Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
I do not necessarily have a problem with what is effectively some kind of "testimony time."
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What you say brings us back to the authority of the scriptures, the individual, interpretation, meeting together, opinions, leadership, and absolute leadership which overrides the authority of the scripture and the conscience of the individual. The individual comes to faith as an individual usually from hearing the gospel from another individual or group of people and then there is the desire and need to fellowship and a need to be taught. But at what point does the child become an adult and think for themselves? The hardest thing in a family for parents is when the sweet youth becomes a teenager and begins to opine from their own volition! The parental authority is confronted and a dance of wills occurs for a few years until finally the youth is an adult. In the assembly of Christians there are the young, the teenagers, the adults, the elders- I'm talking spiritually, not necessarily agewise. There are the gifts of the Spirit, and probably more important the fruits of the spirit which can bind us together.
The R Catholic model which prevailed for over 1000 years was a hierarchy from the ignorant masses and the priest up to the absolute ruler, the pope. Then came the printing press and literacy and the authority of the RC system crumbled for the most part. It seems to me that that is when the "authority of the scripture" became the thing. Then came the divisions over interpretation and the authority of one leader vs another based on itheir interpretations. Every group claims "the authority of the scripture", but based on their interpretation. Most modern day Christian assemblies seem to lean on a kind of importance of scripture, a pastoral system of audience and pastoral authority to teach and interpret, and if the individual doesn't like it they can go to another little system with a different pastor or start their own. The more popular and charismatic a pastor the bigger the following. So teaching seems to be the center.
Along comes WL and introduces the concept of the LC with the mutual fellowship of the saints with elders to keep things in check- a recovery. Except, he then morphed into a pope figure with divine authority and instead of recovering the idea of the LC, turned it into his own LSM domain, not unsimilar to the mideaval RC. The recover of the LC was over and replaced with LSM, and the authority of the scripture was replaced with WL/LSM teachings.
So, what is the authority of the Bible? Does it rest on the best interpreter? Are the saints just the ignoran masses that need to be taught for their whole life?