Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay
On the other hand I would say that the denominations aren't at all balanced either, but in the opposite direction. The denominations NEVER talk about the spirit, mingling, dispensing, exercising the spirit, contacting God, prophesying that builds up the church, transformation, and the triune God, etc.
|
Jay, just take the loss rather than countering with childish sarcasm. You know this statement is not true. I know it's not true. Many denominations speak on the spirit of man, which is what gives us the ability of higher thought and the ability to commune with the Holy Spirit. I've been to Baptist, Pentecostal, and nondenominational churches, and they all touch on the spirit of man and our relation to the Holy Spirit. I was aware of this even while within the other denominations.
As for "mingling," most churches don't believe we "become God" like Lee taught. There's a reason the word "mingling" fell out of use for centuries. Most of the churches I've been to teach on us becoming closer and closer to God, being conformed to his
image more and more as we grow in our Christian life and subsequently becoming more and more like God through the way we live and interact with one another and the world. I could see this even while within the other denominations.
On the matter of "dispensing," most churches know that we receive the dispensing of the Holy Spirit and that we receive this dispensing in many ways. It may appear through gifts or healing or wisdom or the fruit of the spirit mentioned in Galatians. Lee wanted to sound special by turning the spirit into some yummy snack we can munch on every day, but this is not different than what Christians have already known for centuries: we seek the Lord, we receive the Holy Spirit, and we grow as we become one with the spirit. We seek continuously in order to grow continuously. I knew of this even while within the other denominations.
On the matter of "exercising the spirit," Lee erroneously established a false dichotomy between the spirit and the soul. Look at the function of the spirit of man throughout the bible. Even without the dispensing of the Holy Spirit, man's spirit is what gives him the ability to reason and to think and to feel. Man's spirit is capable of thought and emotion and will. There's a reason the soul an spirit of man are likened to bone and marrow. You cannot reasonably separate one from the other. Lee's concept of "exercising the spirit" is just another way of using new vocabulary to try and sound like he discovered something grand and mysterious, but in reality any man who uses a reasonable mind to know God and seek him and pray to him and follow him is already "exercising the spirit" because he is seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I feel like making a point on "contacting God" would be redundant. Anyone who seeks the Lord is contacting him. Anyone who sets their hearts on God is contacting him. This is nothing new.
Prophesying: most churches I've been in give opportunity to their members to speak the word of God through the use of smaller bible studies and gatherings. That many of them get together for a bigger sermon does not negate this. Jesus and the apostles also made use of larger meetings and sermons to teach. Those in the Lord's Recovery have a very similar format whether they admit it or not. They have several days-long trainings and conferences and meetings where there is one main speaker giving an extended message for hours and then they have the prophesying meetings where everyone can have a chance to speak (though often times the only thing that was accepted was Lee's doctrines). The point is that many members of many churches "prophesy" when they get together to study the word of God and build each other up. Iron sharpens iron. Building the body of Christ. This is not something Lee came up with. It is foolish to think that such things do not exist outside of The Lord's Recovery.
Transformation: are we really having to tell you about this, Jay? The transforming power of the spirit? Really? You're really going to tell me that not a single assembly you've been to outside of The Lord's Recovery has ever in their history spoken on this? Where in the world are you where you can so boldly and foolishly make such a claim? What backwater spiritual desert have you been killing yourself in to feel that no other denomination besides the Lord's Recovery speaks on these things? Your locality must be woefully pathetic if this is the conclusion that the assemblies in your area have led you to. Either that, or you're once again just buying into Recovery dogma and reflexively making unfounded statements like "no one else does this!"
That's literally the whole point that Thankful made. Lee just took some very common biblical ideas, used a set of vocabulary words that no one else uses, and used some good ol' fashioned eisegesis to twist things here and there to seem like he came up with so many grand ideas that you can't ever find anywhere else. The fact that you so confidently use your all-caps NEVER and respond with petty sarcasm shows that the dogma of Lee is strongly embedded in you. You need to take a few steps back and consider the grand task of getting over yourself before taking such a huge dump on all of the other denominations. Think for a moment, Jay.
And as for the Triune God: I'm not even going to grace this one with a rebuttal.