Hi waiting,
What's my take, you ask?
What I found most important is this.....
:::How did Jesus say one expelled from congregation should be treated?
Moreover, if your brother commits a sin, go lay bare his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two more, in order that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. If he does not listen to them, speak to the congregation. If he does not listen even to the congregation, let him be to you just as a man of the nations ['Gentile' in some translations] and as a tax collector.--Matt.18:15-17 (NWT)
The instruction was to bring up the matter of sin first between the two individuals alone. Then, if the sinner would repent, there was no need to carry the matter further. If the sinner was not repentant, then one or two others should be sought for witnesses. If the sinner remained unrepentant, only then, as a last resort, should it be brought before the entire congregation (not privately with the "elders").
If, after all that, the person was still would not listen, he should then be treated the same as Gentiles and tax collectors. In other words, Christians were to treat former members just like anyone else who was not a member of the congregation. To be treated like a "man of the nations" (which is to say, a Gentile or foreigner) was far from being shunned. Jewish people worked with, associated with, transacted business with, and preached to Gentiles. As for "tax collectors," Jesus ate and associated with them. Matthew was a tax collector. Tax collectors were not popular, but they were not shunned.
Next, while passing along from there, Jesus caught sight of a man named Matthew seated at the tax office, and he said to him: "Be my follower." Thereupon he did rise up and follow him. Later, while he was reclining at the table in the house, look! many tax collectors and sinners came and began reclining with Jesus and his disciples. But on seeing this the Pharisees began to say to his disciples: "Why is it that your teacher eats with tax collectors and sinners?" Hearing [them], he said: "Persons in health do not need a physician, but the ailing do. Go, then, and learn what this means, 'I want mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came to call, not righteous people, but sinners."
--Matt.9:9-13 NWT
:::The law of love
If the law of Christianity can be summed up in one word, it is "LOVE." Does not love rescue and recover the sinner? Would Jesus shun the sheep who strayed from the flock?
Now all the tax collectors and the sinners kept drawing near to him to hear him. Consequently both the Pharisees and the scribes kept muttering saying: "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Then he spoke this illustration to them, saying: "What man of you with a hundred sheep, on losing one of them, will not leave the ninety-nine behind in the wilderness and go for the lost one until he finds it? And when he has found it he puts it upon his shoulders and rejoices. And when he gets home he calls his friends and his neighbors together, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.' I tell you that thus there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who have no need of repentance.--Luke 15:1-7 (NWT)
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And here is some more of my take on it all.
I can't remember what book of the bible I was reading but, I remember reading that if someone says, " I repent " for a sin they committed, then we are to forgive them. No matter how many times they sin and then repent. The point is what making is to forgive. Jesus NEVER said to have a group of men get together behind closed doors, and follow certain orders contained in a secret book made by other men (elder's manual) to judge the heart of one they may consider a sinner. It seems to me that judicial committees are set up to judge if a person is repentent enough for their liking or not. Then a decision is made to forgive, or not to forgive (ie disfellowship) When someone gets disfellowshipped, it is the same as saying " Sure, the congregation will forgive you IF you proove to us that you are really repentent. So...if you meet our appoval after 6 months or so, we will then completely forgive you and we will welcome you back ( but we just won't applaud when we annouce that your punishement is over and you are as good as we are).
If Jesus ever taught Christians to treat each other in this horrible manner, I really want to see where in the bible he taught it. I just can't imagine it to be a teaching of Christ. Look what it does to people? It's very hateful behavior, imo. Has anyone in your family ever been disfellowshipped ?
till next time,
sombody
~~~~~Somebody told me it was frightening how much topsoil we are losing each year, but I told that story around the campfire and nobody got scared.~~~~~
