Attempting to SEEM inclusive

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by HERn

I'm pretty sure LSM teaches that there will be at least a few overcomers from the RCC and the denominations that make the rapture and become the Bride of Christ, and that all believers will eventually be together in the new earth and new earth as the wife of the Lamb. I think their exclusivity is that they think they are the only ones on earth now doing it right and pleasing the Father.

Those in the LC do seem willing to make certain admissions, especially if it involves the opportunity to warm people up to the LC. I know I have heard the same as what you mentioned about overcomers, LCers will admit that Christians outside their Lee sect can be overcomers too. I vaguely remember asking an LCer about this for clarification, only to receive a blank stare.

What it really boils down to is that many LCers are just paying lip service. I do think there are also some members who aren’t as exclusive as the rest, but their idea is more along the lines of thinking that 99.9% of anything “good” is in the LC. The “others” do exist, they just make up .1% or whatever minuscule fraction they imagine it to be.

Consider the following statement that Lee once made: "In every denomination, including the Roman Catholic Church, there are real, saved Christians.” What was he really saying there? It seems to me that the underlying implication is that he assumes the vast majority of Christians outside the LC to be either false or carnal Christians. Otherwise what need would he have to clarify that other groups have “real, saved Christians”? I can’t say that I’ve met any Christians outside the LC that go around questioning the sincerity/genuineness of all other groups but their own.

I don’t have the right to judge WL’s heart, but what I think is fair to say is that his emphasis on certain teachings created a problem for him in terms of receiving others. He equated practicing the ground of the church as the only way for Christians to bear a proper testimony for the Lord. He claimed that his practices of spiritual exercise to be the only way to have a genuine relationship with the Lord. He thus left no door open for other possibilities with respect to those who didn’t practice his teachings.