Quote:
Originally Posted by NeitherFirstnorLast
Okay, you're either being petty or obtuse. Duddy quotes Lee from a book Lee entitled "WL, Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms". The quote stands alone, but you're saying that Duddy has to do a full exposition of Lee's book as well in order to be able to quote from it?
Z, this quote from the book of Lee's is understood by all of us - including you - to be typical of Lee. Why do you insist on trying to torpedo a book you've never even read?
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NFnL,
Typical of Lee. Yes, it is. Loaded with scripture. Not the way you claim.
Well, now I am beginning to wonder whether Duddy read the book he is referencing because if the thought he intended to convey is that Witness Lee makes statements without biblical basis then he did not read the text in question.
Or if he did not intend to convey that thought but nevertheless you and others on this forum took it that way then perhaps we can lay the blame at Duddy's door for not explaining it well or leaving off the references to the Scripture that are so intertwined in the text that one can only surmise that was left off deliberately.
So let's clear the air of this allegation that Witness Lee does not have a scriptural basis. I have highlighted the Scripture references in
blue:
"Now let us go on to Psalm 128:5, “The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.” The Lord's blessing is out of Zion, and the good is of the city Jerusalem. In these Psalms of ascension, the concept is always of Zion, Jerusalem, the house and the city. “Thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem (the good of the city) all the days of thy life.” All my expectation is that I may see the good of the local churches as the city all the days of my life. I have been seeing it for forty years now, and I hope to see it until the day I shall see Him. The Lord bless thee, brothers; the Lord bless thee, sisters, out of the local churches! O what a blessing it is to see the good of the local churches all the days of our life! We have only tasted a little, but according to this taste, suppose that there should be no more church life. I believe that many of us would be weeping. What a barren desert that would be! But, praise the Lord, we are in God's recovery; we are living in the local churches.
Now let us go on to Psalm 129. Here we have a contrast. Psalm 129 is a negative Psalm, yet it helps to enhance the city. Verse 5, “Let them all be put to shame and turned backward that hate Zion.” These are the real backsliders. The hate of Zion brings in shame and turning backward. Anyone who hates the local churches will be put to shame and turned backward. I have witnessed many like this. In my entire Christian life I have never seen one Christian who, when he criticized and opposed the local churches, was ever blessed by the Lord from that time forth. I have observed that all those who have opposed the church life have become backsliders. There has not been one exception. Let them all be put to shame and turned backward. It is not a small thing. The Psalmist continues, “Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth before it groweth up: wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom” (vv. 6-7). If you hate the local churches, you will have no more growth of life. There will be no rich reaping and no rich harvest. “Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord” (v. 8). No growth, no rich harvest, no blessing." Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, Chapter 21
If Duddy had quoted all the text that Witness Lee had stated then we would not be having the debate about whether there was a scriptural basis. Of course there is a scriptural basis! Plain as the nose on his face.
Furthermore, there is absolutely nothing wrong with
ZNP's request for a reference.