/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

>>856490

>it would just being end up to being erased by some other cultures/religions.

God doesn't need you. In all honesty, you need to let this sink in before anything else. He doesn't need you. Your efforts mean nothing. He conquered the Roman Empire from the catacombs of humble martyrs. He also preserved the Church in Europe by the efforts of humble believers and monks, during a time of barbarians in the dark ages. And in Tolstoy's case (Russia), the Church thrived there despite all that the Bolshevik's threw at it. Or the Ottoman's previously did to the Greeks. And they were all following the example of Christ himself: The rightful King of the universe, who humbled himself and died on a cross, and bore humiliating torture and insult that were beneath him.

"Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also." - John 15:20

And anyone who presumes to be greater than the Master, that they're the exception, that they have a better way than their own King, that they should not endure what he did, is not actually following Christ. And even if we're not called to directly be martyrs, every Christian is still called to be a martyr in their heart. To always prepared to for this final test, if necessary.

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" - Matthew 16:24-26

Everything a Christian is called to do is a denial of self. If not literal death at the hands of enemies, it's still a call to literally throw your life away in other ways. We must give it all up to God. Be it one's relationships or leaving old notions of worldly success in the garbage.

I couldn't make it passed the part where he says that the governments are not ordained by God which goes against scripture. There has got to be a better way for Christian Anarchism to exist without losing the Christian part.

The part about no resistance to evil is actually biblical but taken to an extreme, it's also a very hard passage to follow.

>Matthew 5:39 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.

Check out "Jesus and Non-Violence: A Third Way"

Good take on the "turn the other cheek" and the other two things mentioned at the same time. The Jews would have understood these parables slightly differently than mere passivism.

I'm wrestling with the same things currently. For instance wives are supposed to submit to their husbands "in everything". But every Christian I talk to has a caveat for when a husband goes "too far" and the wife is justified in rebelling against that authority.

I have a ton of trouble separating laws that are just plain inconvenient and… frankly stupid, the sheer number of them is crazy in itself… versus laws that are demonstrably ungodly.

Another fun book is "Everything I want to do is illegal" I'm reading now.