Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Ash Wednesday

As the wife of a state Supreme Court justice in Arkansas put it, “My husband has been a Methodist all his life, but if it comes to choosing between being a Methodist and an American, he’ll be an American every time.” But this was not the issue, quite. In this case the choice was between being a good Methodist and a good American, and being a tribal religionist. But the theological problem of churches without discipline comes into stark outline in the quotation. Inadequately trained for membership, admitted without preparatory training, without the proper instruments of voluntary discipline, many members have never had the discontinuity between life in Christ and life in the world brought home to them. Here the ordinary members are less at fault than the leadership of the churches, who—though sworn to uphold the form of sound words and doctrine—neglect catechetical instruction and concentrate solely on the acquisition of more new members at any price.

... Franklin H. Littell (1917-2009), From State Church to Pluralism, Chicago: Aldine Publishers, 1962, reprinted by Transaction Publishers, 2007, p. 134 (see the book; see also Matt. 21:23-27; more at Christ, Church, Discipline, Instruction, Life, Neglect, Theology)

 
Compilation Copyright, 1996-2024, by Robert McAnally Adams,
        Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day,
        with Robert Douglas, principal contributor
Logo image Copyright 1996 by Shay Barsabe, of “Simple GIFs”, by kind permission.
Send comments to curator@cqod.com.

Last updated: 01/23/14

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