[Cal]

Originally Posted by aron

Igzy, I give you credit for repeatedly making this point. I finally get it. The "one church per city" metric is a trojan horse to allow centralized control (masquerading as 'administration'... per Paul's request for 'order in the church', etc) over the flock.

I didn't get your point until just now.

Thanks, aron. I appreciate your trojan horse metaphor.

I would add also than another factor in believing in the LC one-church-city-administation (OCCA?) model is the deeply-felt need to know one is practicing church correctly and meeting with the correct church. Having that gives one a great sense of assurance. Unfortunately, it comes at the big price of becoming sectarian by looking down on every other Christian who doesn't meet the way you do.

I believe this drive for knowing one is right is a much stronger motivation than the desires for oneness or testimony. Oneness and testimony are the trojan horse. Feeling one is right is core motivation.

And when you get Titus Chu engaging in blatant, oriental ancestor worship ("We owe our lives to Brother Lee") in a group that declares it is beyond human culture, the flock takes it quietly. You know, because there's only one church per city. It's in the Bible.

Yep, in the LC model you get stuck with whatever, err, guys happen to be running the show in the city you live in. There might be a million people in the city, but those six or seven guys are the ones everyone needs to obey. This is the part of the idea that screams--"this can't be correct!", like when Zeno's Paradox says the fast runner will never pass the slow runner.