[aron]

Originally Posted by kumbaya

For me, if WL had come out and apologized for the whole Daystar thing, took responsibly, and repented- that would be different. My issue with it is more the cover up, the attacks on other brothers, the lack of accountability. His response was that of a guilty person. An innocent person is an open book, ready to prove their innocence. I feel like I can rightly assume that given the decades this scandal has been covered up- if the local church leaders could prove it didn’t happen, they would! Instead, there are RECORDINGS and numerous testimonies. Which, by the way, testimonies are admissible in a court of law- yet members in the LC are told (I believe it’s from the book the “overcomers”) that anyone who says anything “negative” (with no definition on what that even means and no verses justifying this statement), is a “wrong” person. You should stay away from this “wrong” person, or you will be contaminated.

Can you believe the blatant cult mentality there? I’ll have to find the quote- I’m not exaggerating. So, what we have is a system of zero accountability, no clear picture on what it means to be negative or a wrong person- just a picture full of fear....Ultimately, no one wants to be “negative” so to call out bad behavior might make you that, make you a “wrong person,” and make other people stay away from you.

It’s apparently working-most people in my locality have started to distance themselves-even my fam.

Two points:

1. The holding power of the guanxi network is fear: if you break the web of reciprocal obligations you are O.U.T. out. There is no forgiveness, no reconciliation. It's not very Christian but it's very effective!! Who ever crossed LSM leadership and got back into the network? Nobody.

2. Suppose Daystar had been a successful business, and returned a profit to its investors. It still would be wrong, because Lee used the pulpit to dun the flock for $$ for his family business. Suppose Philip had not been caught repeatedly molesting the help (even tho they were adults, because of the power disparity I don't see it as "consensual"). Suppose Philip had just been a rough unspiritual guy who was installed as 'the Office'?

John So, Manila 1990 "At that time my understanding of the office of Witness Lee, the business office of Witness Lee, was exactly what Witness Lee publicly proclaimed it to be. “It is an office to take care of his tapes, to take care of printing books, and to take care of distributing books to serve all the churches.” That was my understanding. That was really my understanding. And for some reason, there was a lot of problem in Anaheim in the home office of the Living Stream in Anaheim. And it was really at that time not so nice. The fellowship there between the churches in Orange County and the office was not very nice, and I happened to be in one of the meetings, that must be in 1982, and Witness Lee was sharing quite strongly to all the serving ones, especially regarding the Chinese work and the serving ones in the LSM office. And obviously there was a conflict between the office, which is brother Lee’s office, which is also brother Lee’s son, and many serving ones there. And brother Lee again emphasized in those meetings—He said, “Should my private cook in my house also be a spiritual person? What if I hire an unbeliever to print books, this is my business office. My printer doesn’t have to be a spiritual person. And I do have the right to hire my son to be manager of my office to take care of this business for me.” I fully agreed. At that time, I really said, “Fair enough, fair enough.”

My point is that this is still wrong. But nobody could say anything - the culture wouldn't allow it. The mantra was, we are "one", and must be "one" with leadership. This is the problem with the "oneness" church - there's no way to correct any all-too-human faults. And then when it blows up, everyone asks, "Gee, what just happened?"