The God-Men: An Inquiry into Witness Lee & the Local Church

NeitherFirstnorLast · 11-29-2012, 06:34 PM

Getting (back) to the Facts

I had mentioned that Chapter Three deals with the Doctrine and Theology of the LC. The difficulties of nailing that Doctrine down is dealt with, however, a little earlier on - so let me go back and excerpt a little here from Chapter One....

"...The main body of this book is devoted to an exposition of what we understand to be the position of Lee and his movement on a number of traditional theological categories, along with our response to those positions. The areas of theology discussed are those considered essential to the structure of any well-balanced biblical theology. They are not picayune (petty) topics revolving around secondary or tertiary truths.

(this is however, difficult to do as)....It appears... that Witness Lee has hammered out a double-edged sword, one blade symbolizing biblical literalism, and the other extrabiblical teaching. The latter, although sheathed in biblical terminology, constitutes an unusual shading or, possibly, a twisting of Scripture.

The ramifications of that situation are two-fold. First, by using biblical terminology, the Local Church gains easy access into Christian communities where the Bible is revered. Second, when criticized or accused of unbiblical teaching, the LC is able to produce true biblical affirmations... Yet major emphasis is placed on unusual, obscure, or questionable points of doctrine.

The Local Church mentality evidently has no difficulty in accomodating contradiction in a variety of forms.... For example, Witness Lee says that "doctrine only works divisions among the Lord's children" and "the more we talk about doctrines, the more we will quarrel". (WL The Economy of God, pg 23). At the same time, he not only teaches but insists upon certain doctrines (such as "mingling" and "local ground") in a way that leads him to reject fellowship with every major Christian body in the world.

Another example of contradiction between word and action is found in LC techniques of proselytizing (gaining 'new ones').... Securing converts among people seeking "a New Testament-type church", the LC took people away from a number of already-established groups. The pattern was almost always the same:

"Contact was made with a group that had some ideas similar to those of the LC. There would be a great deal of talk about unity. Slowly the group would lean towards some kind of co-working with the LC. As soon as the LC was in a position to take a sizeable portion of the other group, some issue would be made. It didn't make any difference what issue. Just an issue. A stand with one side of the other was then demanded by the Local Church. They, of course, could no longer work together with a false church that had now shown its real colors. The ugly head of sectarianism had risen. No way would the LC accept that. Division resulted, and the LC took its spoils of victory away." (Jack Sparks)

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I think the author's insights are keen, and the quote from Jack Sparks on the bottom (in italics) I think is most intriguing, given ZNP's testimony about what happened with Stephen Kaung's group in NY and their "absorption" into the LC.... I wonder which other groups the author might have had in mind? I debated leaving that italicized quote in, as it stands alone in the paragraph - but it was ZNPs testimony that caused me to leave it in.

11-29-2012, 06:34 PM	#11
NeitherFirstnorLast Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 348	Our Reading Continues Getting (back) to the Facts I had mentioned that Chapter Three deals with the Doctrine and Theology of the LC. The difficulties of nailing that Doctrine down is dealt with, however, a little earlier on - so let me go back and excerpt a little here from Chapter One.... "...The main body of this book is devoted to an exposition of what we understand to be the position of Lee and his movement on a number of traditional theological categories, along with our response to those positions. The areas of theology discussed are those considered essential to the structure of any well-balanced biblical theology. They are not picayune (petty) topics revolving around secondary or tertiary truths. (this is however, difficult to do as)....It appears... that Witness Lee has hammered out a double-edged sword, one blade symbolizing biblical literalism, and the other extrabiblical teaching. The latter, although sheathed in biblical terminology, constitutes an unusual shading or, possibly, a twisting of Scripture. The ramifications of that situation are two-fold. First, by using biblical terminology, the Local Church gains easy access into Christian communities where the Bible is revered. Second, when criticized or accused of unbiblical teaching, the LC is able to produce true biblical affirmations... Yet major emphasis is placed on unusual, obscure, or questionable points of doctrine. The Local Church mentality evidently has no difficulty in accomodating contradiction in a variety of forms.... For example, Witness Lee says that "doctrine only works divisions among the Lord's children" and "the more we talk about doctrines, the more we will quarrel". (WL The Economy of God, pg 23). At the same time, he not only teaches but insists upon certain doctrines (such as "mingling" and "local ground") in a way that leads him to reject fellowship with every major Christian body in the world. Another example of contradiction between word and action is found in LC techniques of proselytizing (gaining 'new ones').... Securing converts among people seeking "a New Testament-type church", the LC took people away from a number of already-established groups. The pattern was almost always the same: "Contact was made with a group that had some ideas similar to those of the LC. There would be a great deal of talk about unity. Slowly the group would lean towards some kind of co-working with the LC. As soon as the LC was in a position to take a sizeable portion of the other group, some issue would be made. It didn't make any difference what issue. Just an issue. A stand with one side of the other was then demanded by the Local Church. They, of course, could no longer work together with a false church that had now shown its real colors. The ugly head of sectarianism had risen. No way would the LC accept that. Division resulted, and the LC took its spoils of victory away." (Jack Sparks) ************************* I think the author's insights are keen, and the quote from Jack Sparks on the bottom (in italics) I think is most intriguing, given ZNP's testimony about what happened with Stephen Kaung's group in NY and their "absorption" into the LC.... I wonder which other groups the author might have had in mind? I debated leaving that italicized quote in, as it stands alone in the paragraph - but it was ZNPs testimony that caused me to leave it in.