bearbear, what a wonderful and inspiring testimony!
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Originally Posted by bearbear
Wow that was really brave to pull out Philip Lee this quickly.
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I'd not say "brave"; it was rather reckless.
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Originally Posted by bearbear
I still love the people, but man does it feel like they are enslaved by the system.
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It does feel like that!
Unfortunately, my wife doesn't see any flaws in the system. She thinks she is in a Christian church. And not only a church but the Church, the only one genuine Christian church. She doesn't notice the usurpation.
Once we listened to one of RK’s messages. It looked great for everyone in the hall. Bro Ron talked about the LC and spirituality. He said that spiritual individuals are dangerous for the church. “We must build the Body first, and then the Lord will dismiss the limits. God doesn't want spiritual giants. God wants the Body, for saints to have oneness with God and each other.” Sounds good, right? I don’t need to be spiritual to take care of my spiritual needs. I need to take care of the Body fist. What’s wrong with this idea? Well, a plastic apple and a natural apple may look the same. And you never know which one is real until you bite.
I don’t find anything wrong with personal spirituality. That's true -- there are lots of traps on the way to God. But ego, pride, and selfishness have nothing to do with true spirituality. There are lots of “spiritual giants” in other churches. For example, in the Orthodox Church there are lots of saints, monks, and other spiritual individuals. It benefits the church AND ordinary believers. The more spiritual individuals, the stronger the church.
In my opinion, the more you grow spiritually, the closer you get to God. How are WL’s followers going to have oneness and build the Body when they do not have spirit of God? You must be a spiritual person, who gained God’s love and grace to be qualified to have oneness and be in the Body with other spiritual brothers and sisters. But in the LC they believe that spirituality is a Body matter. You don’t need to be spiritual. Just be in the Body. As Tostoy say, "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
It’s some kind of manipulation, a typical thing for cults. Just be in the gang, “Big Brother” will take care of you. Be loyal, follow the crowd, and don't stick your neck out! Big Brother will do your job. Look are WL, RK, EM and Co. – none of them look spiritual. But they have an “excuse”. They have a bigger job. They are building the Body.
I can be mistaken, but my answer is “Be closer to God first, have personal relationships with Him, and then you will have oneness with Him and His Body”. In other words, you must take effort, put your seeds in the soil, grow the tree, and then reap the fruits, not the other way around.
On the other hand, being in the Body may also transform you, make you more spiritual, and bring you closer to God, but it must be the Body of Christ, His Body and His Church, not the quasi-church of Witness Lee.
I feel sad when I see so many wonderful brothers and sisters who have been entrapped, poisoned, and enslaved by the system. They are longing for Christ. They think the are building His Body. But they are just pawns in the big game. Deceived and manipulated, they stopped their spiritual growth. They are not getting closer to God, but are serving the system.
PS I’m not a big fan of Tolstoy’s books and teachings, but I want to share some of his quotes.
"Where Love Is, God Is"
"Don't seek God in temples. He is close to you. He is within you. Only you should surrender to Him and you will rise above happiness and unhappiness."
“An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person’s main task in life—becoming a better person.”
“He who exalts himself shall be humbled; and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12) The person who exalts himself ... will be humbled, because a person who considers himself to be good, intelligent, and kind will not even try to become better, smarter, kinder. The humble person will be exalted, because he considers himself bad and will try to become better, kinder, and more reasonable.
“Genuine religion is not about speculating about God or the soul or about what happened in the past or will happen in the future; it cares only about one thing—finding out exactly what should or should not be done in this lifetime.”