[aron]

Originally Posted by aron

.. my responsibility as a Christian is to find the truth. So I confess Jesus as risen, then what? What's my course, my path? It's not about the LC or any aberrant group... Where do I find the truth or reality of the wounded, slain, and risen Lord, now ascendant above all that is named, or can be named? That alone matters...

I'd like to flesh out the above comment by using something that Cal recently posted.

Originally Posted by Cal

"The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; the wicked does not understand such concern." Prov 29:7

These are verses we NEVER studied in the LR. And frankly I think they make them uncomfortable. Their whole culture of allowing oneself to be abused by an organization ignores them, as does their indifference to social justice.

Let's remember this point as we consider the phrase "God's economy" and I'll try to show how such an examination, however cursory and amateurish, is an attempt to get at truth, and how this "finding our truth" can help us as Christians to address abusive sects and cults. Our most powerful weapon is truth, and if we don't seek, we don't find. So we follow the Master's commands to find our truth, and perhaps we can be of use.

Now, I'm reminded of the adage on another thread (Modalism) that theology is 10% of the contents of the Christian faith and one's heart is the other 90%. Theology matters, but not nearly as much as love, which is best lived out among others, and is also hard to type into a keyboard. So Christian "truth" on an anonymous internet forum is limited.

But that 10% matters too. The content of one's confession does matter, and it's to this that we turn. Cal rightly noted that the LR cares little for such verses as Prov 29:7. Frequent scriptural admonitions to care for the poor, the sick, the weak, the fatherless and widows are passed over without comment, whilst other "important" and "crucial" verses are rehearsed at nearly every turn. This kind of warped and distorted reading does ultimately affect one's heart, and behaviours.

So we'll look at a representative verse from the NT which the LR won't address, because of what it does to their "God's economy" metric. I'll quote three verses for context, but want to stress the last one and consider what it entails. Galatians 2:8-10 "For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along."

James, Cephas and John don't ask that folks 'masticate the Processed Triune God' or some such, but to continue to remember the poor! Not merely to remember, but to continue to remember, which indicates Paul and Barnabas were already engaged, along with the Jerusalem cohort. Suddenly, Jesus' "feed my sheep" and the "daily dispensing to the widows" in Acts line up - they were feeding Jesus' sheep in Acts 6:1 - Oh, now I get it!

Not only this, but Paul says he's been eager to do the very thing, all along! Does this sound like reluctance? And is this anything like the "God's economy" taught and practiced in the LR? Or does it rather seem more like Jesus' teaching, "When you give a feast, invite those who cannot repay you in this age, and you'll be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous"? And how can anyone ignore such verses as Galatians 2:10 and pretend to be "closely following the apostles" whilst pooh-poohing other Christians' theology as aberrant and deficient, as inferior to one's own? Who is blind, here?

If we can agree on the actual objective contents of the Bible, it can help those ensnared in poor theology, and by the oppressive thought systems behind that, and by the "spirit of the air" controlling it all. One of the most exposing things about this spirit is that it cares not for the poor, and avoids all such biblical exhortations, even when they're prominent in the narrative, as in Galatians 2. Along with public shaming, fear-mongering, deceit, and manipulation, this studied indifference to the poor doesn't seem like the Spirit of Jesus at all.

And look how much else of the NT suddenly makes more sense if we consider this interpretation of God's economy. In several chapters of Paul's epistles, he covers this "remembrance of the poor" in Jerusalem: in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Romans 15, and 1 Corinthians 16. We're not talking a few cherry-picked verses, but lengthy passages explaining what he's doing, why, and how the Gentile churches, through participation in the remembrance of the Jerusalem poor, are tied into God's household and economy. It's quite explicit, should one care to look (and the LR resolutely refuses to look).

To save space, I quote Romans 15:25-29 ''Now, however, I'm on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.''

When reading this together with the passages in 2 Cor 8,9 and 1 Cor 16, a much different picture of God's economy emerges... then further, here's Paul in Acts 24:15-17 "and I have the same hope in God that they [Law and Prophets] themselves cherish, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man. After several years, then, I returned to Jerusalem to bring alms to my people and to present offerings..." In the last verse, Paul's saying he fulfilled the promise made in Galatians 2, and which occupied such a significant portion of his writings in Ephesians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans.

And yet all this was ignored by the LR in their "God's economy" metric. Now, I don't write this as an "attack" or "an attempt to put an axe to the edifice" but rather to point us to the truth. There exist alternates to the LR interpretations, some of which may be vastly preferred. Probably the most effective remedy for those in abusive sects and cults isn't to criticize but to patiently and persistently show alternatives, that it's possible to try & think, something the LR insists is deadly to the faith. We can show the opposite.