[Freedom]

Originally Posted by aron

I wanted to move this from the "introductions" thread to here, because this really strikes at the heart of "orthodoxy" versus "orthopraxy".

After writing the above comments, I began singing the chorus of a little melody to myself: "Feed me Lord Jesus/Give me to drink/fill all my hunger/Quench all my thirst/Flood me with joy/Be the strength of my heart/Fill all my hunger/Quench all my thirst"

It all sounds so orthodox, doesn't it? Pleasnt little song, catchy melody. That is part of the "hook" to get the converts in. Make it seem so good, and proper, and "Biblical". Everything is seemingly by the book. But once you are in, and fully invested in the system, and you begin to see things that are not, in fact, Biblical, what can you do? Because the system's directives also say, "Maximum Brother is always right". They use, for example, the story of Moses and Miriam and Aaron, and the story of the drunken Noah, and they say this shows us God's plan of a normal church life.

So when Lee said to pan the Psalms, we all did. Even if Paul had written in his epistles to sing them, Lee said not to sing them. So in practice, we went with Lee, over the Bible. This is not heretical, per se, but rather deviant behavior. We paid lip service to the Bible, then went and did what the "God's oracle" told us to do. To me this looks unbalanced, and dangerous. Heteropraxy, if you will.

One day about 2 years ago I was getting interested in the Psalms and I went to LSM's website, on the "Music" section. At the top of one page they had the quote from Paul in his epistle, urging the saints to sing "Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs". And they had many, many music CDs for sale. But no Psalms! You could sing verses from Thessalonians, or Timothy, or even the outline of Lee's trainings ("Incarnation, inclusion, intensification!"). But no Psalms. Why? Because Lee had told us that they were "fallen concepts" and should be avoided. So Big Brother had spoken, and even if it made no sense we had to follow. Because, remember, Big Brother is always right. Even when he's wrong, he's right.

So they take great pains to appear orthodox, but when you start to hang around with them, you begin to realize that at best they are unbalanced and strange.

It really seems like for LC leadership, there is a constant struggle to balance teaching and practice. For the Christian public they want to appear orthodox. I suppose that they have had some success at that in recent years, but I don't think just because Christian scholars state that the LC is orthodox is going to generate interest in the LC for outsiders.

In regards to doctrine, the LC has to maintain unique the unique teachings of WL. That is what makes it the LC. In regards to practice, they have to maintain their unique practices in order really unique in comparison with other "Christians".

To they outsider, they can create an image of having orthodox doctrines. That is relatively easy. I don't know how they can really do the same in regards to practice. About the best they can do is be very esoteric regarding what practices are revealed to whom.

It doesn't seem possible in the LC to gravitate towards normal Christian orthopraxy. Those who come in and do so don't seem to last very long. Those who stay quickly are drawn into the heteropraxy, and once that happens it is not easy to find a way out. I say that because I am still in the LC.