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Originally Posted by Freedom
I personally feel that Nee and Lee had every intention of cultivating an environment that would allow for a supreme mastership. And what better way to do it than to get everyone thinking that they each had a special role and purpose within the group. Except what they forgot to mention is that you can only have 'purpose' within the confines of being a small potato..
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Nee & Lee did intentionally establish a supreme and unquestioned authority because that fit their cultural pre-conceptions of what was "normal" for group practice. Notice that this model attracts the Chinese, who don't think it's strange. Without a strong center, they fear chaos. (but that is where faith comes in).
There are other "strong authoritarian" groups out there like the Geftakys Assembly, but look at the miniscule toe-hold they have in the general populace versus the LSM/lc with tens of thousands of the Chinese.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Freedom
Somehow everyone in the LCM realizes in the back of their mind that they shouldn't overshadow, criticize or question the supreme master, yet they are convinced that the LCM doesn't have such a leadership structure.
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Nee and Lee and their followers didn't see anything "wrong" with their church model, and often point out the admittedly horrible clergy - laity system it replaced. I liked Baruch's citation because it highlights how incompatible these replacement notions are: "strong autonomy" versus "strong centralized control" and "everyone equal" juxtaposed on one of the "equals" being a "supreme master". As soon as you look at it critically it's totally contradictory. Which is probably why they told us, "Don't think, you will only be confused". Only the supreme master, the guru, the deputy god, could think without becoming confused. The rest were to be "one" with the "Lord's speaking thru our brother".