Life Study of Revelation Misses Mark RE: "First Love"

[OBW]

Originally Posted by JJ

It seems contrary and conflicting to me for Lee to both say the seven churches are symbolic of the stages of church history we have been discussing and also in his 1976 Life Study commentary on Revelation 1:11 https://biblehub.com/revelation/1-11.htm also say “only those who are in the local churches are rightly positioned with the right angle and the proper perspective to see the visions in this book” . . .

Never thought of it that way, but it does make Lee seem really foolish (or it makes God/John really foolish). And for me, I will go with the former, not the latter.

If only "Philadelphia" has the eyes and ears to see and hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, then why write to the others? Why bother wasting the ink? Philadelphia (according to Lee) is too smart to fall into the errors that are written about in the other letters, thereby making 6 of the letters a waste of time, ink, and brainpower to read (unless you are needing something more thump your chest about).

[aron]

Originally Posted by OBW

Never thought of it that way, but it does make Lee seem really foolish (or it makes God/John really foolish). And for me, I will go with the former, not the latter.

Anyone says that in all Christianity they alone are rightly positioned to see something, they're probably not rightly positioned. If you get my drift.

Originally Posted by OBW

If only "Philadelphia" has the eyes and ears to see and hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, then why write to the others? Why bother wasting the ink? Philadelphia (according to Lee) is too smart to fall into the errors that are written about in the other letters, thereby making 6 of the letters a waste of time, ink, and brainpower to read (unless you are needing something more thump your chest about).

Reminds me of an old joke:

Fred: "Hey Joe, didya hear about the apostle John out there on Patmos, what he said about us? He said to repent - that we were entertaining Jezebel here! He said something about the deep teachings of Satan among us!"
Joe: "Nah, don't worry. He's writing about a church in a future age, some centuries from now. We're fine."
Fred: "Whew! I was worried about it for a minute".
Joe: "Yeah, the real meaning will be hidden for a long time until God raises up the Final Ministry of the Age"

[JJ]

OBW and Aron.... exactly what I was trying to get at.

John’s opening in Revelation 1 https://biblehub.com/blb/revelation/1.htm
would be a waste of time for members of 6 of the 7 churches (they would be in the wrong position and angle, and have the wrong perspective).

Instead John says the right position is “bondservant”, the right angle is “blessed is anyone who reads and keeps the words in it”, and the right perspective is “grace and peace to you from Him who is and was and is coming and from Jesus Christ His faithful witness who loves us and has released us from our sins”