Munster Debacle

The Munster debacle demonstrated that adult baptism was not always a sign of salvation and righteousness that could be used as a foundation bedrock for a moral and righteous people to build their society upon, and it also taught that in some cases adult baptism would perhaps have incredible consequences both temporal and eternal. What becomes obvious at this point is that those that accepted adult Baptism just prior to the Munster debacle would have been ruled by one of the most unsavorily characters and would have believed that everyone in the kingdom lived in a heavenly society despite the wickedness in the city that came as a result of a king that believed himself to be like Christ himself. Overall, the Munster debacle clearly demonstrates that separation from the evils of the world by way of adult baptism does not guarantee a holy living and perhaps the same can be said of salvation.

Three different groups existed that composed Munster, and these groups are those of the Melchiorites that won the support of the guilds in the city, the Lutherans that had initially been the majority of the town council, and the Catholics that still supported the bishop that had been expelled [1] . Before the Munster debacle, what is clear is that Munster had a wide plurality of religious differences among the people. During the Munster debacle however, what happened is that plurality of belief was eliminated in favor of uniformity, and what emerged was a belief that the citizens had acquisition of the true faith.

Lindberg argues that the Munster Debacle happened as a result of the desire for the Anabaptists to go back to the ideal model of the pure church [2] . One of the problems with this view however is that the New Testament church did not eliminate people of differing Christian belief, but instead the New Testament church assimilated multitudes of people that had varying world views (this happened after conversion to Christianity). The idea for example that Jews and gentiles would be united under one roof was almost to incredible to believe, and the city of Munster apparently did not believe in plurality like the New Testament church believed in plurality in this regard. Overall, the absence of plurality caused no societal stop to exist to contain the evil of the system of belief that Munster was founded upon, and this evil involved promoting the belief that Munster was God's kingdom on earth ruled by a man like Christ himself.

The theological underpinning thus involved in making the Munster debacle what is was had involved the belief that the ungodly would be exterminated before the very end of the world and that saints would rule the world by working together with a prophet [3] . This system of belief was wicked because it was not imposed by God but instead was something that someone just made up one day, and that is what made the Munster debacle what it was. A person could in fact come to such a conclusion because if such a theological system was true in the midst of the Munster debacle, then the events attested to would have come to fruition. The events related to the New Jerusalem that are attested to happen in the New Testament did not come to fruition either, and as a result both the accounts of the end of the world from the views held in Munster and the New Testament accounts had not been fulfilled.

The Citizens Not Baptized as Adults are Rejected

Payton argues the case that the kingdom of Munster was being set up as a Messianic kingdom as a result of Anabaptist preaching and prophecy [4] . One of the problems however that emerged is that many of the citizens that received adult baptism had to cannibalize each other in the end [5] . Not only that but also, many of the citizens that got baptized as adults soon engaged in polygamy [6] . Lastly, the aged baptized adults had to be rejected from the city in the end [7] . Sadly, the people that rejected adult baptism and thus had been rejected from the city of Munster prior to the debacle would not have suffered negative consequences in contrast to the elderly, those that eat each other, and those that engaged in polygamy in the 'messianic' kingdom of Munster.

The problem thus that can be considered in regard to adult baptism is the possibility that adult baptism may put a person in a group of so called 'Christians' that are doomed to horror and destruction in ways that will be remarked about with distaste for centuries such as is the case with the Munster debacle. In the case of the Munster debacle what appears to be true is that the citizens of Munster did manage to separate from the wicked world, but perhaps this only partly cleansed the world of its sins by the most vile sinners retreating to Munster to be destroyed by the debacle. Perhaps the debacle of Munster took away sins just like lemmings are legendary for drowning themselves in the sea. The point is that the Munster debacle could have been a control that God used to eliminate evil from the world.

In contrast to the view promoted in Munster that lead to the debacle, Menno Simons would emerge after the debacle to place less value on adult baptism. As Holder points out, Menno Simons believed that baptism did not clean a person of original sin but that instead the death of Jesus Christ on the cross cleansed the entire world of original sin [8] . Menno Simons held to the position that adult baptism was a rite practiced after a person comes to faith in Christ and that this rite was necessary for church membership [9] , and in this spirit Menno Simons moved the Anabaptist movement away from human revolutionary characters and to the idea of the body of Christ as the church that employs not the physical weapons of man but instead spiritual weapons [10] . The question thus is if Menno Simons and perhaps others like him that promoted adult baptism as prerequisite for church membership had the correct formula for the Christian faith, or if such work was really just a more spiritual version of the founding faith of the Munster debacle all over again.

John of Leyden as King of Righteousness Over Everything

According to McGinn, leaders of the debacle of Munster included people such as Jan Matthijs, Bernhard Rothmann, Bernard Knipperdolling, and Jan van Leiden, and it was Leiden (Leyden) that proclaimed himself the king of the New Jerusalem while establishing his reign of terror [11] . Leyden establishing himself as the king of the New Jerusalem thus was like establishing the antichrist on this throne, and this is the case because Christ himself is supposed to reign over the New Jerusalem [12] and not Leyden. Overall, Leyden was a good example of a leader that took advantage of his leadership to the extent that he imposed himself to be in the position of Christ himself.

Leyden had made the case that to oppose him meant to oppose the divine order, and to this end the enemies of Leyden became the enemies of God and sinners became punishable by death [13] . The problem with this view is that the enemies of Leyden had likely not been the enemies of God, and sinners would be of need of evangelism and not execution. What is however unfortunate is that Leyden became a king that imposed himself as like the God of the people instead of a king that promotes the God of the people.

The problem that caused Leyden to take office and be the king that he was is that the Anabaptists had been very unhappy with the wickedness in the world. According to McGinn, the Anabaptist desired to separate themselves from the wickedness of the world [14] . As a result, people that desired to separate from the wickedness of the world did so by gathering around their leader who happened to be none other than the so called "King of Righteousness." Thus, citizens that accepted adult baptism had to submit themselves to the "King of Righteousness."

The citizens that rejected adult baptism would have instead in contrast been under the authority of the Pope unless they would have opted out by proclaiming themselves Lutheran. In this regard the masses of people that had been involved in the debacle would have had limited selection as to what they would believe since the Anabaptists taught one thing, the Catholics taught another, and the Lutherans yet had another teaching of Christianity. The point is that the citizens of Munster would likely have had only three options at best, and a forth option would not have been possible since military arms had secured all three in a competing fashion leaving no room for the emergence of a new brand of faith.

Unfortunately, the eternal consequences of adult baptism and full submission to Leyden could have likely been less than those of submitting to the Pope. Even if the Pope was the antichrist, then submitting to him would not have been as bad as eating human flesh to stay alive as was the case with the Munster debacle. Torture by Catholics related to the inquisition just was not as extreme as people eating each other for food in Munster, and if Catholic torture had horrific consequences, then the cannibalism of Munster had even greater consequences. Overall, the results of accepting adult baptism had been rather extreme compared to the alternatives, and given the consequences of the Munster debacle a person would have been wiser to not be baptized as an adult if it meant being a citizen of Munster during the debacle.

Measuring Outcomes by Choices

The people of Munster did not have any choice of denomination during the debacle because king Leyden would have seen groups opposing his as a threat to the faith that he was the head of. Clearly, given the outcome, the best choice of faith, if at all available, for a Munster citizen during the debacle would have been any Christian faith other than what king Leyden promoted. A question that may emerge is at what point was salvation no longer possible for the citizens of Munster, and when looking at this question optimistically, one is reminded that everything is possible with God but that this cannot be said of man [15] .

After the debacle had taken place, many people that had been involved in the debacle would have needed leadership and guidance as a result of what had happened. Liechty argues the case that after cannibalism took place in the debacle of Munster, Menno Simons gathered the remnant of Anabaptists together that had been left in confusion and had been disoriented [16] . The point is that after the debacle, many people could have chosen to follow the pope, others could have chosen to be part of Luther's faith, but many decided to follow Menno Simons. The outcome of following Menno Simons was that today the Mennonite faith is a large prosperous denomination that is founded with the principles of handling problems without the use of violence.

The best result of the debacle of Munster is that the choices that the citizens of Munster made to follow Leyden are a historical record that reminds the future what kind of consequences could lay in store for a person that trusts in adult baptism for the substance of eternal salvation. What is very unfortunate is that hypothetically Catholics and Lutherans may have only been presented with the Anabaptist faith that lead to the debacle as the only option for adult baptism, and this means that a person may have had the option to either follow Leyden in the end after being baptized as an adult or to continue on in the faith as given from infancy and to leave the city. Given the consequences of following Leyden, what appears clear is that a person would have been better to stay Catholic or Lutheran and to leave the city instead of following Leyden and receiving adult baptism.

Munster Union of Church and State

The Roman Catholic view of church and state was that the two powers existed at the same time and that the secular power of the old Roman government and culture was intended to fuel the ecclesiastical powers of the Roman Catholic Church [17] , and this view was known as the doctrine of the two swords. For John Calvin in the city of Geneva, the separation between church and state did not exist because the church was the state for all practical purposes. The city of Munster was in fact much like the city of Geneva in that both church and state had not been separate. Overall, of the three views, the Roman Catholic view surpassingly offers the most plurality by giving the secular power a place under the church, but in contrast both Munster and Geneva had been operated more like a theocracy.

One should thus pay careful attention to what Petersen writes when he reminds people that John Calvin wrote after the debacle of Munster and that Calvin's Institutes explain the evangelical faith and defend the reform movement against religious radicalism and social sedition [18] . The point to be made is that Calvin would have seen the results of Munster and could have made adjustments in order that Geneva would have been a more successful city than Munster. A point that could thus be made is that Munster became a lesson for many different people to learn from such as John Calvin, and in this regard its failure permanently changed the future of church and state relations.

One of the problems with the union of church and state in the city of Munster is that it caused civil order to be administered by the church to the extent that all rules would be ultimately decided by Leyden the "King of Righteousness." An observation that is made is that the citizens of Munster engaged in polygamy during the debacle since all marriages in the city had been considered to be dissolved, and since many husbands of a different faith left the city while leaving their wives behind thus the result was that many former wives of a different faith had to conform to the "Anabaptist" faith [19] . The point to be made is that as a result of the complete union of church and state alone with the elimination of other world views what resulted is that some people got victimized by being caught in a government that supported rules that they themselves may have been morally opposed to.

The various problems that would be imposed by legal rights given to the citizens of Munster and moral consequences as a result would have been rather extreme as a result of the union of church and state. Verhey points out that Calvin did not have much favor for political involvement, and that this should be considered in light of the Munster debacle of 1535 and the fear that the Reformation could lead to complete anarchy [20] . A point to thus me made is that Calvin was successful with Geneva in contrast to Leyden over the city of Munster because Calvin stayed away from politics, and what would be meant by this is that Calvin administered the entire state just like a big church instead of like a political organization.

Munster deviated from Geneva in that it went beyond the common rules for church administration. For example, Old makes the case that the commonwealth of Munster did not respect private property or marriage, and the case is thus argued that when the bishop of Munster retook the city, the kingdom of Munster thus became seen as an example of apocalyptic aberrations related to the vision of the New Jerusalem and Protestant degeneration [21] . What Old is saying basically is that Munster deviated from the church model and went into 'Protestant degeneration', and in this regard Munster failed by over extending the rules of the church by causing political doctrine that did not match church doctrine while Geneva succeeded by running a city according to church administration.

Conclusion

Clearly, what the Munster debacle teaches is that building a society upon adult baptism will not guarantee that the people will flourish and prosper in holy living, and likewise a person would be left to question the eternal value of the alleged salvation offered by adult baptism in the kingdom of Munster prior to the debacle. What is notable is that the people that had rejected adult baptism and been cast out of Munster would have not suffered like the people of Munster suffered during the debacle. Unfortunately, incidents like the Munster debacle demonstrate that sometimes accepting adult baptism as a matter of choice may in fact mean accepting consequences that are very damaging for eternity.

For all practical purposes, Leyden the king of Munster during the debacle, was an antichrist because he set up a government to be the kingdom of heaven on earth and he ruled over that government as if he was Jesus Christ reigning in heaven. Adult baptism in Munster would have meant allegiance to Leyden, and allegiance to Leyden would have meant opposition to Catholic forces and Lutheran forces, and since Lutherans and Catholics composed the Christian faith at the time, thus allegiance to Leyden during the debacle would have locked a person out of Christianity. What Leyden as king of Munster thus teaches is that a person must be baptized as a result of the correct message, and when a baptized believer enters into church membership, then one can only hope that a new member is not entering into allegiance with a group like that lead by Leyden at Munster.

The options given to the people of Munster had been to stay Lutheran and be rejected from the city, to stay Catholic and be rejected from the city, or to be baptized as an adult and to stay in Munster as a citizen of what was thought to be the city of God. Given these options for faith and citizenship, a person would have been much better to reject adult baptism instead of following Leyden the king of Munster. Overall, a person would avoid a lot of hardship, eating of human flesh, being ruled by an antichrist, and going through a nightmare by rejecting adult baptism that would lend itself to bringing a person into a subordinate relationship to Leyden in the Munster debacle.

The union of church and state that was realized in Munster under Leyden was to such an extreme that it eliminated the possibility for plurality, and as a result the union of church and state gave Leyden absolute authority over the kingdom of Munster. The danger thus in this union of bodies is that it caused people to believe that only one practice existed for eternal salvation and that Leyden was in charge of this practice; moreover, everyone under Leyden thus was under a dictator that they could not be free of for danger of being ejected from the city and loosing a place in the New Jerusalem. Leyden thus went far above and beyond the horror of Catholics and Lutherans in terms of causing a religious state that endangered the citizens, and the threat was that if the citizens did not follow Leyden as "King of Righteousness", then they could loose their place in the New Jerusalem and be without both everything and everyone that they had known and been part of during their lives.

Clearly, adult baptism sometimes has incredible consequences both temporally and eternally, and it in itself cannot be used as the very foundation for a moral and righteous people that have eternal security as their backing. Some may think that anyone that is baptized as an adult has the full measure of God's salvation poured out onto them, but in the case of Munster during the debacle, what was demonstrated is that the people did not have the grace of God given to them as a result of the choice to be baptized as an adult. What is likely more fitting is that God had chosen to display his wrath on the citizens of Munster as a result of their choice to be baptized as adults under the wrong gospel. Overall, the point is that Munster teaches a lesson about eternal salvation that should be remembered for generations to come, and that message is that adult baptism does not guarantee temporal or eternal salvation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berolzheimer, Fritz. The World's Legal Philosophies. Boston, Massachusetts: The Boston Book Company, 1912.

Bockelson, Friedrich, George Lippe trans. and Viktoria Reck-Malleczewen trans. A History of the Munster Anabaptists: Inner Emigratoin and the Third Reich. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

Holder, R. Ward. Crisis and Renewal the Era of the Reformations. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1989.

Hsia, R. Society and Religion in Munster: 1535-1618. London, England: Yale University Press, 1984.

Liechty, Daniel. Early Anabaptist Spirituality: Selected Writings. Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1994.

Lindberg, Carter. The European Reformations, 2^nd edition. West Sussex, England: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

McGinn, Bernard, John Collins, and Stephen Stein. The Continuum History of Apocalypticism. New York, New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003.

Old, Hughes. The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the Sixteenth Century. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992.

Payton, James. Getting the Reformation Wrong: Correcting Some Misunderstandings. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2010.

Petersen, Rodney. Preaching in the Last Days: the Theme of 'Two Witnesses' in the 16^th & 17^th Centuries. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Verhey, Allen and Lammers, Stephen. On Moral Medicine: Theological Perspectives in Medical Ethics, 2^nd edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998.

[1] Lindberg, 208

[2] Lindberg, 207

[3] Lindberg, 208

[4] Payton, 169

[5] Bockelson, 141

[6] Bockelson, 4

[7] Bockelson, 152

[8] Holder, 135

[9] Holder, 135

[10] Holder, 136

[11] McGinn, 328

[12] Revelation 22:1-2

[13] Lindberg, 209

[14] McGinn, 329

[15] Luke 18:27

[16] Liechty, 8

[17] Berolzheimer, 101

[18] Petersen, 240

[19] Hsia, 16

[20] Verhey, 830

[21] Old, 114