[Trapped]

Originally Posted by Drake

Er... if I have 10 bibles in my library it does not mean that there are 660 books in the Bible!

Here's another thing. To a boy those bookshelves look one way and to a grown man those same bookshelves look different years later. When I visit my childhood places what seemed like a mile away was much closer than I remembered and the house is smaller than I remembered as is the yard. So, in a sense it was an illusion... or rather a relative perception. You saw lots of shelf space looking up and across and transferred those boyhood perceptions to something modern you are not looking at directly (the Collected Works of Witness Lee). Also, loose leaf messages and individual bound books and duplicates take up more space. That is why I went through the steps of actually measuring with a Tape measure the linear footage of CWWL and to provide that new information to you. Rather than concede the point based on the facts you fought to hold on to the proverbial bone with all your might for several posts.

That my friend is instructive and provides a clue why a dialogue such as ours must enter into a labor over every statement. If you insist to hold onto an erroneous view about the linear footage of the CWWL though presented with the actual measured footage of someone who is staring at them then how do we as brothers in the Lord ever hope to find agreement or agreement to disagree on the weightier matters?

Having 10 Bibles means there are 10 separately published works on the shelf. Correct me if I'm wrong, but each new version/edition/repackaged book of LSM's has a new ISBN, no?

I fully understand the phenomenon you describe about boyhood perspective, in fact, I experienced that very thing just recently in visiting my former junior high school. I felt like Gulliver and wondered if the surrounding neighborhood had encroached on the school grounds shrinking it down smaller than I recalled. Kind of surreal actually.

But luckily for me, my parents did not kick me out at 8 years old, or 12, or 15, or 18. I did return home as an adult and have adult memories of the bookcases in question. Standard residential 8-foot floor-to-ceiling heights also do not change and these were floor-to-ceiling bookcases. There were also several of them, so my measurements are pretty accurate.

There was no point to concede - we were talking about different things. I was very clear I was not talking about CWWL alone but about all the publications of Nee and Lee (including different versions, updated editions, same content with new covers, etc) that LSM puts out. You keep pointing to CWWL only but I was talking about the entire publication output of LSM which causes many a shelf to sag across the saints' homes. Like I said in a previous post, I am happy to agree that CWWL is only 10 linear feet.

This is pointless but I've dealt with a number of saints recently who make wild unfounded claims and I'm just sick of it so I'll take the time to write this paragraph. Regarding my insistence on holding an erroneous view: I made a general statement about the entire publication work of LSM. You responded with a general statement about a portion of that body of work (CWWL). We discussed these two differing things for a few posts. My first concrete assertion about CWWL-specific footage was post #346. In your response (355) you stated you actually measured the CWWL. In my response (358) I said it is fine if CWWL are as you measured. No insistence on an erroneous view, sorry.

Originally Posted by Drake

And so, here again. Let's look at the facts. First, I have provided you with a list of authors besides Brothers Nee and Lee that are published by LSM and under their imprints. Therefore, we know that those writings are included in the publication mission of the ministry else they would not publish them. A strict interpretation of the DCP statement as you are doing would say that 1) DCP/LSM has violated its own mandate by publishing other authors or 2) LSM made an error in publishing other authors (and should cease and desist immediately) , or 3) those other authors are included in the "genre" of writings based on the writings of Nee and Lee. Or if you prefer, it would be accurate to say that the other authors in the genre reinforce, reiterate, or apply the writings of the two primary authors.

There is only one logical answer and that is 3. Your argument that they don't matter is not logical.... else why publish them if they don't matter? It cost money, time, and effort to publish anything. Since when has LSM published anything that they don't think THEY should publish? In fact, that is one of the objections that forum members level against LSM!

The bottom line Trapped is this. Forum members often fall into the fallacy trap of subjective validation. Example of this may be seen in the secular: You believe Russians swung the election for a candidate and so you see Russian bear claws in every thing related to that candidate after that. That is subjective validation. If it is not subjection validation then it is purposeful and willful deceit of oneself and others and though I believe that is often the case in politics I do not readily accept it as the motivation when conversing with brothers such as you. Rather I am convinced that you have a fearful respect for the judgment Christ will assess toward His own for things said and done after they became a Christian as I do also.... in other words, we can expect that our posts will be assessed and a judgement rendered by Him at His coming.

Sigh....Drake......I don't know how I can make my point any clearer.

LSM can violate its own mandate and publish Joel Osteen and Rick Warren and my point would still stand.

LSM can make any error and publish other authors and my point would still stand.

The other authors can be in the same genre and my point will still stand.

LSM can publish 95% other authors and only 5% Nee and Lee, and my point will still stand!

My point:
1. There is a set of publications that LSM puts out - Nee, Lee, JPL, McDonough, AffCrit, blended brothers, whatever. Add any others you want. Tip the balance so Nee and Lee are a tiny percentage if you want.

2. Those books are all published by LSM, whether under the LSM name directly or under an imprint.

3. Within that set of publications described above is a subset defined as "one publication". As I've quoted before, "one publication" is defined as "publication of the ministry materials of [Watchman Nee and Witness Lee]"... This is not my definition but that of LSM/DCP, etc.

4. The One Publication document calls the churches to restrict themselves to that subset, to "one publication". I.e. to restrict themselves to and only read Nee and Lee. Whatever is in the original set in point 1 is completely irrelevant ("doesn't matter") because it is not in the subset in point 3. The subset is what the saints in the churches are to be restricted to.

I don't know how to make it any clearer.

Thanks for threatening the judgment of Christ at me. Classic LC saint move.

Trapped