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...A Place for Personal Communion with Me

Introduction to New Kidron

What is New Kidron?

New Kidron is a country that I founded in 2008. It began as something which could be described as a micronation, but it is much more ambitious than that; it is not merely an experiment in government or even primarily about government, as the world understands the concept. To describe my current vision, it is both the land of New Kidron and the Kingdom of New Kidron: that is, it is both New Kidron as a physical place and the Kingdom of New Kidron as a manifestation of the Kingdom of God in a specific place.

Why did I found New Kidron?

I founded New Kidron in order to fulfill the two greatest commandments and the original duty of man: to love God with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love one's neighbor as one's self (Mark 12:28–31) and to bear fruit, multiply, consecrate and replenish the earth, and reign over it (Genesis 1:26–31). As the entire project was both a gift to God and an expression of Truth according to my abilities (being about the only thing I could devise that encompassed and required the use of virtually all my skills and talents), it seemed to fulfill the first greatest commandment very well. Because it was a framework for interaction with other people, and the entire world, and was essentially kenotic and donumistic in nature, it seemed to fulfill the second. And, because I worked to reconcile many diverse disciplines together, trying to return Orthodox theology back into fields such as politics, economics, engineering projects, technology, and environmental work, it seemed well on its way to helping me fulfill the original duty of man, too. In short, it seemed to be the best possible course of action for me to take. But, most importantly of all, it was the path blessed by God.

In what ways is New Kidron unlike a micronation?

The problem with regarding New Kidron as a micronation, in the traditional sense of the word, is the same as regarding any so-called "nation" as a nation, in the traditional sense of the word: they are fantasies. They are little more than subjective, collective ideas [and] do not exist outside of the minds of persons[1]. A lot of people have rightly pointed out that micronations are fictional: they are whatever their creator wants them to be. But far fewer people make the bigger, more important connection: it is not just micronations which are fictional, but all nations. No nation exists apart from people that believe it exists and act as if it is real.

Because I am very concerned with Truth and the salvation of real persons (and, as I noted, created New Kidron to express Truth and work towards the salvation of real persons), I came to the conclusion that I could no longer support the metonymic depersonalization[2] inherent in the traditional idea of a nation, and thus the traditional idea of a micronation. Therefore, while I may still use the word "micronation", I use it by way of economy[3] to easily communicate with people who do not have such an understanding and believe in nations in a objective way. And, while I still collect and maintain many statistics and pieces of information regarding New Kidron, these are in regards to the physical land, the actual persons, or the Trinitarian reality behind the Kingdom, not attempts to support the typical understanding of nationhood.

What defines New Kidron as a land?

As reality is subjective and personal,[4] I will of course attempt to present mainly my own view of what the land of New Kidron is, both here and in the entire New Kidron Information Booklet. New Kidron consists of the Brook of New Kidron itself, the New Kidron Valley, and about 200m in each direction of the surrounding areas. One of the most important places in New Kidron is Fortress Kedar, which serves as my residence and, in times past, was regarded as the capital.

How does New Kidron function as a kingdom?

New Kidron functions as a kingdom because it is ruled over by God. The Kingdom of God not only transcends time and place but is also contained in time and place, because of Christ's Incarnation, which united the Divine and human.[5] In this sense, New Kidron is a "part" of God's Kingdom, and thus can be called the Kingdom of New Kidron. This is the sense in which "micronation" best describes New Kidron in a real way, without economy, if the word "micronation" is understood as carrying the opposite meaning of worldly government and nationhood.

In another, though similar way, New Kidron contains people who partake in the Kingdom of God. And, Christ taught that He is present wherever genuine personal communion takes place.[6] Thus, persons in the land of New Kidron can manifest the Kingdom of God and it is possible to call this the Kingdom of New Kidron.[7]

Metadata

Description

This document is, as you may have suspected, an introduction to New Kidron. Why do I need such an introduction? Because my work in and with New Kidron is very expansive and there is much I want to speak about; I think enormous spiritual benefit can be derived from some of the things I've learned. But it is also very confusing: the idea of a micronation in the typical sense, and even moreso in the sense that I have created one, is unknown and very strange to most people. A lot of basic explanation is required for most readers just so that they can understand the "language" I am speaking in.

Authorship

I wrote this version of the introduction mostly in August/September of 2011 for the new NKIB. I last modified the content on August 30, 2012.

I created this metadata on July 26, 2011 and last modified it on January 1, 2013.

Footnotes

  1. 1. This is a quote from my policy statement Personhood vs. Nationhood.
  2. 2. That is, treating a mental fantasy as a person while subsequently treating real persons as non-persons.
  3. 3. A good definition of economy is "meeting a person where he or she is at", whether in a spiritual, intellectual, or physical sense.
  4. 4. The Orthodox Church teaches that all reality is subjective, not just ideas such as a nation. However, this does not necessarily correlate with what modern philosophers may mean by the term "subjective". Likewise, the Church teaches that all reality is personal: it is derived from persons and can only be experienced by persons.
  5. 5. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (KJV)
  6. 6. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20 (KJV)
  7. 7. One ancient tradition in the Church associates the Church, or Kingdom of God, with the place that the members physically meet in, for instance, the Church of the Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 1:1). This is synonymous with "the Church of Thessalonica", "the Body of Christ in Thessalonica", "the Kingdom of God in Thessalonica", and even "the Kingdom of Thessalonica".

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