organize?

More from that discussion...

That book [Anarchy Works, by Peter Gelderloos] looks interesting, thanks. And in good anarchist fashion, it's available free here.

From a brief perusal, though (and correct me if I'm wrong), many of the examples are similar to what I've seen before. For significant anarchist alternatives (like making healthcare accessible, removing the necessity of wage labor, defending against oppressors, etc) large numbers of organized people are required. In certain places and times in history this has been possible to some extent. But for the vast majority of us, those alternatives are not possible now, where we are. We can try to work in that direction, "convert" more people, organize, but the life we hope for is usually not achievable by the means anarchists offer. We just can't get enough people to agree and cooperate.

I think this also points to a place where anarchism (as a political approach) stands in stark contrast with Jesus. He did not achieve his freedoms and anarchistic life through organizing large numbers of people. Jesus' message was not "Organize." The kingdom of God was offered to us here and now as a gift of God, and his life was an example of what that looks like.

...But I have no desire here to say Christians are better than anarchists. Only that Jesus offers something much better, that we can live here and now. That's perhaps an even more challenging invitation to most Christians (who say "we can't live that way in this fallen world") than anarchists (who say "we can't live that way until this filthy rotten system is brought down").