A Cult tends to exact a large amount of control over its members. I dont for one moment believe churches are cults of course, but its far more "cultish" to want to know what people are doing in their lives, than it is to not enquire.
It's what families do. They care for and look out for each other because like Our Father, we want His best for them. This demands that we hold each other accountable in our Christian walks. It's easier to live a life of obedience you're not allowed to run unchecked doing whatever you want.
I dont really enjoy fellowship when it intrudes on my personal life, but I would say it is to bring people as a group closer to God. As I do not adhere to your interpretation of the Bible I believe that someones personal lifes irrelevant to this unless they are actively hurting others.
If you are living in obedience to Christ, it won't. When we are out of God's order, it has a way of making it into the light without intrusion.
And it indeed hurts the Body when a part of the body isn't doing what it's supposed to do.
Your body works the same way. Can a part of you not follow its function and you not be affected? Can your heart start operating like your liver and it not hurt you?
Yes, but I fail to see how wanting to know your congregations private life effects this.
The question posed was one about a homosexual couple. As a Christian, I ask the same thing of them as I would a heterosexual couple because of where they need to be in their spiritual walks in order to be effective member's of the Body.
We, as a Church Body, are not to allow heterosexuals to fornicate unadmonished any more than we are to allow homosexuals.
If you tell me you are a couple, therer are some questions that I as a member of the body or an overseer would need to have clear because it is Biblically disobedient for me to allow you to sit in the body unrepentant.
Why because sin makes the Body sick just as disease makes your physical body sick. Left untreated, it has a way of consuming the body. Sin left unchecked inthe Body of Christ does the same thing.
Seeing as I believe judging others even if its claimed to be "righteous" is a sin this isnt really worth me asking. Christians are told not to judge, we are imperfect humans and not capable of doing so.
You hve a misunderstanding of what God says about judging. You had to make a judgment in order to make the statement you just made so how do you say humans are not capable of judging.
Personal insults now? I don't like going to churches as I've found the majority are more concerned with controlling their members than telling non-Christians about Jesus.
That's not a personal insult. My aplogies if it came across that way. I'm just saying, most people don't like being told what to do. As a young adult and teen, we tend to not go home to our parents when we know we've done something wrong and they are gonna tell us and tell us what we need to do.
Same thing here. Lots of folks don't like church because they feel like somebody is gonna start telling them what to do, whereas they feel like no one has the right to do so because they also feel that no one has the right to judge their actions.
I don't want to know what anyones doing in their personal life unless they freely volenteer the information its between them and God. If they enjoy praising God or simply want to learn more about God they are welcome in his presence regardless of their personal life.
As a parent, is this the approach you would take with your kids? Would you allow them to do whatever without inquiring about what is going on in their lives?
Why would you expect those who are supposed to love their neighbors as themselves to have no concern about what is going on in their neighbors lives?
