[aron]

Originally Posted by Trapped

Sons to Glory.. it seems to me that you have a major block on this in dropping what Witness Lee falsely taught versus what Scripture actually says.

The effect of the block, as noted, is that it results in the ignoring of 'unhelpful' Scripture. I once shared happily of a vision of Christ that I'd had, in a LC meeting. Problem was, it wasn't from one of the verses that supported Lee's teaching on God's economy. The lead elder, who'd been sent from Anaheim to run my small local church and provide guidance to the region, fell silent. Everyone else in the room froze. The formerly lively group conversation instantly shut down.

I remember going home, thinking, "That was really weird." I'd simply brought up a "wrong" verse and noted that it clearly pointed to Christ.

If you look at the gospels, Jesus repeatedly brings up one aspect of the OT, that is the treatment of those who are sick, weak, poor, indigent, and are nothing in the eyes of the world. Those who have, he said, should voluntarily out of love and compassion try to help such unfortunates. This is how you love your neighbour. Paul goes into this at length in 2 Cor 8, and touches it in various epistles. James also addresses this directly. Nope - "Not God's economy", said Lee.

Mark 10:21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

No, not God's economy, says Lee.

Luke 12:33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

No, that's not "exercise your spirit on the local ground". So we can pass by that one. Etc etc.

When one shows a textual pattern to the Lee-affected mind, they'll dismiss the corpus of Scripture with a simplistic and categorical statement meant to displace all that Scripture from their consciousness, where it might trouble them, cause them to think, reconsider. (This is why it's called a "block") Something like, "All I know is..." then a statement of their cued-in impressions.

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

All I know is I can't hardly love those that actually do like me, let alone those who "spitefully use" me.

The statement isn't wrong, but is completely mis-oriented. The subject of the NT is Jesus. He loved us when we were yet sinners. Then he says, "As the Father sent me, I send you. As I do the Father's will, so you do mine. As I lived because of obedience to the Father's word, so you have life by "eating" me [obedience to my word]."

The Lee programme is to focus on self, and thus Jesus' obedience to God, and ours to him, is minimized... we're all sinners, right? So don't even try, we're just here to "enjoy Christ"...it's God's New Testament economy! When I went to my first LC meeting, the stress was, "YOU can exercise YOUR spirit!!!" The focus went off Jesus, what he had done, and was on what I could do (and not do). I could "exercise" (yell) and "enjoy" doing nothing and receiving everything. The poor? Too bad for them, we're not here for dead works of the flesh.

And I've seen this pattern continually since then. That's why all these extensive sections of Scripture are ignored, dismissed, explained away. Even when there's a clear and consistent pattern, possibly much stronger than the snippets - 1 Cor 15:45(b) - that are used to hold Lee's version together. Yet verse after verse after verse, many either directly from Jesus himself, or echoing him, or foreshadowing him in prophetic utterance, are set aside. Here are some from Psalms and Proverbs:

Originally Posted by ESV

“Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.” Psalm 41:1-2

“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.” Proverbs 19:17

“Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.” Proverbs 28:7

“For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.” Psalm 9:18

“Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:19

“The rich and the poor meet together; the LORD is the Maker of them all.” Proverbs 22:2

“All my bones shall say, ‘O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?'” Psalm 35:10

“‘Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,’ says the LORD; ‘I will place him in the safety for which he longs.'” Psalm 12:5

“Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.” Psalm 113:5-8

“A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.” Proverbs 29:7

“Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.” Proverbs 22:16

“Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the LORD will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.” Proverbs 22:22-23

“The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.” Psalm 37:14-15

“Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.” Proverbs 14:21

“Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.” Proverbs 21:13

“Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” Proverbs 22:9

God cares for people. The world cares for people with money. Jesus clearly taught, be generous with the mammon that perishes, that you may be blessed in the eternal realms. This wasn't his invention, but rather his stress on what was a clear pattern in God's word. Then think about what Paul meant, when he wrote, "God's economy"; there's nothing, nothing in Scripture that shows it means what Witness Lee taught. The whole thing was a self-oriented, self-serving construction. And Jesus' clear teaching, and pattern (and Paul's 'eager assent', per Gal 2:10) was dismissed out of hand. "Not God's economy".