Why are there no extremist Christians?

South Bound said:

I don't do it because I don't want to



Actually, John the Baptist was a prolific preacher of the Gospel. Where on Earth did you ever get the idea that "he didn't have the Gospel to work with"?

Click to expand...

Since John the Baptist was recorded in Scripture as dead before Christ was crucified, let alone raised from the dead it would seem that by any reasonable definition of 'The Gospel" John did not have it to work with.

Nihilist Virus said:

I would think of an extremist Christian as one who sells all that he owns, gives his money to the poor, and wanders the world to preach the gospel and do good works. This was not an impossible task for John the Baptist, and he didn't even have the gospel to work with.

You can disagree that such a thing is what constitutes an extremist Christian, but my question still stands: why is there no one on earth doing this?

Click to expand...

There are a lot of Christian missionaries all over the world doing just that.

South Bound said:

Actually, John the Baptist was a prolific preacher of the Gospel. Where on Earth did you ever get the idea that "he didn't have the Gospel to work with"?

Click to expand...

John the Baptist preached repentance of sin. At least at the time he baptised Jesus.

Nihilist Virus said:

I would think of an extremist Christian as one who sells all that he owns, gives his money to the poor, and wanders the world to preach the gospel and do good works. This was not an impossible task for John the Baptist, and he didn't even have the gospel to work with.

Click to expand...

I don't know about St. John, but it should be noted here that the apostles still had jobs. St. Paul was a tent-maker, for instance. The idea of selling all that they own in order to go do this implies that they would've been rich in the first place, which is not necessarily the case. Some were, some weren't. Same as today.

You can disagree that such a thing is what constitutes an extremist Christian, but my question still stands: why is there no one on earth doing this?

Click to expand...

Because it's not easy to uproot or leave your entire family so you can go to a foreign country and wander around? This is sort of the same thinking behind the restrictions on accepting novice monks in many churches, because they have to meet certain requirements that are very tough to do if you are young, still have family, etc. But it is still done anyway; if you are not seeing it it is probably because you are not looking in the right places. Just a few months ago we were blessed at my little Coptic Orthodox church to have such a monk staying with us for a little bit, who did indeed travel the country with the blessings of the bishops and HH Pope Tawadros II in order to plant communities here and also spread the word about Coptic media services in English. Not all monks live in the monasteries of the desert, I suppose, though he was the first one I had personally met who led this kind of life. He told me he just sort of wanders from place to place, and when he finds a preexisting Coptic community in an out of the way place (like ours), he'll stay a day or two, let them know what he's doing, and ask that they carry on with this kind of work after he leaves. And he was really serious about it, too, kind of getting in our faces about why we were so small, what we were doing to grow, what we should be doing, etc. I think it made everyone feel kinda bad, actually, but sometimes you need to hear that stuff.

There is also the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Bolivia, which started with one priest, Fr Youssef Anba Bola, who was just kind of dropped out there by the Pope himself (HH Pope Shenouda III) and told "Okay...go to work." That was in 2000, and today they have their own bishop (HG Bishop Youssef), and I have been told by people I met who worked over there that something on the order of 400+ Bolivians (no Egyptians; the church is entirely native except for the priests and the bishop, and that's only because it's new enough that they haven't raised a new generation yet to be in those positions) attend the liturgy weekly in the Coptic cathedral in the capital city of La Paz, with many more in the countryside and in other towns as the Church continues to grow there. Not sure if that fits your paradigm, OP, but it is a case of one man just kind of showing up to a new country and getting his hands dirty and building something lasting from more or less nothing. That's the way most missions are, I would imagine.

Nihilist Virus said:

I would think of an extremist Christian as one who sells all that he owns, gives his money to the poor, and wanders the world to preach the gospel and do good works. This was not an impossible task for John the Baptist, and he didn't even have the gospel to work with.

You can disagree that such a thing is what constitutes an extremist Christian, but my question still stands: why is there no one on earth doing this?

Click to expand...

Nihilist,

Simple. (Simple?) If God (and/or Jesus) didn't command that all Christians everywhere at all times give up all they own, as well as preclude the taking on of any and all worldly substances, then no Christian is going to feel compelled to bend backwards to do something that wasn't commanded, especially if the idea wasn't made completely and plainly clear without the use of parables or various figures of speech and hyperbole.

Sure, we can point to the Rich Young Ruler as an example where Jesus seems to imply such a thing, or we can take the parable of the "Hidden Treasure" in Matthew 13:44 as a supposed 'ideal' for Christians. But, then we'd have to question our interpretation of these verses and the contexts in which they are situated in the passages in which they're found. And, to put the icing on the cake, we then have to ask why Jesus didn't reprimand Zaccheus for ONLY giving HALF of his wealth to the poor (Luke 19:1-10). Why does Zaccheus get an exemption of sorts when the Rich Young Ruler had to give up perhaps all? OH, contradiction! No, it's not a contradiction; its a mix of contexts.

Additionally, nowhere are all Christians commanded to become high level, world travelling, evangelists ... Sure, all Christians are supposed to 'defend' their personal faith to some extent, but scouting the world over isn't quite the same thing.

(While I respect your intelligence and gift for incisive thought, you often leave me wondering what precisely your exegetical and hermenuetical approach is to the Bible. The way in which you interpret the Bible, or expect it to be understood, seems to be a little on the simplistic side, and I'm guessing its something with which you were inculcated by either your father or through your former church 'inerrancy culture.')

Just sayin'

2PhiloVoid

I think that this also has a strong tie back to sex.

Paul tells us in the Epistles that it is better for someone not to marry and devote themselves to serving God, but we also know that one must keep their hearts clean from lustful thoughts.

I think most people want a significant other. To get married and have their own wife or husband for many reasons, like family and children, but also for sexual reasons and relations. When one get's married and has a family, they have a job that ties them to a specific area, they need a home for their family to live, health-care, food, ect.

Mountain_Girl406 said:

Peace Pilgrim is an excellent example, I would think. Got to hear her speak once.

Click to expand...

I don't know that she identified as Christian, rest her soul, however she was a wonderful inspiration. I heard her speak in audio format never in person.

Extremist Christian in relative comparison to extremist terrorist muslims do exist.
They're the one's that assassinate doctors who perform abortions. As was the case of one extremist who shot a doctor in his house of worship.
Set bombs in clinics. Post the names and addresses of women who have been patients at women's health clinics. Operation Rescue for instance.

Anyone can perceive some sort of 'greater good' and justify war or terrorism by it. They can do this through a religion or otherwise. Christian extremism was alive in the Middle Ages, and Islam is in a like state.

Willie T said:

Even the Apostles did not sell everything they had. How do you think they were able to return to the fairly costly boats and nets they still owned a week after Jesus was crucified?

Click to expand...

In all fairness, Willie T, they were not at that time "saved" . That would not change until Pentacost.
But I know what you meant, and I'm not taking exception to your point.

Nihilist Virus said:

I would think of an extremist Christian as one who sells all that he owns, gives his money to the poor, and wanders the world to preach the gospel and do good works. This was not an impossible task for John the Baptist, and he didn't even have the gospel to work with.

You can disagree that such a thing is what constitutes an extremist Christian, but my question still stands: why is there no one on earth doing this?

Click to expand...

I ticked' like' ,but you are wrong, there are those who do .Many Catholic priests and
nuns do it .

Nihilist Virus said:

I would think of an extremist Christian as one who sells all that he owns, gives his money to the poor, and wanders the world to preach the gospel and do good works. This was not an impossible task for John the Baptist, and he didn't even have the gospel to work with.

You can disagree that such a thing is what constitutes an extremist Christian, but my question still stands: why is there no one on earth doing this?

Click to expand...

Someone like that isn't likely to be famous these days.

Nihilist Virus said:

If you would like to prove me wrong, I am interested in what you have to say.

Click to expand...

Your problem relates to your OP question: 'Why is there no one on earth doing this?' Have you as an individual Christian been able to check every Christian in the world to even come close to acknowledging that NO ONE on earth is doing what you asked? You would have to know EVERYONE and his/her ministry to be able to reach such a conclusion. Wouldn't such be an impossible task for anyone in the world?

Nihilist Virus said:

If you would like to prove me wrong, I am interested in what you have to say.

Click to expand...

Your problem relates to your statement

Nihilist Virus said:

I would think of an extremist Christian as one who sells all that he owns, gives his money to the poor, and wanders the world to preach the gospel and do good works. This was not an impossible task for John the Baptist, and he didn't even have the gospel to work with.

You can disagree that such a thing is what constitutes an extremist Christian, but my question still stands: why is there no one on earth doing this?

Click to expand...

And you don't consider the activists at Westboro Baptist Church to be extremists?

It does seem restricted to Catholicism these days. Protestant missionaries don't seem to be much interested in the ascetic element - and I dare say some are even opposed to it, calling it vanity.

The only people I personally know today who practice what the OP refers to are Buddhist monks, FWIW, though they don't proselytise.

OzSpen said:

Your problem relates to your OP question: 'Why is there no one on earth doing this?' Have you as an individual Christian been able to check every Christian in the world to even come close to acknowledging that NO ONE on earth is doing what you asked? You would have to know EVERYONE and his/her ministry to be able to reach such a conclusion. Wouldn't such be an impossible task for anyone in the world?

Click to expand...

It's just a statememt by uneducated people. Whenever someone says every Christian,alarm bells should be going off.

Locutus said:

It does seem restricted to Catholicism these days. Protestant missionaries don't seem to be much interested in the ascetic element - and I dare say some are even opposed to it, calling it vanity.

The only people I personally know today who practice what the OP refers to are Buddhist monks, FWIW, though they don't proselytise.

Click to expand...

What are you saying? That you do not belivieve their are 1000;s of Christian missionaries?

ToBeLoved said:

What are you saying? That you do not belivieve their are 1000;s of Christian missionaries?

Click to expand...

No, I'm saying that missionaries are in it for the conditional assistance of others. Conditional because they proselytise. Buddhist monks, and some Jesuits, DON'T do it conditionally. It's entirely selfless. Or entirely selfish, if you consider it vanity.

Locutus said:

No, I'm saying that missionaries are in it for the conditional assistance of others. Conditional because they proselytise. Buddhist monks, and some Jesuits, DON'T do it conditionally. It's entirely selfless. Or entirely selfish, if you consider it vanity.

Click to expand...

If comfort and regard are what they are after, it's much easier to get that by staying in the US and getting a decent job.

[QSketcher, post: 68895977, member: 27106"]If comfort and regard are what they are after, it's much easier to get that by staying in the US and getting a decent job.[/QUOTE]
I understand missionaries are motivated by the prospect of conversions. They believe they're bringing new and important information to 'primitives', and use the pretext of 'helping' to do so. The helping is great, but it comes at a high cost to societies it impacts. Loss of traditions and culture - sometimes even language.

Genuine religious ascetics have no desire to demand payment (conversion) in exchange for help.

Jahrooshshalom said:

For there to be extremist Christians they'd have to comport with the same extremism that is exampled by so called extremist Muslims being that we all worship the same god …

Click to expand...

I don't know who this "we" is, but you can count me out.