Titus Chu Conference at "Chicago Gospel Hall" (April 9-10, 2016)

[aron]

Originally Posted by Koinonia

The issue is believers separating themselves from one another through self-identification. Even when it is not intended to be divisive, such self-identification inherently is (or has that result). Yet, ironically, the more spiritual-sounding "I am of Christ" serves the very same purpose. And my point is--that to say "we are 'just the church'" does exactly the same.

I considered starting another thread, since Koinonia's point is so good as a starter for discussion, and since the discussion thus far has had little to do with the actual conference presided over by TC. But we've enough threads already.

So here's my thought, entitled "Identification, segregation: the legacy of Protestantism". In Luther's Europe, the RCC dominated the spiritual landscape. Luther wasn't considering the Eastern Orthodox, or the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) church. The pope was the antichrist, and Luther & Co were getting out.

In the years since, many, many more have gotten out. Baptists, Methodists, Anglicans, Seventh-Day Adventists. So along comes Nee, and says we can re-form "The Church" in the original glorious vision of God. Sectarianism was declared to be wrong, and "the present truth" of the NT church should instead guide the collective testimony of Christ on the earth (See e.g. WN's "What are we?").

And Koinonia's point was that this process of self-identification leads to segregation. Again and again, believers have been led apart from each other by this process. Along with justification by faith, I think that this is one of the enduring legacies of Protestantism. WN segregated himself and his fellows from Protestant "sectarianism", a process which was in itself sectarian. Eventually WN's disciples got a name, the Little Flock, just like everyone else had before them.

What follows is an example, from the myriads of Protestant splinter groups, for illustrative purposes; we could probably find a dozen or twenty or even fifty different sects with similar story arcs.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

The Christadelphians are a millenarian Christian group who hold a view of Biblical Unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries. The movement developed in the United Kingdom and North America in the 19th century around the teachings of John Thomas, who coined the name Christadelphian from the Greek for "Brethren in Christ".

Basing their beliefs solely on the Bible, Christadelphians differ from mainstream Christianity in a number of doctrinal areas. For example, they reject the Trinity and the immortality of the soul, believing these to be corruptions of original Christian teaching. They were initially found predominantly in the developed English-speaking world, but expanded in developing countries after the Second World War. Congregations traditionally are referred to as 'ecclesias' and would not use the word "church" due to its association with mainstream Christianity, although today it is more acceptable.

The Christadelphian religious group traces its origins to John Thomas (1805–1871), who emigrated to North America from England in 1832. Following a near shipwreck he vowed to find out the truth about life and God through personal Biblical study. Initially he sought to avoid the kind of sectarianism he had seen in England. In this he found sympathy with the rapidly emerging Restoration Movement in the United States of America at the time. This movement sought for a reform based upon the Bible alone as a sufficient guide and rejected all creeds. However this liberality eventually led to dissent as John Thomas developed in his personal beliefs and started to question mainstream orthodox Christian beliefs. Whilst the Restoration Movement accepted Thomas's right to have his own beliefs, when he started preaching that they were essential to salvation, it led to a fierce series of debates with a notable leader of the movement, Alexander Campbell. John Thomas believed that scripture, as God's word, did not support a multiplicity of differing beliefs, and challenged the leaders to continue with the process of restoring 1st-century Christian beliefs and correct interpretation through a process of debate...

During this period of formulating his ideas John Thomas was baptised twice, the second time after renouncing the beliefs he previously held. He based his new position on a new appreciation for the reign of Christ on David's throne. The abjuration of his former beliefs eventually led to the Restoration Movement disfellowshipping him when he toured England and they became aware of his abjuration in the United States of America.

The Christadelphian community in Britain effectively dates from Thomas's first lecturing tour (May 1848 – October 1850). His message was particularly welcomed in Scotland, and Campbellite, Unitarian and Adventist friends separated to form groups of "Baptised Believers". Two thirds of ecclesias, and members, in Britain before 1864 were in Scotland. In 1849, during his tour of Britain, he completed (a decade and a half before the name Christadelphian was conceived) Elpis Israel in which he laid out his understanding of the main doctrines of the Bible.

Since his medium for bringing change was print and debate, it was natural for the origins of the Christadelphian body to be associated with books and journals, such as Thomas's Herald of the Kingdom.

In his desire to seek to establish Biblical truth and test out orthodox Christian beliefs through independent scriptural study he was not alone and, amongst other churches, he also had links with Adventist movement and with Benjamin Wilson (who later set up the Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith in the 1860s). In terms of his rejection of the trinity, Thomas' views had certain similarities with the unitarianism which had developed in a formal way in Europe in the 16th century (although he formally described both Unitarianism and Socinianism as "works of the devil" for their failure to develop his doctrine of God-manifestation).

Although the Christadelphian movement originated through the activities of John Thomas, he never saw himself as making his own disciples. He believed rather that he had rediscovered 1st-century beliefs from the Bible alone, and sought to prove that through a process of challenge and debate and writing journals. Through that process a number of people became convinced and set up various fellowships that had sympathy with that position. Groups associated with John Thomas met under various names, including Believers, Baptised Believers, the Royal Association of Believers, Baptised Believers in the Kingdom of God, Nazarines (or Nazarenes) and The Antipas until the time of the American Civil War (1861–1865). At that time, church affiliation was required in the United States and in the Confederacy in order to register for conscientious objector status, and in 1864 Thomas chose for registration purposes the name Christadelphian.

Through the teaching of John Thomas and the need in the American Civil War for a name, the Christadelphians emerged as a denomination, but they were formed into a lasting structure through a passionate follower of Thomas's interpretation of the Bible, Robert Roberts. In 1864 he began to publish The Ambassador of the Coming Age magazine. This was renamed The Christadelphian in 1869 and continues to be published under that name. Roberts was prominent in the period following the death of John Thomas in 1871, and helped craft the structures of the Christadelphian body.

Robert Roberts was certain that John Thomas had rediscovered the truth. Robert Robert's life was characterised by debates over issues that arose within the fledgling organisation; some of these debates can be found in the book Robert Roberts—A study of his life and character by Islip Collyer.

Initially the denomination grew in the English-speaking world, particularly in the English Midlands and in parts of North America. In the early days after the death of John Thomas the group could have moved in a number of directions. Doctrinal issues arose, debates took place and statements of faith were created and amended as other issues arose. These attempts were felt necessary by many to both settle and define a doctrinal stance for the newly emerging denomination and to keep out error. As a result of these debates, several groups separated from the main body of Christadelphians, most notably the Suffolk Street fellowship and the Unamended fellowship.

I note that, like WN later, this group tried to assemble according to "the Bible alone". Unfortunately, "the Bible alone" was a post-Protestant Bible shorn of the preceding Christian discussion. So it effectively became, "my (self-educated) understanding of the Bible alone", absent the guiding voices of those Christians who'd come before. Whatever the founder's "revelation" (read: logic) said the Bible meant, it became the guiding and even controlling stricture of the group's discussion from thenceforth on. Those who couldn't follow this received view would split into further fragments.

Second, note that they saw that taking names other than Christ was unscriptural error; yet like the LC a hundred years later they said they were "required by the government" to register a name. So they condemned names as wrong, and separated themselves from all these groups; subsequently they also took a name because they "had to".

In Witness Lee's case, he told us that people who didn't affiliate with others, or take another name, were useless "free groups" who did nothing to build the Body of Christ; he also said that those who did affiliate with others were divisive and sectarian. So the "recovered truth" of the LC was, essentially, that whatever WL did was right, and whatever anyone else did was wrong. Ultimately, this became the basis of LC identification and segregation: affiliation (and abject submission) to the ministry of WL. For example, if you see the "splash pages" of the group websites created in the 1990s under LSM oversight, the headers at the top say, "Lovers of Jesus affiliated with the ministries of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee."

Ultimately, this affiliation became the group's self-identification, and the basis of its segregation. The "present [LC] truth" was stated as, "Witness Lee: even when he's wrong, he's right." Anyone who didn't get this were "out" of the group, and those who grasped this ''present truth'' were "in".