Wow, What Did I Grow Up In?

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by JD620

I'm emotionally exhausted for today. Thank you to everyone who has come forward and shared their stories over the past few years. Speaking up about the LC is never easy. It's almost always followed by a discrediting campaign.

Kind of sounds like present day America. Instead of believing news reports, go straight to the source. Easier in LC circles to do that sort of thing.
I'm always grateful for "Indiana"'s labor. Ones like Indiana and ourselves were supposed to believe the report LSM gave on the turmoils, rebellions, etc. Then Indiana goes an interviews many former elders and co-workers nearly 20 years ago. Oh, the current LC elders get all bent out of shape for Indiana speaking to these former LC elders. Is there something to hide for seeking the truth?
Though ones like John Ingalls had been out of the LC prior to his passing, the smear campaign against him was unrelenting.
This account was quite touching to me personally. The summer before my uncle passed (a LC responsible brother for many years) my sons and I had lunch with my uncle and aunt. Out of the blue they were reminiscing of their time with John Ingalls in South Africa.
How is it there is such strong feelings towards ones who leave the local churches? My conclusion is an absence of grace.

[Trapped]

Originally Posted by Terry

How is it there is such strong feelings towards ones who leave the local churches? My conclusion is an absence of grace.

My two cents are that it's fear again. But not fear put on the members by the co-workers, it's fear on the co-workers' part that:

1. their sin might be uncovered
2. their abusive teachings might be revealed for what they are
3. they have given the entirety of their lives to a lie
4. they have harmed many people and are accountable to God for it
5. they are wrong

I mean, think about it. Those five things would drown anyone in shame and be too much for anyone to handle without God stepping in.

When people react as irrationally and as strongly as the LC leadership does (and the lay-members react the same because they have been taught to), it says much more about what's going on inside the co-workers' hearts than has anything to do with anyone who leaves. The lay-members may react due to points 3-5 above, and they really know the truth in their heart, but have to swim around in the pool of cognitive dissonance and just close up their ears to cope with it. The strength of the feelings against ones who leave points to the sheer volume of anxiety trapped within the person who has those strong feelings. Based on his vituperative rhetoric, it seems Ron Kangas is actually the one walking around with the most anxiety within him, regardless of his "no fear, no worry" attitude on stage. I mean, seriously. People only react the way Ron does when they can't cope with what a given member's leaving the LC means for HIM.

[Nell]

Excellent post, Trapped.

I would add to your list:

6. Follow the money.

Early on, one point of "truth" being taught by Lee was poor, degraded Christianity's practice of hiring pastors and paying them to shepherd their flocks. Hirelings he called them. It's shameful! "In the Local Church, we don't do that." Why? When the going gets tough, the hireling will be gone.

If you don't pay them, they will be gone. If you do pay them, you own them. You control them. They will say what you pay them to say. Whoever is hired can be fired. They are bought and sold. In other words, follow the money.

Witness Lee "inoculated" us, the faithful, early on against relying on the hirelings. WE don't do that! WE don't pass the offering plate like THEY do! WE don't have hirelings. This was the inoculation. This was the Kool-aide we drank. It even seemed like the right thing to do. Rely on offerings of the faithful to pay the treading ox.

Then the lying started. Then Lee turned around and started the family business and began to sign up his own hirelings and pay them.

How long has it been since Ron Kangas worked a job in the private sector? Who owns Ron Kangas? How many more hirelings does the LSM hire to service its franchise outlets?

I honestly don't know that hiring pastors is wrong. People have to put food on the table and raise their families. What's wrong is the overwhelming, in-your-face, blatant hypocrisy.

You have to drink a lot of Kool-aide to keep your eyes blinded to the hypocrisy in "the ministry". When I figured out that something was wrong with the Kool-aide, I stopped drinking it. I began to question EVERYTHING Lee taught. Everything was suspect. I only kept what I could confirm in the Bible. If I believed something, it was because it was clearly taught in the Bible. NOT because "Brother Lee said..."

Nell

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Trapped

My two cents are that it's fear again. But not fear put on the members by the co-workers, it's fear on the co-workers' part that:

1. their sin might be uncovered
2. their abusive teachings might be revealed for what they are
3. they have given the entirety of their lives to a lie
4. they have harmed many people and are accountable to God for it
5. they are wrong

I mean, think about it. Those five things would drown anyone in shame and be too much for anyone to handle without God stepping in.

Was this not also the inner motivation of the High Priests, scribes, and lawyers who pushed for the crucifixion of the Messiah?