[UntoHim]

My dear brother Ohio,
I'm sure you've heard the humorous, but poignant, adage: You are entitled to your opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts. (Daniel Moynihan) You are indeed entitled to your own opinion, as am I, as is Don Rutledge. Though I'm loath to quote politicians, I'm going to do it twice in the same post: "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." (President John Adams)

Unfortunately, you seem to have accidentally on purpose ignored a very important part of my post:

Originally Posted by UntoHim

in my estimation

This is just a fancy way of saying "in my opinion". For better or for worse, however, my opinions are at least partially informed by certain historical facts, facts that can no longer be washed away or mitigated by my wishes, inclinations or passions. (although they were for decades) I am not, REPEAT NOT, implying that you, Don or anyone else, are attempting to wash away or mitigate certain historical facts, or are simply guided by your own wishes, inclinations or passions. I am simply posting my opinion regarding the life, times and history of Witness Lee and the Local Church movement. Sorry to disappoint you, but I wasn't "calling you out". I was actually addressing some things that Steve has posted on this thread.

Look, it seems to me, the heart of this "Early Lee - Later Lee" matter can be boiled down to this: Witness Lee was just like any human being who has ever lived (save One) There was some good, some bad, and some in between. According to the Bible, this is also true for every person who has dared to take the lead among God's people. If we can at lest agree on this, then I think we can settle on agreeing to disagree on whether the good outweighs the bad, or that the bad outweighs the good, etc, etc.

If you want, you can just forget most of what I posted, and just keep the last part, the most important part -

Originally Posted by UntoHim

The good news is that God is the one in control of the picture...past, present and future. Actually it is his picture to paint. And it is always a masterpiece!