The Fallacy of Ecumenism

[Cal]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Hi Igzy,

God is also working people out of denominations: Non-denominationalism is on the rise
http://www.christianitytoday.com/eds...ost-recen.html

I believe God is moving his people to major on the majors and minor on the minors. People want Jesus, and they know proprietary doctrines and practices which do not speak directly to God's basic truths of salvation and relationship with Him are superfluous. They are not interested in those. This is resulting in people seeking out churches which are less interested in being distinct. God can be fresher in community churches, and this is attractive.

So, yes, I believe that this is all part of God plan. But it doesn't mean God hates denominations. It means that denominations need to become more general. And they will, to survive, because people will vote with their feet. The name of a denomination is a superficial issue. A denomination is simply an attempt to present a certain flavor of Christianity. Every group at some level thinks they are doing it right and, at the very least, how God wants people to do it. The LCM is no different. There is nothing really unique about it. It's a flavor of Christianity.

But the flavors tend to become set in their ways and ossify. The more a group becomes entrenched in tradition and routine the less God is free to use the group. That is why simplicity and generality and sticking to the essentials is so important. It helps us (1) stay light and (2) more able to receive and cooperate with others. This works more toward unity.

The LCM is a weird duck. It is very particular, very quirky, very proprietary. Yet it wants to think of itself as general. But no group so devoted to one teacher can hope to be general. Despite Lee's early foray into generality, he soon realized he could not keep control of the movement without making himself essential. So a double-mindedness was put in place. On the one hand he preached generality, but when push came to shove he was anything but general. This double-mindedness and hypocrisy eventually became the prevailing mindset, which remains to this day. And it is what makes many LCMers so difficult to reason with.