Quote:
Originally Posted by byHismercy
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?
The scripture that comes to me is about the last days....the Lord said they would be without natural affection. This, to me, is a refutation of such a teaching....
Why do they view friendship as natural, and do they really equate it with the flesh, which in turn is Satan?
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Before I left the LC, there were many things about Lee and LSM that I could just not understand, so the Lord led me to study Plymouth Brethren history for several years. Their "open" and objective historians faced the identical dilemmas as many of us were facing in the Midwest. Their history helped me understand our own. And helped me understand Lee. In an uncanny way, some of the same characters and events I was reading about in the 19th century were being duplicated in the 21st century. Amazing! Like the saying goes, those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And we did.
The matter of Friendship. W. Lee called this "natural relationships." Lee's only justification against honey was a wild interpretation of honey spoiling the meal offering (Leviticus 2.11). Lee took this speculation from the Exclusive brethren. We should ask why in the world did the Brethren teach this? Simple. After their many excommunications for nonsensical reasons, the Brethren needed a way to hold onto their people. And I will tell you that some of their excommunications were both unbelievable and heartbreaking. Families and friends and churches were divided asunder by these mandates. If these "natural relationships" could be theologically undermined by false teachings, then their loyalties to the ministry could be maintained.
To prevent additional heartbreak and pain with subsequent excommunications, a new system of teaching had to address these difficulties. Their source for this new system of errors often was found in Leviticus. Interpretations of O.T. types were fabricated out of this air in order to justify their divisive actions, their evil behaviors, and to find remedies for member conflicts. LSM's websites were also filled with this nonsense, claiming ex-members were "lepers" whose church houses must be torn down and "re-plastered."
In II Timothy 3.1-5 (Apostle Paul's last writing), he addressed the situation among Christians, not the unsaved. Read this detailed description. It sounds exactly like the LC's I left. "Without natural affection" is just one of the many items included. Yet these same ones at LSM will jump up and down and proclaim their "oneness" and their "brotherly love." How can this be? They are blinded with pride. So sad.