In a Nutshell

A few months ago I was asked by a cousin I haven't seen for probably 30 or so years, who had indirectly received our update emails, the following: "Wow! It seems like a huge undertaking that you are doing. What brought you to that decision? We heard that you live off the land and are kind of getting back to how life used to be. We would be interested in hearing all about it."

"Wow!" back atcha! Explaining some 5 years of doctrinal, belief and worldview changes to someone unfamiliar with the whole process we had been through I thought was something of tall order. However, I tried; and so I post it here, in the hopes someone might benefit from this brief synopsis, which was my reply:

As far as what has brought us to come live this life, that's something that happened over some time with changes to our doctrinal beliefs and worldview. For people who ask us this kind of question, or even when we've tried to explain things to family or friends as we've gone along, because they haven't gone through the same studies, it makes it difficult for them to understand why we are doing what we are. But I'll give it a shot. And so, several years ago the Lord led us to an understanding and belief in what are typically called the doctrines of grace, which talk much about God's sovereignty, including over salvation itself (sometimes people call it Calvinism). This is in contrast to what we were brought up believing, which is the more commonly held belief of free-will salvation (also referred to as Arminianism). We came to believe these doctrines of grace to be true, and believing them led to us leaving our current church at the time as it didn't hold to those beliefs. Through the process of learning about these doctrines, we came in contact with folks who believed them down in Texas. Over time we got to know those people generally over the Internet, and then through visits to Texas. Further over time, one of the beliefs we came to understand is the Bible's call for Christians to separate themselves from the world and ungodliness unto Christ in Christian community. Through much study over yet more time, we began to believe that God's prescribed way of living as described in His word (in how His people lived in the past and in most forms of teaching throughout the Bible, including the Lord Jesus' parables) is an agrarian lifestyle. And so, as the world and its systems of functioning (which include dependence on it for all of our necessities, including food [grocery stores], clothing [department stores], electricity and water provided by the government, etc.) began to appear more ungodly to us, and since we believed in separating from worldliness as much as possible, and since we believed the Bible teaches man was to till the soil and work with his hands (in command and by examples throughout the Bible), and since we believed we should live in Christian community with like-minded believers, we left our corporate jobs to buy land here in Texas in fellowship and community with those like-minded folks we had gotten to know, so as to start farming the land and raising animals for food. Since our moving down here a little over 2 years ago, the Lord has seen fit to grow our community by adding several other families. We're not a commune, in that, each family owns their own land and stuff; we're more of a neighborhood than anything else; and we fellowship together more of as a home church, with singing, meals, teachings and just living our lives together as family.

For us the doctrine stuff started at a site called LazarusUnbound.com. The main site now though is BiblicalAgrarianism.com, which includes our current statement of faith at http://www.biblicalagrarianism.com/modules.php?name=Content_Theology&pa=showpage&pid=41 (although I think it needs to be updated a little).


And so, there you have it, in a nutshell.

-- David

Things Turned Rightside Up

Although this will be much a condensed version, we'll start where things really began to turn for us in our lives. It was August, 2002. Sue and I had been in a serious relationship for nearly a year. We held the typical doctrines that most "Christian" churches hold now, and we attended a church that strived to be "relevant" for today. Generally our doctrines were based on the idea that people needed to be convinced by attraction that they need Jesus. Much of our efforts at the church we attended were based upon that premise: being "sensitive" to "seekers", being enticing (with modern music, dress, etc.) to people to convince them Jesus loved them, etc. Sue was involved with the "worship team" (which is really just the music team, because worship is much more than just music); and I was involved with a new and ungrounded-Christian class that supposedly set those folks on the proper beginning path. Again, both of these "ministries" were founded upon the originally mentioned premise: working to convince people they needed Jesus, that essentially Christians generally aren't offensive, and that Jesus loves them exactly as they are.

The Lord, by His graces and mercies, began to show us the Bible spoke of things differently, and He began to show us some things about the basic tenets and doctrines of Christianity that were different than the doctrines we held at the time. The Lord led us to articles that pointed out some things the Bible says that we hadn't really been taught before: that people are actually evil by nature and from birth; that there is a group of people called the elect, chosen by God to be His people according to His will only; that Christ only died for (paid for the sins of ) people He actually saved (ie. those that go to heaven); that our wills are actually moved by His Spirit toward Him, and without Him doing that, we would still just naturally be and continue to be His enemy; and other doctrines.

Wow! What? We had heard some on election before, but not much, and not these other things, and not these things in churches we had attended all of our lives. Needless to say, it became personally difficult. Were these things actually true?

After study and these things spinning in our heads for several weeks, by God's graces and as revealed in the Bible, we began to understand these things to be true. Given that, our entire Christian belief systems were flipped around: instead of turned upside down, I like to say they were turned rightside up. From there the Lord granted that we might continue to grow in these understandings, and He has graciously continued to teach from His written word.

There is so much more behind this in the details, but I'll try to summarize: we hold to the orthodox Christian tenets of what are commonly called the doctrines of grace; that God is sovereign over everything, including salvation. Many people call this "Calvinism", but I believe many do this so they can categorize it (pigeon-hole it) and then much more easily marginalize it. However, these teachings are indeed in the Bible.

If you've never heard of these ideas before, or you have but still don't believe they are in the Bible, here is a document of scriptures which we prayerfully hope you will prayerfully consider: Election, Atonement, and Other Interesting Verse Sets.

So, this is basically where it started for us. We have since studied many, many things, including several interesting items which have been noted at our previous Web page By God's Sovereign Grace and Mercy. Although not brief, this page of ours encapsulates much of what we believe the Lord has graciously and mercifully taught us over the last several years, doctrinally and regarding our view of the world.

Beyond the doctrine, it is that element, our worldview, that we believe He has graciously continued to reform, causing us to decide to live our lives quite differently than what is common today. I will hopefully and Lord willing get into that in one or more of the next posts.

-- David