Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 6
The speaker contrasts Protestant “God and I” with Anabaptist “God and we,” claiming “no man is in Christ apart from his brother”; what practices of accountability, mutual submission, and communal discernment would early Christians assume are non-negotiable here—and what parts of modern church life push you back into a privatized “God and I” faith?
Another way to ask: What kind of shared life—accountability, mutual submission, and making decisions together—would early Christians see as required? What parts of church today push you into a private “God and me” faith instead of “God and us”?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript suggests early Anabaptist-style Christianity assumes a shared, accountable discipleship (“God and we”), and modern pressures push people back into an individualized faith when community obligations are treated as optional.
- The speaker contrasts: Protestants emphasize “God and I,” while Anabaptism adds “God and we.”
- He states the strong claim: “No man is in Christ apart from his brother,” and says “Our Protestant friends do not believe that.”
- He describes German Mennonites yielding this communal emphasis—“they were willing to yield on this one… And so it's back to God and I.”
- He links individualized theology with political vulnerability: “liberal, individualized theology plus conservative political views” produced “Mennonite German Nazis minus the two kingdom concept,” leading to “impotence against Satan.”
- He repeatedly shows how lacking communal resistance led to group-level compliance: conferences changed confessions, churches took oaths, publications praised the regime.