Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawn
Hi Igzy,
Sorry for the arbitrary light thing, I mentioned later that I was using humor to illistrate a point, forgive me for not being more respectful to your post!
Shawn
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Shawn,
Oh, don't worry about that. Feel free to comment. It just seemed like you weren't really following my point.
I understand that elders are often generally recognized. But that standard is pretty thin gruel on which to require the submission of an entire city of Christians.
One of the problems I have with the LC model is that it is highly dependent on religious fervor overcoming the lack of an adequate instruction manual. So you get people saying things like, There is only one church per city so it
has to work out "some how" Which is an implicit admission of a lack of adequate instruction for resolving the problems I've pointed out, while at the same time a recommitment to forging on with the pretense that those problems are not really problems. That is simply religious fervor, not wisdom. The fruit is predictable--breakdowns of fellowship resulting in animosity and division.
(I just read your longer post.)
I never said we should do away with elders. Neither did I say there is no one city-church.
What I said was that the model of city-churches set up by the LC where one eldership claims to be kings-of-the-hill over the whole city is indefensible.
Let me take on this point of yours:
But to discard a God provided position just because it may cause problems in all coming to agreement means that we do not give the Spirit the ability to confirm His choice in the hearts of the believers in that community. Its kind of like not praying for miracles so that we don't have to be disappointed if they do not happen.
Again, you are simply saying we should "try." The problem comes in when "trying" includes condemning other persons or groups because they do not see what you claim to see about who the elders are. This what the LC has always done. Please tell me what makes you so clear that you have the boldness to do this?
I never said God couldn't make everyone "clear" if he wanted to. The problem is that he hasn't done that yet and the LC because of that has fallen back on accusing those who don't agree with not cooperating with the "church." This in itself is divisive. So like I said, the seeds of destruction are implicit in the model.
The local church is supposed to be practical. As it stands its like a car designed for four wheels which only has three, yet the driver expects potential passengers to pretend it has four.