Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
The bottom line is that the LRC operates in principle much like the Catholic church. It's a hierarchical authority structure where authority flows from one man, down through lieutenants, to churches, to individuals.
Either you believe this type of authority structure is valid, or you believe that churches are autonomous and that extra-local workers are servants with no direct authority over churches and individuals. But you cannot believe both.
The LRC acts as if imbuing their authoritative structure with lofty spiritual rhetoric (Body, organic, flow, Recovery, move of God, deputy authority, MOTA, etc.) turns it into something different than what it is, but it doesn't.
It is my belief that this structure is non-Biblical and invalid. I ask LRCers to stop kidding themselves with their high-blown spiritual rationalizations about what is at heart a hierarchical system. If it walks, swims and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.
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Yes, that is the bottom line. However, if you look solely at the ministry of WL and WN prior to 1980 it is conceivable to have operated under the assumption that the LRC was aspiring to live by the Biblical version of authority. There were very few events that could expose the lie. The events with JI, WL and PL in the 1980s put that to the test and since then I think it has become less and less conceivable to live under this illusion. Because JI was well known to all, and was closely associated with both WL and LSM I think it should have forced many saints to examine the events.