Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
Peter, I definitely agree with the dangers you have cited. They are very real. Whereas you seem to identify the source in some "group agency," I like to place the responsibility on leaders, especially those who become abusive, placing their own empires above the needs of the "littlest of My brethren."
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I agree,
Ohio that when the abuses come, they come through leaders. But they have "accomplices," in believers who don't know their own spirit and/or conscience. This is often because learning one's spirit, one's own "ownership" of their faith, wasn't an emphasis by the "leaders" in the first place. When the "group" is an entity unto itself, abuse seems much easier...
If leaders are led to "start a work" because they are commissioned from God, a teaching that
empahsizes individual responsibility to the indwelling Spirit will
require Christians to seek, to determine if its God's will to get involved - rather than getting involved
simply beacuse they are a "member" of the "leader's assembly."
The alternative is: "Our 'church' has decided to pursue X." If I'm a "member" of church X, it is quite possible, even likely, that I defer the "is the Spirit please with this?" question to the fact that my "leaders" suggested it. In my "membership", I have a certain level of defering my spiritual seeking to the group's decisions.
It's a subtle difference in practice. But it is EVERYTHING, as far as I'm concerned.