Number 6

Weakness always brings down strength

lcm was preaching ok about being strong in the Lord when he started to go off on a tangent about "weakness" Then he popped off with the statement that "Weakness ALWAYS brings down strength". Once he made that statement, he could not back down without losing face. And he would RARELY do anything that could make him lose face, even if it was telling the truth and admitting a mistake. Then when people would not receive this statement, he'd yell about it and even make fun of the weak.

After the withdraw and avoid thing was polluted even more by the "genuine suspicion" doctrine, believers started being ostracized was because they were thought to be "weak". We were told that we should get rid of them because "Weakness always brings down strength". What about edification? That is supposed to build strength. If weakness always brought down strength, edification should be a non-existent concept.

It is a fact that the leadership body should be unified and that weakness or sinfulness not be allowed among leaders who should certainly know better. But what about the average believers who are still growing up? What about weakness brought about via injury, or even ministry negligence or abusive leadership? Again, because this statement was yelled so much and incorrectly stated as an absolute, it took on a life of its own and soon the same standards that were for leaders were imposed on all.

Romans 14:1 says were are to receive the weak. This was ignored. Romans 15:1 states that we who are strong should support the weak and not just please ourselves. We were advised to not get too involved. I Corinthians 10:12 says that such a wound against the weak is a sin against Christ. Romans 14:13-18 concurs. But because of expediency, edification was being rejected. It would take too long to help these people. We needed to be wherever we were going too quickly... But one cannot take the household from Romans 12 and 13 to the pinnacle in Romans 15:5,6 without obeying Romans 14. This truth is bracketed by the repetition of the word, apolambano, to receive to one's self (into the household) in Romans 14:1,3 and 15:7 in the introductory and summary sentences of the subject. This kind of repetition is a very emphatic figure of speech and is the type that controls entire Biblical contexts.

The leadership was being drawn by the promise of something greater but the result was that they were actually pleasing themselves. For example, we were ordered to not witness to new people who "did not have a job, a car or teeth", etc. We were even encouraged to not get our hands dirty and wade in too deep to deal with our own people's problems. It sounded good at the time because of the supposed hurry we were in, but we actually were being led to neglect our duty to be ambassadors for Christ, mend wounds and edify the body of Christ. The result was that the believers were being crushed. Once that kind of discrimination was allowed, the criteria for its practice began to broaden and exclude more and more kinds of people and problems.