God Bless the USA inscribed on munitions

[Szdfan]

Are you aware that Anabaptist Christians are not exactly a vocal majority?

Yes.

But even on MennoNet, speaking up about these things can get pushback. And if we don't speak up, who will?

The primary pushback is from the older women, one a retiree, the other is of retirement age yet still works, who are either Republicans or else conservatives, aren’t Mennonites or Anabaptists, and hold a very standard, mainstream evangelical position when it comes to politics.

I don’t think the noise on MennoNet is really doing much useful witnessing at all. There are far better venues to do so.

And one of the primary pushbacks is from you.

[JohnH]

And one of the primary pushbacks is from you.

No it isn’t, despite the frequent accusations I feel I get from you.

[temporal1]

The primary pushback is from the older women, one a retiree, the other is of retirement age yet still works, who are either Republicans or else conservatives, aren’t Mennonites or Anabaptists, and hold a very standard, mainstream evangelical position when it comes to politics.

I don’t think the noise on MennoNet is really doing much useful witnessing at all. There are far better venues to do so.

Grace is CM and (in my view) a consistently worthwhile voice on forum) it would be great if there were more.
The discussions i’m most interested in, all topics, are from CM perspective (i think that’s the initial draw for most new members) -

CM versus lib Anabaptist views help with discernment; for example, just above, the use of the pronoun “we” with reference to gov policies, also, just everyday chatter found online/everywhere. One member uses “we” in broad context, very like the lib world, another points out, “not so fast”. Both Anabaptists, neither retired. For me, the latter resonates with my understanding of scriptures.

CM versus lib Anabaptist views on politics pretty much dominate the politics subforum, the range is wide. Not necessarily by word-count, more by word-impact.

There is quite a range of beliefs within CMs .. recognizing some do not participate on forum at all. That’s a range, of itself.
In my view, they may not be obviously present - but they count. Silence is a form of and part of communication.

There is more to life than the obvious/superficial. i try to leave doors open for the unknown.

[QuietlyListening]

CM versus lib Anabaptist views help with discernment

T1, I hear the term libs or lib Anabaptist thrown around. What is your definition of a lib/lib Anabaptist?
I have friends and family who are very conservative politically and liberal politically and often that also translates into their theological- for lack of a better word- beliefs. But then it is interesting that the conservatives will accuse someone of being liberal and that same person is accused of being conservative by folks who lean left.
There are many folks who have leanings that are maybe on the liberal side but also on the conservative side. And most of them are very 'conservative' when it comes to their biblical beliefs. Again- conservative for lack of a better word.

So I am really curious- what makes you classify a person as liberal and what makes you classify someone as conservative?

[Ernie]

We??

I want everyone to understand that this is not "what Christians do" or "how Christians treat Muslims", but from their perspective, that's what these things often look like.

And sometimes people are doing these things in our name. Some people even use religious war framing.

As citizens of the United States who participate in this society to some degree or another, how separate are we really from the American Empire regardless of our loyalties?

It is up to every individual how separate he or she wants to be. The more separate we are, the more we can honestly distance ourselves from anything the Empire says or does and promote a different kingdom.

[Szdfan]

And one of the primary pushbacks is from you.

No it isn’t, despite the frequent accusations I feel I get from you.

Uh huh. We just spent the past sixty days or so arguing about Trump’s military action against Iran. Haven’t you been defending it?

[Szdfan]

I want everyone to understand that this is not "what Christians do" or "how Christians treat Muslims", but from their perspective, that's what these things often look like.

And sometimes people are doing these things in our name. Some people even use religious war framing.

As citizens of the United States who participate in this society to some degree or another, how separate are we really from the American Empire regardless of our loyalties?

It is up to every individual how separate he or she wants to be. The more separate we are, the more we can honestly distance ourselves from anything the Empire says or does and promote a different kingdom.

There are limits to the degree of separation for most of us. Even plain Anabaptists who pay their taxes are still indirectly contributing to the military budget.

[JohnH]

And one of the primary pushbacks is from you.

No it isn’t, despite the frequent accusations I feel I get from you.

Uh huh. We just spent the past sixty days or so arguing about Trump’s military action against Iran. Haven’t you been defending it?

If you'd like to debate politics (as opposed to history), there's a Politics subforum for there where I'd be happy to discourse with you further.

[JohnH]

There are limits to the degree of separation for most of us. Even plain Anabaptists who pay their taxes are still indirectly contributing to the military budget.

Do you have some brilliant suggestion for how one can stop paying taxes?

I mean I guess I could lead the way by example - I have succeeded at costing the federal government far more than I pay in taxes (although not quite enough to net out my lifetime tax contributions). So I suppose I could say I've managed not to contribute to the military budget for the past few years.

However, I don't really see anyone else really advocating this. Taxpayers do not "contribute" taxes. The taxes are taken from them. When someone gets a paycheck, the taxes are already taken out. If they don't pay the taxes owed, the IRS will eventually place a lien on their house, bank account, etc. and seize the money. Nobody "contributes" taxes.

So I don't think it's fair to accuse less-poor Anabaptists of "contributing to the military budget", even indirectly.

[Szdfan]

No it isn’t, despite the frequent accusations I feel I get from you.

Uh huh. We just spent the past sixty days or so arguing about Trump’s military action against Iran. Haven’t you been defending it?

If you'd like to debate politics (as opposed to history), there's a Politics subforum for there where I'd be happy to discourse with you further.

I’m not debating anything, just pointing out the argument you’ve been making ever since the war started.