Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
how much was actually Chinese culture, and how much was fallen man
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Authoritarian models are not unique to the Orient. But notice how well this one ran, while other models came apart at the seams. Because this variant had a large, pliable membership base in "the virgin soil of China", while the man-lording and man-elevating aspects were carefully hidden behind rhetoric and argumentation to fool the foriegners. It is only when you see the statements like "everybody get in line with the person in front of you" and "every church must be exactly identical" to you really see it for what it is. Oriental despotism, pure and simple.
Comparing this model to the RCC, the RCC looks almost benign. Would Desiderius Erasmus have survived in the Lee church? No chance.
And Nee & Lee sold it so well to us, because they believed it. It was in their blood, in the air they breathed. So they really sold it well. You have to give them credit for that.
Lastly, look how Lee told us to overlook his "messy kitchen" while he built the perfect church life to consummate the New Jerusalem. But nobody else's kitchen got a free pass. Because it wasn't his. So you can see how subjective it was - he could see everyone else's fallen culture but not his own.
"Who can discern his own errors?" Psalm 19:12