Quote:
Originally Posted by Trapped
Unregistered poster #3,
Can I suggest that you still are listening to one person for an hour? You are simply listening to everyone draw from Witness Lee repeatedly, over and over for the hour, weekend after weekend after weekend. Literally every meeting you go to in the local church has it's foundation in Witness Lee. All the teaching, all the phrases, all the viewpoints, all the reading - it's Witness Lee's, whether it's stated on the page or not. You may not like one man speaking in other churches, but the local church contains only the speaking of one man - Witness Lee - and no one else. There is a letter written to Witness Lee signed by many leading brothers in 1986, stating that Witness Lee's leading is "indispensable to our oneness". I don't know about you, but I don't recall reading anything about Witness Lee being indispensable to oneness in the Bible when Jesus prayed that we all would be one even as He and the Father are one.....
Your comparison to the level of building up that occurs on Sundays within other churches in which the congregations "listen to one person preach for an hour" presumes that that is the only time during the week that they have to be built up. I can attest there are numerous other times that members of non-LC churches have to speak, speak of, and speak forth their faith in Jesus Christ, all of which builds up the church. God is not so small or restricted that the only genuine building up would occur within the local church. In fact, as a church kid, I question how much genuine building up does occur within the local church.
I know there is a feeling of family and kinship and connectedness. I know there are countless shared experiences that make you feel like fast friends with all the saints. I know there are many saints who "waste themselves" on others. There can still be love and care within an unhealthy group. But there are too many teachings and practices in the local church that are known to be unhealthy and detrimental. You have to test the teachings and hold them up to Scripture.
Can I ask how you found your way to this website? It's rare that a current LC member posts, so please post more if you'd like. The discussions are always enjoyed.
Trapped
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I am not saying that Sundays was the only time to be built up, but to me it's like a buffet, listening to some saints speak for up to 2 minutes or more in some cases. In my locality, we've had numerous new ones joining through the Church Website. Most of these new ones were contacted by church members in various ways. They joined some zoom meetings before we resumed in person meetings in early May, but we still provide the zoom option still available for those that prefer it. Also, there are some non-local church members, who go the home meetings, but go to other churches. Yet, we welcome them. In my Friday night home meeting, there is one brother, who goes to a Episcopalian church, but he comes to our meeting about once a month. Before the pandemic, he has hosted some home meetings.
I keep a healthy and balanced practical life. I work fulltime, exercise 4-5 times a week (swimming, running, and weight lifting). In fact, I have ran 8 half marathons (4 in College Station when I was a Texas A&M student, 2 in Houston, and 2 in Austin). Also, I go to about 4 meetings per week (including Wednesday night prayer and Sunday morning prophesying). Even with all of that, I still have some time left for watching some NFL, NBA, and MLB games, some TV shows, and movies.