Quote:
Originally Posted by Drake
Though loving your neighbor as yourself implies that there is already love for oneself, the way to find your soul is not to love yourself but rather as the Lord states above it is to deny the love that issues from the self. This is not only the Lord's straightforward statement but the context also demonstrates the same teaching. The Lord was reacting to Peter's objection to His going to the cross, no doubt out of his love for the Lord, and yet this love had to be denied and put under the cross because it was a thing of man. Loving oneself is also a thing of man. Though it sounds reasonable, it is something to be denied, not embraced. It is something that must be put under the cross, not nurtured in anyway. Only then will the believer find his soul.
Drake
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I would think LSM is the last place we should go to learn about loving one another, and denying the self. These folks at LSM have taught their members to hate those men of God who expose sin in their offices, and seek to protect the church of God. They have taught their members to hate ministers like Titus Chu who dared to print his own books. Perhaps "hate" is too strong, but I do remember the vitriol from Lee and Company back in 1990 pumped thru my veins regarding Ingalls, John So, Bill Mallon, etc. They were the "worst" men on earth, or so I was told. They tried to "destroy the ministry, the Recovery, and the very work of God."
Lee and LSM have long exhibited a self-deprecating pattern contrary to the cross of Christ. We were to deny ourselves by having no opinion about wrong teachings. We were to deny ourselves by criticizing other Christians outside TLR. We were to deny ourselves by placing the ministry of Lee above the leadership of local elders. We were to deny ourselves by trusting only Lee, and being suspicious of all others.
If this sort of "self-denial" were the healthy way of "bearing the cross" then the LC's would be so living. They would be full of resurrection power. They would be fruitful. There would be ineffable joy for all to see. Obviously something is wrong here. Very wrong.