Should people living in sin be rejected from the church

sunlover1 said:

The woman at the well wasn't 'calling herself a brother or sister" and continuing in sin.
Huge difference.
I'm not ignoring anything, but it needs to be rightly divided.
Sin is sin, as other's have said.
This isn't about "which" sin, it's about hard hearts,
as in non repentant, or calling good for evil and evil for good.
We're washed in the blood, but for what?
To spit at the cross and continue in sin?
Yikes!
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

Those who are born of God will certainly not continue in sin.
Be it, sexual immorality or gossip or greed or etc.

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The Law defines Right and Wrong... are you saying you follow it to the letter? James 2:10

Are you saved by Jesus or the Law?

Do you have no sin?

Can you cast stones?

And... again ... you dodged the scripture I posted in the first place.

To be direct.., are you saved by HIS Doing and Right... or “yours”?

If you have a single sin in your life... you better answer back carefully...

He KNOWS ALL and is watching what you say next...

It’s just the Lord of Hosts you would be dishonest in front of...

Why did He come for Sinners and “not the well”?

Do you need a physician?

Grip Docility said:

I could be misunderstanding you... but... Quote the verse where she left her man, please.

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She wouldn't have to leave the man to stop sinning/ repent,
would she ?
If so, why ?

BNR32FAN said:

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?

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There should not be any off-the-cuff answers to the question without considering the pertinent scripture. In fact, the question should not have even been asked without first going to the scriptures--or it should have been asked as "what are the pertinent scriptures?" rather than "what do you think?"

I'm not sure the OP intended to make a distinction between "attendance" and "membership."

Grip Docility said:

Do you have no sin?

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How quickly it is forgotten ...

Blessed is the man whose sin Yahweh takes away.

yeshuaslavejeff said:

She wouldn't have to leave the man to stop sinning/ repent,
would she ?
If so, why ?

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Perhaps we both have the same understanding of repent...

All of His blessings to you... and may we all speak in Grace.

yeshuaslavejeff said:

How quickly it is forgotten ...

Blessed is the man whose sin Yahweh takes away.

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Romans 4

Amen!

I believe you and the other individual I was answering are diametrically different by one simple Truth.

You are both saying two different things.

I’m pretty sure.

Christ bless you.

BNR32FAN said:

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?

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I'd find a new church. None of the people suggesting the people "living in sin" should be expelled are without sin themselves. Everyone will sin. Of course, we aspire to sin less, but that's a terrible attitude those people have. Personally I wouldn't have anything to do with them.

If any individual member of the church were empowered to expel an unrepentant wrongdoer from the congregation, that would be wrong in the opinion of most Christian people.

However, it is the church itself that is making such a decision.

This changes the situation completely and eliminates the “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone“ line of argument.

Why not repent ?

MMDave3 said:

we aspire to sin less

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"those people" are seeking to keep and honor and obey God's Own Instructions, not their own ideas.

MMDave3 said:

but that's a terrible attitude those people have. Personally I wouldn't have anything to do with them.

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Perhaps there's another reason you wouldn't have anything to do with those who seek to honor God's Word and Instructions ?

Ephesians 5 English Standard Version (ESV)
Walk in Love
5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.

BNR32FAN said:

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?

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I think in your case "no" but the case Paul had "yes" A man having relations with his fathers wife. So the answer may depend on the severity of the sin, is such a person in a position of authority and also if they are promoting the lifestyle as lawful. Its a fine line to walk with each case being different and such expulsion shouldn't be done without a church board consensus not just from a single Pastor.

Jesus offered living water to a women who had be married five times and the man she was currently living with wasn't her husband. He came to save. Though at some point a genuine faith would prompt a need for a change of heart. A desire out of love for Jesus to do the good and reject the wrong. It is well known that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Albion said:

Probably a quarter of the members of your parish are remarried with living ex-wives or husbands...and yet are members in good standing and communicants.

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Probably correct.

BNR32FAN said:

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?

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Are you referring to someone who knows the gospel already, and rejects it by living in sin?

For instance someone who robs people for a living.

Jesus heals. Jesus saves.

Who does Jesus cast out of heaven though ?

Better cast them out of the assembly on earth long before that, so they might repent.

Jesus' Rules - Obey Jesus' Rules..... best to do this all the time.... now, while there is a choice to do so ....

BNR32FAN said:

No I have witnessed first hand what can happen as a result of a person living in sin (me) who is allowed to stay within the church and embraced by Christians in the church and guess what. I didn’t cause any of them to sin. None of them began smoking marijuana. You are taking one particular case of what Paul said to do to one man and forming a doctrine based on that without significant understanding of the details for that situation. Be careful of your pride my friend for he who lifts himself up will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be lifted up.

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Paul did not confine his words to the situation he was addressing in the Corinthian church. His comment that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" was stated in an axiomatic way, as a general principle, not as a Corinthian-specific rule. Wherever "leaven" is in the church it will have a "leavening" effect. And since this is so, we ought to be careful, as Paul commands, to remove the "leaven" from the community of believers.

How is a person to say, "This is morally right and that is morally wrong," when doing so is itself sinful? Why must it always be pride that motivates such distinctions? How is the Church to protect itself from the "leavening" effect of sin when it is gagged from judging and challenging sin in its midst by the charge of pride or self-righteousness? Jesus, Paul, James, Peter, John and even Jude have critical, judgmental things to say to the Church. All of them pointed to the leaven in peoples' lives and condemned it. Were they simply lifted up in self-righteous pride? Of course not.

It seems to me the more a person desires and practices holiness, the more concerned they'll be about the Church being holy, too. In my experience, it is the person who is compromised morally who protests most in others the desire for a holy Church. The brighter their fellow believers shine, the more condemned the morally-compromised feel in the darkness they have allowed in their lives. But rather than confess and repent of their sin, they snipe at the godly brother pursuing holiness and call him prideful. And this is why "leaven" in the Church is so destructive: It makes holiness into an evil thing and subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) encourages moral and spiritual compromise.

Ephesians 5:5-12
5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.

aiki said:

Did Jesus call the lost to the synagogues to learn about the Gospel? Did he set up Sunday services for unbelievers to attend? No, he went out to where they were and preached to them. His disciples did likewise. Where, then, do the lost go to learn about Christ? To believers, of course. It isn't up to the pastors on a Sunday morning to save folk, it is up to us, it is up to every born-again person, to share the light of the Gospel with the lost. And we do that at work, in our homes, over the fence talking with our neighbor, on fishing trips with unsaved friends, among the lost members of our softball team, or book club, or knitting circle. Bringing the lost into a Sunday service intended for the worship of a God they don't know or love is, it seems to me, a bit obscene. What an awful thing to think that they might be singing "Amazing Grace" or "We Love you Lord" while living in rebellion to God and standing under His eternal judgment! Such a thing seems very grotesque to me. And then the sermon is either preached to the saved - as it should be - to spiritually nourish them, or it is watered down and juvenilized to accommodate the lost who are in attendance. If the former happens, the spiritually-unregenerate lost person cannot understand what is being taught; if the latter happens, the believers are left spiritually under-nourished. We are told to "go into all the World and preach the Gospel," not turn the worship of the Church into the seeker-sensitive gong-show it has become.

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Wow. You should read your Bible more...

Matthew 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

Matthew 9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

Matthew 12:9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,

Matthew 13:54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked.

And that's just in the the book of Matthew. Perhaps you should rethink your stance.

Ken Rank said:

I wasn't replying to the OP at this point, I was replying to you. But good job of distracting the point.

I get the sense you NEED to be correct... so you can be correct. I won't respond to you again in this thread. Take care.

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Way to take it off topic, then. And to not admit your fault but blame others, nor taking correction. I've read something about that somewhere - one not admitting their faults... where could that have been??

Kenny'sID said:

Are you referring to someone who knows the gospel already, and rejects it by living in sin?

For instance someone who robs people for a living.

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Why does that matter? Go to just about any Christian church in a major metropolitan city on a Sunday morning and one may find thieves, robbers, drug dealers, rapists, molesters, prostitutes, etc. Usually in the back, in my experience. If they are not disrupting the service or other attenders, would you kick them out? If they hear the gospel being preached, but don't accept it at the time, yet keep coming back, how many times can they come back before they are not allowed entry if they do not repent?

BigDaddy4 said:

Wow. You should read your Bible more...

Matthew 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

Matthew 9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

Matthew 12:9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,

Matthew 13:54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked.

And that's just in the the book of Matthew. Perhaps you should rethink your stance.

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No, you should read what I wrote more carefully. Jesus taught in the synagogues, but he did not call people there to hear the Gospel. As I said, he went where the people were, he did not require that they come to him as many modern churches do.

BigDaddy4 said:

Why does that matter? Go to just about any Christian church in a major metropolitan city on a Sunday morning and one may find thieves, robbers, drug dealers, rapists, molesters, prostitutes, etc. Usually in the back, in my experience. If they are not disrupting the service or other attenders, would you kick them out? If they hear the gospel being preached, but don't accept it at the time, yet keep coming back, how many times can they come back before they are not allowed entry if they do not repent?

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It matters because cancer spreads. Simple.

If someone has decided not to go with God, why in the world would they want to go to church anyway, or at least attend regularly? If they are truly seeking him and that is obvious, that's another story altogether. But allowing members to go on as if nothing has happened when they never turn away from, or turn back to sin as a lifestyle, is not a good idea.

So you feel there should be a set in stone period of time they should not be allowed to return? What would you suggest? Those things should probably be taken one situation at a time as situations are different.

I say treat them like we are told to, and don't even eat with them after proper steps are taken, and they continue to live in what is referred to as wilful sin. I'd quote the scripture but I'd guess it's already been mentioned/quoted. Then hopefully they'll have a change of heart or just stop attending once they get the cold shoulder....and yes, that cold shoulder is biblical.