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Originally Posted by Igzy
Freedom, I always appreciate your thoughtful posts.
In my humble opinion, I do not think Lee really wanted worship for himself.
But I think he approved of, let us say, the veneration of himself as a uniting factor in the movement he formed. So convinced he was that unity was the answer to God's plan getting accomplished that he became willing to use questionable means to achieve that unity.
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Yes I would agree with this but think about that. "Veneration of himself as a uniting factor in the movement he formed". Worst case you can call that idolatry. Giving him the absolute most benefit of the doubt you would say that he was using methods condemned by the New Testament that flirted with idolatry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Some people think Lee was all about power and its rewards. I don't believe that. I believe he really wanted to accomplish God's purpose. But he looked at history and saw the ongoing disunity and "herding of cats" that was the Church and, given his organizational and controlling temperament, decided that the end justified the means. He resorted to, or at least went along with, things that would unify the movement, hoping that this unity would eventually grow into a greater unity of Christians in general. And one of the things that united the movement was unity around him and his teachings. And so he accepted veneration, not because he was on an ego trip, but because he thought this could evolve into something greater. It was a massive miscalculation, much like the similar ones Nee made before him.
This worked for awhile, just like other bad but well-intentioned practices sometimes work in the short term. Chinese communism moved China from an agrarian society to an industrial society in record time. But the end did not justify the means. China is still reeling from Maoism. The LCM and those it affected are still reeling from Leeism.
Lee was right about one thing. Unity is the key to the Church's ultimate effectiveness. He was just wrong about the way he tried to achieve unity. Twenty years after his passing, people and the Church are still suffering because of it.
It's time to admit, learn from and recover from the mistake.
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This is a plausible explanation and an explanation that I would view as the best possible case a defense attorney could make for Witness Lee. The problem is that even this explanation presumes an extraordinary arrogance on his part to disregard so many things that he taught. He himself taught that the end does not justify the means, he taught this in the Corinthian training. If his real intention was to unify Christians as a whole he sure had a very strange way to accomplish this. It shows he was willing to disregard much of the apostle's teaching because he thought he had a better way.
I personally don't agree with this view. It doesn't explain his fabricated story about Watchman Nee's mistress. It doesn't explain his actions in the Sister's Rebellion. Both of those actions demonstrated that he was more for power and rewards than for God's purpose. In my opinion he was double minded, trying to serve both God and Money. It isn't possible. As a result he was unstable in his ways, further evidence that he was double minded. He was hypocritical, further evidence that he was double minded. There is far too much evidence that rewards and power were motivating factors for Witness Lee. So then, being motivated by God's purpose and plan only demonstrates that he was double minded, trying to serve both Mammon and God.