[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Ohio

In those days, and those afterwards, what caught my attention, or should I say changed my heart and my life, was not the theological ramifications of 2nd of the Trinity becoming the 3rd of the Trinity, but how I was now alive. I was alive with Christ! And I got a verse to prove it.

But that's part of the whole problem I've tried (not too well I'm afraid) to address - 1 Corinthians 15:45 proves no such thing. No worries though, there are probably HUNDREDS of verses that prove that we have been made alive with Christ, and why we were not changed by those is somewhat of a mystery to me. In fact, if you were at the Ephesians training I'm sure we all heard of the verse "even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (Eph 2:5) I'm afraid that many of us (including me) were more impressed with who was telling us about how we were made alive in Christ then any actual biblical passages telling us it is so!

Look, before we go further in this thread I think it might be beneficial to have some kind of understanding that theology and experience are not mortal enemies, and in fact there is a wonderful, glorious symbiotic relationship between the two. It's kind of like "faith without works is dead" - so too theology without experience is dead. But the analogy works both ways (just like the biblical verse) - "Experience" that is based in erroneous teaching (aka theology) can lead to serious errors in our personal and corporate practice, as well as leaving us vulnerable to spiritual and psychological abuse. The Local Church of Witness Lee is the virtual poster boy of this dynamic.

Ok, I really would like to see this thread continue on as a "theological", "biblical" discussion. Far be it from me to take away anybody's positive experience, especially if it brought them closer to God. I kind of feel like throwing up my hands and say what Paul told the Philippians: What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.(Philippians 1:18) I rejoice at all the positive experiences we had in the Local Church. I had MANY positive experiences, and there was some good teaching too. What I would not like to see more of IN THIS PARTICULAR THREAD is the use of "experience" as an argument against how this particular verse is interpreted.

I'm not saying that we all have to come to the same interpretation, only that we approach this matter in a more objective manner.