Mere Christianity or Degraded Christianity?

[Evangelical]

Originally Posted by Freedom

This is the same point that I tried to make yesterday. Subjectivity/spirituality is fine, as long as it's rooted in something, and as long as it doesn't contradict objective facts. That's where the problem is. The LC likes to criticize the Pentecostals for what are seemingly bizarre displays of spiritual ‘experiences’, but yet when anyone attempts to call into question the subjectivity found in the LC, they claim that without subjectivity, Christians are doomed to have a ‘dead’ experience in all the denominations.

DYL's teaching about some scripture being 'judicial' and some being 'organic' bears such a striking resemblance to what WL taught. It's the whole mindset of there being some hidden way to distinguish scripture which is known only to one person, the one has that 'discernment'. People in the LC don't seem to realize that DYL was just another manifestation of the exact same mindset as WL. If they really feel to call into question what DYL taught, then they should also question what WL taught.

I don't think the LC has set out to be purposely esoteric, but that is the end result when subjectivity is given precedence. They start with the claim that objective facts are just "dead doctrine," and that certainly resonates with some people, because doctrine is not 'exciting'. But once the subsequent claim is made that the subjective experiences found in the LC represent something far greater than the objective, then there are problems. It starts to seem okay for the subjective to contradict objective facts, and that is the point where everything becomes muddled.

Doctrine and theology serve to help develop an understanding of the guiding principles for Christians, so it should go without saying that a study or focus of such things is not going to be exciting. But a focus is necessary in order to know which direction to head. Without any kind of guiding principles and understanding, people can make any claim they please.

Pentecostals focus on an emotional experience. We focus on a spiritual one, that is the difference.

[aron]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Pentecostals focus on an emotional experience. We focus on a spiritual one, that is the difference.

This is the kind of "tyrannical individualism" that I quoted from Louis Bouyer. The charismatic founder of the Protestant spin-off sect has some kind of subjective revelation, then persuades others that this is a stand-in for objective reality itself. All sorts of nonsense follows.

When the charismatic founder's acolytes jump up and down, shout and wave their arms it is being spiritual, when any others do it, it's being emotional. And what is the basis of such a bald statement? Nothing other than the subjectivity of the speaker. This is the reality they want, therefore it is reality.

As the FTTT trainers told the concerned brothers, "When others do it, it's hierarchy, but when we do it, it's not hierarchy."

When Lee or his blended lieutenants critique, it's a correction, or an adjustment, or a rebuke. But if anyone reciprocates that is an attack.

When Lee saw something, it was a revelation, a truth. If anyone else saw something, that was an opinion.