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Posted by adam.dada on February 26th, 2007
When modern Evangelical Christians ask me about my faith, they usually have a number of common questions which I hope to cover on this site as they come up. But the last question I am always asked is: “So what is the point of living?”
In my growth within the organized church, I would ask this question myself and get some good “scripturally-supported” answers. The common answers were, in order of popularity:
1. To be saved from eternal damnation (save yourself).
2. To enter the world and spread the gospel (save others).
3. To help to reduce sin in the world (save society).
4. To grow the church (save organizations).
5. To battle liberalism (save conservatism).
All my years as a member of organized religious organizations left me confused, though. I’d receive really emotionally-inspiring sermons that sort of made sense logically, but Biblically they were all over the map. Sermons would interweave similar topics but get the message from single verses from Books that were thousands of years apart. Sometimes, reading the verses before or after the individual verses left me with a different message than what I hear in the given sermon. I’d leave the congregation with a desire to read more, but what I read never brought me to the same conclusion that the message did.
Why questions always confronted those 5 reasons-for-living above. (1) If God loves everyone, why would He damn so many? I knew a lot of people in my life who lived a better life than me, and were not as depressed or saddened by what they saw on TV or in society. (2) If I am to spread the Gospel, what version do I tell? (3) If I have to sin in order to reduce sin, is it OK with God? (4) If giving my money to a congregation means God will provide for me, why were most of the people in the congregation broke and unstable financially, versus the non-believers I knew who were stable and happy? (5) If liberalism was bad, why were so many people attracted to the positions?
As I read the Bible more, and looked at honest responses to how mainstream Evangelism was trying to work, I realized that I was not learning Truth necessarily, I was only being passed on what my elders had learned from their elders. Instead of really delving deep into what Christ was trying to teach or express, we were relying on generations of people attempting to jockey for control of society. The history of the Church is one that is uglier than it is beautiful, so I knew in my heart that I wasn’t learning Truth, I was learning how to assume power over the lives of other. There are two ways to control others — direct force, and using fear. The positions of the modern church seemed to love using both, and I found myself really lost in how to live.
So many ask: if the anarcho-pantelist positions are closer to the Truth, what IS the point of living if we believe that there is no hell/damnation, the Great Commission of spreading the Gospel is long over, sin doesn’t exist any longer, growing the church is just growing a mortal organization, not a spiritual one, and conservatism is just as “evil” as liberalism?
The anarcho-pantelist has a simple answer to life: God created everyone with skills, bodies, hearts and brains, and we are to use these parts of us to better God’s Kingdom on Earth. We don’t really own anything in our possessions, even our own bodies and minds — they’re God’s because God created them. When we work hard, we are blessed with temporary stewardship over God’s tools and land. Our homes are not ours, they are God’s and we should maintain them as best as we can. We shouldn’t own more home than we actually need, we shouldn’t own more land than we can maintain ourselves as possible, we shouldn’t own more tools than we can use to better God’s productions in our lives. This means thrift, not excess.
The anarcho-pantelist does not believe in preaching to others fear and force, instead we should do our best with our abilities and our tools so that others can see that their lives can be fruitful just from doing what they are good at. If you are good at serving coffee, don’t be ashamed of the job that you are great at. If people ask you why you are joyful at your job, why you are so focused at work, you can give the blessings to God and leave it at that. Don’t push the issue unless they are truly interested in your philosophy and faith. The average non-believer is sick of hearing about God because those who profess a faith are so motivated to use government or force to change lives. Anarcho-pantelists want nothing to do with coercion, we only want to be a shining example of stewardship for what we temporarily have possession of.
What is the point of living? Be a good steward to everything you have in your possession, including your body, your land, your tools and your money. Don’t use force against others, even the force of government. Don’t scare people into agreeing with you, and don’t try to convince people that aren’t willing to hear what you have to say. The ultimate tool for all of these is love — truly love others as you want to be loved, absolutely.