Why loving your neighbor as yourself = anarchy.
When a scribe asked Jesus, “What's the greatest command?”, Jesus replied, “Love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself”.
Spoken like a true anarchist.
Both secular and religious legal systems are punitive. Religious punitive measures can be brutal in some parts of the world (mostly middle-eastern), while in western culture the punitive effects are often more socially based through shunning forms of peer-pressure to conform to certain beliefs and behaviors. Both are also completely contrary to the freedom God would like us to experience.
The idea of loving your neighbor as yourself, if fully realized, would make all legal systems obsolete. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23) Which is to say that being a loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled individual - is not against the law.
Civil law exists only in-so-far that without it, supposedly, we would all go mad and kill ourselves and each-other because of our inherently violent and covetous natures. That may have been entirely true in the past (and for certain mindsets is still true day), but right now it seems as though a new light is dawning. People are really beginning to wake up in greater numbers. We realize the world doesn't have to be the way it is. There is a better way, and that way is love.
What does it mean to love? Does it mean to accept everything and anything? I don't think it does, but what it DOES mean, I believe, is to love your neighbor as yourself.
Peace, David
Yep, figured that out myself as well. When we take the original foundation of the United States as an example using the Declaration of Independence, that is an adoption of what could be considered true anarchy but which is in fact, theocracy, which means God is the only one who rules, there are no earthly rulers.
However, some organizations of government are extremely helpful, FEMA in the case of a huge disaster, for example.
The biggest problem to overcome with theocracy is how to remove the evil spiritual influences. Jesus has great ability and demonstrates the removal of demonic or spirit forces that produce profound effects that are witnessed. For example, the casting of demons into swine and suddenly they are run over a cliff and die. The instantaneous healing of disease by the removal of the evil spirit.
The big problem is, overcoming evil, winning. Once we figure out how to do that effectively and quickly like was once done, problem solved.
So I liked your post. It was refreshing, hopeful.