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{"id":16940,"date":"2014-12-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2014-12-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T00:00:00","slug":"slow-going","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/12\/slow-going\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow Going"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

PT Forsyth responds to the charge that the church is slow to accomplish her mission because of her unfaithfulness with this neat inversion (Work of Christ<\/a>, 21):<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you really find that the deeper you get into Christ and the\u00a0meaning of His demands Christianity spreads faster in\u00a0your heart? Is it not very much the other way? When it\u00a0comes to close quarters you have actually to be got\u00a0down and broken, that the old man may be pulverised\u00a0and the new man created from the dust. Therefore\u00a0when we hear people abusing the Church and its\u00a0history the first thing we have to say is, Yes, there is a \u00a0great deal too much truth in what you say, but there is\u00a0also a greater truth which you are not allowing for, and\u00a0it is this. One reason why the Church has been so slow in its progress in mankind and its effect on human\u00a0history is because it has been so faithful to Christ, so faithful to His Cross. You have to subdue the most\u00a0intractable, difficult, and slow thing in the world \u2013 man\u2019s\u00a0self-will. You cannot expect rapid successes if you\u00a0truly preach the Cross whereon Christ died, and which He surmounted not simply by leaving it behind but by\u00a0rising again, and converting the very Cross into a\u00a0power and glory.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Forsyth goes on to say, this is quite different from heroism: \u201cChrist arouses antagonism in the human heart and\u00a0heroism does not. Everybody welcomes a hero. The\u00a0minority welcome Christ. We do resent His absolute\u00a0command. . . . We do resent Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"