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Cal · 12-20-2012, 06:42 AM

What was "going on" in the sixties was that the Baby Boomers were turning into young adults.

Throughout their history the Baby Boomers have dictated what society has focused on.

In the sixties it was idealism and rebellion.
In the seventies it was coming to grips with the demands of adulthood and economic needs.
In the eighties and nineties it was success and fitness. In the eighties, there was a tennis boom. In the nineties, when the boomers got a little old for tennis, there was a golf boom. Boomer productivity drove the stock market boom from 1983-2000.
Now in the 2000s and 2010s, there is an economic crisis because the boomers have left their peak spending and revenue producing years and are stressing the government with retirement and health care demands.

It's all demographics. This is not to say the Lord was not sovereign. But Witness Lee stepped into the situation with a different message than Americans were used to hearing--and some seekers, almost all who were naive young people, jumped all over it. Some of it was good and missing from mainstream Christianity at the time. But the idea that he was some kind of unique prophet to end the age was way overstating what he was.

"Christ and the Church" is a riveting heavenly ideal, and we all could use a heavenly ideal from time to time. But that slogan simply cannot do the heavy, practical lifting of day-to-day dealings with the church, the world and life in general. Focusing entirely on the heavenly did not produce the ideal that the LC hoped it would. It just produced a group where human needs get marginalized. Real pastors of real churches understand that.

We need to approach heavenly ideals with some trepidation. They need to prove themselves in the reality of practical daily life.

12-20-2012, 06:42 AM	#22
Cal Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: USA Posts: 4,333	Re: This Generation: The End of a Search What was "going on" in the sixties was that the Baby Boomers were turning into young adults. Throughout their history the Baby Boomers have dictated what society has focused on. In the sixties it was idealism and rebellion. In the seventies it was coming to grips with the demands of adulthood and economic needs. In the eighties and nineties it was success and fitness. In the eighties, there was a tennis boom. In the nineties, when the boomers got a little old for tennis, there was a golf boom. Boomer productivity drove the stock market boom from 1983-2000. Now in the 2000s and 2010s, there is an economic crisis because the boomers have left their peak spending and revenue producing years and are stressing the government with retirement and health care demands. It's all demographics. This is not to say the Lord was not sovereign. But Witness Lee stepped into the situation with a different message than Americans were used to hearing--and some seekers, almost all who were naive young people, jumped all over it. Some of it was good and missing from mainstream Christianity at the time. But the idea that he was some kind of unique prophet to end the age was way overstating what he was. "Christ and the Church" is a riveting heavenly ideal, and we all could use a heavenly ideal from time to time. But that slogan simply cannot do the heavy, practical lifting of day-to-day dealings with the church, the world and life in general. Focusing entirely on the heavenly did not produce the ideal that the LC hoped it would. It just produced a group where human needs get marginalized. Real pastors of real churches understand that. We need to approach heavenly ideals with some trepidation. They need to prove themselves in the reality of practical daily life. Last edited by Cal; 12-20-2012 at 07:59 AM.