January is our month to explore three "other" Christian faith traditions. In the past we've looked at what some of the most populous non-Christian faiths believe- but we've got a fair share of diversity within our own house, too! Sunday #1 saw us exploring the Anabaptist faith- which is the over-arching category of the Amish, the Mennonites, and the Brethren of Christ, to name a few.
Anabaptists gets their name from their belief that baptism into the faith should be done as an intentional, personal decision; back when they split from the Protestants, practically EVERYONE was baptized as an infant, and most of those baptisms had occurred in the Roman Catholic church (which they obviously disagreed with strongly enough to make a formal split). Thus, Anabaptists re-baptized believers as adults, and didn't baptize their children until they were older ("ana" means "re-," not "anti-").
This was a pretty big deal back then. Church and state were entwined tightly, and rejecting the significance of infant baptism (and thus, the authority of the church) was basically thumbing your nose at the two most powerful forces in society. It probably didn't help that these Radical Reformers were the starting place of some even more Radical Reformers (who, after being kicked out of the Anabaptist movement for being too radical, went on to start some social reform wars). So Anabaptists, from the start, were persecuted and exiled for their beliefs. What made them so strong in these new beliefs that they were willing to lose their homes, their friends, and even their lives?
It started when Protestants first got the bible into the hands of the population in their native language- up until then, the Catholic church had only permitted the Latin version. Surprisingly (sarcasm alert), the uneducated masses couldn't read Latin and were relegated to being TOLD what was in there. They had to trust the authority of the church, because there was no way for them to verify it. When Luther translated the first bible, Anabaptists thought he was lovely- but with this new knowledge, they also realized that there was more to reform than just those 95 theses.
Anabaptists believe strongly in the words of Jesus- that he meant what he said, and that following Jesus meant putting his life and words first, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount. As such, they:
- Refuse to take oaths (let your "yes" be "yes" and your "no" be "no"- there should never be a time when you're MORE truthful than another)
- Believe strongly in the separation of church and state (Jesus did not encourage his disciples to change the world by getting involved with Rome, for starters)
- Live simply, double and triple checking the impacts of their actions, purchases, lifestyles, etc.
- Consider every believer to be a priest or minister of God
- Oppose any sort of obligatory faith (you can't legislate belief)
- Reject any argument that gives Christians the right to bear arms (they are pacifists in the extreme, believing that God's love and mercy should never come with violence)
We also watched a very humorous and enlightening video from The Meeting House (the speaker is Bruxy Cavey). I also STRONGLY encourage you to check out more of The Meeting House's videos- lots to learn, and not just about Anabaptists!
We'll be back next week with the beginning of it all- the infamous split with the Catholic church, and how we protestants differ in our beliefs from the most populous of all Christian denominations.
5 Minutes of God Time: Simple Gifts by Jewel
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