Quote:
Originally Posted by micah6v8
One of the LSM's pet-phrases is "God becoming a man that man may become God in life and in nature, but not in the Godhead".
It is even described in the FTTA website as the "highest peak of the divine revelation" ( http://ftta.org/about/purpose-and-goal/)
The phrase "God in life and in nature, but not in the Godhead" is unsatisfactory because it is too wide. If I became "God in life and nature", I would expect to also be omnipotent and omniscient since omnipotence and omniscience are part of God's nature. Even a staunch LSM believer would probably accept that Witness Lee and any aspiring overcomers were not and could never become omnipotent and omniscient.
Perhaps it is an impossible task to begin with:- But if you had to tell an unbeliever in one sentence what you thought was the "highest peak of the divine revelation" of the Bible, what would it be?
I would try modifying the LSM's phrase so that it now read "God redeeming man that he may be restored to the image of God". |
When I think of the various adjectives that would describe God's nature, none of those same adjectives I see as being applicable to human beings. For example, John 4:24 says "
God is spirit..." God's nature is spirit. WIth that in mind, if Lee said that that we can become like God in nature, then how come my nature hasn't changed from a human to a spirit? I can't walk through walls or anything like that. The reason I attach that kind of expectation to the LC notion of deification is because they attribute the phrase "god-man" to people in a present sense.
What I find insightful is Paul and Barnabas' reaction in Acts 14 after the Lycaonians had tried to deify them:
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them...
I highlighted what I think is the key,
same nature as you. Paul and Barnabas were quick to react against anyone claiming they had any nature other than human. Trying to make a claim otherwise introduces all kinds of problems and certainly has no Biblical basis. That is not even to mention the inevitable pride that goes along with LCers making claims of being god-men.