Mainstream Mennonite

What a great post, Hearth! I really enjoyed reading it. It is the different ways we see things that interest me almost more than the similarities.

First of all, with regards to 'mainstream' and whatever that means in its context, I am not saying that my beliefs are mainstream. At least they are not mainstream Mennonite. But then again, who knows? A lot of people think Mennonites dress in funny, old-fashioned clothes and have a horse and buggy parked beside the non-electrical house. There are as many varieties of Mennonite belief, so it seems to me, as there are 'mainstream' Christian denominations.

There are Mennonite churches with gay pastors and Mennonite churches who would excommunicate a gay member without hesitation. There are Mennonite churches who don't have a horse and buggy but think that it is prideful to drive a car with shiny chrome so they allow cars, but you have to paint the chrome black.

And there are sub-Mennonite branches such as the Amish, who are more like Reformation-era cousins of the Mennonites.

However, the Sermon on the Mount is from what Mennonites traditionally have taken the core of their beliefs, including a pacifism that includes, but is not limited to fighting in wars. Matthew 5 (KJV):

38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

So since there is no way to love your neighbour or your enemy and kill them, Mennonites do not traditionally participate in war, and are not supposed to support the death penalty. Only God has the right to take a life. That belief I have retained in spite of not being a baptised Mennonite. In war time, Mennonites have supported their country of residence with alternative service work. My great-grandfather, for instance, in Russia served in the medical corps. He died there of typhoid.

Such alternative service was often not enough for the rulers of this world, which meant, far too often, that Mennonites died for their refusal to take up arms. There is no tale of what it means to be a Mennonite that illustrates what is expected of Mennonites so well as the story of Dirk Willems, an early Anabaptist martyr.

Unfortunately, there are Mennonite congregations that are revisiting the pacifist part of their beliefs, so today, even the one thing most associated with the Mennonite practise of faith is not necessarily something to count on.

I used 'country of residence' purposefully. Mennonites live all over the world and traditionally, although that tends to wane the longer people are allowed to live in a country, Mennonites see themselves as 'visitors' wherever they live, rather than having any sort of great patriotism towards their country of residence. That at least, is how I was brought up - I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God before I am a citizen of Canada. The words 'proud Canadian' are not likely to ever be heard from my mouth. I just don't think in those terms. I don't even know how to think in those terms.

I am obligated to human beings everywhere in need, regardless of their nationality, and regardless of whether my country happens to be at war with them. The kingdoms of this world will pass away and with them their rulers, but it is the people, the children of God which will remain when there are no more man made borders to divide mankind.

I don't see myself as owing the state anything more than my taxes and obeying the law in all possible ways except in those things in which God's law supersedes man's laws, which would include that I would not take a side in any war that my country might be engaged in.

Where I disagree with what is 'traditional' Mennonite belief, is that Mennonites believe in adult baptism since a child cannot confess to any faith of his own free will. Usually Mennonites were baptised just before they married. This age could be anywhere from eighteen to the early twenties. I don't think it matters at all whether babies are baptised or adults. I see baptism as a symbol. Samuel's mother took him to the Temple when he was three, 'giving' him to God. He made no choice on his own. She prayed for a child, and promised to give him to the priests to be raised with a greater knowledge of the Lord then she felt she possessed. Baptism, in my mind, is the same way. It is a hope.

I do not believe that baptism can save you or unsave you. But I don't believe either that if a person is 'born-again' in the sense of the whole A, B, and C thing, and lives contrary to the faith he or she professes, not as a result of ignorance but as the result of a conscious thought or feeling or however one would put it, thinking that they said the magic words and therefore they can do as they will, that they are not in danger of hellfire. Otherwise the Lord would not have said, as he does in Matthew 7:21-22

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

To me it is clear that not everyone who is born-again by their words is accepted by God. Salvation is not a free thing, as it is so often portrayed. We are bought with a price and a condition. And that condition is our obedience and behaviour. We cannot sin and expect to get away with it, maybe a few stars short on our crown but nonetheless, by Jesus, saved! What is free, is that Christ offered Himself freely to God as a substitute for our sin and to us, that we can freely accept His conditional gift. When you accept the gift you accept the condition.

Well, would you believe that I wanted to write about head coverings? I don't know how I got on this track but until next time .....

Layla