Quote:
Originally Posted by Cassidy
Witness Lee believed and acknowledged that all of Scripture is God-breathed. He stated it directly and he underscored his belief with tens of thousands of messages covering every book of the Bible (James and Psalms included) on every christian topic. That is a level of commitment to Scripture that most Christians or ministers will never make including present company.
You seem to be advocating that all books be treated with equal weight or disregard the background of the writer or ignore contrasting it with other books in the Bible, etc. . I find nothing in the Scripture that says a minister or teacher must do that. If someone has a burden from the Lord to expound on certain Scripture more or less or not at all then they have the liberty before the Lord. However, each minister must follow the leading of the Holy Spirit on this matter. If you feel the book of James or Psalms were shortchanged in Witness Lee's teachings and have a burden from the Lord, then you should put pen to paper and write a study of your own on these books.
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An interesting argument.
First. You have no idea what Lee actually believed. And his spoken and written record do not aid in settling the issue. Lee spoke one way one time, and another way in other times. Yes, he said that he believed in the scripture as God-breathed. But the things he said about some of it was more like saying that Lee believed that some of the scripture was God-breathed, and some of it was not, but was allowed to be included so that, without any direct comment, it could be understood as wrong.
The problem for so many is the "without any direct comment" part. Scripture holds together quite well if you assume that it is all literally God-breathed as-is and is His intent and not His examples of what is not His intent. So, without some clear comment in the context of what is declared by Lee to be "not according to the divine revelation" or "not according to God's economy," I find the declaration that major portions of scripture, like James and much of the Psalms, is just man's vain thoughts, or just dead religion is to disrespect the direct speaking from God's breath.
Throughout the scripture there are ample cases where the sayings and deeds of evildoers, wicked, and even foolish, are identified and either chastised or warned against. But somehow, most of the letter from James, much of the Psalms, and some other writings within scripture have been singled out by Lee (and admittedly, a few others before him) to be somehow errantly in the canon of scripture, or somehow to be read in the mode of "opposite time" in which black becomes white and yellow becomes purple.
That kind of position on any part of the scripture is clear evidence of a mind and spirit that are not in tune with God. That kind of mind and spirit could never be a legitimate minister, and clearly not the singular "minister of the age."
Then there is the issue of not taking things at equal weight and not emphasizing all of scripture equally. I am not really opposed to that. I'm sure that no one would object to not giving a lot of study to some particular battle in the OT. Not saying to dismiss it or ignore that there may be principles or foreshadowing in it. But as a text of profound importance, it would not be the same as, say, Romans 8 or Matthew 5.
But there is imbalance that is not acceptable. Scripture is full of many things. Even within the NT (and without consulting James) there is much concerning our actions, living, and even works. And at the same time there is much concerning our belief and grace. Both are at work. I do believe that while imbalance in a particular ministry is not necessarily a problem. Sometimes we find that certain people see aspects of the full revelation better than others do. We should not dismiss their portion because it is lopsided or limited. We can gain from such a ministry.
But when there is such a lopsided ministry, it cannot be taken as "the ministry" and all others ignored. It can only be acceptable (or even just
possibly acceptable) if it is used as something equivalent to "an important part of a complete breakfast." In other words, it is not the whole breakfast, and is not even part of the other daily meals. It is just what it is — a small part. And once a minister thinks his little part is the only part and that all others are irrelevant or even fallen, he has stepped into a realm in which whatever might be relevant from his ministry cannot save him. In terms of being a minster, he becomes bankrupt and is worthy of rejection. Not just because he is lopsided, but because in his concluding that his ministry is so singularly important, he ceases to serve God and instead serves only himself. He may think he is serving God, but he cannot be.
And for Lee, this is too evident when he twice casts others aside to protect his immoral son so that he can serve the LSM as chief bully. At this point, it is clear that Lee's service is about his belly, not God, scripture, or righteousness.