[UntoHim]

Oregon,

As I see it, there is a LOT of ground in between your rather ridged "God is like a city council" example and Witness Lee's highly unorthodox declarations as noted by Beisner -
"The Son who prays is the Father who listens"
"The Son is the Father, and the Son is also the Spirit"
"The Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit..."

My current understanding is that the orthodox, evangelical view of the Trinity attempts to take into account the entire New Testament (and to a lesser degree the OT) so as to use as much of "the whole council of God" as possible to settle upon the most accurate description, in mere human words, of one of the great mysteries of the universe. (yikes..did I just write that?) In my opinion many of the early "creeds", confessions of faith and doctrinal papers/statements of the early church fathers and theologians do a very good job of this.

Now the simple fact is that Witness Lee decidedly and intentionally wondered far, far from the orthodox view of the Trinity. The three tidbits I've posted here, which are a fair and accurate representation of what Lee taught on a regular basis, clearly illustrate just how far Lee wondered.

There is a reason why I titled this thread "This is the Witness Lee that I remember". Because these statements reflect the Witness Lee I remember. Of the hundreds and hundreds of Training and conference messages I attended, in person or by video over a period of many years, I can't recall Witness Lee emphasizing the orthodox view of the Trinity. In fact, he often claimed it was his calling to teach something quite different.

I'm glad you brought this up Oregon. This is the reason I have taken a great deal of time to put up the "Systematic Theology" board. If Local Churchers (and ex's too) would take some time to carefully review this exemplary work, I think they can come to a better understanding of what is actually taught and believed by the great majority of orthodox, evangelical and conservative protestant churches and ministries. Now that the Local Church/Living Stream Ministry is seeking acceptance among this large segment of the Body of Christ, I would think that they would try to at least understand what is taught and believed, and maybe even try to fall back from the old extremes and prejudices of the past.
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