Wesley Reality

[redblue22]

I just finished another biography on John Wesley. I'm bothered by how in his later years he was all about holiness and sanctification, but at the same time was worse than an unbeliever to his wife. He was human like the rest of us.

 

[seeking.IAM]

Can you please elaborate as to what biography and what reported behavior toward his wife... for those of is who have not read it?

 

[redblue22]

I'm not trying to ruin his name. I just think that it is important to see our leaders with all their faults and how human they are just like us.

 

[seeking.IAM]

You are not ruining his name. What's in the book is in the book. Is there some reason we can't know what it is?

 

[redblue22]

see Collins and Tomkins. I was assuming people here would be more informed than I am. I'm thinking of looking into Asbury's bio next.

 

[bekkilyn]

We've been doing a small study on Wesley in my Sunday School class and got to the part of his life where he refused to serve Communion to the woman who married someone else in Georgia because he didn't want to get married. The general thought of the class was that as much as we respected Wesley in general, this event was most definitely one of his low points.

I can't remember the particular events surrounding his marriage, and we haven't yet gotten to that part in the class to remind me, but why did he actually get married when he did? Did he believe it was something he thought he needed to do?

I tend to have the feeling that he may have been someone who really wasn't called to marriage, so ended up doing a really lousy job at it. He seemed to be quite supportive of women in general when it came to ministry, so it didn't seem to be a anti-woman thing.

 

[redblue22]

We've been doing a small study on Wesley in my Sunday School class and got to the part of his life where he refused to serve Communion to the woman who married someone else in Georgia because he didn't want to get married. The general thought of the class was that as much as we respected Wesley in general, this event was most definitely one of his low points.

I can't remember the particular events surrounding his marriage, and we haven't yet gotten to that part in the class to remind me, but why did he actually get married when he did? Did he believe it was something he thought he needed to do?

I tend to have the feeling that he may have been someone who really wasn't called to marriage, so ended up doing a really lousy job at it. He seemed to be quite supportive of women in general when it came to ministry, so it didn't seem to be a anti-woman thing.

The problem I had is when he would write love letters to other women, but hate letters to his wife. That is not about being called to anything. In one biography, the author talked about how Wesley was sent letter about his wife dying. He immediately went home, but after seeing her for about an hour, he left to continue preaching. I think this kind of thing reminds us of just how human Wesley was and keeps us from worshiping him over who he preached.