Joining a monastery

[elysian]

Shalom,

Is it possible to join a monastery? Is there such a concept in Christianity, or is it only in buddhism?

Thanks,
Elysian

 

[Comm.Arnold]

There are certain minimalist sects that live in caves and only live off the land so to speak. Ill try and find the name of one, are you interested in this type of life ?

 

[aspen]

I belong to a monastery. There are catholic monasteries all over the country. There are also lots of Protestant monasteries (Episcopalian). All you have to do is google.

 

[prism]

Luther was a monk of monks before discovering the Gospel.
He afterward regretted the affair. Read some of Luther before tromping off.

 

[tomwebster]

Shalom,

Is it possible to join a monastery? Is there such a concept in Christianity, or is it only in buddhism?

Thanks,
Elysian

Then just go do it, don't talk about it. Just do it.

 

[FHII]

I kind of like Tom's advice... "Kind of".... If you want to join a monestary, then do it. For me, I have a preacher to guide me and then I just hunker down with my Bible in my easychair. Between that two, I could probably have a doctorate in religion.

 

[aspen]

Luther was a monk of monks before discovering the Gospel.
He afterward regretted the affair. Read some of Luther before tromping off.

It was Luther's trip to Rome that jaded him, not his monastery. In fact, his Medieval Abbott actually tried to get
Luther to stop mortifying himself and working for his salvation - that is how obsessive Luther actually was. When your Medieval Abbott tells you to loosen up, you've got issues!

 

[prism]

Well here are just a few excerpts from "What Luther Says" Concordia Publishing House

3036:"This is the chief abomination:we had to deny the grace of God and put our trust and hope on holy monkery"

3037: "Ask the monks who earnestly labor to attain peace of conscience by their traditions whether they can be sure that their way of life pleases God and that they are in favor with God because of it."

3050: "The truth is that the most pious monk is the worst rogue, because he denies Christ, the Mediator and High Priest, annd makes a judge of Him. ...Ah if the article of justification had not fallen, brotherhoods, pilgrimmages, Masses, the invocation of saints and such things would never had found any place in the church. But after this article (justification by faith alone) has fallen again---which God may avert---these idols will come back again."

The bottom line is that Luther discovered the Gospel despite the monasteries and his eyes were opened to the crazy practices that went on there.

 

[aspen]

Well here are just a few excerpts from "What Luther Says" Concordia Publishing House

3036:"This is the chief abomination:we had to deny the grace of God and put our trust and hope on holy monkery"

3037: "Ask the monks who earnestly labor to attain peace of conscience by their traditions whether they can be sure that their way of life pleases God and that they are in favor with God because of it."

3050: "The truth is that the most pious monk is the worst rogue, because he denies Christ, the Mediator and High Priest, annd makes a judge of Him. ...Ah if the article of justification had not fallen, brotherhoods, pilgrimmages, Masses, the invocation of saints and such things would never had found any place in the church. But after this article (justification by faith alone) has fallen again---which God may avert---these idols will come back again."

The bottom line is that Luther discovered the Gospel despite the monasteries and his eyes were opened to the crazy practices that went on there.

So you deny that Luther was over the top in his zealous practices in the monastery? According to historical accounts, his description of his own experience is probably accurate - but it was far from common among the rest of his order. Once again, even his Abbott told him to loosen up - his intensity was one of the reasons he was sent to Rome in the first place - it was obvious for all to see that he needed a break from himself!

He decided to join his order in the first place because he superstitiously believed that God would send him to Hell if he didn't live up to a promise to join the Augustinians in exchange for saving his life from a lightening storm. As a monk he was completely obsessed with torturing his flesh in order to beat out the devil and make himself acceptable before God. He was a fanatic.

And of course he said all those things after he was excommunicated. He also drew a cartoon of the Pope depicted as a human ass playing a harp and wrote some of the worst antisemitic writings in existence - he was not a stable man.

 

[prism]

Yes Luther had some quirks e.g. antisemitism but the issue is the romanticizing of monasteries. Luther clearly saw the trappings.

BTW, just as Paul after being a Pharisee of Pharisees discovered the grace and liberty of the Gospel ended up being hated by that group, so I find Luther after being a monk of monks rediscovers Christian freedom under the doctrine of justification by faith alone (something Rome had strayed far from) ends up also being hated by the persecuters of his day e.g. issuance of a Papal Bull.

 

[aspen]

Yes Luther had some quirks e.g. antisemitism but the issue is the romanticizing of monasteries. Luther clearly saw the trappings.

BTW, just as Paul after being a Pharisee of Pharisees discovered the grace and liberty of the Gospel ended up being hated by that group, so I find Luther after being a monk of monks rediscovers Christian freedom under the doctrine of justification by faith alone (something Rome had strayed far from) ends up also being hated by the persecuters of his day e.g. issuance of a Papal Bull.

Look, I empathize with Luther - out of all the Reformers. He lived in a time when the Catholic Church was at the height of corruption and needed reform. He was also swept up into controversy and eventual excommunication because of the printing press. However, Luther had a big mouth and it was his idealism, not the romanticism of the monastery that lead to him adding the word 'alone' to the Bible and deciding that the Book of James may not be inspired because it didn't fit his desperate need for God to accept him.

Not one monk or nun I know believes it is anything like the 'Sound of Music' or Merton's 'Seven Storey Mountain' inside their monastery (including Merton, years after publication). It is far from an easy, romantic life.

 

[Lively Stone]

Shalom,

Is it possible to join a monastery? Is there such a concept in Christianity, or is it only in buddhism?

Thanks,
Elysian

It isn't God's will that anyone join anything that separates someone from the world. We are to allow Him to equip us to live in the world and to be of service to people who need Jesus. Sequestering oneself away from the world is not what Jesus has modeled for anyone.

 

[Prentis]

It is not cutting ourselves from the world that will conform us to Christ. The nature of what makes the world what it is is within man himself, which is what makes living such a trap.

But if we are translated into the kingdom and then live from there, our life flowing from God and us having our being and our life in him, then we are conformed to him. In spirit, we must be in the monastery that is the kingdom of God, while in the flesh, we live on this earth, bringing the life of the kingdom and the presence of God into it.

 

[Redeemed86]

It isn't God's will that anyone join anything that separates someone from the world. We are to allow Him to equip us to live in the world and to be of service to people who need Jesus. Sequestering oneself away from the world is not what Jesus has modeled for anyone.

Yes, this.

 

[aspen]

Most monasteries are not cloistered (separated from the world). The majority of monks and nuns work as teachers and in social service outside the monastery.

 

[prism]

Luther had a big mouth and it was his idealism, not the romanticism of the monastery that lead to him adding the word 'alone' to the Bible and deciding that the Book of James may not be inspired because it didn't fit his desperate need for God to accept him.

Putting these two verses together justifies his word 'alone'.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
(Rom 1:17)

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
(Rom 3:21)

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
(Rom 4:6)


So, by faith-without the law-without works- sounds like 'faith alone' to me.

 

[elysian]

It isn't God's will that anyone join anything that separates someone from the world. We are to allow Him to equip us to live in the world and to be of service to people who need Jesus. Sequestering oneself away from the world is not what Jesus has modeled for anyone.

What about st Anthony and st Paul the hermit?

 

[aspen]

Putting these two verses together justifies his word 'alone'.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
(Rom 1:17)

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
(Rom 3:21)

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
(Rom 4:6)


So, by faith-without the law-without works- sounds like 'faith alone' to me.

Then why did he add the word to Romans 3:28?

 

[Lively Stone]

What about st Anthony and st Paul the hermit?

What about them? God calls us to serve others, to be a part His Great Commission.

 

[aspen]

What about st Anthony and st Paul the hermit?

Have you read St. Antony? by Athanasius? Good book!