Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Debelak
I think I get the gist of your post, but this uncultured fellow needs a little help with the Waldorf salad analogy...
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My gist of YP's gist was that a Waldorf Salad was a "kitchen sink" salad. Everything and the kitchen sink, to boot.
I keep thinking of the verse that starts Galatians chapter 5. "For freedom Christ has set us free..."
Paul was free to set up leadership in the new fellowships as he saw fit; we seem to be free to set up leadership, or not, as
we see fit. Look at the different set-ups in christian history God has blessed with His outpoured Spirit. Some were highly structured arrangements, like formal "churches", and some were loose aggregates of coal miners and whatnot.
The Lord's ability to manifest Himself on earth is not limited to a specific structure, nor is it necessarily prevented by any structure.
I have just found that when we focus on the structure we tend to ignore the Lord. I think of Nee's "The Normal Christian Church Life" as a paragon. It is as "biblical" a template for organizing the fellowship(s) as one could want; but it turns Paul's "freedom" into "the letter of the law".
The only thing we are
not free to do is sin. In that regard, we have been clearly captured by Christ, and are imprisoned in His righteousness. Other than that, "The Spirit blows where it wills, and you know not..." (John 3:8)
And that's my "Waldorf Salad" speech for the day.
