I watched some of the memorial meeting, and man, there are so many things going on. I can see how a saint listening might think the meeting was so "sweet" or "a time of remembrance of our dear brother", but seeing it from the outside now, there were so many problems.
1. To my recollection, aside from the family members, it was overwhelmingly brothers sharing. Okay, Benson was a brother and a co-worker, but do no sisters have any interactions with Benson to share?
2. All of the stories his wife, Barbara, shared,
had hurt and offense and abandonment simmering beneath them.
One story was that as newlyweds, Benson was gone every night. Barbara represents herself as "murmuring to the Lord" about this situation and how difficult it is to "submit in every way", and saying that the Lord responded to her He knows how hard it is as He had to submit to the death. While I acknowledge the truth found there, the message is that wives need to quietly accept that its okay for their husbands to de-prioritize them every single night, even as newlyweds, and that God endorsed this!!
Another story was that whenever Witness Lee called Benson, Benson's response was always "yes, we will be there on Monday", IIRC the implication was that they would migrate/move immediately. Barbara relayed how she was so offended that Benson would never check with her or ask her opinion or how she felt, as well as saying that this "drop everything and move" was not easy for her, and then Barbara said, "eventually I realized it's because Benson TRUSTED me, that wherever he went I would go!" (or maybe that's what you tell yourself, rather than admitting the truth, that your husband lays his life down for Witness Lee, and not for you...)
Another story is that she said Benson "just wanted her at home". He wanted her to be home whenever he happened to swing by for 15 minutes. She says that she asked him if she could help (at LSM I think?), and his response to her was...get this....."no, we don't need any queens there." And so she concludes that she's so happy to be at home, serving this man. Of course sisters being at home is perfectly fine, the issue is Benson's manner.
So her stories relay a person who discarded her, who abandoned her nightly right after marriage, who put Witness Lee's desires above her desires every time literally without ever asking her how it affected her, and who "put her in her place" if she ever wanted to help out in any way other than being kept at home all the time. All of her "dear stories" have mistreatment flowing out of them, passed off as a glorious situation.
3. Sorry, but every time I see Rick Scatterday all I can think is that he looks like he has about a million dark and tormenting secrets trapped in his being.
4. Regarding Ben's sharing, I guess I don't understand his choice of venue for his "word to the saints no longer meeting with us". Does he think that people who left the LC are all still flocking to meetings behind the scenes or something? I had no plan to listen to one second of this meeting until I heard of this "word to those who left", and I ended up quick-scrolling through the meeting to see if there was anything new or noteworthy. Nope - just more "brother Lee this", "the Lord's Recovery that", etc...
His word to the first generation almost made me sad. Firstly he presents Watchman Nee's imprisonment as something that was almost necessary because "the Lord needed someone to pray". As if......the millions of other Christians around the globe weren't praying so God imprisoned Nee so he could dedicate his prison life to nonstop prayer? This doesn't make any sense, but is consistent with the spin they put on everything. Secondly, while I appreciate that they are acknowledging the feelings of uselessness some of the older saints feel as they get older, to relegate them to "prayer" is like "here sit in this room, that's your portion now". No - there are so many other things elderly believers can still do that they could be a part of if they were part of an actually healthy church! Some churches have "homebound" ministries, where they make sure to visit those who are stuck at home and help with practical needs. Some churches have things like creating packages for soldiers or people in hospitals - something an older person can do sitting at a table. I know of a church that has a food ministry, and some of the elderly members come to separate cans and packages of pasta/rice, etc......something that is SO valuable to the community and to the recipients who would be without food otherwise. While prayer is valuable, acting like they are only good for prayer makes me so sad for those who hear that.
His word to the second generation was also very interesting. I have heard time after time Minoru in particular telling that generation that they need to "rise up!" and "take the baton!" and that he is clearly frustrated that it's not happening. But, as
Recovering you pointed out, Ben actually acknowledged there is total confusion about how they are supposed to do that! Any action taken without "covering" or "fellowship" is slammed down, and yet.....the leading brothers apparently aren't taking the necessary action to "pass the baton on", but are rather annoyed that no one is taking the baton from them. They've created a shoot-self-in-the-foot kind of situation. Fascinating to hear that dilemma acknowledged, though.
The word to the third generation fell on my ears as essentially, "come to the indoctrination center so you don't leave!" Witness Lee and his vision are so much less important to third gens because he's no one they ever saw in person. The ground of the church being the "vision" that they will see indicates to me, and this is consistent with what I concluded myself, that the ground of the church is ultimately one of the big "the things" that keeps people in, even if they see many other problems. They may see abuses, they may see a elitist attitude, but they still cannot leave "the ground" or else they are toast. "Get to the FTTA so you will be trapped!"
But,
Recovering, all of your points about his word to us prodigals
are spot on. To act like they have no idea why anyone leaves, and to act like the reasons are insignificant.......I give up. I just wish somehow that they could be freed to see that there is a larger genuine body of Christ out there, and that someone leaving them is not tantamount to leaving the Father or being a prodigal. They are bearing unnecessary pain and burden by believing things that are not true!
Trapped