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Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
I too strongly question the use of public shaming. What is its intended purpose - to build up the person in love? If so, this is hard to see what are the loving results from using this method. Rather, it appears like a public trial, where the one admonishing pretty much becomes judge, jury and executioner..
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A whle back on this forum we were discussing the trial of Watchman Nee in the PRC. A young woman had been in the court room, and heard Nee confess to the charges, get sentenced, and hauled off to prison. The young woman later emigrated and wrote a book about her experiences in the Nee church, including the trial and what she saw and heard.
https://www.amazon.com/My-Unforgetta...e+memories+hsu
The comments on this forum were mostly like, "See! He confessed! Guilty!" My reply was, "How many trials in the PRC in the 1950s did you see someone plead not guilty, mount a defense, and get exonerated and walk free? How many?" I couldn't find any. I did some searches on the PRC criminal system... there, it's like this: the "State" is right, you're a "criminal" and are wrong. End of story. You wouldn't be accused if you weren't guilty!
My point was, and remains, that in Chinese culture that's considered "due process"; those who fight the system get worse punishment, so why fight? It's how social order is maintained. Do we in the west agree? No, but it certainly is effective. So Witness Lee was acting according to type when he summarily 'executed' some of his LC members for 'crimes' real and imagined. Matthew 18:15-20 wasn't thought of - his family or business was at stake and suddenly he was acting like a typical Chinese businessman. That fit his "normal Christian church life" model (and yes I'm punning by quoting the title of Nee's book).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
I was speaking with a brother over dinner last night about how Bill Freeman received the boot from the LC. I was told that in 1986 he was called to southern Cal and given a chair in the middle of the room, where he was ringed by a large group of elders. They proceeded to accuse him of various things. According to what I heard he didn't reply much. . .
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There are quite a bunch of stories like this. The one
Ohio quoted in post #55. Jane Anderson's testimony. The Rappaports. John Ingalls. Then we see the pattern repeated with Titus Chu and his underlings, with Dong Yu Lan and his followers. There's a trend here, repeated over decades, and it has clear cultural components. To those who behave like this, it's considered normal. This is why the LC is becoming increasingly Chinese: it meets their cultural expectations.