The Psalms are the word of Christ

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by aron

So why should Lee's audience let him so pre-emptively and presumptuously dismiss the vast body of the Psalms?

Because it occurred gradually over a long period of time.

Also, there is an interesting phenomenon I would like to mention. As a Catholic I tried to read the scriptures, yet never could "connect." It was like reading ancient history in a foreign language. Then a friend, newly saved, talked about the Lord and gave me a paraphrased version of the N.T.. I was gloriously saved in my bedroom. Immediately I was joined to my friend in Spirit.

Likewise, many of us entered the Recovery with little personal contact with the Lord. We may have been already believers, as I was, but for the first time we were really filled with the Lord in the Spirit. What a connection we immediately had with the saints and the ministers there. It was a bond not easily severed.

This is why I have spoken up in protest about how LC leaders have violated the normal trust which naturally takes place between young believers and LC leaders. I personally believe that this bond is God-given and part of our spiritual birth and heritage. It is akin to the bond that exists between a mother and her new-born. Initially all the responsibility lies with the parent, or the Christian leader.

It is not the newborn's responsibility to discern the quality of the mother's milk, nor is it the newborn believer's responsibility to discern the quality of the leader's care. This is why the Lord places a higher responsibility on leaders, accompanied by serious rewards and disciplines for stumbling the little ones. Eventually the children do have to grow up and make their own decisions, but until then they are generally relieved of responsibility for serious decisions in their lives.

Lee's interpretation of Psalms was like this. Slowly over time he twisted their importance to the congregation to the point that many of the Psalms were discarded as unnecessary for the divine record. The same was true of James. Think about how the importance of Lee's writings rises if the value of certain scripture actually diminishes. Who is this minister who can even tell us which part of scripture is God-breathed and which is not!

[aron]

Originally Posted by Ohio

... there is an interesting phenomenon I would like to mention. As a Catholic I tried to read the scriptures, yet never could "connect." It was like reading ancient history in a foreign language. Then a friend, newly saved, talked about the Lord and gave me a paraphrased version of the N.T.. I was gloriously saved in my bedroom. Immediately I was joined to my friend in Spirit.

Likewise, many of us entered the Recovery with little personal contact with the Lord. We may have been already believers, as I was, but for the first time we were really filled with the Lord in the Spirit. What a connection we immediately had with the saints and the ministers there. It was a bond not easily severed.

I relate to this. For years I couldn't read the Psalms because they were dry as dust. Absolutely nothing there for me. So if I was in an environment which didn't open them up, why should I pay any attention to them? If the LC saints were going on about "masticating God" or "Thy words were found and I did eat them", then I guess that's what I would focus on. Not on something like, "...these things were written concerning Me."

One day, something like scales fell off from my eyes, and quite literally I felt that I could "hear" the voice of God's Son in the Psalms. God was talking to me! The voice of His Son was there! It's like what Hebrews said: "God ... has now spoken to us in His Son". I could hear the Son, in the midst of the assembly, singing hymns of praise to the Father. It wasn't "us" singing, it was "God's Son in us" singing. And He was singing the Psalms! Aside from being "born again", it was the most amazing thing that happened to me in my spiritual journey. Instead of hearing an interpreter or some expositor telling me what to think, I could "feel the heart of God" touching the writer, and coming to me through the text as we sang it. Now if that ain't "God's economy", what is?

Anyway, the local churches were part of my journey, so I shouldn't be too hard on them. I guess I should just say that I strongly disagree with their perfunctory handling of the Psalms and leave it at that. God is good.