the rising sun between two hills.

So Constantine catered to the church, trying to make them feel as a part of the Roman people, not as outsiders.

The second unique thing Constatine did is to invite the church into the political process. He passed a law which required bishops to act as a court of appeals if a Christian didn't like a decision coming down from a Roman judge. While I think that Constantine's motivation was good-- to prevent further persecution or misunderstanding-- but many bishops at the time was opposed to this law. But there was nothing they could do about it.

He also put himself as arbitrator over the council of Nissea. Nissea was chosen because it was right next to Constantinople. Now Constantine didn't make a ruling, but he did act as mediator.

These three items, I think, give adequate reason to name Constantinism after Constantine. First of all, he actively knocked down the wall of separation between the church and the world. Secondly, he got the church involved in the poltical life of the current state instead of focusing only on the kingdom of God. Thirdly, he encouraged the state to get involved in church business.

If you have any questions about it, read what Eusibius says about Constantine. He gives the emperor greater praise than he does any saint of the church, and the emperor didn't get baptized until he was one foot in the grave and then in his crypt, he put himself amidst the twelve apostles!

Constantine was a great political mind. But he was terrible for the church.

I recently found out that near the end of his life, Constantine killed his wife and one of his sons. Not exactly the act of a "Christian" emperor-- or perhaps he was the model for almost all Christian poltical leaders after him?

Disttinctive #5- Restorationism

2008-09-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

The goal is not so much reform as it is a restoration of the apostolic/New Testament church. It is not enough to take the medieval church and tinker with it (Luther, Zwingli). One must get back past the fall of the church with Constantine and restore the practices of the New Testament church. This is all that is important.

Distinctive #4- Biblicism

2008-09-04T22:26:00.000-07:00

The end of all Bible study is to do what it says. We literally do whatever Jesus and the apostles teach, whatever the consequences.

The Really Brief Mennonite History

2008-09-04T22:25:00.000-07:00

When Martin Luther first began his reformation of the Roman Catholic church in 1519, there were many who agreed with his focus on faith and Scripture, and they called themselves “evangelicals”. There was a small group in Zurich, Switzerland that felt that the evangelicals were not focusing enough on what the Bible really said, especially concerning that baptism is for those who have faith, not for infants. They were called Anabaptists (which means “re-baptizers”) because they baptized those who were supposedly baptized as infants. Because the Anabaptists held to these positions in opposition to both the Catholic and Evangelical (or “protestant”) governments, which legalized religious beliefs, the Anabaptists were declared criminals and arrested, tortured and killed by all governments in Europe for the next 100 years. Even evangelical leaders such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli encouraged political leaders to arrest and kill Anabaptists.

Fleeing persecution and seeking to spread the gospel around the world caused Anabaptists to spread all over Europe, from the Netherlands to Russia. Later, the Anabaptists moved to America, seeking to hold their beliefs without persecution. As they came to the United States, the immigration officials saw that most Anabaptists carried a writing of Menno Simons, a popular Anabaptist writer of the mid 1500s, and so they labeled them “Mennonists” or, later, “Mennonites”.

Today there are more than a million people who are a part of Anabaptist or Mennonite communities. There are many Anabaptist groups, including the Mennonite Church, the Brethren in Christ, the Amish and the Hutterites. More than half of all the Mennonites in the world are found in Africa, India, Indonesia and Brazil. Mennonites have established many cooperative ministries including international aid organizations, health services, mutual insurance programs, service to the needy in North America, and conscientious objector programs.

Distinctive #3- The Bible Is Accessible

2008-09-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

The literal meaning of Scripture is available to the common person - Matthew 11:25. Although learning is not bad, there is no need for elitist popes or scholars to dictate to all what the Scriptures teach. On the other hand, all interpreters must rely upon the Spirit and desire to obey the Scriptures to truly understand them. Only these are truly qualified to interpret Scripture.