Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry
Somethings Witness Lee did or did not do, I think brothers took that and became legalistic with those practices even if it's non-essential to our faith or plain not even scriptural. (For example Witness Lee would say he didn't watch TV. As a result it became legalistic not to have a TV in one's home and if there was it was with the caveat for only children's educational purposes. Otherwise TV's were kept in the closets or not in the homes at all.)
I would just say read the Bible daily and through reading it will become clear what was we should affirm and what we should reject.
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While I do agree that that happened (i.e. brothers took things he said and became legalistic with those practices), I was thinking of the many ministry quotes where W.Lee says things like:
"...whenever I enter a department store I have the deep conviction that I am going into hell." (LS of Genesis Chapter 24). Or,
"Consider the situation in modern society. I do not even dare to look at a newspaper. It contains too many temptations. While I am walking along the street, I do not dare look into the show windows.....department stores are more than devilish, and all the exhibitions and displays in them come from hell." (LS of Genesis Chapter 28). Or,
"The worldly attraction of the department store and the worldly entertainment of television are .... on the way to the lake of fire..." (The Testimony of Jesus). Or,
Other places in the LS of Genesis he implies that if you go to the department store you will lose your inner weight of gold, but if you say "Amen Lord I will not go to the department store" you will keep the gold. Or,
"...it is regrettable that many of the brothers and sisters are not home, but have been attracted to worldly things such as surfing, movies, sports, and even gambling." (LS of John)
"Going to movies is a sign of weakness in one's Christian life." and "You should forget about movies." and "Many people are under the bondage of movies." and "After being saved, if we still go to a movie, something within will cause us to feel bad." (Crucial Elements of God's Economy) -- hahaha!! It's hilarious that going/not going to movies are in a book called "Crucial Elements of God's Economy"!
And there are many more.
These kind of statements are not him simply saying what he does in his own life. He is making clear statements, with the implication being that if you do the opposite of what he is saying, you will be in hell/lose the Lord/be sinning.
What else is a young kid who hears/reads/is taught these things supposed to think besides be scared/fearful/ashamed to look at a newspaper, look at a store display, go to a cartoon movie, watch a baseball game, go surfing (? why did he pick that of all things?), or turn on the TV? (I know with non-verbal communication it might come across like I'm belligerently asking you that question, but I really mean it rhetorically and typed it in calmness and sadness.)
If those things don't take pre-eminence in your life and consume you, then there is nothing wrong with doing them (unless the Lord has actually touched you about something). But when Lee paints with those kind of strokes, then he creates, from youth, people who are afraid of normal, human, non-sinful things, and who, as adults, can also not enjoy doing those things. When so many things are made sinful, then there's quickly nothing else left.
I recognize this is OT from this thread, and I apologize, but I think some principles of what I'm saying do apply to it.