Quote:
Originally Posted by HERn
I’m throwing out the assumption that the teaching in the LC does not lead to idolatry of the individual and self.
Might one of the problems with the LC hemorrhaging its young people be related to its focus on “I’m a man I’m the meaning of the universe” rather than “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
“When young people think only of what religion brings to them by way of self-fulfillment, there is a danger of creating a religion that centers around “me.” All the traditional religions call that idolatry rather than true religion.”
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When I came into the LC, nobody was paying attention to me at home, at school, at my family's church. But in the LC I got love-bombed, and found out it was all about me. Wow! Wonderful. I was enamored, seduced. As the new one, I was the center and focus of the LC meeting. All the old-timers crowded round, after services ended, wanting me over for dinner, picnics, cookouts, wanted me to meet their children. I was flattered. I thought this was great - I was a VIP.
And all the messages reflected and amplified this. Both the song saying, "I'm a man - I'm the center of the universe" and statement "I can exercise my human spirit" exemplify that. (Actually it was, "Ayyyyeee caaaan exercise miiiiiyyyyyyy huuuuuuuumannnnn SPIIIIIRRRIIIITTT!" [Ayyyyeeeemmmmeeeeyyyynnnnn!!!])
And then the song, "So subjective is my Christ in me, real in me and rich and sweet. All my desires he exceeds..." Notice how "me" is the focus, the subject, and "Christ" is an object of manipulation. And, "Weeee are drinking at the fountain that can never run dry" - it was all about us, our drinking, our thirst, our satisfaction, our rest. Christ was reduced to an object, a tool. But I was so enamored that I didn't bother to notice.
Eventually we found out it was really all about the ministry, the Body, the local ground, the New Way, the Vital Groups, the apostle, the seer of the divine revelation, God's oracle, the deputy God, and today's Moses, aka prolific book author and self-publisher. Only later still did we learn about motor homes, men's suits, gold chairs, and other merchandising schemes. But by then many were besotted by the kingdom of self and couldn't tell left from right, up from down, black from white. Nope, now the fixation was all about our enjoyment, our human spirit, our satisfaction and our rest.
Needless to say it's an effective stratagem. Even when seeing repeated, clear biblical warnings one thinks, "No, that can't be about me". I know this points to the current "Fearing God" discussion, but it relates here, too - think of James 4 for example. Who's he talking to? Unbelievers and reprobates? No, he's writing to the 12 tribes in dispersion - the Jewish Christians of his day. But it was fully applicable to the gentile. James was writing to disciples, who believed into and followed Jesus as Lord. He was giving them a diagnosis and an antidote:
Verse 1: "wars and fightings among you"
v 2: "ye lust and have not"
v 4: "adulterers and adulteresses"
v 8: "cleanse your hands, ye sinners"
v 11: "he speaks evil of his brother and judges him"
v 14: "your life is a vapour that vanisheth away"
v 16: "you rejoice in your boastings, which is evil"
He's writing this to believers, but why? He's trying to save them from themselves. James loves them. He's trying to rescue them. He's shepherding them. He's not puffing them up and manipulating them and merchandising them. He's pointing them to the Way. Notice how many times he says, "brethren" and "beloved brethren". He loves them, and doesn't want them to fall by the wayside. And self is one of the biggest ditches around.