“Local Church ‘Cult’ Label has stuck”—says LSM Star turned Academic

[Cal]

Originally Posted by SpeakersCorner

My point is that a romantic experience of Christ trumps everything else. Ephesus had it and lost it. Most who contribute to this site had such an experience as well.

Jacob had such an experience at Bethel, then he went off and had a romantic life experiencing God in ways both hidden and overt. He wrestled all night against him ... and fought him to a draw.

Too much criticism here of the LC experience is shortsighted, seeing only the negative side of such Jacobian struggles. I prefer to look at all these bends and crooks in the road as opportunities to have an all-night battle with God. I've lost them all but I cherish the scars.

(Note to God: I just making a rhetorical point here with some perhaps overly-zealous flourish. No need to reinforce past lessons. . )

Well, that makes some sense, but you have to differentiate between healthy things and things which are not healthy but which God uses to work good.

Romans says God causes all things to work together for good for those that love him. A wonderful and incredible promise which probably deserves its own thread if not forum.

But that's not license to say "It doesn't matter what I do because God will use it for good." In the first place, that attitude doesn't show love for God, and in the second place it, if taken to the nth degree, says there's essentially no difference between good and evil--or even that evil is in some way superior to good.

For example, suppose a terrorist bombs a shop. No one is killed, but several are maimed. Through their suffering and the extenuating circumstances, all the maimed come to Christ. Fast forward to judgment. The terrorist stands before God and says, "Look God, these people would not have been saved if I hadn't bombed that shop."

And he may be right, but he's still guilty. Don't confuse God's power to transcend with the bogus idea that evil is in some way good. Evil is still evil. Let's not get all gooey and sentimental about it.

That said, I appreciate the lessons I learned as well.