[Evangelical]

Originally Posted by Koinonia

So, do you retract your comment?

I admit my use of the phrase "join the LSM" was a mistake. By the way I like this format you've made in how you quote me, it's easier to reply to.

Originally Posted by Koinonia

No, your sectarian/denominational mindset is betrayed by your repeated, habitual use of "we," "we," "we," "us," "us," "us," and phrases like "join the LSM," "join the Recovery," "part of the Recovery," etc.

Again, "the local church in your city" is not "we" and "us," it is all the believers in that city. You cannot claim to be "the local church in your city." Each time you do that, you have created something different that is smaller than the church.

When you say "it is all believers in that city", that also includes us. So how can you say we cannot claim to be "the local church in the city"? The word "the" is not to the exclusion of everyone else in the city. When we say that, we refer to something larger than ourselves, that includes all believers in the city. It includes "us" who are meeting as the local church in the city, and it includes "everyone else", who are not meeting as the local church in the city, but as a denomination. On this point, the difference of "us" and "them" is on the basis of who meets as the local church practically, and who doesn't. It does not mean, that every believer in the city is not part of the local church in reality. But in practicality, they are not.

Let's take this to an extreme example because it emphasizes the point. Suppose every believer in a city never went to church on Sunday but stayed at home. It is true they are all part of the one local church in the city. But practically and physically they are not unless they are meeting together.
Note that church means assembly. We cannot be the church practically unless we are assembling together. Hebrews 10:25 says "not giving up assembling together". No assembly = no church.

I address this further below in my reply to you about the invisible walls.

Originally Posted by Koinonia

I was never upset.

Good because that is the only thing I recall possibly offending you about. But if there is anything, let me know.

Originally Posted by Koinonia

Here we go again... what is "the Recovery"? And how does one spend time in it?

A good explanation is here
http://www.lordsrecovery.org/
http://www.local-church-movement.org/

Recovery means to bring something back to its original condition. To spend time in the recovery would be to spend time in the genuine experience of Christ and the genuine church life.

Originally Posted by Koinonia

Sounds like the LC... people have put up an invisible wall between themselves and all other believers. And they think it is okay because they keep calling themselves "the church."

Obviously not every believer in the city is experiencing the genuine church life. A genuine believer in the JW church for example, would they be experiencing the genuine church life while they remain there? I don't think so.

Even though all believers in the city are part of the local church and the body of Christ, not all believers are experiencing the genuine church life in their denominations. It is in this sense that there is an "us" and a "them".

Originally Posted by Koinonia

So, now the Lutherans used to be "the real local church in the city"?... You appear to make this stuff up as you go along.

Luther and co. were a group of believers who left the Catholic system to experience Christ genuinely and the genuine church life. So in my mind they would have represented the real local church in the city, although they may not have seen themselves as such. They may have seen themselves as "reformed Catholics", I don't know. Luther originally only wanted to reform, or as I would say, recover, the Catholic church. But political religious pressures meant that became impossible, and the Lutheran church was born, which became a denomination.