Quote:
Originally Posted by countmeworthy
Some of Lee's footnotes are HIS interpretation and HIS opinion. Not God's. That's why imho, the crossreference and footnotes are NOT helpful to a new believer. On the contrary, they could end up confusing him, like it did ME!
He may have claimed certain topics were 'Revelation' straight from the throne, when they weren't. But how is a person to know if a person never studied anyone else's teachings but Lee's or those sanctioned by Lee?
Then..when a person (Like me...  ) disagrees with his viewpoint on a topic because I've done my RESEARCH, I don't have the liberty to voice my findingsto them, without being labeled 'divisive'...no matter how compelling the research was. |
Well, I'll decline to get into the specific doctrinal points you raise because I think that Lee's interpretations on those is at least potentially as valid as any others. However, I've got a couple of different areas where I would decline to accept Lee's interpretations and I arrived there by checking things just as you have, so I agree with your principle.
But let me share a quick example of what I still find very helpful:
Quote:
Romans 8:4, note 2 (RcV 1985)
The requirements that we must fulfill for the law of the Spirit of life (which has already been installed in us) to work are: 1) to walk according to spirit (v.4); 2) to mind the things of the Spirit - to set the mind on the spirit (vv. 5-6); 3) to put to death, by the Spirit, the practices of the body (v. 13); 4) to be led by the Spirit as sons of God (v.14); 5) to cry to the Father in the spirit of sonship (v.15); 6) to witness that we are the children of God (v.16); and 7) to groan for the full sonship, the redemption of our body (v.23).
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There may be some unknown original source for this explanation of Lee's - I don't know. And I might not personally say this in just this way. But I do think that this is "extremely helpful to a young believer hungry and thirsty to know Christ." You, of course, may disagree with me if you wish, but I think people could do a lot worse than be exposed to this sort of teaching.
While I'll agree with you that the cross-references and footnotes are Lee's and not God's, that's kind of a given in my view because it says so just inside the front cover. No man has ever produced anything that is purely "God's opinion" on a topic and the myth that Lee bore such an enlightenment is a large part of why we're all here today. But as I've said before on this forum, one of the things I most enjoy doing with the RcV is finding the places where Lee had nothing to say whatsoever. Wherever the footnotes get thin or superficial, Lee obviously was short of insight. (Frequently happens around the word "love" for instance.) So, in a healthy environment, that should indicate fertile land for working in the Word, even for those who treasure Lee's every comment.
Finally, though, I'll wholeheartedly endorse your complaint about needing the freedom to voice your findings. Whenever we come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation, and all things should be done for the building up. An environment where really only one has anything cannot be a genuine assembly of the saints. I'm not really sure what that is but it seems to be at best a denomination like any other. We need all the portions of all the saints in order to apprehend the breadth and length and height and depth.
Your portion is not just your mouth and your strong "amen."