[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

LEE - The Specialty, Generality, and Practicality of the Church Life In reading this book with some Ohio LC bros (back in the 80s), I had perhaps the strongest bubbling-up enjoyment of the Lord I've ever had.

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

My simple take-away from this book was this: We are all one in Christ and should not divide ourselves over things that are not essentials of the faith.

So the strongest bubbling-up enjoyment of the Lord you've ever had was in realizing that we are all one in Christ and should not divide over things that are not essentials of the faith? Christians have been preaching and teaching this for about 2,000 years now...and we all have seen very mixed, if not very limited, success in actually seeing these lofty propositions get expressed in our church life. In looking at the history of the Local Church of Witness Lee, is there any doubt about the mixed and limited results of Lee and his followers?

To be clear, I'm all for the bubbling-up and enjoyment of the Lord! But in my experience and observation (43+years) the teachings and practices taught and fostered by Witness Lee and his followers eventually lead to a very divisive and haughty attitude towards other Christians. And for these reasons I would not recommend this book to any young person or anyone new to the Christian faith.

Here is an excerpt from the Forward to this book written by Benson Phillips:

When the Body of Christ is divided, it loses everything; yet it has been divided again and again, mainly due to the overemphasis of certain beliefs other than those comprising the faith. Concerning the faith we must be very specific and particular, however, concerning the other things we must follow Paul’s example and be general, never insisting that others believe as we do To possess such a spirit of generality is the generality of the church life. If we are special and insist on anything other than the common faith, the oneness will surely be damaged, and divisions will occur.

Did Witness Lee or his followers EVER practice what Benson Phillips wrote here? Talk is cheap - especially super spiritual sounding platitudes coming from people like Benson Phillips, who has never had anything good to say about anybody that doesn't sing the praises of his acting god and deputy authority, Witness Lee. The "oneness" practiced in the Local Church is a bogus oneness. They are all talk and no action.

I love you my dear brother Sons to Glory! But you can keep your chicken dinner if it means that we have to give Nee or Lee credit for practicing what they preached.
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