[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Gubei

The ground of church is not mentioned literally in the Bible, just as Trinity is not.

The "doctrine of the Trinity" was formed very early in church history because it is all over the pages of the New Testament. The major teachings/doctrines/beliefs regarding the Trinity are central and core to the Christian faith. The "ground of the church" is, at best, a very minor, peripheral matter, which is why it is not addressed by the Lord Jesus, the scripture writing apostles or even the early church fathers. None of the early councils dealt with "the church ground" either.

What matters is what the ground of church is talking about. The ground is simply locality. This means there is no dividing factor among Christians except locality....

Gubei, you really need to go back and read the New Testament my brother (and Less of Nee/Lee)...there are only two reasons for division amongst Christians - Sin and false teachings. Sadly, there was/is more then enough of these negatives in the Local Church for a stern warning to be sounded to current LC members, as well as to those considering joining the movement.

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Originally Posted by Hope

When it comes to the practicality of a spiritual reality, the Bible does not give prescriptive formulas

While there are some exceptions to this, for example the establishment of baptism and the Lord's Table, I would strongly disagree that "the ground of the church" could be considered anything aproaching "a spiritual reality". Again, this is taking into account that our oneness is not based upon where we meet, the style of our meeting, etc, etc.

So, if the Bible does not give us any prescriptive formula for the practice of the ground of the church, then why would we allow/participate/ in the establishment of an entire sect/movement which is largely based upon this prescriptive formula? Admitedly, I am overstating a bit here to make my point.

The church, the assembly, the Body of Christ, Christ as the Head of the Body etc. must be first and foremost practiced locally and even individually. Hence, the stress in the New Testament on the “local church.”

This part really perplexes me (not that this is too hard to do:rollingeyes2 How does one practice the church "individually"?