Quote:
Originally Posted by googlelight
However these groups over-emphasize two verses:
namely 2 Cor. 8:5 "but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and to us through the will of God."
"To us" implying the group.
Hebrews 10:25 "Not abandoning our own assembling together..."
These verses are used by these groups to convince their new members to do exactly that, turning their lifes over fully to the group. And alas: “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” (Carl Sagan).
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A couple thoughts come to mind:
1. Regarding 2 Cor. 8:5 - if you read the whole chapter, there are a handful of balancing phrases there.
3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.
Entirely on their own,
4 they urgently pleaded with us for
the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people.
5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then
by the will of God also to us.
The giving in these verses seems to be related to some physical gift, monetary, or otherwise. Verse 3 shows they gave entirely on their own accord, verse 4 shows it was a privilege that they of their own accord pleaded to share in, not an external demand or external human compulsion, and verse 5 also shows the giving of themselves to the apostles was "BY the will of God". These aren't commands to the entire church for all time. This is a letter regarding a specific situation and how some churches responded. But their response seems to be entirely under the leading of God Himself, rather than an automatic "you must submit without thinking" scenario. In other words, if you aren't led by God, then there is no command here to do what they are doing, because they did it out of a leading by God in this specific scenario.
2. Regarding Hebrews 10:25 - the balance for me is also immediately surrounding that verse.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
"not giving up meeting together" is on the other side of the scale from a few things:
1. spur one another on toward love
2. spur one another on toward good deeds
3. encouraging one another
These things are the PURPOSE of meeting together. There is no thought that "not abandoning meeting together" equals "giving up your lives to the group". The meeting together is for love, good deeds, and encouragement, not for total control.