Leo Sutic wrote:
Berin Loritsch wrote:
> If the party deemed the guilty party still refuses to repent
> when the church is involved, then they are to be treated
> like a sinner and a publican (tax collector--the lowest of
> lows in that country).
Berin,
since the closest thing to a church we have is the board, and
since that treatment sounds like suspension, I'd like to offer
just a small clarification of what that treatment means:
Essentially it is. 99.999% of all cases are fixed before it ever
gets there.
Luke 18:9-14:
http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible?passage=Luke+18%3A9-14&NIV_version=yes&language=english
---
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and
looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and
the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and
prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not
like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or
even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and
give a tenth of all I get.'
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not
even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said,
'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went
home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
----
How can this be interpreted? I would interpret it this way:
Even for sinners and tax collectors, the doors to the church remain
open, but the church has done all it can and the onus is now on
the sinner to reform before he can enter.
Your missapplying that parable. That parable was to show that the
Pharisee who thought he was righteous and inherently better than
the sinner was actually worse in God's eyes.
There are other passages that describe the proper spirit any time
something like this has to be done. It is always done wit the
attitude and desire for the person who is set outside the community
to repent (like the wayward son parable) and come back. Father
God always wants people to repent and conform to His word.
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