Quote:
Originally Posted by Meribah
How interesting that you should mention that the faith of the LC saints is actually in the LC itself! This is very true! I have said this for years. As an example, if you were to ask one of them how they expect to be overcomers, they would smile and say that they would do so by being one with all the saints in the LC! The statement proves that their faith is actually in the LC. Their belief is that if they just hold on to the LC, the LC itself will bring them through. Not Jesus by himself, but the LC and Jesus.
Throughout the years in which I have fellowshipped with various saints, I have been struck by how very much they are just like the Catholics of old. They have their authority figure, the Pope/Lee, and they have the belief that they cannot make it outside of this one particular church. Added to this, they practice excommunication. Just as Catholics had faith in their Church (perhaps even a little bit more than their faith in Christ or a whole lot more than their faith in Christ), you can find the same thinking or belief among the saints. My other actual charge of idolatry-- besides that of WL- against them is worship of the Church itself. Whether they are able to see it or not, they have developed tiers or hierarchy levels between them and the Lord Jesus. The Bible clearly tells us that there is only one mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. True Christians should accept no other. We in Christ have been set free from these things.
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I agree with you to an extent about "old Catholicism", after all, the LC tries to go back to the early church, and I think few would deny the close association between the early church and Catholic (and Orthodox) belief and practice. One of those beliefs and practices was the importance of the church, above and beyond its status today as merely a place one goes to worship God by singing songs with hands in the air. Christianity today is mostly "God and me" and "God and you" , rather than "God and the church".
The Church and Christ are not mutually exclusive entities. There is the Body and there is also the Head. You may be mistaking what you call "faith in the LC" with dependence on the Body which is biblical. It may seem foreign to you because in general, Christianity does not emphasize the importance of the Body and focuses mostly on the Head. This is seen in the various numerous denominations/sects created at whim and emphasis on one's spiritual health or "walk with God". Genuine biblical Christianity has a corporate aspect. In this respect the Catholics are correct to emphasize the corporate nature of the faith, however unfortunately this revolves around things other than Christ.