In a thread earlier today a lady mentioned the "boston movement' as it is known. This movement is a splinter group from a larger recognized church, the Church of Christ, and the "boston" movement is now known as the "International church of Christ". It has been labelled a cult. People within the cult are worked to a frazzle, often preaching 15 hours a day, for the work of preaching or "desciplemaking" is the identifying mark of the true church in the last days. Or so they believe. It is about the churches view of Authority that I wish to speak here though. For it is the church view of authority that enslaves the followers into following unreasonable requirements.
Firstly the church believes that it has recovered "lost practices", practices ordained by God, and it has recovered lost structure. The structure of the original gospel church under Christ. Lost since the time of the disciples. These lost treasures are the restoration of correct church authority ( which bears a remarkable resemblance to an Authoritarian Pyramid), and the rerstoration of the practise of "discipling". "Discipling" is simply that each member of the church has a "discipler", an individual who is in superior authority over him . God himself has appointed the discipler in the sense that God has appointed the church, reestablished the structure of command, and the discipler is above the disciple in the structure, and hence, must be obeyed. This obedience is unconditional, even if the discipler behaves poorly, he is still to be obeyed. Even if the discipler is corrupt, he is to be obeyed. The logic is that, if he works not in a Godly way, God himself will remove him from his position. The disciple is required to obey, that is all. Failure to do this is labelled "rebellion against God". Ex Witnesses will be familiar with such reasonings.
Anyway, to an examination of Boston "authority". Quotes are from the "Boston Bulletin" . The Boston movements equivalent to the Watchtower.
The Boston Bulletin (BB) article, "The attitude of Jesus" (1988) brought forth the revelation that Christ was submitted in a position of "discipleship" to God . John 5 verse 19 quoted: " I tell you the truth, the son can do nothing by himself, he can only do what he sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the son does also". The focus here is upon imitation" . The article also points out that Jesus was subject to sinfull man. Matthew 23 verse 2 is quoted "The teachers of the law and the pharisees sit in Moses seat, so you must obey them and do everything they tell you". Jesus may have rebuked the pharisees, but he never disobeyed them. They sat in their seats of power because God appointed and allowed them."
Where can such reasoning as this lead ?
From the BB article "Discipleship partners" (1988): "The person that you are discipling , must believe, must trust that you are out for God and their best interests. Because there is going to be some advice that they will not understand, But if they trust that you are out for God, then they will obey".
So understanding why you are doing a thing, following an instruction, is secondary to obeying the command.The example of Peter is quoted:
" Peters trust in Jesus led him to say, 'because you say so'...In order to be discipled by others, the disciple must have a trusting heart, one that listens and follows even when it doesnt comprehend or see the end result....Peter let down the nets not understanding what would happen because he trusted his teacher. Do you trust those discipling over you? Do you trust beyond the point of your own understanding?"
TheBB article "Authority and Submission" (October 1987) points out some things that submission is NOT. It says:
" Submission is not Agreeing, When one agrees with the decision he must submit to, then he does not have to really submit to it in any way. By definition, submission is doing something one has been asked to do that he would not do if he had his own way. But submission is not just outward obedience, It includes that, but it is obedience from the heart. It is a wholehearted giving up of ones own desires. Submission is not conditional. It does not depend upon whether the one commanding it is being fair.We submit to authority, not because the one in authority deserves it, but because his authority comes from God. Therefore, we are, in reality, submitting ourselves to God".
As the BB article "The attitude of Christ Jesus" (1988) said:
"If your house church leader came in and said ' I want everybody in here to wear a red shirt' then every body has to wear a red shirt. You dont care. You dont say, 'yeah, but can he tell me to do that'? What do you care if youve given up yourself? We arent going to sit here and rationalize and reason. What we are saying is that every person has given up themself, and thats the only way to be in the kingdom".
Surely brothers....monstrous reasoning.
Edited by - refiners fire on 15 September 2002 10:29:50