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Originally Posted by Evangelical
It is not Witness Lee's OT teaching, it is Nee's and is based upon Jesus's words in the New Testament (not old) in Revelation that addresses only 7 churches in Revelation, one per city, and each city has only one lampstand.
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My point is that the Old Testament verses teach that you must build the temple on a specific ground and that you must go up to that temple every year to worship God. There is no such New Testament teaching. The woman at the well in the gospel of John referred to this OT teaching and Jesus told her that the New Testament was different.
There is no teaching in the book of Revelation that says the "proper ground" of a church is the boundary of a city. You infer this from the fact that there are 7 letters written to seven churches, each in a city. I would be happy to look carefully at that portion of the word with you to see what the New Testament does teach concerning the church, it is a fantastic portion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
In another thread I showed logically and rationally from the Bible that Nee's teaching of the ground of the church as being the locality is correct.
I repeat this from the thread about Nee's church that I was discussing with testallthings:
(The Normal Christian Church Life, Chapter 5, by Watchman Nee):
Most believers of today are so utterly blind to the scriptural basis of a church that if one asks another, “To what church do you belong?” The first thought of the one questioned is of the specific line of teaching he approves of, or the group of people with whom he has special fellowship, or how his group of Christians is different from others, or perhaps the name that particular group bears, or the form of organization they have adopted—in short, anything but the place in which he lives. Few would answer that question with, “I belong to the church in Ephesus,” or “I belong to the church in Shanghai,” or “I belong to the church in Los Angeles.” It is our being in Christ that separates us from the world, and it is our being in a given locality that separates us from other believers. It is only because we reside in a different place from them that we belong to a different church. The only reason I do not belong to the same church as other believers is that I do not live in the same place as they do. If I wish to be in the same church, then I must change my residence to the same place. If, on the other hand, I wish to be in a different church from others in my locality, then the only solution to my problem is to move to a different locality. Difference of locality is the only justification for division among believers.
Right here, Nee says there is a (genuine) division in the church, and it is based upon locality. He also seems to sanction the use of locality to define and name a local church, and suggest that we should use locality when we define what church we belong to. Thus, Lee's church model of taking names according to the locality, appears to be in keeping with Nee's view about this.
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Fair enough let's ask the question "to what church do you belong?"
The church belongs to God (church of God -- 1Cor 1:2)
The church belongs to Christ (church of Christ -- Rom 16:16)
The church belongs to the saints (church of the saints -- 1Cor 14:33)
As for me I belong to Christ and to God. As James said "a bondservant of God and Jesus Christ".
Where, in the Bible does it say I belong to a church?
You can have an elder "of a church" or a deacon "of a church", but that is the office, not the person. You can be a servant of the church, as Phoebe was, but that is because you are servant of the Lord. She serves the church because that is what the Lord has told her to do.
I don't belong to the church, the church belongs to me. It is a meeting. This meeting is created when saints meet, it is created by the Lord's redeeming work, and it is created by God.
It is a meeting whenever two or three gather together, but if you want it to be a meeting that has the presence of Jesus you need to meet together into His name. The name belongs to Jesus, the meeting belongs to Jesus, and the believers meeting belong to Jesus.
So once again you (and Watchman Nee) appear to have exposed my ignorance. Please tell me the verse in the Bible which says I belong to the church.
The church is the Body of Christ, and I am a member of the Body. But every member answers to the head, not to the Body. Again, I belong to Jesus Christ the head. This is not semantics.
Rev 3:12 He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more:
You have to overcome before the Lord makes you a pillar in the temple of His God. Prior to that you can "go out" if that is where He sends you, hence you don't belong to the church, you belong to Jesus.
So then, to answer Watchman Nee, I don't belong to a church, I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. I have met with Christians in Houston, Irving, Dallas, College Station, Reynosa, Austin, El Paso, Odessa, Midland, Anaheim, Atlanta, Columbus, Taipei, New York City, and quite a few other places. I have been a servant of various churches, and I have been a deacon. I have also been an evangelist sent by a church and a full time construction worker sent by another church. Interestingly enough, every time I have ever met with other Christians it has been in either a city, a town, or a house. If I had to guess 84% in cities and 16% in homes, never thought about that before, but I'll accept your math. But I never belonged to any church. My service was always unto the Lord.