Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
I agree they have the right to split. They don't have the right to create a denomination. Luther for example did not just leave the RC church and meet in home fellowships as per the new testament. The Lutheran church started because of him. Then another, then another. They created different "brands" of Christianity, when the reality is there is only the body of Christ. Today the Lutheran brand remains, as does many others. For what? Give me one good reason what the Lutheran brand contributes that the Baptist does not, or the Presbyterian, or a simple home fellowship. There is no reason for their existence. They serve no purpose except to uphold the brand of Luther. They are not better at gospel preaching or at converting sinners, or of good works or charities, they have not contributed any spiritual light in the last 500 years since Luther's revelation that salvation is by faith alone.
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I think you need to now define terms. You keep using the term "denomination" in a vague way. But I'm not clear what exactly you mean by the term. Please define it specifically. Does it include community churches not affiliated with controlling organizations? Does it just mean having a name?
The Bible never uses the term. The Bible never prohibits a group naming itself. The fact that the Bible doesn't give examples of a church naming itself does not mean it is wrong.
The question should come down to what is truly divisive. Division in the Bible is always associated with a kind of animosity. I don't live with my cousins, I rarely see them, but I'm not divided from them. I have no animosity toward them. I think you need to start concentrating on real animosity and stop obsessing about these technical and arbitrary characteristics that the Bible doesn't even prohibit.
As for having a brand, if the LCM isn't a brand nothing is. The LCM is Witness Lee. His image dominates its expression. Do you think because his churches call themselves the church in whatsit city that makes them any less of a brand? That's delusion.
I understand the attraction of generality. Lee once taught generality. But the LCM is now anything but general, and really never was truly general. The church I attend now has much more generality and reception than the LCM ever had. We understand oneness, and insisting others follow your way is not it.
Your attitude toward the Lutherans is out of line. You don't know what benefit individuals have received or what work God may have done through Lutheran congregations. You are not omniscient and once again you are displaying the wrong spirit.
You sound quite immature, like the kid whose parents get him the best bike in the neighborhood (he thinks) and he goes around bragging and putting down all the other kids' bikes. The Lord had a word for that spirit in Revelation 3:17.