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Originally Posted by Igzy
Again, the problem is not with the idea of one church per city. We are comfortable with the idea of all Christians being part of one universal church. The church in the city is simply the universal church on the local level. But there is nothing that says that one church in a city must needs be tightly organized under one group of leaders. And even if you think it does, the practical problem stills remains regarding how to decide who the leaders of that one city church truly are.
Who should all the Christian in the city follow? The fact is there is absolutely no way for anyone to determine beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt who the city church leaders should be. This is a major issue. You are talking about in some cases ostensive leaders over hundreds of thousand of Christians. Should everyone follow the LR leaders just because the LR says they should? How silly is that? And what happened to freedom of conscience? If someone feels the self-proclaimed city church leaders are corrupt, does he or she still have to follow them?
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The solution to this problem was resolved at the time of Moses. He took rods from representatives of the 12 tribes and Aaron's rod budded. That is how they knew that God had chosen him. Likewise, Jesus' resurrection is how we all know that God has chosen Him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
The problem with the LR city church model is that it provides no means of "recovery" of exactly the kind that allowed the LR movement to form in the first place--that is, people voting with their consciences and feet to follow where they feel the Lord is leading. And if the Lord can lead you into a movement, he can lead you out of it. It's absolutely ridiculous to expect that you cannot reach a point where you simply can no longer in good conscience follow a group of leaders anymore, even if they proclaim to be the leaders over the one church in the city you happen to live in.
Thus the LR city church model is a logical, practical and spiritual absurdity. It boils down to nonsense. Like I said, don't lose any sleep over it. Those of us who have thought this thing through have done that for you.
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But this has very important ramifications that you should think through. If the "One church one city" doctrine taught by Nee and Lee is spiritual absurdity then so also is the MOTA doctrine since it is built on that doctrine being God's move for this age. If MOTA doctrine falls then so to does the basis for the church being tied to LSM, since their claim to a monopoly rests solely on the MOTA doctrine. If that principle falls then actions like the excommunication of Titus Chu are revealed for what they are, a power play in a sect.