tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433399787563379852.post4761854861979793634..comments2024-03-23T12:07:15.558-04:00Comments on Harvspot: If Christ Were Head Of The Church, Which Schisms Would He Support?harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433399787563379852.post-7883200215701271952015-08-04T07:21:20.298-04:002015-08-04T07:21:20.298-04:00I'd love to have some historians weigh in on t...I'd love to have some historians weigh in on this. I was basing this on the fact that the young followers of Zwingli (Grebel, Blaurock and Manz) who baptized each other January 31, 1525, were a part of a Reformed Swiss state church that had already separated from the Catholic church some years before. And they weren't together to form a separate movement, but were still pushing for public forums in which the idea of a free church based on voluntary baptism and membership could be formed. I'm not aware of any anti-Catholic diatribes on their part. Also Menno became a hunted man after he began teaching the same. harvspothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433399787563379852.post-33045683532495881302015-08-04T02:48:19.626-04:002015-08-04T02:48:19.626-04:00So the early Anabaptist could say, like Ronald Rea...So the early Anabaptist could say, like Ronald Reagan said of the Democratic Party, "I didn't leave the Catholic Church. The Church left me"? <br /><br />I don't know about that: there was plenty vitriol flying both ways in those days, and I seem to recall plenty being said of the abominations of Rome and of the pope in early Anabaptist writings (and plenty of bad about the Protestants of the day, too). No, to my ears it sounds like a justification of an historic schism. <br /><br />All schism has its roots in good intentions, wouldn't you say? Nobody sets out to create a truncated Body of Christ. Those early Anabaptists were not worried about separation from the mystical Body. Their concern was purification, of removing the tares from their wheat field: a good intention, perhaps, but to my mind sadly misguided. History, it seems, shows us that to be separated from the Bishop of Rome--the "Kepha" upon which Christ founded His Church--inevitably leads to further sad divisions among Christians.<br /><br />I did not attend EMHS, and I don't believe we've ever met. The title of your post appeared in my Facebook feed for some reason and so I clicked it to see what it was about...and then I decided to open my mouth and start commenting :) <br /><br />Best wishes to you as well!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00337300067456828302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433399787563379852.post-28416685925087267772015-08-03T22:10:15.849-04:002015-08-03T22:10:15.849-04:00Thanks for your response. It's actually a poin...Thanks for your response. It's actually a point I make in another post http://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-fervent-prayer-for-church-restoration.html. I think of the early Anabaptist minority not as setting out to "leave the church" but as simply practicing following Jesus as they felt led and having the Reformed and Catholic churches excommunicating them. <br />And are you the Dan Lehman I once taught at EMHS? Best wishes either way!harvspothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433399787563379852.post-52163265221949742522015-08-03T22:01:14.345-04:002015-08-03T22:01:14.345-04:00You make a good point, though I still find no prec...You make a good point, though I still find no precedent for New Testament churches separating themselves from whole congregations, be they Laodicean or Corinthian. The separating needs to happen at a congregational level with individual believers who "will not listen to the church." But we major in the former kind of "excommunication" but don't seem to have the grace, tough love or courage to do the latter.harvspothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433399787563379852.post-71320964689004684372015-08-03T21:53:59.842-04:002015-08-03T21:53:59.842-04:00In our modern day context, have you considered tha...In our modern day context, have you considered that Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who "hated" the deeds of the Nicolaitans (Rev 2:6) two centuries ago, is not exactly pleased with contemporary immorality even when it is codified? Amorphous love and calls for unity just do not cover unrepented immorality. Maybe the call should be "come out from among them" rather than let's be unified with our differences. Does it work to pass conflicting resolutions so everyone on both sides will be pleased? I think not.....Roman Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09929178152760544184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433399787563379852.post-44407107337353537932015-08-03T11:08:53.601-04:002015-08-03T11:08:53.601-04:00You could always correct a 480-year-old mistake. ...You could always correct a 480-year-old mistake. The Bishop of Rome is a pretty remarkable source of unity among Christians.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00337300067456828302noreply@blogger.com