Intro to the Church

In regards to what I want to write on next, I have a quote that I read today from one of my favorite books, "Orthodoxy" by G. K. Chesterton. This quote is in reference to an ordinary man's view of the world, but I saw it as almost dead on of my view of the church. Chesterton saw this view of the world the only healthy one, and I have to agree:

"No one doubts that an ordinary man can get on with this world:but we demand not stength enough to get on with it, but strength enough to get it on. Can he hate it enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing?"

I've seen too many people leave church, too many friends leave my church because they held onto the just hating it. I've seen too many people stay around the church and adore the church because they just love it. Chesteron rightfully says that we need not be a pessimist or an optimist in the ordinary sense. We need to be mystical, and thus idealist. Without this ingredient, change would not be added.

The point is that there is nothing wrong with having a distaste for the church as long as you have that distaste because you love it and want to restore it to the way it should be. However, it is another thing to have a distaste and never look back. Chesterton said two things from two other books of his, "The Everlasting Man" and "What's Wrong with the World," that are worth noting in light of this:

"As for the general view that the Church was discredited by the War - they might as well say that the Ark was discredited by the Flood. When the world goes wrong, it proves rather that the Church is right. The Church is justified, not because her children do not sin, but because they do." - Everlasting Man

The last phrase is of utmost importance. We cannot expect the Church to be perfect, it has never truly purported to be. But even the first part is worth noting for a good defense against the common argument that there is evil in the world and therefore the Christianity is wrong.

The second quote is worth keeping in the back of your mind as we deal with this idea of the Church. We must understand what it is saying and give people a little slack:

"My point is that the world did not tire of the church's ideal, but if its reality. Monasteries were impugned not for the chasity of monks, but for the unchasity of monks. Christianity was unpopular not because of its humility, but of the arrogance of Christians. . . The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."

Chesterton, a very pious Catholic, understood what Augustine understood centuries before him - do not judge a philosophy by its abuse. Notice Chesterton said CHRISTIANITY was unpopular not because of ITS humility, but of the arrogance of CHRISTIANS. While Christians should live the Christian ideal, we all fail at it sometimes. But Christianity's ideal is unwavering, and its founder, Jesus, the epitome of this ideal. So I encourage readers to take the rest of this series in light of Chesterton's thoughts. Ideals are fleeting in this world, but the journey to acheive them is quite concrete.