The Zoramite Response
By Mike Sanders
The Zoramite Response for me highlights the response of church-going vs true
Christian community. The Zoramites had built up places of worship to which they
gathered “together on one day of the week, which day they did call the day of
the Lord” (Alma 16:8 They engaged in strange worship which included a
declaration which clearly reflected how the Zoramites viewed themselves in
relation to other religious peoples as found in Alma 16:90-91:
Quote:
”Holy, holy, God; we believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art
holy, and that thou wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou
wilt be a spirit for ever. Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from
our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was
handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that
thou hast elected us to be thy holy children.”
They claimed that God had “elected” them to the exclusion of all others and
that “thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the
tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of
their fathers; but we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy
children.” (Alma 16:91) They believed that they alone would be “saved,
whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the
which holiness, O God, we thank thee.” (Alma 16:92)
They further thanked God for being “a chosen and a holy people” (Alma 16:94)
and each Zoramite would participate in this declaration in a holy stand called
Raemumpton. They then would return “to their homes, never speaking of their
God again, until they had assembled themselves together again, to the holy
stand, to offer up thanks after their manner.” (Alma 16:99)
The Lord’s prophet Alma more accurately depicts their spiritual condition with
these words:
Quote:
” Now when Alma saw this, his heart was grieved: for he saw that they were a
wicked and a perverse people; yea, he saw that their hearts were set upon gold,
and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods. Yea, and he also saw that
their hearts were lifted up unto great boasting, in their pride.”
Many modern Christians profess the same. To be among the chosen elect who God
considers holy, while all others are deceived and going to hell. In their pride,
the boast of such things while they themselves only worship God on one day a
week which is their appointed holy day. After which they go home and never speak
of God again the rest of the week. At least in deed. After all, wordly
entertainments like television are much too alluring. Has the church made the
Zoramite response?
Are we content with the level of fellowship that this once a week assembly can
provide? Is there a higher response in Christian community? Are we satisfied?
After all, you really get to know the depths of a person’s being during these
weekly meetings while all the masks are in place to hide who and what we really
are? Living together makes our true selves manifest for all to see and that
level of disclosure is feared by most Christians. Are we closet Zoramites
parading as his elect and chosen people?
Here are some words to consider concerning Christian community. While I cannot
endorse fully everything the author advances, nor am I in total agreement with
him on every point. Having said this, I still appreciate the spiritual truths
which are found in this writing. There are many who are abiding certain Zionic
conditions who are not even familiar with the work of Joseph Smith and the
restoration. We have much to learn as a people.
The Characteristics of Christian Community
Amid the variety of applications, one recurrent principle emerges. In a climate
where individualism is asserting itself strongly, groups of Christians are moved
by the Holy Spirit to rediscover the life of unity and community. Sometimes this
is conceived through a deep longing for close relationships and a common goal,
sometimes through an open-minded reading of Scripture. Believers who read the
accounts in Acts 2 and 4 and do not immediately reject them as obsolete can face
the possibility that this might indeed be God's purpose for them. Their desire
is to love God and each other (Mk. 12:28-31) and to reflect something of God's
nature to the world about them (Rom 8:29; Eph 4:24). They find impressed upon
their hearts the constant scriptural stress on God's call of a people---not just
individuals. This awakens within them a desire to be together always, not just
at church meetings. Such is the basic impetus. But the question then arises: How
is this common life to be structured? What ought a community to be and do? Many
have realized with shock that the mere pooling of possessions, though apparently
so costly a sacrifice, is not the recipe for instant success. The
twelfth-century monastic reformer, Guerric of Igny, put it well:
Quote:
"Many people have lived temperately and modestly in an abundance of worldy
possessions and glory, while many have also behaved evilly whose garments were
rougher and whose food more sparing. I still want to impress upon you that truly
blessed poverty of spirit is to be found more in humility of heart than in mere
privation of everyday possessions, and consists more in the renunciation of
pride than in mere contempt for property."
Nor is the common life the panacea that some have wished it to be. Jean Vanier,
founder of the l'Arche community, says it this way:
Quote:
"Some people find it impossible to be alone. For them, [it] is a foretaste
of death. So community can appear to be a marvelously welcoming and sharing
place. But in another way, community is a terrible place. It is a place where
our limitations and egotism are revealed to us. When we begin to live full-time
with others, we discover our poverty and our weakness, our inability to get on
with people, our mental and emotional blocks...our seemingly insatiable desires,
our frustrations and jealousies, our hatred and our wish to destroy."
Therefore it is essential that Christian community be first Christian, then
community. The sole foundation must be Christ Jesus---devotion to him and
obedience to his commandments. For the Godhead dwells in perfect community, and
this corporate nature is powerfully implanted in those truly converted. Only
this common bond, this common touch, this common reverence for one greater than
any human grouping, can build community securely. And this alone is inspired by
the Holy Spirit.
The Marks of True Christian Community
1. Love---divine and human
Thus, a community must exibit what we might call vertical and horizontal
characteristics (Mike would call suzerain and vassal characteristics). Jesus
summarized the commandments as a progression: "You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and
with all your strength...You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mk.
12:30-31). The vertical dimension must come first and issue into the horizontal.
To have one without the other is to fail. Much of Christendom holds to the first
in varying degrees but knows little of the second. Community people run the risk
of basking in the second and neglecting the first. Each member must be born
again, know the Holy Spirit, and have an active life of prayer, worship, and
contemplation. Otherwise community becomes a social club. A regular, personal
touch of God is necessary in order to have something to share with another.
Where this does not happen, there is the constant danger of "the
form...without the power" (2Tim 3:5). Ideally the vertical and horizontal
dimension blend, as Aelred of Rievaulx found:
Quote:
"Was it not a foretaste of heaven...thus to soar aloft from the sweetness
of brotherly love to the more bublime splendor of divine love; and now to mount
the ladder of love right up to the embrace of Christ himself, now to descend it
and repose pleasantly in the love of my brother."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer presented his readers with a dichotomy: "Let him who
cannot live alone beware of community;...let him who is not in community beware
of being alone." A recent writer has defined these terms in a useful way:
"Community is always poised between two poles: solitude and
togetherness...Solitude without togetherness deteriorates into loneliness. One
needs strong roots in togetherness to be solitary rather than lonely when one is
alone. Aloneness is neutral. Loneliness is aloneness cut off from
togetherness---"blessed solitude." Togetherness without solitude is
not true togetherness, but rather "side-by- sideness." To live merely
side by side is alienation. We need...to find ourselves in solitude before we
can give ourselves to one another in true togetherness."
2. Holiness
Without holiness, however, no one will see God (Heb 12:14), let alone make a
success of Christian community. The Lord Jesus who gathered his followers into a
united, devoted, sharing band, also commanded them to "be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect." The Greek here (teleios) suggests "having
reached its end," "complete." Christians must give themselves to
God for sanctification and not stop at justification. The aim is to be conformed
more and more to the image of Christ. This process alone is the guarantee of
progressive fruitfulness in community. God honors holiness. A community may be
strongly evangelistic, witness to the inner city, care for the handicapped, or
run a teaching ministry, but unless its members are each increasing
qualitatively in godliness, there will be little fruit quantitatively.
3. Discipleship
Linked with this is the question of discipleship. It is a well-known issue in
the church today since the publication of J.C. Ortiz' book Disciple (1975).
Basically, discipling operates in small groups. One member is acknowledged,
because of his or her maturity in Christ, as leader. That leader then trains
others in the ways of God, sharing his or her own spiritual growth and
experience. Here is a vital part of community. It is not the intention of
sharing together merely to be nice to each other. If I have a secret sinfulness
and a brother or sister discerns it, it must come into the open, lest it
continue to damage both me and the community itself. Discipling strikes a blow
at the prime enemy of community: self-will. In the bond of love each submits to
the others to be trained, exorted, and corrected. As long as all is done in a
true spirit of love and with serving authority, discipling ensures the steady
growth of each individual part.
4. Sharing
Sharing must be complete. Materially, all things must be in common, but it does
not stop here. Religious orders are rediscovering today that sharing goes beyond
goods. One's time, one's hopes and fears, one's motives, and one's desires---all
must likewise be shared with brother and sisters. In some respects, the sharing
of possessions is easy: a quick painful wrench, and it's done. Far deeper and
harder is the sacrificial sharing of the deepest recesses of the heart.
5. Structure
No community can survive without structure. Jesus, in his parable of the
wineskins (Matt. 9:17) was advocating a new structure. Many give the impression
that Jesus was saying, "Away with the wineskin altogether!" His point
was the opposite: lest the wine be spolled it needs to be kept in a wineskin. So
we are not now free from all structures. Rather, we are to be reorganized along
Christ's lines of discipline. There is obviously a difficulty here, for several
of the churches and groups listed in this book died of strangulation because
they became overorganized. Jean Vanier comments: "Community begins in
mystery and ends in administration. Leaders move away from the people and into
paper." The fine balance can only be achieved through corporate wisdom in
the Holy Spirit. Each has a gift, and many of these will be used in the
community's structure. Helpers and administrators feature in the same list of
ministries as prophets, teachers, and healers (1 Cor 12:27-29). As the prophet
and the teacher must ensure that they minister only and always in the Holy
Spirit and not in their own strength, so too the helper and administrator.
Financial, legal, and other domestic organizations will all then run smoothly
under the hand of God.
6. Authority
There must be authority. The concept has so many connotations that human nature
recoils from it and Christians often hold back its application. Of course it
must not be domineering. Jesus made that plain (Matt. 20:25-2 . He modeled it by
a life of constant humility, self-giving, and leadership by example. True
Christian will have nothing of status or pride. It will correct with meekness,
attempting to get along side a brother or sister concerned in order to identify
with them. Yet authority must be strong and give a true lead. Proverbs 29:18
says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." It is up to the
leaders to seek, find, present, and fulfill such a vision. As Jean Vanier
commented at a recent conference on Christian community, there is a good deal of
stress today on community as mother, with warmth, healing, compassion, nurture,
and gentleness as her attributes. Far less attention is given to community today
as father, with its connotations of authority, discipline, and direction.
7. Prophetic Leadership
Leadership in community must be prophetic. God's people are to pass judgment on
the spirit of the world with great strength. They are to be a fighting force in
the midst of Babylon (i.e. the world), using all the spiritual power at their
disposal. The spirit of prophecy is vital for the vigor and direction of a
Christian community. "Where there is no prophecy the people cast off
restraint" (Prov 29:1 . The prophetic word, intended primarily for the
Lord's people, uncovers hearts and motivations (Jer 6:27). This is indespensible
for the proper growth of the community. It was the prophetic spirit in Peter
that came so strongly against the deception of Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5) and
the self-seeking Simon Magus (Acts . By it the church was cleansed. The same
spirit of prophecy will come against the ills of fallen church today. Prophets
named the idols that had drawn away God's people. It was not as though the
people had said: "From now on we'll forsake Jehovah and worship Baal
alone." Rather they said, "Let is serve Jehovah and Baal."
The prophetic word names the idols (materialism, riches, selfish ambition,
pleasure-seeking) and strongly demands their destruction. Such a word goes deep
and provokes strong reaction. Community people moving prophetically will be
opposed with great vigor, but they will know the blessing of seeing these come
and join whose hearts have been pierced and cleansed by the prophetic word.
8. Witness
A community must witness to Christ. The question is, how? Groups have attempted
to answer it in a variety of ways and have failed. Some have been so given to
evangelism that teir inner life has been neglected and they have had nothing to
bring converts to. Their hearts have wasted away amid much activity. Others have
sought to aid the poor, the aged, and the handicapped. Laudable though this may
seem, and true to the compassion of Jesus, it has often ruined community by
taking over. God becomes subordinated to people and holiness to social work.
Churches waste their spiritual substance in anguished ministries to physical
need. Of course the poor, lame, and the blind are to recieve the good news.
Scripturally they will be the first to hear and follow. But this can only happen
if the community is centered, not on those needing healing, but on the Lord, the
healer. Nowadays it is fashionable in communities to be active politically as a
witness to Christ. Civil rights marches, anti-abortion rallies, the campaign for
nuclear disarmament, etc., are popular causes. All attract throngs of Christian
communities. Yet this, too, can be misguided and untrue to Scripture. Often this
activity boils down to a frustrated attempt to reform the world apart from the
radical repentance Jesus required of citizens of the kingdom of God. This has
never been God's intention. The world is in the throes of its own mortal
disease. It is judged, fallen, in the grip of the evil one (1 John 5:1 . Jesus
in his prayer in John 17 refused to pray for the world (v 9). His followers are
not of it (v 16) even as he is not. They have been given to him out of it (v 6)
and will call others out of it. Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, did not say,
"Go out and reform this crooked generation!" He said, "Save
yourselves from it!" (Acts 2:40).
This follows the Old Testament types of Zion (the Lord's people) and Babylon
(the world). The cry is : "Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter
of Babylon." (Zech 2:7). The believer is to realize that Babylon is the
enemy, bent on destruction, as Revelation 17 and 18 show. Here again is the cry
to separate from it (18:4). The Christians are meant to join together to form an
alternative society, run along lines absolutely contrary to those of this world,
passing judgment on the world and releasing its captives. Any attempt,
therefore, to reform the world is doomed from the onset, since it cannot receive
the things of God (John 14:17), nor has it ever known him (17:25).
Reasons for Failure
In conclusion it would be valuable for any church seeking to share all things in
common to piece together reasons for failure in earlier groups. So many have
faded out after a generation ot two, leaving a poor testimony. Yet the fault
cannot be laid with the Lord who calls to community. Following are some reasons
for the dissolution of communities historically:
1. Loss of first love and first works (Rev 2:4,5)
This is the chief destroyer of Christian community and the primary tool of the
devil, who attempts to sow lukewarmness, passivity, and laziness. The need here
is for a heart response to Jesus, characterized by a diligent seeking of him,
accompanied by a true love for one's brothers and sisters.
2. Overorganization
Overorganization quickly saps the flexibility of wineskins. Administration
easily fills in as spirituality lapses.
3. Failure to Oppose the Flesh
Some communities have erred in being nice to people who turned out to be
"wolves in sheep's clothing." A wishy-washy human concept of
"love" is at the heart of this failure to take seriously the
community's responsibilty to discipline.
4. Excessive Writing
Some groups (e.g., the Labadists) felt duty-bound to answer in writing any
criticism brought against them. So much spiritual and financial substance was
lost in pamphlet warfare that decline set in.
5. Financial Mismanagement
Sharing possessions brings equality and solvency, but income must continue. Some
groups were so afraid of paid employment that they finally disbanded through
bankruptcy.
6. Rejection of Marriage
Some groups have so stressed the higher way of celibacy that they have not
admitted married people. Some have even urged married persons to separate and
have forbidden members to marry.While celibacy if indeed better and single
people are more able to be devoted to the Lord (1 Cor 7:P32-34, 3 , marriage is
still to be held in honor (Heb 13:4). To forbid it is a "doctrine of
demons" (1 Tim 4:3). Several groups (e.g., Cokelers) have dwindled away in
numbers to the point of death for lack of children to form a new generation.
7. Wordly Involvements
Some have become so engrossed in their attempt to reform the world that they
lost their spiritual vitality. The Lord who is the source of community must also
be the central group in community life.
8. Lack of Discipling and Prophetic Leadership
Communites have some times faltered and failed for lack of vision. Many
communities found, on the death of the original leaders, no strength in depth to
take their place. The prophet must train up another, as Elijah did Elisha. As
Paul had his Timothy, his Epaphras, and his Titus, whom he had trained as a
father, so must leaders of communities have those whom they are instructing and
discipling for future leadership.
9. Excessive Evangelism
Excessive evangelism can be detrimental to community life when it is pursued at
the expense of personal spirituality and corporate relatedness.
10. Over-enclosedness
Some groups have so stressed being "not of the world" that they have
overlooked that Jesus his followers out into the world in order to call people
out of it (John 17:1 . Enclosed monastic orders are not in the perfect will of
God. In non-monastic communities, lack of evangelism has sometimes led to
dissolution through lack of new members or to a dangerous degree of
intermarrying between a few natural families.
11. Dissatisfaction
People in small community houses may want to be in larger ones, while those in
larger community houses long for smaller ones. Everyone dreams of the perfect
community and feels dissatisfied when they realize that their own is not so.
Jean Vanier says it well:
Quote:
"I'd like to tell the many people in communities who are looking for the
impossible ideal: "Stop looking for peace! Give yourselves where you are.
Stop looking at yourselves. Look instead at your brothers and sisters in need.
Be close to those God has given you in community today...Everything will resolve
itself through love."
12. Pride in Leaders
This is a big enemy in any church at any time. Often founders have become known
as "Papa" and been revered almost as saints after their death. The
danger of man-centeredness is constantly present. As the Holy Spirit is allowed
full flow through a community, he will always show the true, narrow way,
avoiding these pitfalls. A Christian community moving truly in the Spirit will
prove, for as long as it "holds to the head" (see Col 2:19), that the
Lord honors communal sharing of all things in precisely the same way as in
Jerusalem" "The word of God increased; and the number of disciples
multiplied greatly in Jerusalem" (Acts 6:7). "So the church...had
peace and was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort
of the Holy Spirit it was multiplied (9:31).
The above was taken from the book: Pilgrams of a Common Life: Christian
Community of Goods Through the Centuries, by Trevor J. Saxby (Herald
Press:1987), pgs 165-175.
Are you a Zoramite? Any thoughts or comments on Christian Community?
For your consideration,
Mike Sanders
