Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Whacking the Hornets' Nest

Sure, why not take another swing?

Joel Thomas writes that Jesus and John Wesley would not qualify for admission into Asbury Theological Seminary. Joel is referring to the Ethos Statement, which all students must sign. Among other things, it forbids drinking on or off campus. Asbury rose out of the Holiness Movement of the 19th Century, when Methodists were prominent advocates for temperance. Jesus and John Wesley, as Joel mentions, were consumers of wine.

Do I care? Not really. I don't smoke or drink, so those prohibitions don't effect me. But the mandatory chastity devices strike me as really excessive. Brian says that back in his day, the locks were easily picked. I don't want to go that route because I did choose to sign the Ethos Statement, and we Arminians are all about free will and such.

And yes, I did speak to Admin before bringing up this view publicly on Locusts & Honey. Eric Currie was busy dusting the wall-to-wall gunracks in his office, so I'm not sure if he was listening closely.

4 comments:

methodist monk said...

Reminds me of some of my Nazarene friends. They went to Nazarene college for undergrad. (apparently all Nazarenes go to a Nazarene college for undergrad)If you were caught with one drink on or off campus, even with your parents you were on probation and had to attend 6 months of AA. Second offense was an expulsion from college.

The two I know in seminary said after undergrad a lot of their friends are in prison or drug addicts. Ethos Statements work! :)

Theresa Coleman said...

Look! Look! There's a grumpy bear!! Let's poke it in the ribs!!

methodist monk said...

Didn't mean to pull strings Greg, some of my best friends at Seminary are Nazarenes. There is a lot to love about the Nazarenes. (Including a lot of things the Methodists could learn about) Two of the Nazarenes I know are going on th PhD work because they know more than I will ever know.
I also know a Nazarene who is in Seminary who can never be ordained because she is female, yet she is a wonderful preacher and would make a great pastor.

Sorry John...OT

Rev. David Nicol said...

Stephen and Greg...

I know I'm late on this, but I'm an alum of a Nazarene College and have many Nazarene friends. Not only can she be ordained if her District is willing to do so(if she's willing to move), but the Church of the Nazarene began ordaining women before the MEC, MECS, MP or EA did (the UBiC, well, they were a bit ahead of the curve -- until they recinded ordinations in the merger with the EA).

In fact, the Church of the Nazarene elected a femal D.S. in New England, and my Nazarene friends think she's great.

Yeah, and the fact that I attended a college that prohibited drinking was definitely a benefit in many ways -- most of us turned out better for it, I think, especially in terms of our focus on our relationships with God and on our academic work.