That such cut-rate theology can survive and even flourish brings an obvious question: How can such poor thinking get disseminated, accepted, promoted, and vociferously defended? It's really striking at first glance.
Case in point - intensification as the 3rd stage of God's economy. Where is the basis for consideration of intensification of the HS as something Paul either taught or asked Timothy to safeguard, as LSM teaches? Because it's said to be revealed to John in the Apocalypse account due to degradation, yet it was an integral part of God's NT economy, per Paul? It was clearly added on by WL. There's no trace of Paul (or Jesus) teaching intensification, much less as part of God's economy. It was manufactured by WL, clearly. There's no justification for saying otherwise. (And there were 7 lamps burning in Exodus 25, so degradation & intensification is also theologically wobbly).
Or, the role of women in the ekklesia. Foundational to Nee, but forbidden by Lee. They both can't be logical positions. One or the other is illegitimate, by their own terms. It's theology of convenience, just like the idea of intensification as integral to the God's economy being taught by Paul.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zezima
I always...always blamed myself for not agreeing with the message given or the interpretation presented… I never blamed the subject presenting the message. Not only that, but I never thought LSM could be wrong. While those are personal rationalizations, they were developed through a lifetime of being told LSM could not be wrong and a suppression of critical thinking.
|
First supporting pillar is that the group member is conditioned to think that any error must be on their part. If you see a problem, you are negative or poison or ambitious or divisive. So critical thought is suppressed and illogic is accepted.
For confirmation see Jo Casteel open letter. Witness Lee was Seer of the Divine Revelation, God's Oracle, the Humble Bondslave of Jesus Christ, and if he didn't make sense, then you were somehow deficient and defeated. He HAD to make sense, even when he didn't seem to. He was Spiritual Man, able to discern others while his thought was cloaked in mystical impregnability. You just needed the vision, we were told.
The second pillar is that everything - everything - that you see in print from WL was introduced publicly in an atmosphere of heel rocking, groaning, sighing, neck rolling, arm waving, repetitive chanting, modulated intonations with fist pumps to put the audience into a state of heightened suggestibility. At that point, they'll overlook the most obvious illogic.
How can there be multiple centers of the universe? It's by definition a singularity. Yet look how often WL publicly reintroduced the concept, continuing to offer new and incompatible centers. Just google "Witness Lee center of the universe" and you'll see what I mean. And there are many such examples. A ministry of thousands of messages that is riddled with inconsistencies. The only constants that are seen are convenience and self- interest. The (ahem) revealed truth is whatever expediencies will tickle the audience today, and keep the game rolling.