Quote:
Originally Posted by Koinonia
the reason the LC is primarily Chinese is precisely because it is cultural, not "local."
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I'll give an example of Chinese culture in the LC.
In Acts 15 there was a pressing issue, and the disciples gathered and talked. Eventually they got clear what was God's will for the situation... here's a relevant quote, from vv 6 & 7: "So the apostles and elders met to look into this matter. After much discussion, Peter got up and said to them,"
My question is, where in the LC do you see meetings with "much discussion"? The answer is, No-where. The LC/Chinese culture is not comfortable with much discussion; rather it's the Big Boss speaks and that's it. Discussion equals instability, so rule is by fiat and not by group consensus. Even when he's wrong, Big Boss (aka "Deputy God") is right. Social harmony depends on it. Chairman Mao remains untouchable in the PRC, even 40 years after his death. This is a [Chinese] culturally-driven imperative, not a [Communist] political one.
So when the LCs read the Bible, and see parts that don't fit their cultural model, they just read past it, ignoring it as though it weren't there. Probably most of us do this to some extent: the issue here is that this group thinks that they don't have any cultural blinders on, and everyone else is "darkened, deformed" etc and they alone have the "normal" church. But it's only normal to a certain cultural mind-set: theirs.
And they don't get it. And they don't get that just Asians, predominantly, are comfortable in this culture. And they wonder why their churches are 70% or 80% Asian, when the surrounding community is maybe 5% or 10% Asian. That's because LC culture drives away everyone but the Asians.