[OBW]

I looked at this feature for the past week and wasn't sure what to do with it — if anything. But as I began to read through some of the articles on AFathfulWord.org, posting some comments on a couple of them on the other forum, I noticed something that I thought was worthy of speaking out about.

One of the Buntain/Sady/Towle articles referred back to Nigel’s comment about going beyond what is written, I believe concerning whether Minoru Chen had incorrectly claimed to say what Lee and/or Nee had said. (I don’t have the particular article in front of me, but I did comment on it in the other forum’s thread concerning that particular LSM site.) The thing that stuck out to me was not whether Chen had improperly extended Lee beyond what he had said, but that the standard being discussed was not scripture, but Lee. Even Nigel was doing it.

Now I will not say that there was no discussion in either related to scripture, but there were three paragraphs from "Practically Speaking, for Us the Body Today is Just the Lord's Recovery"—Did Minoru Chen "Go Beyond What Has Been Written"? near the end, starting with one from Nee, followed by two from Lee. In the last one, out of Further Consideration of the Eldership, the Region of Work, and the Care for the Body of Christ, pp. 14-15, Lee says the following: “You may have the thought that your local church has nothing to do with other churches and should not be in any connection with other churches. This thought isolates your local church, making it no longer a part of the Body of Christ.” Looking back at Nigel’s article and at this one, I note that no one has questioned Lee’s actual statements. But are they not themselves something “beyond what is written?” The verses that were mentioned say things like “the church which is His body.” They do not say “those churches which follow certain principles and meet for 7 feasts each year are His body.”

I will admit right from the beginning that I am no theologian in the strictest sense of the word. But I am a student of scripture and of logic and reason. I do not flatter myself to think that I have figured everything out and these others have not. But when I read the lengthy write-up on the charge against Titus Chu that included complaints about how he taught young ones in Taiwan to study the bible, I guess I expected better. What I am referring to is the time that Titus spent in Taiwan teaching the young ones to get out their bibles, dictionaries, commentaries, and after exhaustive studies read the ministry to see that it was correct. But despite his words and efforts, it would appear that almost no one has done that because to the extent that I have, I am finding that the ministry is not nearly so correct.

I challenge Nigel and the rest of those who consider themselves concerned to take a new approach to their disagreements with the LSM. Rather than presume that Lee was right (and even Nee was right) and that the LSM is now twisting those words, start fresh with the actual writings that we should not be going beyond ─ scripture. Intentionally reject Lee’s words and see if the scripture will return you to his teachings. Read the older books again and see whether he actually used scripture to support his premises, or used scripture to dress his own premises up with the appearance of support. I wrote somewhat extensively concerning the very foundational errors in the first chapter of The Economy of God on the other forum some months ago. 1 Timothy 1:3-4 does not say to teach God’s economy. The entire first chapter makes this leap. But the verses (paraphrased) say that wrong teachings result in questionings while correct teachings result in God’s economy. The wrong teachings were not questionings. They resulted in questionings because they were contrary to the right teachings. The right teachings resulted in the entirety of God’s administration, economy, plan, etc. happening. They were not themselves God’s economy.

And read the first chapter closely. Lee never provides a basis for his conclusion that God’s economy is “simply” God dispensed into man. He uses an oratorical trick to get everyone to accept it. He says that an exhaustive study of the entire bible will show it. But he provides not one single example. It is to be accepted without question.

Why do this in the blog instead of a public thread for others to discuss? First, because my goal is not necessarily to create more discussion here on this forum, but to challenge some who may read this, but are not otherwise participants. Second, I have found that as much as I like this kind of discussion, there are only a few others and they simply tend to agree (mostly) resulting in little discussion. I note that even on the other forum where there are more vocal opponents, they tend to snipe with blanks once or twice and then avoid acknowledging it is even there. So why bother? This way I can put in out there to view. If it moves anyone to start a discussion, that’s great. But greater would be that it starts some to rethink their positions.