How does Piety work in the Brethren

Piety affects all of our life. It controls our public and private life, our existence, our entire being. Piety demands from us a way of living, a way to think, a way to act. No stone is left un-turned, no thought undisturbed. No point of our existence, whether physical or metaphysical, is left alone. What is Piety?

Piety is our faith demanding and dictating how we live our life. In turn, our life, reflects our faith we claim to believe. One dictating to the other, and the other showcasing the one. Why is this important to Brethren specifically? To know why, we must delve a little into Brethren history.

The Brethren, during a time when the State (governmental churches), the Catholic church, and the reformed (including the creedal churches) had extreme amount of influence and power. Everyone was free to worship God, if they joined these officially "sanctioned" churches. As an aside, this is why we have the first amendment in our constitution. It IS NOT that their is a separation of church and state which is an abuse of a private letter from Thomas Jefferson, but it was meant to keep the government from mandating a state religion. Religion, and specifically Christianity absolutely has the right and should be the advisory structure by which ANY government is run but that will be a point for another post.

Back on track, the Reformational churches carried over several false teachings. One of these false teachings was infant baptism. There were many who disagreed with this teaching and they were called AnaBaptist (we will discuss AnaBaptism in another post). AnaBaptist, or Re-Baptizers, believed only those who have made conscienctious decision to accept Jesus could and should be baptized, becoming known as Believer's Baptism.

AnaBaptist highly influenced many groups such as the Mennonites, Baptists, and the Brethren, among others. For Brethren, however, a second movement had a strong influence on them. They were called the Pietists. Pietists also had a lot of issues with the established and creedal churches. By the early 1700's, the Pietists were watching how the professional clergy lived and how the proclaimed their faith. As an example, one preacher was found to be preaching against drinking, but then caught with his mistress. Or another clergy who claimed that we are to love our enemies, was found fighting against those who he disagreed with.

The life of these clergy was anything but what they presented in the pulpits. Worse, these ministers would all recite the creeds clearly, and convincingly, but it did little to nothing for their life and faith. Enter the Brethren.

Alexander Mack decided he was tired of the old, tired creeds, the empty words, and the hollow meanings. He wanted to have a faith that was real, and that would make a difference in the believer. His intention, we do not believe, was to start a denomination. What he did start was a Bible study. He, and several others gathered together, read the Word, and committed to put into practice the things they read. Alexandar Mack was influenced by and brought together the AnaBaptists and the Pietist.

Making a very long history short, Brother Alexander was officially baptized in the Swarzanau River in Germany. It is not recorded who baptized him, but he baptized the other 7 that were with him. Thus started what became known as the German Baptist Brethren, the German Brethren, the Dunkerds, the Church of the Brethren. Please understand, this was considered an act of defiance and rebellion. To be baptized again as an adult was to willingly put your own life on the line for your convictions. Many of our forefathers died at the hand of “Christians”.

There are two points to make before we begin studying the eight main beliefs that hold Brethren together. 1) As AnaBaptists, and Pietist, we practice believers baptism, and we desire our life and the life of all who follow Jesus, to reflect the reality of our belief. 2) We do not believe in creeds. A statement from our History is,

We have no creed but the New Testament.

We believe the Scripture, not creeds, has the authority to command our life and actions. 3) Our life reflects what we believe, and our belief regulates our life in how we act, think, behave, go, say, do, everything. This includes some of the hard topics we will be addressing such as: How do we as believers vote? How should we carry ourselves with each other? And many others.

Please remember last weeks post about the upcoming statements. They will be said with absolute belief in truth as the final authority and truth only comes from God's Word. However, it will also be said with absolute love and a desire for all who read to evaluate what they see in life compared to what we as Brethren believe and hold to. Many will be offended, but the prayer is that the truth will not be ignored, but the reality of what is being said should be tested, observed, and studied. Then you, dear reader, has the free will to either accept or reject the truth being presented. It is not hate that moves us or forms our statements, but love. Love for the truth, love for the Bible, and love for all we talk to, motivating us to see the world as Jesus does and calling for all to know the truth so the truth will set you free. Now, we are poised to start discussing our core beliefs as Brethren.