tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643715.post294593898318301614..comments2023-06-09T12:46:12.932-04:00Comments on The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia: The Anabaptist Option > The Benedict OptionArthur Sidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03848508095612688493noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643715.post-31332882283325663642016-08-09T15:00:49.772-04:002016-08-09T15:00:49.772-04:00fschmidt
There are rules and there are rules. Fo...fschmidt <br /><br />There are rules and there are rules. For example, Paul taught that women should cover their heads when they pray. Conservative Mennonite women wear coverings but only a couple of specific styles. Wearing the covering is a Biblical mandate, what kind of covering is an additional rule based in tradition. Not every Christian is convicted that this practice should be continued today although my wife does cover her head.<br /><br />As to your second point, there is a difference between being friendly and being welcoming. The Mennonite church where we fellowship is full of the most friendly, kind, giving people you will ever meet. However to be welcome to share in the Lord's Supper or to teach or to do a lot of basic stuff you have to become a "member" and that comes with a whole lot of those same extra-biblical rules that I talked about above. <br /><br />I think your last comment is in the right spirit but is deeply troubling. If you limit your fellowship to people who are just like you, then you aren't a Kingdom reflective community. We are called to reach the lost with the Gospel to make disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20). The vast majority of Christians are not conservative Mennonites but they are still Christians. Since we attend a conservative Mennonite church we obviously see the value of attending there outweighing the negatives but that doesn't mean that conservative Mennonites/Anabaptists of other kids should not hold their rules and traditions up to the light of Scripture and make sure that they are not doing more to keep people out than to welcome people in. Arthur Sidohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03848508095612688493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643715.post-3134487829937130892016-08-08T02:11:20.391-04:002016-08-08T02:11:20.391-04:00"Gospel focused conservative Anabaptism that ..."Gospel focused conservative Anabaptism that suffers in some ways from a focus on an external rule-making and rule-keeping model that also tends to be very suspicious of pretty much every other Christian tradition"<br /><br />I don't understand these criticisms. Rule making is necessary to hold a community together. Paul made rules. And suspicion of the clearly failed model of modern Christianity seems justified.<br /><br /><br />"For those who are already living in tight-knit Anabaptist communities there needs to be at some point a recognition that not everyone who is walking the Christian path is going to wear headcoverings, plain suit coats and ankle length dresses (at least not at first). The tension between being welcoming to those who don't look like them and still retaining their distinctives is a real one."<br /><br />I don't see this tension. The conservative Mennonite churches that I have visited are incredibly welcoming to outsiders. I am not even Christian, and I feel so welcome that I plan to move to a conservative Mennonite community and attend their church regularly.<br /><br />Modern culture is degenerate and conservative Mennonites should not compromise their ways to appeal to members of this degenerate culture. Conservative Mennonites should retain their integrity and offer islands of sanity in our sea of degeneracy for those few who want to escape.fschmidthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04238063089791697758noreply@blogger.com