Quote:
Originally Posted by Gideon7
I really don’t want to invest my time in a group that is off concerning some of the basic doctrines/practices of the faith- and when there’s this much "smoke", there tends to be a fire somewhere…
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The next "training" in Anaheim is probably coming up over Christmas break. You should attend and see it all for yourself. Make sure to take good notes and ask questions in the breakout groups. Your smoking gun is the Living Stream Ministry.
You mentioned in another post "I plan to talk with maybe 3 key people- elders or whoever." I did this as well. As another poster mentioned, it depends on how connected your locality is to the LSM. My locality was one of the top dogs in the pecking order, very well versed in steering conversations with college students. What you'll find over time that the rehearsed and memorized responses do not always match with reality. The funny thing is everyone knows it, but refuses to talk about it.
For example: A member of Witness Lee's church may reject my comment that my old locality was a top dog - that... on the contrary... there is no hierarchical structure within the LSM (and may provide bible verses that point to WHY that is the case). But the sad truth (as you'll find) is that there is a hierarchy. Not only within the localities, but across the country (and I assume the world - but can't say first hand).
My locality was a top dog, I ran in the circle with the top dogs. They would never admit to it... I mean... why give up the perks?
What would you say if I told you I loved the new church I'm attending. We all pay for a weekly flyer written by a fallen man. On Sundays (eehm, the Lord's Day) We get together and use his words as an outline to then talk about this guy's writings. We read scripture, but only scripture that was translated by this dude... but actually we focus mostly on his commentary (eehm, footnotes). After that we sing songs that were written by this same guy (well maybe only 90% were written by him) so the rest are approved by him. Yeah this dude has somewhat of a shady track record, but he did a lot of good too. Out of all of his writings he mentions one time that he isn't always right (Life Study Genesis Message 88 - using this as a warning to "spies") but overall it is clear that he is always right, in fact, he is was the minister of the age - like Paul or Luther. Seeking any truth outside of his ministry means that you're being "negative" and may be "poisoned".
Go and see it for yourself my friend