Protestantism

» pink101 - Quoting Schaeffer

In response to Greatest Books posted by BrianTubbs:
.
Here, I am quoting Schaeffer and giving you an idea of how he approaches his experience..
.
Chapter 5, opening paragraph:
.
"Fundamentalists can never just disagree. The person they fall out with is not only on the wrong side of an issue, they are on the wrong side of God. In the 1940s, my parents had a big fight with a fundamentalist leader I never met, Carl McIntyre. Years later the mention of his name was enough to put Dad in a Mood. They fell out in a way that got personal, and McIntyre lied about my father, or so Mom said. What the lies were, I never knew. My sister Susan says that McIntyre accused Dad of being a communist and that this was, 'All part of the McCarthy-era witch hunts.' Anyway, the upshot was that Dad left the mission that sent him to Europe in 1947. Then my parents founded the ministry of L'Abri in 1955.
.
"A church split builds self-righteousness into the fabric of every new splinter group, whose only reason for existence is that they decide they are more moral and pure than their brethren. This explains my childhood, and perhaps a lot about America too.
.
"The United States is a country with a national character of a newly formed church splinter group. This is not surprising. Our country started as a church splinter group. The Puritans left England because they believed they were more enlightened than members of the Church of England, and they were eager to form a perfect earthly community following a pure theology. They also had every intention of some day returning to England, once they had proved that something close to heaven on earth could work, and reforming their 'heretical' fellow citizens.
.
"America still sees itself as essential and as destiny's instrument. And each splinter group within our culture--left, right, conservative, liberal, religious--sees itself as morally, even 'theologically' superior to its rivals. It is not just about politics. It is about being better than one's evil opponent. We don't just disagree, we demonize the 'other.' And we don't compromise."
.
________________________________________
.
That's a teaser on the book which I think everyone that has and continues to participate here will appreciate. With the exception of maybe one or two.
.

-- posted by pink101