Quote:
Originally Posted by UntoHim
To say that Witness Lee was not perfect is a smokescreen. Whether it is said to be a smokescreen on purpose or not is irrelevant to the fact that the statement itself veils the realities that we are faced with in the here and now.
Even the most diehard Local Churcher will readily proclaim that Witness Lee was not perfect. So? So he was not perfect. Next question. Who did he proclaim himself to be? Next question. Who do his followers proclaim that he was? How does what Lee said about himself match up with reality? How does what his followers proclaim about him match up with reality? This will get us to the heart of the matter, and this is what needs to be addressed. When faced with the unmentionable, deplorable actions of his son don't you all remember what Witness Lee said... "nobody is perfect!".
The title of the thread is not "Can you dismiss WL's ministry because he was not perfect". No sir.
Another poster made a comment that Witness Lee may have disqualified himself because he was "not clean". Of course what we get from a diehard Lee defender was "oh my God I can't believe they are now saying that Witness Lee was not saved!"
Thankful Jane can speak for herself, but the CLEAR connotation was that Witness Lee was living in an unrepentant state - As far as can be perceived from the outside this was absolutely true. The man was constantly trampling on those within and without the movement. He was caught misappropriating donated church funds on many occasions. He basically masterminded a substantial money-laundering scheme to defraud the government. He used the solicited donations of church members (some life savings) in a bungled business adventure in which everybody lost except himself and his sons.
All this, without one single apology. No apology. No repentance. Yes, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"(1 John 1:9) Notice the parts in bold. IF. CONFESS. SINS. IS FAITHFUL. TO CLEANSE. ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. To become clean from unrighteousness there is an IF. I don't see when and where Witness Lee completed the process.
Does this mean his entire ministry, the entire body of work, should be dismissed? No, probably not. But neither should he or his followers get a free pass to present Witness Lee as something he was not. Neither should they get a free pass to present his ministry as something that it was not. [/COLOR]
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Let us consider an example I think that we can all agree on. David's sin was heinous, and after committing that sin there was a moment prior to the prophet coming to speak to him before he repented. However, before that sin he had done great works of faith, he had written a number of psalms that became part of the Bible. So the question is this, did the sin that David committed somehow annul his works of faith, perhaps put them into suspended animation, until he repented? I don't think so. I think what the Bible records is that "we have this treasure in earthen vessels". On the one hand David can write wonderful psalms and do great deeds, and then the very next day he can do a horrible sin, and it doesn't annul anything. When he was doing great deeds of faith he was a man of flesh. I think Igzy alluded to this when he said he thought it was sovereign that all of these great holy men of faith committed sins that were recorded so that we would realize they were all men of flesh.
So in the same way you cannot dismiss WL's work because "he was not clean" but that principle doesn't apply to others because they repented. There is no basis to say that if someone sins all previous works are dismissed. We are all well aware of WL's sins, failings and shortcomings. The question is if sinning is like hitting a "clear all" button on the computer and it wipes out everything you have ever done.
The closest I can see to this principle is that if you break a nazarite vow you have to start over. This doesn't mean that your hair doesn't grow back (your vow can be renewed) as in the case of Samson, nor does it mean that everything Samson had done previously was voided, it merely means that vow that he had was broken and he had to start again.