Quote:
Originally Posted by UntoHim
How come only Witness Lee and his followers are allowed to meet in different locations for practical reasons, but when other Christians meet in different locations they are condemned as daughters of the great whore? What's with the blatant double-standard?
"But we are still one church in the city". Right, you are still the one Local Church of Witness Lee in the city, just as the 2 or 3 Baptist churches are still the Baptist church in the city....accept for the fact that the Baptist churches don't claim to be the only legitimate representative of the Body of Christ.
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You make it sound as if they are "condemned" because they meet in different locations. Yet other Christians don't meet in different locations simply because of practical reasons do they? , but because they can't get along or they have particular preferences. That situation is characterized by division and confusion. Contrary to Paul's commands for unity to all believers in the city of Corinth (for example).
Interesting you say that about the Baptists. If a church does not claim to be a legitimate representative (I will use the term expression) of the Body of Christ, then what are they? An illegitimate expression?
I think that is partly the issue. No one denomination apart from Catholic/Orthodox seems to want to stand up and stake claim to be the legitimate church in the city. If they are indeed true believers then surely that is what they truly are. In a way they are admitting they are a sect if they don't see themselves as the legitimate expression in the city.
Without a legitimate expression, I can't see how anyone can follow Christ's words in
Matthew 18:17: If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
Suppose a Presbyterian brother sins against a Baptist brother. The Baptist brother applies Matthew 18:17 (after exhausting the other avenues described in prior verses), and tells whose church, the Presbyterian one or the Baptist one? Which church, Presbyterian or Baptist, is "the church" in this instance? Suppose he tells the Baptist church, but what can they do? The Presbyterian brother is not a member. Likewise, he could tell the Presbyterian church, but what would they do? The Baptist brother is not a member of the Presbyterian.
In fact, because there is no real avenue for the Baptist brother to have the matter dealt with by "the church", because no one really knows who "the church" actually is, the Baptist may have to resort to taking legal action against the Presbyterian brother (if the situation warranted it).