https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLI_iF75_-8
Overall this was a very good forum. My wife and I both agreed
that is was some of the best practical ethics and wisdom we've heard since the
Covid crisis emerged over a year ago. Bercot did not disappoint. He got the
balance right and rightly applied Kingdom ethics to the situation – mask mandates
and the like. I really appreciated it and the fact that he condemned the behaviour
of Evangelicals and the many Anabaptists who fell into Right-wing individualist
thinking and behaviour and brought shame to the testimony of Christ and the
Church.
But there were two glaring deficiencies that I would point
out and I think they're important to consider.
Bercot has chosen to effectively shut off the news stream. So
be it. I don't think that's particularly wise but on some level I can
understand it. His overall advice was good – read widely and consume from
different sources. And importantly he included international coverage, a point
I've been making for years. Some of the best coverage of American society and
politics comes from overseas.
He also (effectively) said if you have to watch the news,
then start with FOX but don't stop there. I disagree. Turn off FOX. It's not
news at all. CNN and the others have become just about as bad but FOX is pure
poison especially for Christians because it often masquerades as socially
conservative and Christian. And yet its coverage is little more than spin,
entertainment, smut, and outright lies. It is the worst option and I would
advise everyone to turn it off.
Additionally he recommended the Wall Street Journal. I would
also advise against this. I think Rupert Murdoch has a dominant hold on the
media consumed by Right-leaning Christians and that's a problem. The Wall
Street Journal while friendly to capitalist interests is not at all in line
with Christian epistemology and ethics. I'll say this – if he can recommend the
Wall Street Journal I just as easily can recommend the New York Times. The Times is not liberal as much as it is a
reflection of the Establishment and in that capacity it represents the same
interests and forces behind the Journal. There are certainly occasions I do not
agree with the Times – more often than not because it's too pro-America in its
coverage and slanting of international issues, but there's still quality
reporting to be found in its pages.
I'm not sure why Bercot would recommend the Wall Street
Journal other than I immediately thought of his corporate-legal background and
connections to the energy sector. Or perhaps the fact that he's thrown in with
Sattler College which is effectively an Anabaptist Dominionist project that has
abandoned traditional Kingdom Christian ethics in the realms of finance and
questions of usury. My own belief is that this one of Bercot's blind spots and
it's one that we must revisit shortly when considering contemporary Mennonites
in general.
Additionally I cannot emphasize this enough – FOX and the
forces of Murdoch are not conservative. They are Right-wing but not socially
conservative. The values being promoted about wealth, possessions, nationalism,
family, traditional roles, questions of modesty in dress and lifestyle in
general, questions concerning divorce and marriage, and ethics are Right-wing
but none of the people associated with these organisations are socially
conservative. There may seem to be some overlap but it's superficial at best
and therefore there's a danger. Social conservatives will let their guard down
and can become confused. There is historical precedent for this confusion and
eventual subordination of social conservatism to extreme Right-wing
politicising.
As Christians we may seem socially conservative to the
society around us but that does not translate into Right-wing thinking in terms
of politics, nationalism, or economics. If FOX seems to represent Christian
values on certain topics (which it does not) it presents many more that are
clearly not and frames all these issues in terms that are not Christian – not
even close.
I cannot agree with Bercot's recommendation. Christians
should be aware of what's happening. I have spoken before of my interactions
with some Anabaptists and their general ignorance of the world can be quite
harmful. It's one thing to be simple concerning evil but it's another to be
ignorant and thus easily led astray by hucksters and charlatans – like
Right-wing activists, think-tanks, propagandists, and the likes of the FOX
channel.
Secondly, Bercot mused as to why so many Anabaptists have
been stirred up by current events and politics and many have abandoned their
traditional non-resistance and separatist ethics. Many are voting and becoming
politically active. Many supported Donald Trump.
Bercot suggested the same ignorance or gullibility I just
referenced has created a propensity to fall prey to conspiracy theories. A lack
of general knowledge and ignorance regarding the basic operations of the world
system has created an intellectual climate in which they are easily
manipulated. As I've already suggested, there's some truth to that but this assessment
misses the larger problem.
I happened to be listening to Bercot as I was driving through
Schuylkill, Berks, and Lancaster counties of Pennsylvania. It's one of the
great Anabaptist heartlands of the United States. There are Mennonite churches,
schools and businesses everywhere. They've done very well for themselves and
its evident their communities have become well off and in other cases affluent.
I would argue in the strongest terms that the Anabaptist
ethical shift, their large-scale inclination and even defection to Right-wing thinking
is not primarily due to a propensity for conspiracy theories – it's due to
money and its hold over thinking and ethics.
When one flourishes within the system and forgets Christ's
casting of God's Kingdom as being in diametric opposition to mammon, then one
will begin to operate under the ethics of the system. One abandons the pilgrim
mindset and starts to care about taxes, profits, regulation, and other
questions inherent to the system. Why? Because you're invested in it and riding
on its coattails. If the system is evil, what shall we say about those who
flourish within it?
The First Reformation Christians understood this and thus
were (generally speaking) committed to poverty. The system they faced was evil
and given to mammon and thus when comparing it vis-à-vis the Scriptures, they
came to the conclusion that they must reject it and the pilgrim calling (as per
the New Testament) would entail poverty – at least to some degree. The extent
and meaning of it can be debated but one thing was abundantly clear – faithful Christians
were not going to flourish in the system.
Mammon has caused Evangelicals and yes, even Anabaptists to
lose their way. Speaking of Pennsylvania, in many respects it's also the story
of the Quakers. In terms of ethics they took a Biblical stand against war and
Christian participation in violence. But they compromised in other ways,
especially in the realm of the coin and they lost their way and eventually
became indistinguishable from the world.
Our task is to bear witness against this world order that is
under curse and doomed. We are here to call people to repentance. Our lives
testify that we are against their Babel and we refuse to serve it. Siding with
one Babel-faction against the other (and adopting its mindset and mantras) is
not Christian ethics. It blinds us and now we have Christians who think one
side represents morality and the other side is evil. What we really have is an
absurdity. We have whores talking about chastity, thieves talking about honesty
and ethics. Christians should see this but they don't and they fall prey to the
propaganda because one evil faction happens to tickle their ears.
As mentioned, Bercot's associates at Sattler College have
fallen prey to this. They can pretend they're not involved in the political
order but through their investments they are and they're reaping cash-benefits
from it – an order that exploits, steals, and starts wars.
I regret to come out so harshly against Bercot's comments on
these points. I think when it comes to the news and assessing the ethical
defection among Anabaptists he has it wrong. That said he's a good man and I've
benefitted from his teaching. I've read several of his books and have consumed
hours of his audio works. It's been refreshing because in many respects it
seemed like I found someone who resonated with the views I had come to hold,
views I had discovered by digging through the Scriptures and the history of the
Church. He's an Anabaptist but an atypical one in many respects and since I'm
not an Anabaptist (though I am what he would call a Kingdom Christian) that's
probably why I appreciate him.
I do not mean to negate his message in terms of Covid and
ethical considerations of the present moment. I endorse them but these other
issues deserve some serious reflection and it's a reminder that we all need to
do our homework, our own thinking, and that no one should be listened to or
followed without qualification.
See also:
https://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2020/07/anabaptist-storm-clouds-on-horizon-part.html