[aron]

I recently read one of the Local Church foundational verses, John 14:20 ("In that day you will know that I am in My Father and My Father is in Me and I am in you"), which becomes captive to WL's repetitive teaching on "incorporation".

Now look at the next 4 verses:

21 "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."

A lot of words on obedience. Verses 21, 23, and 24 all stress obedience, and keeping the commands. The only interruption is verse 22 which is a statement of incomprehension by a disciple, which is answered by Jesus with the repeated injunction, Obey, obey. If you want to see Me, obey.

Coinherence is secondary to obedience. Even Jesus, in the days of His flesh, learned obedience (See e.g. Heb. 5).

Yesterday I was talking to a Muslim. I know that Islam means "submission" so I asked him, "Do you believe in obedience to God?" And he answered, "Oh, yes." So I said, "Let me tell you about the obedient Son." I asked him if he had big brothers and sisters, and he said that he did. I said, "Remember when you were small and you saw them riding bicycles and playing games, and you wanted to follow? Well, Jesus is the obedient One. We, the disobedient ones, see Him and we see the way back to our Father God in heaven."

I didn't talk about the incarnation, or atonement; I just talked about obedience. As I said, my problem with theology in general, and LSM theology in particular, is that it's not big enough, or inclusive enough, to fully match the story we have in front of us, that of Jesus the Nazarene. It reminds me of the verse at the end of John's gospel: "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." Theology is good, I suppose, for the rudiments of the faith. But the "LSM v Melodyland" account is a cautionary tale; it's indicative of the scene that occurs if you grip it too tightly. You may think that your dogma has captured the Bible in toto (and thus God Himself), but the reality is that you're displaying your own captivity.