Being interested in Christian Anarchy, but I am not prepared to call myself one since attaching a label can lead to institutionalization, I know that the home church movement is advocated by this approach to Christianity and the Bible. Even Jesus is sometimes considered to be an anarchist!
To help avoid eristic exchanges, which I am sure would not occur anyway anywhere on Christian Forums, I feel I need to point out that the the word anarchy should never be used in its pejorative sense, that meaning the absence of law and order, or chaos. Anarchism is a political ideology, on a par with Marxism in the 19th century, and continues to be studied at an academic level in the discipline of political science. There are many varieties of anarchism, my preferred one is referred to as epistemological anarchism, as advocated by Paul Feyerabend and is certainly non-violent. Leo Tolstoy is often said to have been a Christian Anarchist, and his writings were very much appreciated by Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jnr., for instance. If anyone wishes to discuss Christian Anarchism, there is also a thread running in the Christians only forum "Discussion and Debate", sub-forum "General Politics".
I am placing this post here on the advice of the moderators, as I was thinking of posting it in the "House Church & Cell Groups" forum. I am very interested in the threads in that forum, and will post there without mentioning my interest in any particular faith or theology. Because of the pejorative use of the word anarchy, when I talk in RL to other Christians about our Christian Faith I rarely mention Christian Anarchy, or my interest in it.
There are many very pertinent Scriptures which support the theology of Christian Anarchism, and I do refer to them in discussion with other Christians. However, I am not a proselytizer, and my wife and myself have found that when we invite people into our house, visiting us as part of their own Church's out-reach activities, they invariably push their own doctrines, and when they find out we would not join their Church and pay tithes, they do not come again. A Pentecostal minister admitted he runs his churches as a business, and he himself with his wife enjoy Cruise Ship vacations all over the world, every year. I am not saying they completely neglect the poor and needy, but there is no equality. Institutional churches are solely into the God business, and they are motivated solely by the devil.
But this is the world we live in. Jesus says we should be in this world but not part of it. My wife and myself try to abandon all aspirations to material goods and wealth, we pray to God to help the world avoid falling into civil disobedience and war, but the forces of evil are very strong and too many people think that our present society is OK. Of course there is much good work being done, especially by volunteers and first responders, but none of this changes things, in fact a lot of it is corrupt or only encourages the status quo.
I could write so much more! I guess the moderators were correct in telling me to post this in this forum, but I would not have indulged in this rant in the "House Church & Cell Groups" forum. I look forward to responses here.
To help avoid eristic exchanges, which I am sure would not occur anyway anywhere on Christian Forums, I feel I need to point out that the the word anarchy should never be used in its pejorative sense, that meaning the absence of law and order, or chaos. Anarchism is a political ideology, on a par with Marxism in the 19th century, and continues to be studied at an academic level in the discipline of political science. There are many varieties of anarchism, my preferred one is referred to as epistemological anarchism, as advocated by Paul Feyerabend and is certainly non-violent. Leo Tolstoy is often said to have been a Christian Anarchist, and his writings were very much appreciated by Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jnr., for instance. If anyone wishes to discuss Christian Anarchism, there is also a thread running in the Christians only forum "Discussion and Debate", sub-forum "General Politics".
I am placing this post here on the advice of the moderators, as I was thinking of posting it in the "House Church & Cell Groups" forum. I am very interested in the threads in that forum, and will post there without mentioning my interest in any particular faith or theology. Because of the pejorative use of the word anarchy, when I talk in RL to other Christians about our Christian Faith I rarely mention Christian Anarchy, or my interest in it.
There are many very pertinent Scriptures which support the theology of Christian Anarchism, and I do refer to them in discussion with other Christians. However, I am not a proselytizer, and my wife and myself have found that when we invite people into our house, visiting us as part of their own Church's out-reach activities, they invariably push their own doctrines, and when they find out we would not join their Church and pay tithes, they do not come again. A Pentecostal minister admitted he runs his churches as a business, and he himself with his wife enjoy Cruise Ship vacations all over the world, every year. I am not saying they completely neglect the poor and needy, but there is no equality. Institutional churches are solely into the God business, and they are motivated solely by the devil.
But this is the world we live in. Jesus says we should be in this world but not part of it. My wife and myself try to abandon all aspirations to material goods and wealth, we pray to God to help the world avoid falling into civil disobedience and war, but the forces of evil are very strong and too many people think that our present society is OK. Of course there is much good work being done, especially by volunteers and first responders, but none of this changes things, in fact a lot of it is corrupt or only encourages the status quo.
I could write so much more! I guess the moderators were correct in telling me to post this in this forum, but I would not have indulged in this rant in the "House Church & Cell Groups" forum. I look forward to responses here.
