the opposite error
An observation by C. S. Lewis which is worth thinking about in regard to our
church today is that “just because the middle ages erred in one direction does
not mean no error in the opposite direction is possible.”
Every strength has its opposite weakness. The Church of 100 years ago had
its strengths and weaknesses, and so does the Church today.
The strength of the General Church in its early days – and it was a very
important and much-needed strength – was its intense focus on doctrine and
its application to the life of the Church. Because the members of the Church
all shared that interest, they formed a very close-knit, cohesive, spiritually
grounded community. It wasn’t perfect (nothing is), but it was unique on the
face of the earth, unusually harmonious, useful, beautiful, and very valuable to
the establishment of the New Jerusalem on earth.
The shadow side was that because of its unusual strengths it was easy for
it to be self-satisfied and unconcerned with what people outside the Church
thought of it. Its large endowment enabled it to act from principle without
worrying about trying to be popular in order to get money from more people.
This actually seems providential to me, in that it enabled the Church to
concentrate on spiritual matters and act solely from principle. And it gave a
sense of bigness and strength to the Church way beyond its small size, and this
was good because in truth no institution on earth was as important.
On the other hand, this freedom from financial concerns made it easier
for the Church to focus inwardly on its own issues and pay little attention to
the world around it, and ma FR