Judgment

I have met many a person who has written off my Church because they think it narrow-thinking, reluctant to embrace new ideas, and generally ill-suited for the modern world.  I was reading a daily reflection book and was reminded that this same church invented universities and supported them, preserved works of Greek and Roman non-believers, built schools that served the poor gratis, commissioned great artists, and built Europe into a garden of grain and fruit. No doubt there are many a narrow-minded leader in my church, but overall we have a history of progress and preservation of wisdom.  I have seen people who walk away from recovery programs, social clubs, neighborhood associations simply because of a bad experience with someone.  Why let the people who are narrow-minded control your decisions?  No group is perfect.  No city has perfect weather.  But if something has been around for a few millennium, it might be doing something right.  Time tells.