OCOC means one of two things:
- An abstract reality similar to "the universal church," yet on the local level.
- A "practical" church whose boundaries are the locality and which has defined, official leaders, organization, etc. It claims to be the only genuine church, and rejects all other groups in the city which claim to be a, or the, church.
I believe #1 is valid. I believe, as Jo seems to, that #2 is not valid, nor was ever intended to be required in the current age. Attempts to implement it are doomed to result in exclusivity, lording, abuse, division, etc., etc.
The LR is fraught with equivocation and verbal duplicity, which leads to confusion and deception--not to mention that awkward sense of stunned wonderment and embarrassment at how they could be so sophomoric in their reasoning and conclusions
They say things like, "Well, shouldn't we all be one?" One how? One in the one Spirit. Yes! One in lining up under their "Brother Lee can't be wrong" leaders? When pigs fly!
