10 Things You’d Hate about John Wesley (and 10 Things He’d Hate About You!)
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Thu, May 17, 2007
- Viewed 407
- (58) comments so far
He rode 250,000 miles on horseback, preached 40,000 sermons, gave away ?30,000 and left behind 132,000 followers. A hero maybe, but is he someone better appreciated at a distance? You decide.
10 things you'd hate about John Wesley
1. Despotism ? Even Wesley's own preachers called him "Pope John". He ruled his followers like an enlightened despot, and his beloved brother Charles plotted to "break his power". John expected every Methodist society to follow his rules like a McDonalds franchise, and took personal charge over every member's private life, expelling them for laziness or selling spirits.
2. Superstition ? He saw rain storms as God's punishment on him - or the Devil's attack. He made decisions by opening the Bible at random for God's guidance, and even decided whether to marry by pulling bits of paper out of a hat.
3. Copyright ? Wesley was a plagiarist and pseudepigrapher - he passed other people's writings off as his own and his own as other people's. He got into trouble for ripping off an anti-American tract of Dr Johnson's. And he attacked a book by Toplady (of "Rock of Ages" fame) by publishing a cheap caricature of it at the same time under Toplady's name. Toplady denounced him as a common crook worthy of deportation to America.
4. Grief ? He didn't believe in it, as Christians should be happy when someone goes to heaven. "I believe the death of your children is a great instance of the goodness of God towards you," he told his sister. "You have often mentioned to me how much of your time they took up. Now that time is restored to you, and you have nothing to do but serve the Lord without carefulness and without distraction."
5. Drink ? He wasn't against alcohol, actually, unlike later Methodists. While he forbad spirits, he loved wine and beer, published home brewing tips and campaigned for real ale. He also allowed tobacco for medicinal purposes. But he discouraged Methodists from drinking tea, being a waste of time and money.
6. Charismania ? Wesley often reduced his hearers to ecstatic convulsions, screams and groans, fainting, beating the ground and uncontrollable laughter. He claimed exorcisms and healings, and once thought he might have raised the dead. You might like that kind of thing or you might not.
7. Narrowness ? After his evangelical conversion, he considered all non-evangelicals "almost Christians". Though one of the most devout believers alive before then, he had been "an heir of hell". In later years he mellowed a lot.
8. Women ? Despite great services to the role of women in church, even his greatest admirers admitted that Wesley had "an inexcusable weakness" for the prettily devout. Nothing sinister, but as a married man, his gushing and intimate letters to his circle of young female acolytes was neither good matrimony nor good pastoring. And his treatment of a quasi-fiancé ©n Georgia led to him jumping parole and fleeing the state at night.
9. Perfection ? Throughout his life, Wesley preached the thoroughly eccentric doctrine that Christians can be perfect, full of love and without sin. Later he came to see it as a miraculous sudden change, like salvation, though he was as surprised as anyone when Methodists started to claim it had happened.
10. Plain-speaking ? Wesley believed in the importance of pointing out others' errors and faults with utter candour. As "one of the greatest instances of friendship", he told an old friend whose only child was dying that she was the most spoiled he had ever seen, "Happy would it be for both her and you if God would speedily take her to himself!"
10 things John Wesley would hate about you
1. Money ? Wesley said that no true Christian kept any more than the basic "necessaries of life". He himself gave away up to ?1,400 a year, living on ?30, a worker's wage. Those who buy luxuries are "embezzling their Lord's goods, corrupting their own souls and robbing the poor".
2. Laughter ? Wesley did not much approve of laughter. He rebuked one of his preachers for being willing to "break a jest, and laugh at it heartily", and complained that even George Whitefield's conversation was "often mixed with needless laughter".
3. Laxity ? Wesley would be shocked by the lax standards of Christians today. He expected men and women to sit separately in church. To start a morning meeting after 5am was "giving place to the Devil". He expelled members for swearing and for playing football on Sunday.
4. Secular music ? Wesley didn't think Christians should listen to secular songs, and certainly not dance to them. One of his mining converts smashed up his fiddle when he became a Methodist. Wesley also had grave doubts about opera.
5. Clothes ? Wesley was very unhappy about Methodists wearing anything expensive, frilly or fashionable, and later regretted not prescribing a uniform for them. On the other hand, he insisted that they be as smart as possible: "Let none ever see a ragged Methodist". Just about the last nice thing he ever said to his wife was, "I still love you for your uncommon neatness."
6. Marriage ? Spouses are far too indulgent on each other for Wesley's liking. He told his travelling preachers that those with wives or families should keep going "as if they had none", just as he did himself. He told his wife that he was forbidden to "laugh or trifle a moment when with you". His theory of matrimony (expounded on a bad day, admittedly) was "You should have given me a carte blanche. You should have said, 'Bid me do anything, everything'."
7. Children ? Parents are far too indulgent on children too. In his Methodist school the timetable was from 4am to 8pm, with religious and physical exercises, including fasting, but no play: "He that plays when he is a child, shall play when he is a man". When he married, he planned to dump any children he had there permanently.
8. Foolishness during sleep ? If you've passed all Wesley's tests so far, do your hours of sleep also honour God sufficiently? "Is there no vanity or folly in your dreams? No temptation that almost overcomes you? And are you then as sensible of the presence of God and as full of prayer as when you are waking?"
9. Non-Methodism ? Wesley dismissed almost all other Christian groups. Non-Methodists in the Church of England he called 'almost Christians', non-conformist Protestant churches were in indefensible error and as for Catholics, "No Government ought to tolerate men of the Roman Catholic persuasion".
10. Methodism ? And finally, if you go to a Methodist church, you're definitely in trouble. Wesley insisted that all his followers always attend Anglican parish services, and never talk about having their own "ministers" or "churches". "When the Methodists leave the Church, God will leave them."
Steve Tomkins is the author of a new biography of John Wesley. He has written a fascinating piece on Wesley that I thought would be great to share here. You can read more at the Ship of Fools Website
Comments
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Another Jeff on Fri, May 18, 2007
what a surreal thread….i got a couple of chuckles out of the article but also found it enlightening. I found myself wondering to what to degree the same characeristics could be applied to any number of believers today. And, I found nothing malicious about it.
Tony Myles on Mon, May 21, 2007
If anything, this article made me thankful… and if I tell you what for I’d be a bad boty.
Tony Myles on Mon, May 21, 2007
boy
Terry Clayton on Tue, February 10, 2009
Here is one about music that might surprise all of you:
WESLEY ‘I have no objection to instruments of music in our worship, provided they are neither seen nor heard.” (John Wesley, founder of Methodism, quoted in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. 4, p. 685)
Surprised?
tower defense on Mon, March 23, 2009
I think this article is an attempt to attack the character of a great man of God. I do not know what you purpose was for posting it, but I can tell the purpose of the writer.
I studied John Wesley his theology as well as his life in school and many of things stated are not factual. Please don’t post another article like this.
Fiona on Tue, June 02, 2009
Does he hate football? If so, I will hate him. http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif))
Never mind. I am just a crazy NFL jersey lover.
Real estate CRM on Wed, July 01, 2009
What a crap.
That’s human Nature. We can talk about his good habits infect he was a good man.
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Such a love hate relationship.
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