S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

Anabaptists are not a denomination, and it is unlikely that you will find any church named "First Anabaptist." The name is more of a descriptive title than an organizational name. From the days of ...

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July 01 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jeffrey Johnson Supporter

When I first started to study ther Bible and religion I came across a number of early Christian bodies:

1: Waldensians,
2: Anabaptists,
3: Quakers
4: Mennonites
5: Menno Simons, 
6: Hutterites,

Just to mention a few - and it was these little groups that got me interested in studying the Bible and firstly studying the Book of Acts, and I noticed how these small groups followed the simple life just as the apostles did:

Who were the Anabaptists, and what did they believe?

The Anabaptists lived in small groups scattered through parts of Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. As they preached what they believed everywhere they went, their numbers skyrocketed. A band of Anabaptists, swept along by their religious fervour, abandoned their pacifism and captured the city of Münster in 1534 and attempted to set it up as a communal, polygamous New Jerusalem. The movement was quickly put down with great violence. 

It gave Anabaptists a bad name, and they were practically stamped out. In reality, most Anabaptists were simple religious folk trying to live a separate and quiet life. Among the better-organised descendants of the Anabaptists were the Mennonites, followers of the Dutch Reformer Menno Simons, and the Hutterites, under the Tyrolean Jacob Hutter. To escape persecution, some of them migrated to Eastern Europe—Poland, Hungary, and even Russia—others to North America, where they eventually emerged as Hutterite and Amish communities.

Some Protestants, however, felt that the Reformers did not go far enough in renouncing the shortcomings of the Catholic papist church. They believed that the Christian church should consist only of practising, baptised faithful, rather than of all the people in a community or nation. Therefore, they rejected infant baptism and insisted on the separation of Church and State. They secretly rebaptized their fellow believers and thus acquired the name Anabaptists (ana meaning “again” in Greek). Since they refused to bear arms, take oaths, or accept public office, they were viewed as a threat to society and were persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike.

In 1525, a group broke away, disagreeing with [Zwingli ] on the issue of State authority over the Church, which he affirmed, and they denied. Called Anabaptists (“rebaptizers”), they viewed infant baptism as a useless formality, saying that baptism was only for adult believers. They also opposed the use of carnal weapons, even in so-called just wars. Thousands of them were put to death for their beliefs.

Zwingli stressed that the Bible is the ultimate and sole authority for the church. Although encouraged by Luther’s example, he objected to being called Lutheran, saying he had learned Christ’s teaching from God’s Word, not from Luther. In fact, he disagreed with Luther on some aspects of the Lord’s Evening Meal as well as on a Christian's proper relationship to civil authorities.

The Anabaptist movement is considered the spiritual ancestor of modern Mennonites and Amish, and their ideals have influenced other groups, such as the Quakers and some free churches. 

Conclusion:

Anabaptists were a Christian movement that emerged during the 16th-century Radical Reformation, characterised by their belief in adult, or "believer's" baptism, a voluntary church community, and the separation of church and state. They rejected infant baptism, seeing it as an unbiblical formality, and believed that a person must be of an age to consciously confess their faith to be baptised. Their core tenets included pacifism, the refusal to swear oaths, and an emphasis on following the teachings of Jesus, especially the Sermon on the Mount. 

Some samples of the Core beliefs of the Anabaptists:

Believer's Baptism: Separation of Church and State - Pacifism: Non-swearing of Oaths -Voluntary Church Community Authority of the Bible: -Following Jesus' Teachings: Equality.

3 days ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report