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At the time of the Amman/Reist disagreement, one of the sticking points was at how the Reist party looked at "friends." In those days there were many people who sympathized with and supported the Anabaptists but were not ready to "forsake all" and join them. They were known by the Reist people as the "True Hearted" and were truly friends. The Amman group considered them "lost" while the Reist group didn't.

Friends in our world are usually people we know, love and respect. Brothers and sisters are members of our own brotherhood or others that we would fellowship with; those with very similar practices and beliefs. So a friend is indeed a friend, not someone we disapprove of.

Hats Off wrote:At the time of the Amman/Reist disagreement, one of the sticking points was at how the Reist party looked at "friends." In those days there were many people who sympathized with and supported the Anabaptists but were not ready to "forsake all" and join them. They were known by the Reist people as the "True Hearted" and were truly friends. The Amman group considered them "lost" while the Reist group didn't.

Friends in our world are usually people we know, love and respect. Brothers and sisters are members of our own brotherhood or others that we would fellowship with; those with very similar practices and beliefs. So a friend is indeed a friend, not someone we disapprove of.

I've never had it explained what the "right hand of fellowship" means. But this sounds similar?

Brothers and sisters are members of our own brotherhood or others that we would fellowship with; those with very similar practices and beliefs

Problem is, many groups draw the brotherhood line at their denominational title, conference, etc., which, in fact, really denotes true church-ism whether it's an "official" doctrine or not.

Wade wrote:

Ernie wrote:

RZehr wrote:In their opinion we are just a little misguided but we mean well.

And I feel similarly about them which is why I count them as friends.

Does this mean when Mennonites call outsiders "friends" that it is sign of disapproval?

Not at all. It means that it spite of differences in belief, respect and appreciation is rendered.
The differences may be relatively minor, or they may be set aside for discussion later.

KingdomBuilder wrote:

Brothers and sisters are members of our own brotherhood or others that we would fellowship with; those with very similar practices and beliefs

Problem is, many groups draw the brotherhood line at their denominational title, conference, etc., which, in fact, really denotes true church-ism whether it's an "official" doctrine or not.

That's right!

And it becomes "one-true church" in action whether we "believe" it is doctrine or not.

RZehr wrote:

Wade wrote:

Ernie wrote: And I feel similarly about them which is why I count them as friends.

Does this mean when Mennonites call outsiders "friends" that it is sign of disapproval?

Not at all. It means that it spite of differences in belief, respect and appreciation is rendered.
The differences may be relatively minor, or they may be set aside for discussion later.

I think that sometimes the way "approval" or times of "proving" comes across is too much like public high school and is quite discouraging. Which cliche do each of us fit in...? That is not what we are here for!

I would extend the "right hand of fellowship" and the kiss of peace to RZehr and Ernie, for example, while I don't to my Bible Chapel Brethern friends. I consider them as fellow believers but I disagree with their eternal security and dispensational doctrines, and what all goes with that. I recognize them as sincere, devoted Christians; I love them as brothers, I appreciate the many areas where we do work well together. My son and his family and a daughter have gone to another fellowship, but we greet them as we always have.

One thing we do not want is to be in a position where we can be accused of trying to be "the one true church."

Hats Off wrote:At the time of the Amman/Reist disagreement, one of the sticking points was at how the Reist party looked at "friends." In those days there were many people who sympathized with and supported the Anabaptists but were not ready to "forsake all" and join them. They were known by the Reist people as the "True Hearted" and were truly friends. The Amman group considered them "lost" while the Reist group didn't.

I am also curious what "forsake all" means to Mennonites? Because of the "time of proving" this, from my experience does not (didn't) work for us today. So those who do forsake all are just left with nothing. And yet they have set there hand to the plow and aren't looking back because we are not looking for the praise of men, yet still alone... I guess why should us newcomers expect to be treated any different from our Lord in not being accepted by the religious community of the day?

Hats Off wrote:I would extend the "right hand of fellowship" and the kiss of peace to RZehr and Ernie, for example, while I don't to my Bible Chapel Brethern friends. I consider them as fellow believers but I disagree with their eternal security and dispensational doctrines, and what all goes with that. I recognize them as sincere, devoted Christians; I love them as brothers

Is this not enough then to extend the "right hand of fellowship"? Is it our job to draw the boundaries for Biblical commandments based on likeness in doctrinal conclusions?
I don't feel any guilt in my conscious from extending fellowship to LDS, JW's, Pentecostals, Baptists, etc., though I surely don''t share some of their beliefs. But I'd fear how the Lord would look upon any divisiveness I seek to form between us.
The Lord will separate the sheep from the goats, and that's not a job I desire to attempt. Until he does, my instructions are pretty clear.

Wade and Kingdom Builder, I feel under attack here - I am sorry but I don't want to defend our practices. We have standards that we are required to meet if we want full fellowship with our conference. For that I don't apologize. However, we do not judge others who do not adhere to our standards. The church that my son and daughter attend also has standards that they are required to meet. Appleman and Silentreader are members of a fellowship that also has standards that they are required to meet. Same with RZehr and Lester. The standards are not the same from one group to the next but I think we would all recognize each other as brothers and extend the right hand of fellowship and the kiss of brotherhood and peace.

I don't want to judge you for where you are and I don't want to be judged by you for where I am. I want to co-exist peacefully with you, recognizing you both as followers of Jesus.