Hope,
I agree wholeheartedly with your post. Culture is a huge factor in all these matters we are discussing here. We should none elevate our earthly culture to a special status, especially a divine one. That was, I believe, one of the key reasons for many of the problems that flowered in the local churches.
That said, I don't believe we should diminish our cultures. Did you hear Chris Collinsworth's interview with Kobe Bryant at the Olympics? He asked him, "Is that a ‘cool’ thing to say, in this day and age? That you love your country, and that you’re fighting for the red, white and blue? Seems like a day gone by." I wasn't sure if he was prodding Bryant to stand up for the USA or he was mocking that kind of attitude. The blogosphere seems to think he was mocking. Google it and you'll see what I mean.
Well, no matter his intent, I disagree with the idea that we are somehow more elevated beings if we have no national pride. The people I know who are like this -- and I sat near one last night in my home watching the Olympics -- strangely will cheer for other countries ... anyone but the USA, their homeland. To me, they are most lost of souls.
I don't mind that Witness Lee was a Chinese man and brought his culture with him to the US. I do mind that somehow we all thought that culture was the Kingdom culture. Sorry, but Chinese culture for all its politeness and corporateness is just another fallen human culture. It does have great positives which were on display in the Olympic opening ceremonies. But the dark side is always there lurking like that madman who killed an American that very night.
Our American culture has much to be proud of: we're a people who look to the stars, not the ground. When presidential candidates tell us to turn down the thermostat, put on a sweater, stop eating so much and eat certain foods that they will determine, drive a Prius or better, walk ... that message meets bigtime resistance in a true American's heart. We're not about that. We're about the West, self-reliance, tomorrow. There is always a new frontier awaiting the American.
Well, I've gone and waxed philosophical. Let me bring this home to the LC situation. I think that the present schism in the LC is really just a grand reassertion of American culture. The LSM side has embraced the culture of Lee. The GLA is rejecting that. Since I stated above that all cultures have their strengths and weaknesses, you might infer that I must now say neither is right or wrong. Well that ain't my conclusion. The GLA is right. Why? Because guess where the GLA is located? In North America.
I'm done.
SC
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