Drop your concepts

[aron]

I was reading the 4th message of Galatians life study and it says 15 times to "drop your concepts". It says another 6 times the word "concepts", like, "I'm worried that you hold on to concepts." So 21 times in a message he pushes the ideas of letting go of concepts. Another 5 times he uses the word "drop", like "drop the veils".

He says, "As we review our past experience, we shall have to admit that in our reading of the Bible we did not see much of Christ."

It seems as if he is de-legitimizing previous experiences as void. He is wiping away the slate. But, his ideas and teachings are not concepts but revelations. Previous understandings of scripture are imperiled; eventually the Bible itself can be held to be "concepts" of "fallen men".

[countmeworthy]

Originally Posted by aron

I was reading the 4th message of Galatians life study and it says 15 times to "drop your concepts". It says another 6 times the word "concepts", like, "I'm worried that you hold on to concepts." So 21 times in a message he pushes the ideas of letting go of concepts. Another 5 times he uses the word "drop", like "drop the veils".

Wow... it has been years...decades actually.. that I have heard that phrase "drop your concepts". I wonder if the LC still uses that phrase??

He says, "As we review our past experience, we shall have to admit that in our reading of the Bible we did not see much of Christ."

I think he meant, "we did not see much of Witness Lee"

It seems as if he is de-legitimizing previous experiences as void.

I think he was brainwashing people not to trust the Spirit Who reveals Christ in the scriptures. Rather, it was his way of manipulating people to trust only Lee's and to a lesser extent, Nee's insights.

ugh!

[Dave]

Originally Posted by aron

I was reading the 4th message of Galatians life study and it says 15 times to "drop your concepts". It says another 6 times the word "concepts", like, "I'm worried that you hold on to concepts." So 21 times in a message he pushes the ideas of letting go of concepts. Another 5 times he uses the word "drop", like "drop the veils".
He says, "As we review our past experience, we shall have to admit that in our reading of the Bible we did not see much of Christ."
It seems as if he is de-legitimizing previous experiences as void. He is wiping away the slate. But, his ideas and teachings are not concepts but revelations. Previous understandings of scripture are imperiled; eventually the Bible itself can be held to be "concepts" of "fallen men".

What you have stated is simply the heart of the message of Lee---whatever we had experienced or learned previously was intended to be eradicated so that the teachings of WL could be absorbed into our psyches. Whatever he had us do i.e. calling on the Lord, pray-reading or dropping your concepts was intended to wipe your mind clean of your Biblical experiences and learning. Does anyone remember Lee being challenged or questioned at any time by anyone regarding the Christian experience or learning? It was not a give and take experience...we were all drowned in WL's teachings without the possibility of questioning anything. There was no possibility of coming up for air.

[awareness]

I dropped all of my concepts ... even those of the local church and Nee and Lee.

[aron]

Originally Posted by awareness

I dropped all of my concepts ... even those of the local church and Nee and Lee.

Sorry, no. Those were revelations. Please get your terminology straight if you want to participate, here. We all want to arrive at the oneness, right?

[awareness]

Originally Posted by aron

Sorry, no. Those were revelations. Please get your terminology straight if you want to participate, here. We all want to arrive at the oneness, right?

So Lee was saying, "drop your concepts so you can refill them with my theology, that comes to me as a direct revelation from God, as with all MOTAs?"

[aron]

Originally Posted by awareness

So Lee was saying, "drop your concepts so you can refill them with my theology, that comes to me as a direct revelation from God, as with all MOTAs?"

Right: the MOTA gets the revelation. Everyone else has to drop their concepts. And even the statement "The MOTA gets the revelation; everyone else drop your concepts" is itself a revelation. From the MOTA, of course. "The MOTA gets the revelation" is a revelation from the MOTA who gets the revelations.

When one recognizes that the whole thing is "so subjective", like in hymn #537, it makes perfect sense. It's a self-contained, hermetically sealed universe, and you have to "enter WL's matrix" to make it sensible - from an outside, objective perspective it seems like schizophrenic delusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bind

"Double binds are often utilized as a form of control without open coercion—the use of confusion makes them both difficult to respond to as well as to resist."

"Just drop your concepts - and my revelation will make sense to you."

[aron]

Originally Posted by Dave

Does anyone remember Lee being challenged or questioned at any time by anyone regarding the Christian experience or learning? It was not a give and take experience...we were all drowned in WL's teachings without the possibility of questioning anything. There was no possibility of coming up for air.

It was striking how he kept repeating the same phraseology over and over. And that was an edited, published text... it must have been something to see, in person. I'd bet he said "drop your concepts" 30 or 40 times in one message.

And yet, "one city, one church" is not a concept? And, "get in line with the person in front of you" is not a concept?

[aron]

I remember the song, hymn #537. "Christ to me is so subjective." Apparently so subjective that you can wave away centuries of Christian experience as invalid. So subjective that everything you see and speak is revelation, while everyone else merely has concepts. So subjective that you can trample on others' Christ with impunity. So subjective that you can determine which scriptures are revelatory and which are merely fallen human concepts.

In short, so subjective that it needs little or no reference in objective reality. Sounds like a good foundation for a religious movement, to me.