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Radical Reformation History  /  Lecture 7: The Birth of the Anabaptists  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 9
The decree demanded infant baptism within eight days or exile “with wife and child and possessions,” and then banned the “special schools” (their Bible groups), naming Grebel and Manz directly; if authorities shut down your small groups and publicly named leaders, what would your instinctive response reveal about whether your faith is tied more to comfort/safety or to Jesus’ commands?
Another way to ask: If the government shut down your Bible group and publicly named your leaders, how would you respond? What would your reaction show about whether you follow Jesus more for comfort and safety or for obedience?

Direct Answer The transcript suggests such pressure exposes whether faith is rooted in self-preservation or in obedience to Christ. The Swiss Brethren’s response shows that when forced to choose, they treated Jesus’ commands as worth the risk of exile, imprisonment, and death.

Support from Transcript:

  • The Jan. 18 decree: unbaptized children must be baptized within eight days; refusal means leaving “with wife and child and possessions… and never return.”
  • The Jan. 21 decree bans the “special schools” and names “Conrad Grebel and… Felix Manz,” ordering them to desist; “no more disputations will be permitted.”
  • In response, they gather in Manz’s home, fear strikes them, they pray, and then baptize—an act of open separation.
  • The Chronicle emphasizes they knew suffering was coming: “They were all well aware of what they would have to suffer for this.”
  • Dean contrasts hiding versus going: he says they did not retreat but were “so filled with the Spirit of God” that “you go. And that’s what they did.”
Discussion Follow-ups What part of your current Christian life depends on legal permission or cultural ease? If those were removed, what obedience would remain—and what would disappear?

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