Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
The reasons most often cited in this forum for unbelief are about the sins of PL or the alleged power needs of Witness Lee/BB's while noticeably lacking a thorough scriptural study of the truth on its own merits. You say something taught by WL is not scriptural but then in the same breath (the same sentence as in above) you retreat to the comfort zone of your peer group finding fault and blaming others as your primary reason. That is exactly what I mean by allowing the sins and failings of others to color your understanding of the Bible.
At the end of the day you will believe what you believe and laying the responsibility for your beliefs at the feet of PL is the real tragedy at best.
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You are correct that it does
seem that so much of the problem stems from PL and all the unrighteousness that surrounded him. But that is a mistake. The problems were there without PL. There was unrighteousness over most of Lee's life, especially once he got out of China to Taiwan. His actions scream "beware!"
But without looking at even one of those things that Paul would have insisted proved Lee's unworthiness to be any kind of teacher, there are the teachings themselves. Teachings that major on the minors. Or window dress with results that do not have the underpinnings of what he would insist was "reality." He insisted that the truth (the "reality") would set you free, but didn't bother noting that obedience was a precursor to truth/reality. And it would seem that he despised that precursor because he despised the epistle that focused on obedience and righteousness and dared to suggest that your couldn't have spirituality without it.
But Lee despised the path to truth. He wanted to skip the path and just get the truth. He declared this when he despised the little book of James. When he said things like "it doesn't matter about right and wrong, only the spirit." Oh, you may not find those words in writing. But they are there in essence. And he did say them because I heard it with my own ears.
As Jane so clearly spelled out, and others have noted in other ways, the Bible focuses on righteousness. It does not focus on oneness or spirituality. Righteousness is the pathway to spirituality and oneness. Any oneness that skips righteousness is not truly one. Any spirituality that omits righteousness is window dressing. And any claim of truth that can ignore righteousness is a lie. It is a cancer that will eat at the very core of your being.
Righteousness is demanded. Oneness is prayed for. Righteousness and obedience are mentioned over and over. They are required to get the truth that sets you free. They are required to even start the abiding from which other things will spring. Oneness is not the cause. It is the result. It is a place that we arrive at. It is not where we start.
When I mentioned Harold's cargo cult theory the other day, I was serious. Lee insisted that making the outside look like the results you wanted would cause the infrastructure to simply appear. But if it is a building you are after, the work is long and tedious before it becomes habitable. And still more time before the embellishments are added. If it is a cup, the outside may be beautiful — even gilded with jewels and gold — but unless the inside is clean, what you drink from it will make you sick.
There is no unity in exclusivist teaching. It may unify the faithful under their banner of exclusivity, but it drives a wedge between themselves and all others. It demeans and curses anyone who does not simply climb over the fence that Lee has built and be on their side of the wall. They are not about tearing down walls, but about building them and pointing out which side you are on.
That is not oneness. It is anathema to oneness.