The quality of the Lord's church on earth, cannot be seen by any man, so long as he lives in the world, still less how the church in process of time has turned aside from good to evil.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
It's very difficult to determine whether this is the fault of the world that has abandoned the Church, or the Church that does not know how to relate to the world.
Through the ages, God has used the church to keep alive and pass down the story of what Christ has done for us.
In the ordinary church, it is suppressed by respectability, by a desire to appear better than we really are.
I suppose the Church would be perfect only if it were run by perfect beings. God is perfect, and His doctrine is pure. But He works through us - His imperfect children - and imperfect people make mistakes.
There is a lot wrong with the church.
Those outside the church expect followers of Christ to live differently, yet today many in church are chasing after the world - not to win them, but to be like them.
People have really strong images of what church is, and it's almost certainly not the same as mine.
I never weary of great churches. It is my favorite kind of mountain scenery. Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.
Indeed, in the present climate of mistrust of institutions, many people who yearn for a more meaningful and fulfilling life would regard the church as an unlikely place to go for guidance.
Every church is a stone on the grave of a god-man: it does not want him to rise up again under any circumstances.