[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Drake

Now, to your point quoted above. I feel zero pressure to buy books... they are mostly available online... Allow me this example. I like C.S. Lewis. I read a lot of him. I like the parallels in the Chronicles of Narnia in much the same way as I like those in Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress and Holy War. No one tells me what I can and cannot read personally. I have all the freedom in the world, restricted only by the Spirit, to follow my conscience in what I ingest.

However, the freedoms I enjoy as an individual do not transfer to the meetings of the church, else there would be complete and utter chaos. There would be disorder and punching the air. I do not impose my individual liberty in the Spirit onto the rest of the brothers and sisters in the meetings of the church. I do not have the liberty before the Lord to occupy others time by reading the Voyage of the Dawn Treader in the meetings. Why? Simply, because that is not how the Lord is building up the Body of Christ in that setting. You will say, that is an extreme example because no one is advocating reading Narnia in the meetings. Okay, but that is not any different than reading G.H. Lang in the meetings..... a point of contention in the history of the local churches that is counter to the vision, mission, and special calling of those in the local churches. Those localities that are contentious about that can do their own thing and have for that and other reasons.

Brother Drake, I agree with your liberty to read as you prefer. I'm being totally honest. I'm glad you have outside interests. Since I have long had difficulty reading with my eyes, I have always envied those who could read to their heart's content.

But I disagree with your conclusions. No one has ever advocated opening the meetings to every members' reading list. But your own mission statement (Nee's TNCCL) places church elders in ministry oversight. They alone in prayer and fellowship must decide what to minister according to their church's needs. If the elders decide that parts of Lang's book can benefit their church during a time of crisis, then they must reserve the liberty, and even the necessity, to minister according to that. No outsiders, let alone a publisher, should interfere with their God-ordained responsibility!

Regarding the "vision, mission, and special calling of those in the local churches," can this ever contradict scripture? Can this "vision" be used to coverup unrighteousness and slander internal whistleblowers? And for those initially caught by the teachings in Nee's book TNCCL, should not their concerns of deviation from established practice also be heard?