What have we learned?

[zeek]

Originally Posted by OBW

Actually, I don't remember that. And coming from Lee, I take it as just a ploy to push a result. It doesn't matter that all being simply equal (in some aspects) is wrong. Lee probably wasn't talking about the legitimate differences. Otherwise he could have come up with a scriptural reason for differentiation. And there are some. It was probably just not relevant to the differentiation he wanted.

And if anyone thinks that I know Lee's motives, I do not. This is clearly an opinion. But if he was the great Bible expositor he wanted everyone to think he was, he wouldn't have needed to create so many extra-biblical examples, pictures, metaphors, etc., in the place of clear scriptural directives or principles to arrive at his conclusions.

He said it more than once. I think that he was saying that hierarchy was justifable.

[OBW]

Originally Posted by zeek

He said it more than once. I think that he was saying that hierarchy was justifiable.

At some level and in some ways it was/is. But since he had already destroyed the existence of any kind of hierarchy in his previous rhetoric, he needed a different way to arrive at it. So he made up the snake metaphor.

"I put the gold in the fire and out came this calf."

[zeek]

At some level and in some ways it was/is.

Yes. Nature teaches us this. As we have already agreed on the doublespeak thread, the problem was that Lee denied that there was a clergy in the churches.

[awareness]

What we have learned? That followers will cling to even the most extreme and obvious cult leader:

"Followers see him [Warren Jeffs-polygamist/pedophile Mormon cult leader] as a prophet who can speak for God on Earth."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_913008.html

[UntoHim]

Sorry Harold, but I think this is a low blow. I don't see how this situation with this criminal Warren Jeffs relates to the Local Church. As much as I disagree with many of the teachings and practices in the LC, I think your reference to this particular cult group is way out of line and I'm of half a mind to delete it. I'll let it stand for now, but if any of the other regulars out there wants it gone it will disappear without further notice.

[zeek]

It relates in so far as Warren Jeffs and Witness Lee are both cult leaders. That does not mean that they are the same in every way. Cult has come to refer to groups seen as authoritarian, exploitative and that are believed to use dangerous rituals or mind control. Awareness apparently considers WL's cult leader status to be extreme and obvious. I think the LC had become a cult during the years I was in it [73-86]. Compared to the most notorius cult leaders like Jim Jones and David Koresh, WL was moderate. The Lord's Recovery is on course to becoming a a pretty typical Christian sect. Personally I don't find the comparison offensive. I think awareness's point is valid.