[Curious]

In my opening post I was seeking to catch the attention perhaps of those ‘responsible ones’ in the Local Church with something that might be relevant to their experience, which correcting their practise and thinking might resolve for them.

Also, on this forum, we’ve been very clear about ‘what’ they need to do, but just like a boring, academic-only sermon, that tells you ‘what’ you ought to be in Christ, (which most people know already), but says nothing about the ‘how’ do you achieve this, I thought we should consider ‘how’ , in a practical way, could the LC be influenced by aware leaders from within, to adjust.
And For all we know, there could well be persons within who secretly are thinking about this too.

In other words:

What if….some in the LC, even those high up in the system, have begun to take seriously, the messages from the ‘dissenters and opposers’ who have posted their concerns.

What if….there have become a number of those within, that have become increasingly aware of the validity of the claims they have read.

What if….those persons have become uncomfortable, even troubled and anxious about it all, but don’t know what to do about it. They feel stuck. Especially that they aren’t bred to have good independent thinking skills, an essential skill for planning a strategy to escape. Perhaps they need help.

What if… these persons are fearful, stressed and are carrying now great internal conflict and guilt, their cognitive dissonance ramped up to high levels, feeling forced to pretend and agree with things they no longer feel comfortable to agree with.

We don’t know the effectiveness of this website and the other materials on the internet that are available. There may be many individuals, even ones like king Xerxes who have done wrong in the past, but who are repentant now and would seek a better way. They may never post here, but we can respond to their need anyway.

I feel there is a responsibility on a ‘whistle blower’ to then be a practical help to those who hear the message but aren’t equipped to know what to do about it. To help in mopping up the fallout.

So I think it good to put our minds together and think of the ‘how’ for those who are on board with the ‘what’. I hope that makes sense, I know I’m a bit ‘wordy’ but I try to be clear!!

So in the scenario that it’s a person high up. Is it so simple that they could just acknowledge these matters addressed for them here and elsewhere, and start to seek out how they could correct things and face the wrongs? Publicly and abruptly?

I see some big problems in the logistics of it.

This movement is indeed under the cloak of Chinese culture, confessed by themselves even, when convenient for self-justification. However, a very strong element of Chinese culture is a fear of ‘losing face’. ‘Saving face’ is an extremely important social rule in China. To lose face has an association of shame attached to it much greater than in the West, and it is understood that everyone scrambles away from such a possibility in any way they can. Lying usually the most available option. We are asking them to face up to their wrongs from within our cultural framework that has valued humility and honesty for centuries, due to the historical application of the knowledge of the bible and its influence on out whole culture.

The LC is built on the idea that they are above the mistakes of the rest, there is so much faith and expectation built up in this idea, and cultural arrogance embedded, that such a confession would potentially have a huge and immediate fallout from within the system itself. They don’t have the internal culture/maturity to cope with this. Those at the top may feel that all that is good in the LC would be compromised, people would be so disillusioned and even angry with them, and may turn away and the good could be sabotaged. That alone may stop them from taking such a step. They may be trying to protect their method of practise of engaging with God in the spirit, which they believe both that; they are the only people on earth who are getting right, and is essential to have a genuine Christian life.

It’s actually a difficult place for them to be. Its contrary to all they have stood for and believed in of themselves. Maybe members would become depressed. It could be huge. To lose their identity on a mass scale in a moment of time. It could even be a cruel and destructive thing to drop the whole truth at once without any preparation. I don’t envy the leaders being in that position of responsibility to bring this change in a way that would bring hope and not a negative upheaval to its followers. The negative upheaval may be necessary but no-one wants to bring such a disturbance on to unsuspecting followers. A clear and kind strategy needs to be thought out and put in place I think.

Maybe they don’t care about any of that, but if they do, then they would need help and support in managing this wisely. I just thought its worth being aware of the logistics of this proposition, the thought that those who have raised the issues might need to then be the friends and helpers of any LC leaders who could consider putting things right. I think that what ‘Jesus would do!’ …support, those seeking truth, correction and help, and we could offer some of that.

One thought is…Maybe they could look to Gorbachev, Russia’s leader who brought in ‘perestroika’ and ‘glasnost’, (meaning ‘listen’ and ‘openness’). In his memoirs he states that it was in response to the tragedy of Chernobyl and the way it was handled that caused him to create these policies. A culture of secrecy, a focus on blame-shifting rather than fixing the problem, the belief that Russia was a superior nation to any other, and many other (parallel to LC) issues were to be unworked over time with his reforms. It didn't go that smoothly and Russians were very disillusioned to discover they had been lied to about the condition of the rest of the world. Maybe reality cant be sugar-coated. However it could nevertheless be useful to look into. Even if it just helps to know others have been in the spot they are in, even Russian leaders...on a monumental scale! After all, Ecclesiaties tells us, 'there is nothing new under the sun', every problem has been faced before. God has a way...

That’s just my thoughts, enough for one long post!!