Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
In one sense of the use of the word "degraded" Lee referred to the system of Christianity. It would be hard for anyone to argue that a system which marries homosexuals could not be considered degraded.
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In reference to individuals, Lee made no assumption that "all other Christians are degraded".
Lee believed there are different kinds of Christians. Degraded, are those who walk and act like unbelievers. Christianity has other words for those kinds of people, like backslidden, or perhaps false Christians. Lee also talked about well-behaved Christians, those that are above the standard, he did not say those are degraded.
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It seems that you fail to understand that Lee’s statements were bound to be taken the wrong way. His statements were provocative on purpose. Lee (or his defenders) tried to claim he separated the ‘system’ of Christianity from the people. Christianity is composed of Christians, it’s as simple as that. So phrases like
degraded Christianity, without qualification, just serve as blanket statements. I could point out numerous similar blanket statements that Lee made. I must ask, what was his purpose in making such statements? Was he truly concerned for others, or just out to discredit them? It seems he was intent on creating an
us vs. them mentality.
We know for a fact that there is some amount of ‘degradation’ among Christians. But is that really the issue? Is it worth mentioning? The real issue is our own state, or at a broader level, the state of those whom we are associated with. In Rev 2-3, there are the seven churches, all with
differing states. In the address to each church, notice what it ends with. It speaks of
overcoming, and this includes the message to Philadelphia, the faithful church. The admonition to Philadelphia is “
hold fast what you have.”
So if a Christian group feels that they are particularly faithful to the Lord according to what they teach or practice, that’s fine, they can continue on doing what they’re doing. Why would there be any need to point fingers at others and concern themselves with the perceived shortcomings of other groups?