[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by kumbaya

We are not meant to be identical clones in a suppressive culture. My younger sis has bought in hook, line, and sinker and honestly-has a hard time realizing she's not functioning well in the real world.
...Even if you believe EVERYTHING the FTT teaches, does it have to be in that environment?

kumbaya,
Welcome, thanks for taking the time to register and make these very good opening posts!

This is a very keen observation on your part. God, from the beginning, has shown himself to be a wonderful Creator and purveyor of diversity. Just take a look at his creation - tall mountains, deep valleys, trees and plants of every imaginable shape, color and size. Flowers of innumerable colors and shapes. Mysterious tiny creatures that cannot be seen with the naked eye, all the way to ginormous animals who walk the earth and swim in the seas.

So when we come to the masterpiece of his creation - Man - why would God be any less of a wonderful Creator and purveyor of diversity? Of course the answer to this question is on display right before us throughout human history. If you think about it, it is man himself who seems to want to force conformity and uniformity. And this is one of the dangers and tragedies of false religion - the forcing and enforcing of conformity to a man-made structure apart from, and even antithetical to, God's original intention.

So now we come to the Local Church of Witness Lee. As kumbaya has pointed out, the group has become a "suppressive culture" where diversity has been replaced by the most strict and wooden religious conformity. Tolerance, mercy, grace and freedom are replaced with uniformity and conformity. Basically, everything the LC movement was supposed to be "recovering" has been thrown out the door, and instead of progressing forward it seems the group has receded back to the dark ages. May God have mercy.
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