How Do You Engage in Conversation with a Christian Anarchist?
Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason discusses where to begin in conversation with someone who identifies as a Christian anarchist.
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This guy clearly doesn’t understand Christian anarchism
Your taking about king James bible? About submitting to.goverment.
just teaching human wisdom…
If government tells you to do something that goes against the teachings of Jesus, who do you listen to? Who is Lord really?
This is incredibly ignorant. This man knows very little about which he speaks. Disappointing video.
You do not unserstand what being a Christian Anarchist is… you even said, "I don't know" then continued to make an argument based on false assumptions 🤦♀️ you made an argument FOR Christian Anarchism 😂😂😂
It seems like Greg is confusing anarchist with Christian anarchist. Yes an anarchist wouldn’t follow anyone including God. But a Christian anarchists only follows God.
*facepalm
Maybe try talking to a Christian anarchist before you make a video on how to talk to Christian anarchists
I thought jesus fullfiled the law, and thus Christians were no longer under the law in the new testament . And than that all christians get a piece of the kingdom.
Lol governments ordained by god??? When did jesus promote the roman empire, he said dont fight system but he wasn't saying the roman empire was sent by the father or him.
Christians are not supposed to be pro ANY government democratic or monarchy .
This goes to shows the real from the fake Christians, this guy is clearly a fake, Christians are THEORCRATIC which in this case can be anarchist because according to jesus the law was fulfilled by him
Because we don't submit to mans unjust laws, we're anarchist in that we don't recognize mans authority
You can't serve two masters. Either you serve human authority, which is idolatrous, or God (through Christ). Its one or the other, its that simple.
Love how this comment section backfired 😂
It seems like he is using his own definition of Christian Anarchy. He starts from just the word "Anarchy" and then argues why he doesn't understand. Understanding must come from a Christian Anarchist FIRST and then you must listen until THEY confirm you understand. People get offended when you try to explain to them how to properly listen but most people do it very badly. Anyone reading this may already be defensive so they will lose out. But if you can handle it, read on!!
Listening to understand is different than just hearing the words. Words are only tools. Syntax and semantics need to make way if you ever want to understand someone else's perspective!!! Most people listen only to base their argument on something. A common way of this is to hang on the specific words or apparent surface paradoxes. Most people stop there and give up.
The other person's logic and wording is what it is!! If you want to understand you must listen to HOW they are using words. They may have nuanced concepts or be using a word as a placeholder for a broader or narrower part of a concept. Before you could translate theirs into your own words and logic, you must let them explain. You can ask clarification questions but not in order to convince or argue .. just to gain understanding. Carefully pay attention to when THEY say "you got it!" or maybe "Exactly!" & only then do you know you understand them. Only after they confirm that understanding for each piece of the overall concept should you start to look for areas of commonality or disagreement. Greg has not attempted to understand Christian Anarchy from this empathetic method of talking to an actual Anarchist FIRST before he starts to analyze. Instead he thinks he can use the words to leapt to an understanding. And that's why he doesn't get it.
To date it seems he still hasn't talked to a Christian Anarchist. It is insanity that people scoff at their fellow believers for refusing to hold allegiance to worldly kings. "We have no King but Jesus" is one of the oldest christian creeds, and the one for which the romans murdered them en masse. It is in fact what paul says is a requirement for salvation in romans 10! "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus" means to confess he is your living breathing resurrected son of God King in exclusivity to all others, it's not a vain religious title to call Jesus "lord". He is your KING! You cannot serve two masters.
Jesus came proclaiming a kingdom that was promised to destroy, abolish, and replace all others, as God said he is furious with the nations and their armies & their perversion of justice, and promised their absolute destruction. It's really not that hard to "get", except that satan has made it his life's work to keep mankind enthralled to his kings and kingdoms through the religious myth of human authority and the blind faith cult of statism. And if you doubt that these worldly nations belong to satan, 1st samuel 8 calls seeking a human ruler a rejection of God, and luke 4 says during the temptation of Christ that the kingdoms of this world are all given to Satan, and that he gives power over them to whom he wishes in return for their worship, and this is the deal he offered to Jesus.
God has only one Kingdom, and only one King.
The word anarchist has been misused so much people don’t fully understand its meaning, so I just use voluntaryist, which is the same thing. Anarchists/Voluntaryists simply believe that everything should be voluntary and not coercive. Choosing to be a Christian is a voluntary choice. God doesn’t coerce anyone to believe in Him and follow Him. That even goes for organizing, hierarchical structures, and leadership. For example, a grocery store is anarchy. It’s a complex system that works and thrives with 100% voluntary behavior. This man’s argument is skewed because it seems he doesn’t fully understand what an anarchist is. God isn’t government and nor is a family. Family doesn’t fit the definition of government. God didn’t establish his own government nor did he create it. Just like Lucifer, who brought evil into the world, he created people who brought it into existence. A government is a ruling class that has “special rights” and a monopoly on force. It has all of the signs of a cult. I would argue that to be an actual Christian you must be an anarchist. Most are statists, which is an antithetical religion and it’s impossible to follow the teachings of Jesus and support and believe in the necessity of government. Government by nature violates his Commandments; it kills and steals. God never ordained government. Government isn’t an institution—it’s a belief system. Especially, the specific regime in which the US lives under. To say he ordained a group of thieves, murderers, and pedos is radical and extreme, not anarchy.
@3:41 like slaveholders? Like nazi regimes? Like Russia? Let’s just ignore the Bible’s rich prophetic tradition (of which Jesus is the penultimate example of) and continue on with the status quo 😅 everything is fine and there’s no need to critique the state unless it rubs against my own rhetoric of right wing authoritarianism.
So if God ordained government authorities. He ordained ALL government authorities. So Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConall, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Trump and Biden are all chosen and ordained by God… you sure about this?
What a shame that with all the available writings of and about Christian Anarchy, Koukl instead decided to "strawman" the whole thing. I've benefitted greatly from his ministry (especially during my college years) but he got lazy here and didn't do his due diligence.
Tolkien was a christian anarchist. The only king is God. No human has authority over another human. Anarchy is not opposition to authority, it's an opposition to self proclaimed human rulers. Actual anarchism and Christianity go hand in hand.
If a Christian doesn't recognize organized religion as an authority and only recognizes God as an authority, then perhaps they might be a Christian ana-christ.
I'm glad the comment section knows better.
Yeah, you might want to research anarchism and read some Tolstoy before you do another half-hearted refutation such as this.
I’m a christan Anarcho capitalist i just don’t want to force my beliefs on others I want people to choose Christianity not by force Also we recognize the state is corrupt we want to privatize everything and only rule is none aggression principle
God brings rain on the wicked and the righteous. Humans have free will. If your government made it a law that you had to denounce Christ, would you still use that verse to back up your claims? Would you denouce God if the government made legislation like this? I think not. You should dive deeper into anarchist philosophy before trying to dismiss it.
Ephesians 6:12 sums up why we should look to Gods Authority and not an earthy Government
In the words of Peter, Christian anarchism is "we ought to obey God, rather than men" – Acts 5:29
Jesus is an anarchist and anti-religionist, Pharisees were ultraconservative, fundamentalist capitalists. Jesus Christ is alive and at the right hand of God, but the Pharisees are dead and in hell.
It is the height of narcissism to think he should respond to something about which he knows nothing.
Pro tip: the first step in talking to a Christian Anarchist is to do the minimum effort to understand what it is before spending five full minutes rambling incoherently about it ("King-dom… king-DOM… DOM") before admitting that you don't understand it. It's seriously entertaining to watch this guy blowing circuits and showing off his complete lack of imagination and analytical skill. And he does it ON CAMERA, meaning he took the trouble to set up for this abortion of intelligence, then edited and posted it. Embarrassing. I checked out this guy's website for giggles and it turns out there's a whole group of these people who get paid to do this in front of people at conferences.
This only makes sense to people who don't understand AnarchoChristianity. AnarchoChristians are, in fact, monarchists. #NoKingButChrist #NoKingdomButGods
We call ourselves anarchists because we recognize no earthly authority. AnarchoChristians have read the Bible and understand that Satan is the rightful god and prince over this material world, and we refuse to worship or bow to his disciples.
In the Temptation of Christ, what happened? Satan told Christ that all the political authority in the world is his to give. Did Christ argue that point, or did He deny the power?
All political authority in this world comes from Satan, so when you say that governments are ordained by god, maybe you should ask yourself which god.
1 Samuel 8:6-7 – "But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."
The modern Christian anarchists looks at the state of our government, sees that it is foul, Despicable, and rampant with Satan, and concedes that only God's law is perfect and is what should be followed. For a Christian to look at the law which says murder and abuse of children Is OK, he reasons that no other law they have written can be of good will
Which government are we to be subject to then?
No king, But CHRIST!
I've never met a single "Christian anarchist" who's adopted anarchism in his home (i.e., over his own kids).
Simple question. Is Gods kindom literal and like the ones of this earth? No? Then Christian anarchism is no contradiction in terms.
Under God and not under man
I disagree. All Christians should naturally become anarchists to a degree if governments are ungodly. The formation of the United States is a prime example. Our founding fathers were, in a sense, anarchists who revolted to create a small government to give freedom and autonomy to families and small communities, enabling them to govern themselves without governmental tyranny. The US government no longer reflects this belief however.
Submitting is to turn the other cheek, not encouraging slapping or the state. Also the state didn't punish evildoers, it rewarded them
Punishing evil doers and rewarding those who do right is part of a voluntary society and is much better in a voluntary society. Anarchists have the right to defend the NAP which is the non-aggression pact. And whatever rules God gives us because he rightly owns us as he has the property rights