Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
I think the crux of the matter regarding "deputy authority" in the LC was the practice of apostolic authority: in their view Witness Lee was a modern day apostle Paul and all the other coworkers were sub apostles under him like Timothy and Titus and the elders were under these 2 layers of management. I would maybe add a 3rd layer: sub sub apostles under the regional sub apostles. So Witness Lee was at the top of the pyramid. Under him were regional sub apostles. Under them were sub sub apostles. Under all of them were the elders at the local level.
What the events at Rosemead in the late 1980s did was to display a exertion of elder authority over the work by rejecting a sub apostle sent by Witness Lee. This provocative activity sent shock waves through the LC system because it turned the hierarchy upside down.
Because there was no singular sub apostle with enough stature to replace Witness Lee upon his death a committee based in Anaheim, CA was set up of sub apostles to rule the roost. His authority was "transferred" to them. All sub apostles and their sub sub apostles were expected to join this committee and have their plans, etc reviewed by this committee for approval. Now "deputy authority" resided in a committee and those who will not join it would be classified as rebellious.
So the LC is a system that is held together by this idea and practice of apostolic authority. To live peacefully in such a system requires the acceptance of this notion.
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It doesn't stop there. In the end whoever the authority is must "lead". Like the Lord said, if the blind lead the blind both will end up in the ditch. So who is leading the LRC when the conferences are just a rehash of messages 10 or 20 years old? If your deputy authority is based on a genuine experience of the Lord then the leading comes straight from the Lord. If you try to short circuit that with some bogus assigned leadership all you will get are people completely incapable of leading, who know it and also know that the other leaders are also incapable. Then you have a situation where "leadership is just for show". Create a new way that will keep the peons busy but that the older (more cynical ones) completely ignore.
It is like Abigail said, David was a leader because he fought the Lord's battles and evil was not found in him. That should be the basis of deputy authority.