Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
One thing about the filial obsequiousness thing; isn't this an Asian trait? The Good Son is the one who copies the Father? When you see Lee pushing Nee into the religious stratosphere "the Seer of the divine revelation" he, Lee, is setting himself up to be the next Seer of the age. Lee as Chief Cheerleader of Nee simultaneously set himself up as Heir Apparent. So his filial respect toward his spiritual forebear was concretion of a system in which he, similarly, would be held up by his own spiritual "children". I remember reading about where someone was struggling with the latest crazy directive out of Anaheim, and the LC True Believer response to them was, "Lee is our spiritual father. We owe him our lives."
Now, this is not restricted to the Asians; I think Jesse Jackson basically made his career by being MLK's chief flunky. Etc etc. But the oriental society has really integrated this deeply, and don't think about it or question it; it is just what they do. Again, I repeat that Asian culture is not inferior to the West. But it is not divine.
Now, here's where it gets interesting: we have Jesus, who was actually the True Son, who glorified His Father God in heaven. And we are to follow Jesus. But it is not through human intermediaries like "the apostle of the age" or any other fallen, fleshly person. Not Luther nor Nee, nor whomever. Jesus is the one we follow. And yes we do have elder, more mature ones (thank God!!), but we don't make them the focal point of our journey. We don't deify them. We only imitate them as much as we perceive them imitating Christ, and no more. Because they also, truthfully, are at least partial failures, and prone to err.
Lee's system nearly made Nee "Christ" to us. Supposedly Nee was so transformed as to be without failure, and we held that Lee as his Top Lieutenant was also similarly transformed. So the position which they created and occupied, that of Deified Father, is only for God, and now shared with His glorified Son. As an aside, I have previously pointed out that Chu and Dong were really the True Heirs of Lee, in that they elevated him as he'd done to Nee, while simultaneously positioning themselves in similar religious systems. I see it as quite oriental; feudal even. It is a kingdom, but the wrong one.
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What is your relationship with your physical father? In my Asian culture, we never hug. Good parents provide "passive" necessity such as food and money. So when the "spiritual fathers" show up, our emotion needs are met. That cultural factor might explain why the local church is prospering in Taiwan and China now.
"Filial" 孝順 is not a western concept, it is completely a Chinese one. It has 5000 years of meaning in it. So when I heard the new term "spiritual father", it caught my attention deeply. It gave you this feeling mixed of solemn, owe, fear, gratefullness, foreign, mysterial, etc. My heart was captured by the teachings of the "spiritual fathers." They are of Christ.