Should people living in sin be rejected from the church

[BNR32FAN]

I was in a discussion today and was shocked to hear that some people think that people who are living in sin should not be allowed to attend their church. This truly breaks my heart to hear this. The discussion was using an example of two people who are living together but aren’t married. What are your thoughts?

 

[Paidiske]

Where better for them to hear the gospel and be called to repent, than in church?

We spend so much time and energy trying to get sinners into church, it seems counter-productive to kick some out.

Note: I am not saying there should be no church discipline. But there'd need to be likely risk of harm to someone before I'd try to forbid attendance.

 

[JustRachel]

My first thought is that this would be like kicking the ill out of the hospital.

 

[Hearingheart]

Personally, I'm not one that believes having the states permission is the only way to be married.

That said, how would the congregation feel about these questions:

Which is the greater sin....living together unmarried or gossips?
Which is the greater sin....Lying or drunkeness?

Hopefully you get my drift. There are probably a lot of hidden sins going on, but it's always easier to point the finger and divert attention.

And they'll know we are Christians by how we tear each other apart, right?

 

[Southernscotty]

That would be one empty church because we all sin. lol
Churches are not country clubs and some people act just like the Pharisees and Sadducees still today

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

They shouldn't be kicked out of church but should they be leaders. After all fornication groups homosexuals and sex outside of marriage into the same group.

 

[PeterDona]

the problem here is that the borderline between "inside" and "outside" has been erased. In the old days only saints were in the church. Today there are hardly any saints left. Hardly anyone who will fast and pray, who will weep for the sin of the unsaved etc etc. Church has become a social institution.

So the answer to the question lies as much in answering "what church"? Is it a church of the saints or the church of whoever wills?

It is the watering out of the religion that has been happening gradually. Remarkably, today e.g. the catholic church may in some respects be considered conservative.

 

[Southernscotty]

There is not one person in any church that is any better than anyone else. We have all fallen short of God's glory and continue to do so.
Our best works are as filthy rags before God. We come to church to glorify Him and grow. Some are stronger in faith than others and they need to help the weaker ones along.

 

[Radagast]

Where better for them to hear the gospel and be called to repent, than in church?

We spend so much time and energy trying to get sinners into church, it seems counter-productive to kick some out.

Note: I am not saying there should be no church discipline. But there'd need to be likely risk of harm to someone before I'd try to forbid attendance.

Indeed. Traditionally, unrepentant sinners were denied communion, but were not forbidden from attending the church or listening to the Gospel.

The practice of "shunning" unrepentant sinners is more of an Anabaptist thing, I believe.

 

[Inkfingers]

What place is there in the church for unrepentant sinners?

 

[Dave-W]

I was in a discussion today and was shocked to hear that some people think that people who are living in sin should not be allowed to attend their church.

1 Cor 5:9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

An immoral person in this context is someone who knows they are sinning and refuses to repent.

 

[Knee V]

Indeed. Traditionally, unrepentant sinners were denied communion, but were not forbidden from attending the church or listening to the Gospel.

^This.

 

[Albion]

Indeed. Traditionally, unrepentant sinners were denied communion, but were not forbidden from attending the church or listening to the Gospel.

The practice of "shunning" unrepentant sinners is more of an Anabaptist thing, I believe.

I don't think that what you described is analogous to shunning, but I am inclined to think that the approach taken by you and Paidiske is the right one. The issue becomes more complicated, however, when the wrongdoers say that the church ought to change or deny its theology in order to accommodate their sin. While that is not part of the question we were asked here, it is what has often happened.

 

[Radagast]

I don't think that what you described is analogous to shunning, but I am inclined to think that the approach taken by you and Paidiske is the right one. The issue becomes more complicated, however, when the wrongdoers say that the church ought to change or deny its theology in order to accommodate their sin. Too often, that is what is happening.

In practice, if you preach sermons on the evils of bank-robbing, and deny Mr Fred Smith communion on the basis of his refusing to stop robbing banks, and announce to the congregation that Mr Fred Smith has been denied communion because of his unrepentant and continued bank-robbing, then Fred Smith will probably stop attending entirely of his own accord.

If Fred Smith keeps turning up regardless, that argues a desire for God that should be encouraged.

 

[Ken Rank]

I was in a discussion today and was shocked to hear that some people think that people who are living in sin should not be allowed to attend their church. This truly breaks my heart to hear this. The discussion was using an example of two people who are living together but aren’t married. What are your thoughts?

There are different levels of sin. Is what they are doing in ignorance? Or, do they know what they are doing is sin, and they are doing it anyway? The latter, knowing it is sin and doing it anyway... isn't sin anymore, it is rebellion against God. So, I ask you... and I am not suggesting anything, I am simply asking you... if church is where people come to worship God and learn of His ways so that they can grow in their walk with Him... do you believe that one who is openly and willingly in rebellion against God truly worshiping Him?

 

[Southernscotty]

I always read 1 Cor 11:27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

I ask everyone to pray and we actually have a quiet time while everyone goes into prayer.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
I do not call out particular sins on people as only God knows the heart of each individual, so anyone can partake that has ask forgiveness.

 

[Knee V]

In my own experience in the churches I have attended, excommunication tends to be more private, and typically temporary. If a person leaves for good, there is usually something else going on driving that than just having to refrain from communion for a while.

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

Yes, I go to church to be surrounded by people who rebelliously continue in sin, who don't take God's word seriously, who think their own choices trump sound doctrine. I'm not trampled down and weary from having to live immersed in a world that denies God, righteousness and basic decency. I need yet another fouled ungodly place to socialize. I want to waste more hours of my life doing what I've already been doing all week long. I'm sure they will respect us more if we compromise our sense of holiness and obedience to God in our effort to gain their butts in our chairs and their coins in our coffers.

 

[Dave-W]

Traditionally, unrepentant sinners were denied communion, but were not forbidden from attending the church or listening to the Gospel.

The congregation I attended in high school never once had communion. At that point it had been in existence for about a decade.

What good does "denying communion" do in such a congregation?

 

[Albion]

In practice, if you preach sermons on the evils of bank-robbing, and deny Mr Fred Smith communion on the basis of his refusing to stop robbing banks, and announce to the congregation that Mr Fred Smith has been denied communion because of his unrepentant and continued bank-robbing, then Fred Smith will probably stop attending entirely of his own accord.

If Fred Smith keeps turning up regardless, that argues a desire for God that should be encouraged.

You would think so, but there are instances where the people in question show up mainly to assert their alleged "rights" or their own theory on what God wants the church to do.