Quote:
Originally Posted by Trapped
I'm not an anything-ist; I'm just one person who was asking another person a question for clarification.
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Trapped,
I was kinda butting in, in my response. You weren't asking me for clarification. But I like sharing where I am in my journey, and wanted to do so here.
I left the LC about 20 years ago. Effectively became agnostic, not consciously just tired of religion. Eventually started becoming interested again, not necessarily because life was empty or meaningless but because I'm just drawn to faith, I guess.
Anyway, I recently discovered that the big topic of the NT was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The rest of it was merely appendages. And on a related note, when considering the mostly horrible history of Christianity, I became aware that it was because people got distracted from the basics. They began to create abstract conceptual overlays and put them on the scriptures, and would begin to distort the narrative. Luther, for example, didn't like James, Jude, Hebrews and Revelation because he couldn't find the "Christ" that he found in Romans (and Paul's other epistles) and the gospels. So Luther created a "canon within the canon".
Lee of course did this in spades. We got book after book on abstract overlays. But the only time Jesus was recorded mentioned "oikonomia" it wasn't even translated 'economy' but 'stewardship', i.e. responsibility (Luke 16:2). But with Witness Lee we got book after book on the 'economy of God'.
But pretty much everyone did this: Nee, Darby, Luther, Penn-Lewis, and so forth. People read the Bible, get some idea or inspiration, and off they go.
But what did Peter talk about on Pentecost Day? The Processed Triune God? One Church Per City? One Minister (Spiritual Giant) Per Age? The Pre-Tribulation Rapture? No, Peter talked about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. At the end of Paul's ministry, as he was getting carted off to jail, he shouted, "It is because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead I stand here!" (Acts 23:6).
Paul said, "If you believe in your heart, and confess with your mouth, that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9 That is the only truly fundamental thing about the Bible, that I can see. The rest either points to that, or isn't germane. If someone distracts you with the "other stuff" they are not serving God. Jesus was raised. God furnished "irrefutable proof" of that (Acts 1:3).
That is fundamental. The rest is not. Well, love one another. . . . but that should go without saying (but we probably should say it anyway).