[OBW]

It was interesting to read through a few of the older posts in this thread. This topic, more than any other, points to the truth and fire in YP's complaint about "Universal Church."

There is a universal church, but it it not an organization. It is NOT practical. Only an assembly is practical. On occasion, several assemblies may combine for a purpose, but there is no practicality to the universal. It exists only because we are all of the common faith in Christ. But it is not a thing that we can touch, or organize, or administer. We can only touch the assembly. Only the assembly operates. Only the assembly can organize to do anything.

Meanwhile, Lee, and now the BBs, are treating the worldwide collection of LCs as if they are the totality of the universal church and trying to organize and direct it all. The result is to cause division that might not otherwise occur among members of practical assemblies. Those who want to hold onto some ethereal notion of "universal unity and oneness" lash out at those who would seek for practical harmony with those right where they are.

I know that some will suggest that my view is skewed by preference, but it seems that the ones who are causing the divisions locally are those who are trying to create some kind of universal oneness. It reminds me of the silly poem:

To dwell above with the saints I love —
Oh, won't that be glory!
But to dwell below with the saints I know —
Well that's another story.