Quote:
Originally Posted by byHismercy
Hi saints,
I would like to open a discussion about doctrines we were given via WL which are questionable and what I now see as self serving. There is one in particular that I have in mind, but if anyone has others, please include those as well.
To start, is their teaching against friendship. When I first heard this I was very young, very new christian, and my spirit REJECTED this teaching immediately. I did not understand at that time how much those around me believed into every word that proceeds from the 'mouth of the oracle'....I don't understand how or why they see friendship as a major negative, where this teaching comes from in scripture, if they have any scriptural basis for this at all, and I would love to hear other believers genuine opinion on this teaching.
It seems like this doctrine comes out of thin air, and my question is, does anybody else suspect this is perpetuated to serve the function of cutting saints off from each other quickly and without feeling, if one is perceived as 'negative' towards Lee? Does it serve the divisions practiced by LCers....and could Lee really be that nefarious? Am I way off base, here?
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I'm sure Nee and Lee learned in China how disruptive friendships were to their movements.
Still, the very glue of their togetherness, is also behind friendships : That humans are social critters.
So, those I met in the LC, and friends I came in with, and brought in, that I wasn't allowed to be friends with in the LC, some of them, are life long friends now today.
I can't tell you where that crazy rule came from -- prolly China -- but I can tell you what it's all about.
In theory, that which was behind it was the same thing behind the burning's : that our hearts wouldn't be attached to anything but Christ.
And that was fine, until it became : attached to anything but Lee and his ministry. That became a real bone of contention between me and the Leeite's, which happened to be the elders, and their sycophants (who got to have friendships, or so it looked). The contention being just that : heart attached to only Christ ... OR ... heart attached to Lee. I argued Christ, but got the boot for it. And others today, some 3 and 4 years later also got the boot for taking a stand for Christ. Two of them, as I've mentioned, were elders when I was in the LC.
So I remember years later going down from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami, to help one of them, after he got the boot, to help him (and other not friend friends) fix his roof after hurricane Andrew.
On his roof I bumped into Bill Mallon. In talking to him a non-friend brother came up, that I use to lead service groups with. Long short of it, I got the brothers phone number and called him.
Turned out he was in Maine, and fresh out of the LC. He was not only forced out of the LC, the elders also made his wife divorce him, and take his kids, all over Witness Lee.
He was totally heart broken. So to get away he came to Ft. Lauderdale, and we became friends.
So don't worry about that silly rule. We're social animals. It's in our makeup. We need it like we need food, water, and air. It's a biological imperative. And if we're fortunate, friendships will happen. Think of David and Jonathan. And even Jesus had friends.