Fearing God

[aron]

Originally Posted by OBW

And this one particular example — fear God and turn away from evil v express God — is a false dichotomy. I would suggest that in making this one statement, he has effectively insinuated that any other thinking or activity is "negative." Being righteous is negative, only express God. Trying to love your neighbor is negative, only express God.

But what is it to express God? What is the image of God we were created to express? Seems that righteousness is front and center. And righteousness is an opposite of evil. So turning away from evil must be part of righteousness which is a centerpiece of the image of God. We also see love of God and neighbor, justice (care for widow, orphan, alien), etc., as the commandments. Even the verse saying that "the truth will set you free" is predicated upon obedience, not isolated, stand-alone truth...

So expressing God is very important. And that requires that we fear God and turn from evil. And a lot of other things Lee dismissed in his various either/or false dichotomies.

It's a false dichotomy because it ignores the centerpiece of the Bible: Jesus. In the Lee dichotomy, we're either feeble sinners, wallowing in sin or vainly trying to be good, or else we're "enjoying the processed Triune God on the local ground by the exercise of our regenerated human spirit". Or some such hifalutin verbiage. So to Lee fearing God belongs to the first realm, and expressing God is in the second.

He created these fake arbitrary bins, and shoveled everything into one or the other. In the first was Christianity, waiting to die and go to heaven, trying to be good, religion, concepts, opinions. In the second was all the supposedly divine and mystical stuff he and Nee had uncovered and restored.

But Lee misses the King: Jesus Christ is consistently presented as in continual obedience and expression. Jesus feared no man - neither Herod nor Pilate nor Ananias. No Roman soldier cowed him. Jesus only lived in reverential awe of the Father. His 'food' was to do the will of the Father (not, ahem, to shout repetitively).

Jesus was the Obedient Lamb of God, and we the disobedient see him, repent, confess, and live. Only through his obedience do we find our path, our Way. But Lee missed all this in his push for subjective experience, so-called enjoyment, and so-called expression. Yet I contend that when one sees Jesus, there is found the Fear of God personified, the Expression [Logos] of the Father made utterly full. To me, there's nothing else to see. When you see Jesus, you effectively see the Father. You see Home.

When they saw this glory they fell down, non-functional. The three disciples on the holy mountain, and later John alone on Patmos realized this awful singularity. Yet it was not their falling down that they remembered, most. It was the glory.

"And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father" ~John 1:14
"For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you'll do well to pay attention to it.." ~ 2 Peter 1:17-19