Expert: Paul Andrew Anderson - 11/5/2011

Question
All Glory to the Trinity!
Why don't Anabaptists have monasteries?

Answer
Why don't Anabaptists have Monasteries?  
That is a thoughtful question. I suppose the answer would be similar to other questions, which attempt to decipher two different groupings on a seemingly similar path; in this instance, Discipleship. Monasteries are constructed for nuns and monks, which reveal that they have Roman Catholic roots. Conversely; Anabaptists were not rooted in Catholicism, and Catholicism gave birth to Orthodox sects (Eastern, Oriental, Anglican, etc.) and later to Monk Luther’s Protestantism. Anabaptists are the Spiritual (or non-genetic) succession of Christ, and why they were always persecuted by the Godless Religionists who claimed (and gained) authority based upon the notion of Apostolic succession, which ultimately justified all sorts of evil done in the name of God. How we live is but a mirror of our soul-condition.

Monasteries have Buddhist and Hindu roots!  
Since unconditional surrender unto the supreme Lordship of Jesus Christ will result in the death of the old self, the new creature (born, again) will grow in the Love of God and with the mind of Christ. Hence, we do not follow the ways of the world, but rather, the core of Christ; we are Christ-centric. Conversely, the worldly, churched or not, do not have the Enlightenment of the Indwelling Holy Spirit, and so, as Jesus put it, they are the blind leading the blind; in this case, they follow religious patterns established by other religionists of their known history. Therefore, monastery building is analogous to a church building; it is monkey-see-monkey-do, which exposes the true condition of the mind and soul. Still, the central theme and motive for the follower of Christ would be the communal aspect of a monastic lifestyle, and this is what attracted many who identified self as Christian. However, we are to be in the world but not of it, so that we may shine the Light of God unto a darkened populous.

And withal they learn to be idle!  
Another important aspect is that of labor and the looming threats that are rooted in idleness. For example, if one were to live among/with American Amish for even a year, one would discover that there is not much spare time to live an exclusively contemplative lifestyle, much less the resources to build a structure devoted to that life. In fact, Amish and other conservative Anabaptists rarely even build church buildings, likely because they do not see the logic in them: God is everywhere, all the time! Modernity came by way of planetary exploitation and mammon-economics, which in turn allowed for leisure and the population explosion. Nonetheless, those in an actual, personal relationship with God are likened to that of a Love-centric marriage between a man and a woman; they are together always, in the good times and the bad times; they are hardly ever apart: Thus, having a special building to meet at a special time is unnecessary. We are the bride of Christ, indeed!

http://rkjv.webs.com/Matthew.html#5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_succession
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Reformation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology_of_Anabaptism

(Wikipedia is a secular resource; always consume with salt)