Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Once you insist on one church per city practically you are effectively advocating one set of elders per city. This in turn gives authority to an arbitrary set of men to insist that every Christian in the city obeys them under threat of being cast out of the church experience in that city.
Gubei talked about the deplorable state of the human tendency to divide. I see that as much less of a threat than the deplorable state of the human tendency to suppress. The former was a characteristic of the Reformation, the latter of the Roman church. Which produced the worse results?
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Igzy,
Thanks for your analysis of my position. But I have to disagree.
First of all, you are assuming that "one city- one church model inevitably bringing in "conflict" between so called elders, leading to caos. So, the model is bad." However, as I mentioned, there are some counterexamples to your logic and that's what our God wants to see by this truth. Whether it be with this truth or not, there will be conflict between leading brothers in a city because some of them are not mature but divisive. It's the exposing aspect of one city - one church model that can condemn those kind of divisive leaders. Think about this. I do not believe any PROPER elders would conflict with others at the risk of division. In either cases, (harmony or conflict between elders in a city), the truth has a valid functions, especailly in its second function -
exposing human nature.
Secondly, communisim itself is not wrong. What's wrong is human nature. According to capitalistic economy, the most basic assumption is that "resource is scarce, but
human greed is unlimited." Do you think this human greed is right? According to Acts, we know the early church conducted a kind of communism by the Sprit. And think about this. What does the subprime crisis mean to us? Are you happy with the collapse of economy? If you "officially" deny one city- one church model, that is adding fuel and legalizing Christian divisions.
In conclusion, the truth itself is GOOD and should be preserved and taught as such. And leave them who abuse this truth to suppress others. They are divisive and will be judged by our God. Even without this truth, they would have been divisive anyway.
Gubei