Relationship

[DP0902]

Is it possible for a brother in the Lord's Recovery to marry a Christian who is not a member of their group? Are they allowed to marry someone from a Christian denomination?

[UntoHim]

DP0902,
Thanks for coming and registering and thanks for posting this super relevant question! I'm sure you will get lots of feedback from our members.

The two operative words you have used are "possible" and "allowed". What I would tell you is that in the Local Church of Witness Lee/Lord's Recovery many things are possible, but that does not necessarily mean that they are allowed.

To be sure, there is no written law or teaching that forbids a Local Church member from marrying a non-member, and customs in this area my vary from locality to locality and region to region and country to country. But in my experience and observation over the last 45+ years, marrying a non-member will at the very least put a strain in the members relationship/standing with most of the other members in their locality. Some elders would be somewhat lenient and maybe even accepting of such a marriage, but most would probably strongly advise the member to not even date an outsider, much, much less marry one.

All this being said, my friend, if this person really loves you then I would trust that with God all things are possible. I'm sure you are familiar with the apostle Paul's words "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends".

We will be thinking of you and praying for you my friend.
-

[DP0902]

Thank you.
Amen.

[Nell]

Originally Posted by DP0902

Is it possible for a brother in the Lord's Recovery to marry a Christian who is not a member of their group? Are they allowed to marry someone from a Christian denomination?

DP0902,

To add to what UntoHim said, this may be easier said than done, but these are the questions that the sister should ask the brother directly. You have titled your post "Relationship" and that is an excellent perspective. This will determine if the relationship between a brother and sister is truly between just them or if the Local Church will be in the middle of any marriage relationship that may transpire.

What will be the brother's reaction to your questions? The Local Church has long taught and practiced..."don't ask questions".

Another question, will the sister be expected to leave her denomination and join the Local Church exclusively?

If her parents and friends are also in a Christian denomination, will she be expected to abandon her family and friends?

Ask him if he would be willing to leave the Local Church for you?

I'm sorry for the questions. I know you were looking for answers. I would need honest and truthful answers from the brother before you further plan to begin a life together. Without truth and honesty and transparancy, any relationship between any two people will be almost impossible.

Again, blessings to you, and I pray you will find the answers you are looking for, starting with the man you love. After you have answers from him, look to God for your decision/s going forward.

This is brutally hard, but now is the time to ask the hard questions. You are very wise to ask first.

Nell

[Paul Vusik]

Originally Posted by DP0902

Is it possible for a brother in the Lord's Recovery to marry a Christian who is not a member of their group? Are they allowed to marry someone from a Christian denomination?

Hi DP0902,

I can’t directly give you an answer ether as other posts stated, however I can tell you from my experience what I know.

I was in the TLR for 12 years, I came there from a Christian background. I was born in a Christian family. The way I came there, was that my wife got introduced to TLR from a relative. I was attending a nondenominational church at the time. The biggest hurdle that anyone that is going marry or trying to marry someone from Christianity, will be a total culture shock that she will go through. I’m very much certain that a person from TLR will not want to go to a church other that the LC. I was given an ultimatum to make a choice between my wife ,kids and LC, or no wife no kids and keep attending Christian church. I knew from the start that there was something wrong with that picture, and my wife going to one church and I’m to another would be devastating. I’m saying this because inevitably if the Christian will not conform to TLC, it will end up in the situation like mine.

Also, I say from the Christian perspective, if that a sister coming in to the TLR, is willing to give up everything that she knows and was taught, and re-learns and buys into the system of LC, she will be always a second rate citizen, or as I like to say, “she will be treated like a jews treat gentiles to this day”. I remember that I was told that I know pretty much nothing about the spirit, my prayers are wrong, everything that I knew from childhood and all Christian beliefs. Basically, she will have to leave everything and the Babylon, and join “the church”. If that does not happen, she is totally on her own! When we came to LC, we lost all of our friends, all relationships with the people and the church we attended where destroyed. It became a vacuum sealed, air tight system, of LC only, and it was devastating for me, and I’ll say it will probably would be harder for a women!

In conclusion, I, and this is my personal opinion and not advise, don’t see the two working together as a unit. Regardless on what the scribes will advice you on, they will never be able to help you with any issue, give you any useful advice, besides the standard “need to get more into the ministry “, “need to destroy your outer man”, etc. None of those people will be there for you when you are going to be facing these challenges between the two of you! And I can promise one thing, the Christian will be blamed for it not working out and never the person or the teachings of TLC! I know quite a few marriages that were destroyed because of the divisive teachings, and no matter what, and for whatever reason, people are refusing to look at the elephant in the room!

I know its as clear as mud, but hopefully my story will help in any way!

The brothers actually touched on this in the recent training. Usually, the brothers are the ones that take the lead. For college grads attending the ftta you have to cut off your relationships, dating for two years. The exception is if you're engaged, but then you can't get married for 2 years while at the training.

You can get married, no one can stop you. But, the one who is inside the local church will be told convince their fiancee to come into the church now or soon there afterwards. If one decides to stay in the church and the other outside. Influence from inside the church from the brothers and sisters will cause problems in their marriage.

[DP0902]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I was concerned about my partner because he is currently in Full-Time Training and I am aware that he will be trained on Witness Lee's interpretation. We had already agreed not to discuss our contrasting church practices and beliefs in order to avoid any potential conflicts. We had already agreed that he would marry me in our church (Christian denomination) and not in their local church. We're both legal in our parents, but we just hide our relationship in their church because he's still in training. I'm praying that God will speak to Him. I'm not sure how their elder will react if he finds out about our relationship.

[HERn]

Originally Posted by DP0902

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I was concerned about my partner because he is currently in Full-Time Training and I am aware that he will be trained on Witness Lee's interpretation. We had already agreed not to discuss our contrasting church practices and beliefs in order to avoid any potential conflicts. We had already agreed that he would marry me in our church (Christian denomination) and not in their local church. We're both legal in our parents, but we just hide our relationship in their church because he's still in training. I'm praying that God will speak to Him. I'm not sure how their elder will react if he finds out about our relationship.

Seems to be a couple of “red flags” here. First, I think he may be violating strict FTTA rules by having a relationship with you talking about marriage when he is in the training. Does this indicate anything to you?

Second, agreeing not to talk about this topic of potential future conflicts is very worrisome to me. If nothing else, marriage is all about talking about difficult things. Does his apparent unwillingness to talk about this issue prior to marriage worry you? Would it be wise for you to take some time to review these things with a marriage counselor? Maybe talk to a pastor in your church? Praying for you, I can’t imagine how stressful this must be for you.

I figured it had something to do with the ftta. Click on the Elders and Leading Brothers' Recommendation Form pdf in the link below. It's right there. Rule number 7. Maybe the elders never asked him, or he lied. I just say be at peace and try not to stress. If it's actually enforceable it's ridiculous. As it's none of their business. Yes there are alot of personal questions on that form.

They were doing the training remotely but now have began in person again.

https://www.ftta.org/apply/index.php

[DP0902]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I figured it had something to do with the ftta. Click on the Elders and Leading Brothers' Recommendation Form pdf in the link below. It's right there. Rule number 7. Maybe the elders never asked him, or he lied. I just say be at peace and try not to stress. If it's actually enforceable it's ridiculous. As it's none of their business. Yes there are alot of personal questions on that form.

They were doing the training remotely but now have began in person again.

https://www.ftta.org/apply/index.php

Thank you for sharing that with me. Yes, their questions are invading someone's personal life. Do you have any idea what will happen to FTT students once they had graduated from their training?

Originally Posted by DP0902

Is it possible for a brother in the Lord's Recovery to marry a Christian who is not a member of their group? Are they allowed to marry someone from a Christian denomination?

No. They use a verse in corinthians that says do not be yoked with unbelievers, and bad company corrupts good morals.

[DP0902]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

No. They use a verse in corinthians that says do not be yoked with unbelievers, and bad company corrupts good morals.

Thank you for your reply.
Oh, I see. But there are also a lot of Christians from other denominations. There are Christians who have been saved from Christian denomination churches. I believe that God saved those Christians from other denominations as well, and that they want to follow Christ. If they believe that Christians from other denominations were unbelievers, it means they were condemning other Christians and Christ is not in them at all. I'm still in a scenario wherein I would like to know more about them if they were really a true Christians.

[Nell]

Originally Posted by DP0902

Thank you for your reply.
Oh, I see. But there are also a lot of Christians from other denominations. There are Christians who have been saved from Christian denomination churches. I believe that God saved those Christians from other denominations as well, and that they want to follow Christ. If they believe that Christians from other denominations were unbelievers, it means they were condemning other Christians and Christ is not in them at all. I'm still in a scenario wherein I would like to know more about them if they were really a true Christians.

You might consider asking them, whoever, to share their personal testimony of salvation. You might share yours first.

Just a thought,
Nell

[Paul Vusik]

Originally Posted by DP0902

Thank you for your reply.
Oh, I see. But there are also a lot of Christians from other denominations. There are Christians who have been saved from Christian denomination churches. I believe that God saved those Christians from other denominations as well, and that they want to follow Christ. If they believe that Christians from other denominations were unbelievers, it means they were condemning other Christians and Christ is not in them at all. I'm still in a scenario wherein I would like to know more about them if they were really a true Christians.

Hi DP0902,

I will just comment on this, since I came there from Christian background. For the most part, I would say 90%, will never admit publicly that the other Christians are unbelievers. They will also never admit that they don’t like Christians. But if you ever get a chance to pin them down in the discussion about it, they will tell you that anyone who is not meeting in the LC, is a carnal believer that does not know the true revaluation about the body, thus he is most likely headed to 1000 year purgatory to get perfected.

But hey, it’s not all lost, just eat the “truth” offered in LC, and you will be the elite godmen, the “overcomer”, just chilling with the Lord watching other people improve for 1000 yrs.

They have all Christian vocabulary, terminology, lingo, even took some songs to blend in better, but it’s all means absolutely different than in biblical Christianity. Read it for yourself, it’s all available online.

Thanks

[Nell]

Originally Posted by Paul Vusik

…. For the most part, I would say 90%, will never admit publicly that the other Christians are unbelievers. …
Thanks

Paul, I don’t think you mean this. There is no such thing as a “Christian unbeliever.” Right? Someone is either a Christian, or an unbeliever.

Nell

[Zezima]

Originally Posted by Nell

Paul, I don’t think you mean this. There is no such thing as a “Christian unbeliever.” Right? Someone is either a Christian, or an unbeliever.

Nell

I think he’s saying that those in the LR view those outside of it as unbelievers. They don’t typically view Christians meeting outside of the LR as true believers. “Is he a brother?” Meaning does he meet with us? “Church life” referring to those in the LR rather than the “called out ones”. So while the OP maybe be a believer, as long as their SO meets in the LR he or she will feel that stigma attached to believers outside of the LSM walls.

In the LSM they have written text saying presbyterianism is christless, and that to be a top Christian you need to be in the Lords recovery. Remember everyone but them is wrong and degraded…

[Paul Vusik]

Originally Posted by Nell

Paul, I don’t think you mean this. There is no such thing as a “Christian unbeliever.” Right? Someone is either a Christian, or an unbeliever.

Nell

Nell,

That’s precisely what I’m saying, there is no such thing as Christian unbeliever, but there is such demeaning doctrine in LC, that unless you are a Christian that meets outside the ground of the TLR, you are most likely lost to the truth, and I have heard many times that it would be said “I can’t say whether or not one is a born again believer, since they oppose the “truth” of LSM”.

As far as I’m concerned, there are true born again believers in many denominations, and nondenominational churches. I can’t, and will not ever comply with devilish doctrines that TLR pedals as the truth. They are the most devicive, self-righteous system, along with JWs and Mormons. (I don’t consider JWs and Mormons to be Christians, just for clarifications). I also do not subscribe to the two tier Christians doctrine, also promoted by them (overcomer scam). It’s the most extrapolated and stretch out nonsense of self righteousness one could come up with. So, hopefully that answers your question.

Thanks.

[Zezima]

Originally Posted by DP0902

Is it possible for a brother in the Lord's Recovery to marry a Christian who is not a member of their group? Are they allowed to marry someone from a Christian denomination?

Why are you not a member?

[DP0902]

Originally Posted by Zezima

Why are you not a member?

I'm not a member of their local church because I'm an active member in my church (one of the Christian Denomination Churches).
I came to this forum to know more deeply about the doctrines, practices, and beliefs of the LR. I recently stopped reading LSM books on a website because some of the topics they discussed were heretical.