Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
"In our church we are so free. We are free in thinking."
This was a bald-faced lie. Witness Lee was telling people that they were in the army (his army), and couldn't do what they wanted, but rather what he, the commander-in-chief, told them. The only one free in this system was Witness Lee: his every utterance was God's inspiration. Everyone else had to be "absolutely identical" to the current speaking. How free is that?
Everyone else, if they even questioned, much less challenged or refused, was branded a rebel. How can anyone be free in that system?
"We are so free"? The man was speaking out of both sides of his mouth. How he could do it in front of so many people, and get away with it, is simply astonishing. Nobody could call him on it.
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It is statements like "
we are so free..." that really caused me to lose a lot of respect for WL. I attended numerous LSM trainings. Never was there any sentiment expressed from the podium about being "free" in the church life. What they did talk about was how we need to be
restricted, regulated, and of course, the army analogy was always used.
Personally speaking, it wasn't that difficult for me to meet the high LC standard compared to others that I knew, so the atmosphere of oppression didn't bother me as soon as it should have. Others saw the problem and ran away as soon as the opportunity arose, in fact, many "church kids" that I grew up with did just that.
When ex-members are screaming "cult", that should be a motivation for LC leaders to take a hard look at the system that they are overseeing. It is all too easy to characterize any kind of criticism as "groundless accusations". That benefits no one. It doesn't deal with the criticism itself, and it gives outsiders all the more reason to view the LC suspiciously.