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Originally Posted by Igzy
I think it started with a genuine desire to discover how to "do church."
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I also am inclined to believe that. The problem is this. WN's theory is based heavily on the church being the reality of the Temple. In the OT God spoke a clear word repeatedly that the temple could only be built on the ground He chose. They were forbidden from putting it just anywhere. Teaching this shadow (the temple is a shadow of the church) was done repeatedly by both WN and WL. For example the term "the recovery" is based on the OT recovery of the Temple when they returned from Babylon. The church grows into / becomes the NJ, etc. How many times did WN and WL give messages on "taking the ground" or participate in a "taking the ground" ceremony? Must have been very many times. Surely they looked for an inspiring OT analog to the "taking the ground" experience. To me this is where the teaching runs off the rails. To equate this one spot with the dimensions of the city is absurd. You cannot equate any of the spiritual significance of that spot with the arbitrary boundaries of a city, which frequently change with time. If WN and WL didn't realize that the spot God designated for His worship to take place was not equivalent to the boundaries of a city then they were either very poor Bible expositors or they were willfully blind.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Sadly, that soon morphed into a belief that there must be a way to distinguish "true churches" from "false churches." (Of course the idea that the means of determination was quite simple made that belief even more attractive, aka deceptive.)
That in turn led to the belief that on-the-ground churches were true and not-on-the-ground churches were false.
That in turn led to a convenient way to keep members in the fold, by telling them "the only way to meet was 'on the ground,' and, oh by the way, we are the only ones doing that right."
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These are all indications that the teaching is false, and that they were forcing a square peg into a round hole. Once again, these teachings should have alerted them to the fact that this teaching was erroneous, or it is evidence that they were willfully teaching falsehood.