Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Our old system was quite free, but unfortunately it was too free, and we gave freedom to someone who didn't want us to be free, and then we became subjects in a vassal state.
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Doesn't have to be non-western, of course. Cuba, Iran, and North Korea are not "free" in the broad sense that I used, and only one of them might fall under the "Asian Mind" of the thread's title. But a culture steeped in conformity might be more predisposed to the church of Witness Lee. It's probably not coincidental that local church membership in western areas like Australia is mostly Chinese with only a smattering of Caucasians.
But if the Chinese come to America, they should respect American or western culture, and many do. I read the transcript where Gerald Chan told Harvard graduates to "debate and discuss", and come up with novel ideas to try out. I only ask that Gerald Chan would say the same thing in the supposedly local church in Boston or Cambridge.
And local church members in Boston and Cambridge and elsewhere should gladly accept the challenge to dare to think, to read widely and to formulate ideas. "Hypothesize and postulate" was Chan's phrase. I agree.
For example, how do we know that "God's economy" as taught by Paul wasn't the theme of "don't store up wealth for yourself on earth, where moth and rust consume, and thieves break through and steal, but rather give to the poor, and you will be rich in heaven"? You can see that this was one of Jesus' core teachings, and that Paul also devotes two whole chapters to this theme, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Where does Paul devote two consecutive chapters on masticating the processed and consummated Triune God to become God in life and nature (but not the Godhead)?
And it's the broad charge stressed in Galatians 2:10, which Paul says that he's eager to do. If that wasn't God's economy, why was he so eager?
And then Paul and Barnabas who "completed this service" or "fulfilled this ministry" in Acts 12 in Jerusalem. What were they doing? "And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark." (12:25 KJV). The answer is in chapter 11. "Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea: Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul." (vv. 29, 30). Once you start to look, you see a consistent theme. It is better to give than to receive - those were Paul's final words to the elders in Ephesus (Acts 20:35) This is God's economy (or so I postulate).
If your only answer is, "No, that's not what WL taught", then I challenge you to consider the words of Gerald Chan. The topic deserves discussion, critical reflection, not reflexive indoctrination. If you are going to give your life to follow something, it deserves critical examination. Jesus withstood death; don't we think our ideas can withstand the light of critical reflection? If they endure, so much the better. But if we're afraid of examination, what does that suggest about our ideas?