Quote:
Originally Posted by kisstheson
Your experience matches my experience, dear brother Ohio. I was always enthralled by all the "riches" Witness Lee could extract from the Bible by allegorizing. Surely we in the Local Churches had special access to riches hidden in the Word of God that the rest of Christianity knew so little about!
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This note from Nigel's caught my attention. Notice how fundamental WL sounds, nothing like the "Allegorizer of the Age" he later became.
41. ... However, contrast the statement in the text with the following words of W. Lee, regarding Bible interpretation, in which he says “the first principle is to interpret and understand the Bible as literally as possible.” He elaborates, saying, “When God inspired men to write the Bible, He used words that are fully comprehensible to man. When we attempt to understand the Bible today, we must understand the thought of God strictly and accurately according to the letter of the words. We should not think that since the Bible is inspired by God, it will always transcend human language, and is therefore open for spiritual interpretation. This is a dangerous proposition. We should interpret the Bible according to the literal meaning of the words. No matter how difficult or out of place a literal interpretation appears to us, we have to adhere strictly to the literal meaning.” -- [W. Lee, On Knowing the Bible, Chapter 4, Section 1Reproduced in LSM’s Lesson Book, Level 6: The Bible—The Word of God, Chap. 22, Sec. 5]
This quote is exactly the kind of thing that conflicts many a reader. WL preached fundamental Bible exposition ... at times, yet often times he practiced something all together different. He covered all bases. When necessary, WL could appear totally harmless and fundamental to hush critics. Other times, WL could develop elaborate speculations to wow his followers. When things got heated up, he could allegorized himself as today's Moses, and woe to him who "rebels," who like Miriam would be stricken with leprosy.