Borderline Anarchist Follower of Jesus?

A couple of weeks ago I succumbed to the culture and opened a Facebook account.  While filling out my profile information I got to the part where it asked about my religious views.  The best description I could think of for myself was, "Borderline Anarchist Follower of Jesus."  I'm sure many who've since seen this description on my page have wondered what such a phrase could mean.

I guess I have to begin with a definition of anarchist.  Dictionary.com offers the following three definitions:

1.	a person who advocates or believes in anarchy or anarchism.

2.	a person who seeks to overturn by violence all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, with no purpose of establishing any other system of order in the place of that destroyed.

3.	a person who promotes disorder or excites revolt against any established rule, law, or custom.

These definitions are all a bit clumsy for me, which is why I have to include the "borderline" qualifier in my self-description.  I would describe an anarchist as someone who sees no value in, and works to dismantle, law, government, and order. 

After 22 plus years in the church system, I am closer to an ideology of ecclesiastical anarchy than I've ever been.  And in so doing I take a seat at the table with Soren Kierkegaard, Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau, Ivan Illich, Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Desert Fathers, the Quakers, and many others.  Yet, in some ways, I remain not fully seated.  Let me explain.

As a person who has placed my faith in Christ, is set free from both the penalty and the power of sin, and believes that the book of Galatians is inspired by God, I believe that I am no longer bound to the necessity of a religious life that has "keeping the law" as its redemptive nexus.  Even so, I am not antinomian in totality as I see great benefit in living by the spirit of the law.  Being a person who doesn't steal keeps me free.  Being a person who doesn't commit adultery keeps me relationally and sexually alive.  Observing the Sabbath keeps me rested and refreshed.  As Jesus compared the law to the way of the Kingdom in his Sermon on the Mount he did not dismiss the law.  Instead, he encouraged his hearers to understand, embrace, and live freely in the spirit of the law rather than the powerless word of the law.  Where I am fully antinomian is in the dozens, yea hundreds, of ancillary, extra-Biblical laws erected and enforced by systems of organized religion over the centuries; Like the membership card I had to sign with one denomination promising that I would never dance or drink a glass of wine.

It is in the realm of ecclesiastical government wherein I find myself becoming more and more anarchist.  As I search the New Testament over and over again, I find no sign of church government.  What I do find is a rapidly multiplying community of people who have encountered Jesus, been set free of the penalty and power of sin, do life together in the most common and love-infused ways, and (as my friend Billy puts it) are devoted to inviting others to the table.  Among the community are those gifted as teachers, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors who serve the community.  They don't rule the community.  They don't create ever-expanding hierarchies of management, command, control, and bureaucracy.  They are free people helping those around them to live freely and fully in the grace of Christ.  And the ethos of this community is one of mutual and voluntary love, encouragement, accountability, and correction.  The only King and Sovereign Ruler before whom every knee must bow is Jesus himself, the Head of the church.  Since that time, Jesus followers have left the trail he blazed for us and have given themselves to the creation and violent protection of religious nation-states ruled by clerical despots. Woe!

Finally, on the issue of order, I find myself not nearly as anarchist.  A properly functioning body of believers living under the influence of the Holy Spirit will not be chaotic or disorderly.  Where there is chaos, I suspect there is either an absence or quenching of the Spirit of God.  That said, I do believe that when forms, structures, orders, and liturgies arise out of the surpremacy of preference or an ego-driven need for control, an anarchist impulse is not only justifiable, but remedial.

This has been a difficult transition for me.  I have always been somewhat of a renegade who eschews compliance simply for the sake of compliance.  But my observance of and participation in oppressive and contentious religious environments has inspired me to embrace the shaking of such superstructures.  May that which honors Christ and frees people to follow Him with unencumbered passion be all that survives the shaking.

For more information about Christian Anarchism, click the link.

Comments

[Jennifer @ Quiverfull Family]

I'm with you here more and more brother:

"Where I am fully antinomian is in the dozens, yea hundreds, of ancillary, extra-Biblical laws erected and enforced by systems of organized religion over the centuries; Like the membership card I had to sign with one denomination promising that I would never dance or drink a glass of wine."

Amen! Thanks for the post :). We're currently without a church home due to this sort of extra-Biblical law making, whether overt as in your example or subtle and implied.

[Bill]

Hi Jennifer!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my post and leave a comment. I spent some time reading your "about" page on your blog. I have deep admiration for the lifestyle you've chosen. What state are you in?

Many blessings to you!
bill

[Jennifer @ Quiverfull Family]

Hi Bill, we're in Canada actually - Alberta :). Thanks for visiting our blog! I should actually update that About page, it's not entirely accurate anymore. For example - we don't currently have an "in-person" fellowship at the moment as I mentioned in my previous comment :). We've only been saved for a couple of years, and sometimes it feels like we are really stumbling our way through this thing called faith and the Christian life.

I suppose being led by the Holy Spirit is like that at times...being led by hand through the dark - just have to trust.

[Matt]

Bill, what about where Paul writes to Timothy about the qualifications of elders? The original language shows there is at least in the local body a need for an undershepherd (or better yet, more than one elder)? These are not intended to be ham-fisted autocrats, but they are supposed to oversee and lead the flock, aren't they? Isn't this some evidence of church 'government' in the NT?

[Bill]

Hi Matt!

Yes, a healthy community of faith will have in it's midst those whom Paul identifies as elders. They've been walking with Christ for a while. They have proven character and wisdom. But Paul never intended for these men to be installed as governors. He did intend for them to be identified and respected as men worthy of being listened to and corrected by when correction is required. They are to be servants, not governors.

[Matt]

Ok, so you're against denominational dictatorship. I'm thinking you're ok on that one. I can think of no denomination where they're getting it right, and it seems more and more like they'd do better to stay out of the way and let the local church bodies contend for the truth in their communities.

[Bill]

Hey Matt,

Well, I was really thinking more about local dictatorship than denominational dictatorship. You're right though. My opposition to denominational dictatorship goes without saying. But I think local dictatorship is as much (if not more) of a problem than denominational dictatorship.