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Hi Phil and anyone else reading.
The church my brother attends had a meeting yesterday, and on the agenda was the issue of permitting actively gay clergy. To my mind this shouldn’t even need discussing. Fortunately I was trying a new and more Bible based church a little further afield.
One question that apparently came up in the meeting: should practicing gay couples be allowed to attend church? My own chain of thought went like this:
No. Christians struggling with sin are one thing, but unrepentant sinners are another. They should be approached in love, and shown what the Bible says on the subject, and given a period to reflect and offered prayer. But, it shouldn’t be allowed to continue. As Paul tells us, sin is like yeast and will spread unless stopped. How you would implement this without lawsuits and hiring bouncers, I have no idea. What do you think? How woud YOU deal with this?
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10-03-2023, 09:28 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-03-2023, 01:14 PM by phillsacre.)
Hi,
That's a really good question!
It raises big (but important) questions about church and church membership. Different denominations will have different ways of dealing with this.
Firstly, the Reformers distinguished between the visible and the invisible church. So, not everyone who goes to church is a Christian and therefore not part of the true church. Jesus said, "not everyone who says to me 'Lord, lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven' (Mt 7:21). In every age there will be liars and charlatans in the church.
Secondly, those who are known to be liars and charlatans, or those who are not living in accordance with Christ's teaching, should not be treated as part of the church. Paul said: "God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”" (1 Cor 5:13). God cares about the purity of the church, and those who are unwilling to repent of their sin should be expelled.
I would say that a same-sex couple, who refused to repent of their sin (and I agree with you that this should be preceded by teaching them what the Bible says and giving them time to think and pray about it), should therefore be expelled from the church. In Anglican churches you can't physically stop someone from coming into the church, but the way this would be done is to 'excommunicate' them - i.e. to stop them from receiving communion. In other words, treat them as if they're not Christian.
It's important to say that focussing on purity should cover *every* sin, not just those of a sexual nature. We should all be seeking holiness in every way. Someone who is not seeking holiness in other areas should expect the same treatment. I think a real problem with the church is that it doesn't really require and expect people to be seeking holiness - which is where it makes it unfair for same-sex couples to be excluded. If people who aren't pursuing holiness are allowed to come, but only same-sex couples are excluded, then it does make it seem like singling them out. When that's not the case!
This is a topic I've actually been thinking a bit about, I am planning to write / do a video about it sometime...
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10-04-2023, 12:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-04-2023, 02:15 PM by spottydogowner.)
Thanks for your input, I look forward to your writing/video on the subject.
As an afterthought, I think folk have some excuse for not knowing what the Bible says. Most churches I’ve been to over the years only preach edited highlights. Some leaders don’t even know themselves, and it’s a case of the blind leading the blind. My brother, for example, is a deacon in a ‘progressive’ Baptist church (an Inclusion and Diversity officer at work and BLM defender), and I very much doubt he knows what the Bible actually says. I won’t mention him though or I might have to examine my eye for planks, but you know what I mean.
