Quote:
Originally Posted by MikhailianInception
With regards to the Local Church/Lord's Recovery movement, even though the CRI came out in defense of it, my pastor still believes it's a cult because he feels that a church that calls itself the only true church vs. everyone else basically suggests that everyone else is going to hell. Because to suggest that the Body at large has committed apostasy/spiritual fornication equals damnation. Basically my pastor finds that arrogant. He said it is impossible to simply gather every Christian into One City Church. Church in San Diego, Church in New York, Church in Washington D.C., Church in Calgary, Church in Toronto, Church in London, etc. You can't do that because of the population size within a city. He even said that in the Early Church, believers gathered in multiple places within one city.
|
I think he is somewhat right, but also sets up some possible strawmen in his response. I don't know that the LC thinks all other believers are "going to hell" for eternity. However, they may think others will spend a thousand years in outer darkness or something like that. He is right in that the LC's position is quite arrogant. And the fact that all believers can't gather together in one place is something of a strawman. This is because the idea was that believers in any locality wouldn't take any other names, thereby artificially dividing themselves from each other, due to being called by various denominational names. The LC would be fine if - due to large numbers - there were hundreds of groups in a particular city . . . just so they were all under one name - namely the LC in that city. (and the LC would say that this wasn't actually a name, but rather a description of the saints in that locality)