Anchorites

[Guest]

I study on my own. Today i have read about anchorites in connection with reading a wonderful book of the writings of Julian of Norwich. Such profound wisdom. 

I wondered, if you had lived in a past age, would you have wanted to be an anchorite? Living in seclusion but at the heart of a community. Spending your whole time in prayer and steeped in the Bible. Sounds good to me! 

Edited July 17, 2019 by Melinda12

[Jayne]

I don't think I could or would have desired this.  I believe one can "pray without ceasing" as the Bible teaches and read/study/meditate on the Bible daily without being permanently locked and sealed in a room the size of a walk-in closet or smaller.  It would have driven me mad as a hatter.

The Bible teaches to go out into  the world and teach, preach, baptize, and make disciples.  Not all can go across the world, but all can go across the street.  My mother's pastor who just died last week spent his last year in a nursing home.  He spent his time "going" to all the wings, pushing himself in his wheelchair, and visiting/praying with/preaching in the home.  He was confined to the nursing home, but he "went" where God led him.

We should follow Christ's example of sometimes going to solitary places to pray, but I see no one in the Bible having themselves bricked-up or mortared-up for life just to pray and read the Bible. 

Beside, to be honest, there was no deodorant, lice was rampant as well as dysentery, and no medications.  Nope, not for me.

[BeauJangles]

21 minutes ago, Jayne said:

My mother's pastor who just died last week spent his last year in a nursing home.  He spent his time "going" to all the wings, pushing himself in his wheelchair, and visiting/praying with/preaching in the home.  He was confined to the nursing home, but he "went" where God led him.

 What a heart warming story. 

[JustPassingThru]

2 hours ago, Melinda12 said:

I wondered, if you had lived in a past age, would you have wanted to be an anchorite? Living in seclusion but at the heart of a community. Spending your whole time in prayer and steeped in the Bible. Sounds good to me! 

My pastor always told us Father knew when in time to have us born and He knew where to place us when we were born, ...makes sense to me, ...besides, like Jayne said, ...I'd go coucou, ..no that's French, coco, no that's not it, I've forgotten the word in English, ...oh well, ...nuts! 

[johnthebaptist]

2 hours ago, Melinda12 said:

I study on my own. Today i have read about anchorites in connection with reading a wonderful book of the writings of Julian of Norwich. Such profound wisdom. 

I wondered, if you had lived in a past age, would you have wanted to be an anchorite? Living in seclusion but at the heart of a community. Spending your whole time in prayer and steeped in the Bible. Sounds good to me! 

The world can be a very bad influence. Still, I don't think it's the Lord's will that we be alone all the time. I think it is good to be active in a church. Be careful: a church can be a bad influence, also.

[dr3032]

Funny enough, I have spent a period of my life as a shut-in. Many people think of as being a stress-free life, with no work and just sitting around playing videogames, watching TV, and going online. However, it is not - Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result every time. The same four walls. Everyday. The same activites to pass the time. Everyday. The shut-in gets stuck inside of a stasis of sorts, where they not only destroy what could have been, but what was before.

Sure, I did not have work nor did I go outside - But I still dreamed. I dreamed of a happier life, I dreamed of a lovely and loving wife, I dreamed of things being far less heavy, and far less messy and blurry. I looked at myself one day and I realized, I was not living, but rather dying. I was confined to my mind and lived in fantasy, not in reality. Part of me took solace in this, as I did not like life anyway, and reality was cruel and harsh, so my mind and fantasies were better. The other part of me was in utter disgust - How could I be happy, if I never tried? Is this what my life amounted to, an absolute waste of time and life? I viewed myself, ironically, as an anchorite; the living dead. 

This inspired me to get up and try to get my life together. I can't claim to be as happy as one might hope, but i'm a lot better off than I was previously. Solitude is a necessity, but so is getting out and about. I still haven't recovered completely from that period of time cut off from the world. As I said about the stasis, it does far more damage than good. My mind sucks; I wish far too often that I had an off switch, to just shut down and reboot when things get screwy. I swear if I went to a psychologist, they'd probably dose me full of meds or something.

Edited July 17, 2019 by dr3032

[missmuffet]

3 hours ago, Melinda12 said:

I study on my own. Today i have read about anchorites in connection with reading a wonderful book of the writings of Julian of Norwich. Such profound wisdom. 

I wondered, if you had lived in a past age, would you have wanted to be an anchorite? Living in seclusion but at the heart of a community. Spending your whole time in prayer and steeped in the Bible. Sounds good to me! 

I don't think so. Perhaps it would look good to someone who had a very serious social anxiety issue. 

[Guest]

Interesting. What about monks and nuns who live out of society in order to free themselves to worship and serve Christ? Or silent orders. 

Does that indicate mental problems? A need for solitude is surely positive. What of Thomas a Kempis and Julian of Norwich who produced amazingly wise writings by living solitary lives? 

Is it they who are crazy or so many in life who live noisy lives filled with nonsense and foolish values and who never u understand the value of silence to hear God? 

[Neighbor]

What about any  of many "orders" that promise seclusion, plus "freedom" from responsibility of personal decision making? What about the Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ, what about the poor wretches that get involved with Scientology? 

All, absolutely all, are the antithesis of what Christianity is.

 

Sitting and thinking grand thoughts is not the Christian's lot. Doing the will of God in all that is done is the lot of the Christian.

Know the gospel of Jesus- be part of going into all the world with the gospel of Jesus.

 

[pg4Him]

 Why must we look for reasons to say these anchorites were wrong? Perhaps the Lord calls a few intercessors to spend a great deal of their day in prayer. Not every Christian can travel the world to evangelize. Paul told the church at Thessalonica to work with their hands and mind their own business so they would need nothing from outsiders.  Why can’t it be enough that we let each Christian do what the Lord has called them to do?