Why Do We LIve in Community

Somehow the ancient Bible writers recognized that people always live in some sort of community setting. It is a part of human nature we share with most other species. It is the way the world works, the way God created us (Genesis 1:27).

The rest of the Bible tells stories about our relationships with each other and with the communities in which we live. The stories contain elements of both incredible evil as well as of kindness. According to Genesis 3, the ancients place both evil (represented by Satan) and good (represented by God) as forces outside of us, even outside the universe. I think most modern scientists now lean in the direction that good and evil depend mostly on our nature as well as our nurture. Whether we behave one way or the other is under our control and can be learned as well as unlearned.

I also think most can agree that Utopia, the Kingdom of God or some other imagined, hoped for, perfect place does not exist anywhere on Earth. For most, their reality is the exact opposite.

The hope is that enough communities around the world recognize the power of community and are attempting to show the rest of us that the Kingdom of God is possible. For starters, they have abolished private ownership of property. They have everything in common. Their purpose in life is to be stewards of the abundance of the Earth making sure there is no needy person among them. They recognize that we all bear the image of God and deserve to be treated as such and therefore must also treat everyone else that way. 

I think everyone can understand this, but some choose not to. I don't think the antiquated language of the Bible is the obstacle. The obstacle is the persistent, false teaching that our condition depends solely on our own effort. I say community is the answer to all the suffering in the world.

Way Back to A New Kind of Church

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If you are new here, you have probably noticed that things are a little different than what you are used to. You might think it is a whole new religion. It isn't. On the contrary, we're looking for a way back to what Jesus had in mind. After he died, things quickly got more than a little off course. I'm trying to get us back on track.

Jesus was a Jew and he went to the synagogue. I don't think the synagogue was the model for the church he had in mind. He didn't say he would build his church with bricks and sticks. He was going to build his church on the belief that he is the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). His church is the group of people who live their lives in accordance with his teaching and example. Clearly, the church of Christ is not a Sunday morning gathering of friends. Following him is a 365/24/7 job. It is our lives, our entire lives. The Apostle Paul puts it this way: [O]ffer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1).

So no, we are not inventing anything new here. We're just going back to the way things were supposed to be. Our church, New Covenant House, is a common purse intentional community. We not only have all our possessions in common, we also have our faith in common. We try to follow the Way of Christ to the best of our ability all day every day.

We have two main challenges: First, all the surrounding laws and institutions are designed for a population that believes in competition and the survival of the strongest. Second, when we confess our Christian faith, we are automatically lumped in with the church that went off the rails centuries ago. We are going to have to learn to overcome these and many other obstacles.

Worrying

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In the Kingdom of God, there is no need to worry (Matthew 6:19-34). Most people worry, though. They put their faith in Social Security and other retirement savings plans to feel safe. It is understandable. It would be awful to have to rely on government handouts to survive in your old age, wouldn't it? 

When Jesus said not to worry, he didn't mean for you to grit your teeth and try really hard not to worry. What he meant is that when we all make it our purpose in life to care for our neighbors there is no need for anyone to worry about anything. All of us would always be provided for. How much would you have to give up for that to happen? How much would you have to pay in tax for everyone to have enough food, a place to live, good healthcare and so on? Well, that's the thing, you would have to give up everything; even yourself. You would have to offer yourself as a living sacrifice, as Paul the Apostle puts it in Romans 12:1.

Like the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17-27, most people can't imagine that peace of mind, God's peace, not having to worry, is so much more valuable than anything else you might call your own. The poor widow in Mark 12:41-44 gave everything she had. The rich and powerful, the ones who could really make a difference, did not.

I am convinced there is a small group of people who have not lost faith that the Kingdom of God is possible. Today we might call it something else, an intentional community perhaps. Maybe our words alone won't convince people that we can restore the Garden of Eden. Working together showing them by our example might. Someone long ago put it this way: Preach the gospel, if necessary use words.

The Garden of Eden

 

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Some people believe the Garden of Eden is or was a real place. They debate endlessly where it might be and sometimes go to great lengths to try to find it.

The modern interpretation is more symbolic. The Garden represents the world the way it is supposed to be, a place or a state of mind where people know who God is and what his purpose for us is. It also explains why it isn't that way at the moment.

The ancient writers imagined a perfect world where there was no evil, not even the concept of evil. They tell us how they imagined evil came to be. Obviously, they didn't have access to the science we have today, but somehow they knew that humans have two sometimes conflicting tendencies. First, we have an innate desire to be in community with other people. This state of compassion and cooperation can be easily upset by our other personality trait, the desire to protect ourselves. The slightest hint of an attack can cause us to go into defense mode and do things we would later regret.

Under perfect circumstances, in the Garden of Eden or the Kingdom of God, there would be no reason for any of our brains to ever go into defense mode. There should be no reason ever for anybody to attack us. Reality is that it happens anyway from time to time. Then we have failed God's purpose for us. Thank God we can ask for forgiveness and resolve to do better.

We can't change the world. What we can do is do our best for our own behavior to make it look more like the Garden in the eyes of other people. That is our purpose in life. There should be no reason for anyone to ever attack anyone else.

Does God Exist?

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 Does God Exist?

That depends on who or what God is. What does it even mean for something to exist?

The Bible writers didn't seem to have any doubt. They simply seem to have assumed that he does, always has and always will. We can't ask them what kind of proof they had or how they came up with that idea. They just did. That's a fact beyond question.

Does something have to have a physical presence that can be measured or observed for it to exist? Surely, trees, houses and people exist. What about feelings? Do they exist? Surely, hunger or joy both exist if you are hungry or happy. What about ideas? Does democracy or science exist? Of course they do. They just don't belong in the physical or natural world. They belong in the spiritual world, the thoughts, feelings and minds of people. Then why not God? 

God doesn't have a physical presence. You can't see God. The ancient writers knew that. That's because God belongs in the spiritual world. God represents the ancients' attempt to illustrate the power of the innate part of human nature that has to do with compassion and cooperation. Similarly, Satan represents our natural instinct to survive no matter what, no matter who gets run over in the process. 

Whether you agree with it or not, God's presence sure is durable, occupying the minds of billions of people for thousands of years. Of course he exists except he may not be who or what you have been told, but that’s a story for another day.

Priests, Kings and Scientists

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The world, especially the wealthier and younger part, has become increasingly secularized. While a few countries still mandate strict adherence to religious customs, another few are prohibiting public display of religious affiliation.

More than half of the earth's population identify as either Christian or Muslim. Only a small, but growing group claims no religious affiliation at all. Clearly religion has played a significant, but shrinking role in the lives of people throughout the world and throughout history.

Religion is often seen as a spiritual, supernatural or divine companion to the physical, material world. The typical role of priests is to connect the two. 

The earliest priests may simply have been people wondering how the world works. What causes natural disasters, rain to come or the sun to set and rise? Could you control these things? How about controlling how people live their lives? At times the lines between priests, scientists and kings may have become blurred.

It is not hard to imagine that the ability to control nature could lead to some kind of special status. It is no less hard to understand how great wealth would do the same. Uniting kings and priests makes a powerful alliance. Hundreds of kings and emperors have been crowned by bishops. Holy empires have come and gone. Harold Bluetooth and Constantine didn't make Christianity the official religion because they were such strong believers, but for purely political reasons. Augustine did not come up with the "just war" concept based on Scripture alone.

Today, many religious leaders depend on paychecks to arrive regularly. Preaching a gospel of sacrifice and forgiveness may not have the same appeal as prosperity or eternal life. It has to be hard to tune out what the people in the pews want to hear. It must be hard to preach about systemic change when they expect therapy for the soul.

We're blessed to know Jesus and what he teaches about the Kingdom of God.

Money and Property

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The vision for New Covenant House is the Kingdom of God here on Earth. It is a common purse community. Does that mean that there is also a common purse in the Kingdom of God?

No, in the Kingdom of God, there is neither purse, expenses nor income. In the Kingdom of God everything is held in common (Acts 2:44 and 4:32). No one claims anything for him or herself. We're not owners. We are stewards. Stewards manage or look after something on behalf of someone else, the whole community or God as the ancients would say.

Common purse communities only exist because none of us are large enough or have enough skills to care for everyone without interacting with the outside world. We still depend on them to obtain certain goods or services, but, certainly, the ultimate goal is to break free from the world and produce everything we need ourselves.

First, we can decide to need less. We can join with other communities and share what we have with them. We can learn to produce more things ourselves or use appropriate technologies to do it for us.

In the Kingdom of God, there is no money. The use of money tends to inspire greed and exploitation. It tends to cause division among us. Our goal is to live completely without the use of money or its equivalent, private property.

We believe it can be done. People of the world will have a difficult time with it. The shift in the way they would have to re-think their possessions is simply too radical. Our words may not convince them, but perhaps our actions will. That is why we have set a course for a different destination: The Kingdom of God.