Quote:
Originally Posted by Drake
In summary, It was a 4 fold vision of the Body the Lord revealed to me in a variety of ways over a few years. First, through a minister I came to understand the Body is local and the need for unity in the Body in a city. Though a leader in a denomiation i knew there was something more. Second, the Body is universal and here I received a personal and intimate visitation from the Lord and from that saw the Body universal. Third, I experienced the Body Christ and care and shepherding in my daily life. Fourth, i saw the pouring out of the Spirit and realized the primary purpose was to bring in the function for building the Body and to defaet God's enemy. Only near the end of this last part did I met Brother Lee.
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Drake,
Thank you for sharing. There isn't anything above that I disagree with.
The issue with me and the LCM has never been much about the general vision. It has always been about how that vision is interpreted and turned into attitudes and practices.
This really comes into play in the "practical unity" part of your vision. It seems to me the LCM version of unity is set up in such a way so that only the LCM can fulfill it. So, ironically, their "unity" became a kind of sectarianism. This is proven by the fact that there are a lot of groups that meet as the church in the city but which have no association with the LSM. And in every case as far as I know the LCM churches disregard them and do not attempt to fellowship with them.
The LCM has defined "names" and "locality" as the central determiners of whether a group observes proper unity. But the Bible never makes that clear. However, the Bible does make clear that overly insisting on one minister or ministry can and does result in sectarianism (1 Cor 3). Yet, the LCM acts oblivious to this, and thus attempts to enforce all the little details Witness Lee/LSM taught, which is the root of all the dysfunction the group has spread.
There is nothing wrong with unity as a general concept. Where the LCM has gone wrong is to insist unity must be expressed according to specific proprietary details--which in fact is not unity but conformity. In the meantime, they discount all other expressions of unity as inadequate.
I simply do not see how this will ever result in more unity or building, the very thing you claim to want. So you must be hoping everyone eventually joins the LCM. But that isn't going to happen. Sixty years of track record has made that clear.
The reason people aren't joining the LCM is not because of the general vision you shared. It's because of the way that general vision has been lost and distorted in the translation into actual attitudes and practices.