Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
...when you really get down it to there is really no escaping following one's own counsel, even in extremely controlling groups, because even in controlling groups at some level the individual has decided that following the dictates of the group is a good thing, even at the expense of other considerations.
... You don't have to follow the group, you just decide you are supposed to. Of course, you may have gotten all kinds of bad advice to do so, but it the end you decided that bad advice was good advice. There is no escaping that.
One question ex-LSM-LCers need to ask themselves is why, oh why, did they believe the ministry/church had the kind of authority over them they thought it did. Really, where did that thought come from?
So, ironically, the group really has no power, except to try to influence your decision-making. Even if it claims "authority" over people, it has none really, because you in your conscience are the one who decides whether or not their claim to authority makes sense. So, in a sense, you grant them authority. You give them the power to control. That's the inescapable reality and the bottom line of our being individuals.Draw from it whatever conclusions are appropriate. I think pretty much all the answers are there.
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That was a nice piece of writing, Igzy. It always helps me when I see someone articulate what I have long felt within, but haven't seen expressed so clearly. Thanks for taking the time & effort to make these points.
It seems to me, when we consider the scenes at the judgment seat, that the
context is often within the sphere of a group or collective -- did you give a drink of cold water to the one next to you? Did you feed them or did you beat them? -- but the
responsibility is always on the individual, not the collective.
As far as the way to go on, that seems to me to be clearly an individual choice. The group is the aggregate of individal decisions.
I myself don't see such a danger from "each man did what was right in his own eyes" and "each man went to his own tent" as I see the danger from "each man did exactly what Headquarters told them to". I think that if you seek God, eventually you have to confront this man Jesus, and if you recognize Jesus as the shining Christ of God's good pleasure, and follow Him, you will perforce be led into fellowship with other ones also seeking reality.
I don't see danger in scattered sheep so much as I see danger of one of the sheep saying "I'm in charge here." God's purpose for us all will be revealed if we look to him, in the
context of being assembled together. If we cede
responsibility to one of our own among the assembly of redeemed sinners, I cannot see that as anything but a prescription for disaster.