I owe a lot to the teachings and approach of Anabaptism. I have been deeply impacted by their prioritisation of the Gospels when it comes both to the practice and doctrine of the Christian faith. I did not take the ‘oath’ when serving on a court jury due to their teaching. It was not as simple as a law – Jesus said do not swear (an oath), so we do not swear, but an understanding that as followers of Christ our ‘yes’ has to be ‘yes’ and our ‘no’ to be a ‘no’. Our allegiance to Christ means we are truth-tellers and to put ourselves under an oath would be to suggest that it is Christ + an oath for us to be truth-tellers. I am aware we live in the world and have to find a way through on situations, so I am really not sure what I would do if I lived in a country that asked for allegiance to a flag. An Anabaptist approach really says our allegiance is to Christ and therefore to the whole human race.
There is a story told that is very challenging of Dirk Willems who could have escaped but turned back to help his pursuer, and as a result was soon to be martyred. Not only am I challenged by ‘what would I have done’, but the interpretation of the event. Would I have interpreted it as God has delivered me, and went away praising God? I cannot but believe he did the ‘right thing’, even if I would have done the opposite. The challenge remains, often in small, non-life-threatening situations as to how I respond, and how much my faith in Christ enables (gladly obligates) me to live in a distinct counter-culture way.
(Below is from: https://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/article/why-did-dirk-willems-turn-back/)
1569 was a bad year to be an Anabaptist. The Martyrs’ Mirror lists a number of martyrs that year, some of whom lived close enough to Dirk’s home that he would surely have known of their deaths. I imagine the prospect of death was constantly with him, a steady part of his inner life. I imagine he frequently asked himself, “What would I do if …?” or, more likely in his circumstances, “What will I do when …?” His ruminations must have been shaped to a great extent by the teaching of the little Anabaptist fellowships, one of which met in his home. With arrest and death ever-present dangers, Anabaptists spent considerable time preparing one another to meet them.
Late in the winter of 1569, Dirk Willems of Holland was discovered as an Anabaptist, and a thief catcher came to arrest him at the village of Asperen. Running for his life, Dirk came to a body of water still coated with ice. After making his way across in great peril, he realised his pursuer had fallen through into the freezing water.
Turning back, Dirk ran to the struggling man and dragged him safely to shore. The thief catcher wanted to release Dirk, but a burgomaster – having appeared on the scene – reminded the man he was under oath to deliver criminals to justice. Dirk was bound off to prison, interrogated, and tortured in an unsuccessful effort to make him renounce his faith. He was tried and found guilty of having been rebaptised, of holding secret meetings in his home, and of allowing baptism there – all of which he freely confessed.
“Persisting obstinately in his opinion”, Dirk was sentenced to execution by fire. On the day of execution, a strong east wind blew the flames away from his upper body so that death was long delayed. The same wind carried his voice to the next town, where people heard him cry more than seventy times, “O my Lord; my God”. The judge present was “finally filled with sorrow and regret”. Wheeling his horse around so he saw no more, he ordered the executioner, “Dispatch the man with a quick death.”