Quote:
Originally Posted by UntoHim
It's too bad that Witness Lee did not practice what he preached in this regard. Untold havoc and damage was done among the churches, to the cause of the Kingdom and the the name of Christ by his two sons, Timothy and Phillip. .
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Every time the dictates of scripture collided with those of WL's culture, culture won. In spite of his seemingly resolute and unyielding focus on "sola scriptora", when the chips were down, fallen human culture prevailed. This can be seen in his acquiescence to family needs over his ministry and the church, and likewise in WL's blended lieutenants choosing loyalty to the program over scripture, conscience, and reason.
Without overstating my case, I'd like to point out that the basis of this particular church was a desire to throw off the yoke of foreign oppression. This was done by creating an indigenous, "local" church, which was perforce Chinese. Because that's who the locals were. As this religious society grew, it was formalized extra-locally, with attendant rules, explanations, histories, traditions, and shared expectations, all aimed at self-preservation (of culture), internal coherence (of culture) and continuance (of culture), and eventually all this was exported as an imperialistic entity in its own right.
For example, this culture apparently requires strong central leadership, or society ostensibly will dissolve into primordial chaos. So it used the cover of an open and pluralistic society in the West to gain a foothold, then began to promulgate a completely unpluralistic and unscriptural idea of One Wise Master Builder, Deputy God, One Trumpet, One Apostle per age (which evidently stopped when Lee passed, as no one could fill the Great Man's shoes), and so forth. All of this with the barest of scriptural grounds, but an unquestionable cultural basis. So we all went along with fallen human culture. Guanxi uber alles.
The LSM disciples can argue Biblical principles all day, while brandishing reams of scripture, until one of the scriptures or principles comes up against local church culture. Then they'll change the subject. Because one mustn't go against leadership; be positive, be in one accord. Don't be negative, critical, or rebellious.