Quote:
Originally Posted by Drake
Zezima,
I was with you until that last simpler semantic because that contradicts the last quote of Witness Lee's you referenced:
"The genuine ground of oneness is in the Triune God, accepting all believers, and having one church in one city, yet fellowshipping with the apostles and the other local churches."
Its not a belief that "their church in the city, is the only real church in that city".... rather, it is the fundamental belief that there is only ONE Church in a city. That is why "all believers" are part of it. There can be no "their church" if you believe there is only one church. It's a belief in the singular not a choice among the plural.
I see it this way Zezima: All denominations define themselves as a church based on something other then the oneness of the Body of Christ. We don't believe nor recognize that dividing yourselves that way is the biblical standing of the oneness of the Body of Christ in that city. All believers are in Christ so the reality is there are not many "called out assemblies" in a city. There is only one and all are in Christ.
Therefore, what is scriptural basis for denominating a group of believers since all are one in Christ? I understand that not all believers know about or even embrace the ground of oneness. Yet, I've yet to see a scriptural justification and validation for denominations. Even if one rejects the teaching of the ground of oneness on what basis do they meet in division? Where is the scriptural basis for denominations? I do not find it anywhere in the Bible.
Anyway Zezima, thanks for dialogue.
Drake
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Drake,
Many things are imputed to denominationalism by teachers in the Recovery that are based in generalizations, extrapolations, second-hand information and received wisdom that are simply not true or maybe even hypocritical. Take the notion that to meet in a denomination is to "meet in division", for example. In this regard, I'd assert what you
do matters much more than what you
say. When you loan out your building for another congregation (not in your denomination or affiliation) to use because theirs burnt down or flooded, or when you join side-by-side with other congregations to serve the homeless in your city, or when you invite pastors not in your tradition to speak at your church, when you refer to the other churches in your city with dignity and respect, when you regularly find members of other congregations in your small groups / home meetings, when you host Bible studies that are genuinely open to other Christians and their portions, when you greet other believers with joy and don't immediately start praying for them to feel discontented in their home church so they'll come join yours -- these are ways of practicing the oneness of the Body of Christ; these are exercises and displays of genuine oneness. I saw none of them in the local church meeting on the ground of oneness, and I saw all of them in a denomination that was supposedly "meeting in division."
But when you
claim to have a vision of oneness and practice none of the above; when you confidently declare that it is not your way to build any "bridges to Christianity"; when you gleefully sing "Overcome degraded Christianity" believing that it doesn't include you; when a meeting goes silent and awkward because someone dared to share, say, a quote from CS Lewis instead of sticking to Witness Lee or Watchman Nee; when someone lets you know how bothered they are that you recommended a Bible Study Fellowship group to someone because that's not the "Bride-producing ministry"; when you hear the young brothers laughing "Burn Babylon Burn!" as Notre Dame Cathedral burns in the news; when leaders from 200+ congregations throughout your city gather to pray during the opening days of the pandemic but your elders don't join them because they aren't "on the proper ground" and that's "just shaking hands over the fence and everyone just goes back to their division unchanged"; when you won't take communion with other believers because you're scared to death of violating the ground of locality or somehow dividing the Body of Christ by taking communion with them; if a brother stands up during a gospel trip and confidently declares, without irony, "The thing that sets us apart from all the other Christian groups laboring here is that we have the one accord!"; if that describes your congregation, then
you might just be meeting in division in practice, regardless what your claim of oneness is. And I witnessed or experienced all of these things in the Recovery.
I'm not claiming that there is no sectarian strife in the denominations; there is. But I am asserting that sectarianism is not confined to denominations, and sectarian division is not a necessary result of being in a denomination. It's not the name that causes division or produces oneness, it's the heart, the attitude, and especially the actions of a group and its leaders. Sometimes denominations have defended important Scriptural truths when others wouldn't. Denominational organization provide accountability and oversight not present in other church structures that limit abuses of power and departures from. I'm not here to promote denominations. But I have found that much of what I was told about them was wrong, and that many people repeated ideas about them without any firsthand or only limited experience.