Quote:
Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
I do not understand the fixation and hangup with the fact that there are superficial Christians whether in the LRC or anywhere else? I find this mockery particularly distasteful since I do not meet with the LRC and in my experience, there are plenty of superficial Christians outside of the LRC. I have heard many prayers that are as fleshly as you can get. But I don't mock them because I realize the real error in the LRC is their pride and arrogance.
As I recall I thought RG's book "Lord...Thou saidst" (thank you Ohio) was beneficial in improving my prayer life. I felt as a result of that book and the Biblical evidence he provided that if I could punctuate my prayer with "Lord...thou saidst" not as a formula, but by Finding God's will in His word, that would have impact. Please do not misunderstand what I am saying, I don't ever use the phrase "Lord thous saidst" in my prayer, but I often do seek to pray God's word back to him.
No doubt your mockery of pray reading is a shoe that fits many in the LRC, but certainly not everybody. I stayed at Dunton House in 1996. There were two older sisters there (in their 70s and 80s) and an elder (also in his 70s I think) in addition there was another brother. These 4 had all been in the LRC far longer than I, and I first met with the LC in '78. Their practice of praying the word for morning watch did not resemble your mockery in any way. We read the word, fellowshipped over it (perhaps, perhaps not), raised some prayer requests / burdens (again maybe yes, maybe no) and then finished by each praying. They refused to use that LSM booklet. The church in NY had a schedule on a weekly basis of verses for morning watch that were based on the messages during the Lord's day morning. No other church that I had met with had that practice, but so what, we used those verses in our morning watch.
For those of us who understood the genealogy of the practice, the point was that the word of God keeps us aligned with God's will and we knew that prayer is, at least in part, praying that God's will would be done.
As for your mockery, I wish many more Christians would have a time in the word every morning along the lines that we did.
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You like to refer to it as mockery. But I am making direct reference to the practice that I saw and was taught over a 14+ year period in which "pray reading" was never anything but exactly as I referenced. And that little booklet from back in the late 60s or early 70s was all about that kind of pray reading.
And I'm pretty sure that was the practice that RG felt a need to defend since that kind of pray reading was what the first booklet (also written by a Texas brother, although I don't remember who now) covered and was what the Mindbenders and/or others were referring to.
I did not accuse you of defending the LRC. I just noted that they things your brought up were consistent with what I think most non-LRC people would think of if faced with the term "pray reading."
But I'm not sure that the "morning watch" version of pray reading that I ever saw would be something I would suggest to any Christians. It might give a good feeling, like many mindless activities can be when engaged in as a "tune-out" kind of venture. I can't comment on your experience because I wasn't there to compare to what I saw. I know that there was something about what I saw that always bothered me. But until long after I left, I was convinced enough of its "rightness" that I would have defended it despite my personal misgivings.
That is the kind of thing that really makes me wary of so many things LRC. It gets into your nostrils and hair and clothes and you think you can smell roses and its still LRC garlic. They taught us some things that they said were so spiritual that I still don't think about whether they really are. We just assume it is true.
And I have to assume that it is happening elsewhere. And you are getting the results of my willful questioning of everything LRC. It all needs to be proved by reference to something wholly unrelated to the LRC. I even distrust the sense of experience unless there is something more to it than that.