Farmfresh
City Biddy
I agree with BOTH Morel and Bee.
Communion is a act of obedience between a person and God. I believe that the importance of that act needs to be made VERY VERY clear to people, but ultimately it is an individuals choice as to whether or not they should be partaking at this time. Likewise that is the person that will be held accountable for that choice.
Some churches seem to have "traditional sins" as opposed to Biblical ones. Now don't get me wrong - sin is very real and very well defined in the Bible and needs to be avoided for our own sake as well as for our relationship to God. The "traditional sins" that I see are like dancing, consuming alcohol and gambling.
Some of the very conservative churches that I have attended in the past consider all dancing to be a "sin", even when there are multiple examples of people in the Bible dancing without such designations (one David even danced in his underwear! 2 Samuel 6:14). I did not give my heart to Christ until I was about 15 years old. I was in to the occult before that time and was not raised in a church, so all of this stuff was new to me. When I research ANY subject I always go to the primary source documents first if at all possible. So I read about all the happy sin free dancing in the Bible and then asked my Christian MIL (who was raised Plymouth Brothern BTW) and she explained that modern dances tend to put young people in "bad situations". Places where there is too much alcohol, bodies are held too close and temptation is much too great. THAT is why she believes that dancing is a sin. As a lover of dancing I refer back to that primary source document.
Alcohol is the same way. It says in the Bible that Christians should not consume so much strong drink that they are drunk and that church leaders, such as deacons, elders and pastors (that need to always have their wits about them) should not consume strong drink at all. So a glass of wine with a meal or a beer in the evening is considered OK for the average church member drinking to excess is NOT. Yet some churches consider even touching a glass of alcohol a "sin". Same goes with gambling. Playing a game of poker with some friends should not be a "sin" and some churches won't even let there members OWN a deck of cards or use a dice when the kids are playing Candyland! REAL gambling, like my dad losing almost all he had at the River Boat ... no doubt a sin of excess.
That rant said, I will cover the other part of this question. YES, the members of the church should be watching out for each other and be willing to confront a brother or sister that they see involved in a real (with verses to back it up) Bible sin. HOW they do that can make all of the difference.
In the past at this VERY VERY conservative church that I first went to with my now hubby. Such a problem arose that changed lives - forever. Several of the young people in the church were pot smokers. They often got together and had this special sort of good time on non-church nights. One of the young men got caught by his mom partaking (or preparing to partake) and when questioned did a Ralphy (you know from Christmas Story) and started naming names and swearing that he had never done this before. Some of the names given were my hubby (who hadn't partaken at all in about two years at this point), his brother and his cousin amongst other people. Instead of the mom going privately to each of the named young people and being kind and Biblical with her concerns, she wagged her tongue to just about everyone in the church. The parties were convicted without even an interview! The first they heard of it was when it "was decided" that they could no longer take part in communion! (This decision did NOT include the original tattling guy.) Hubby who was a very mature Christian even back then objected to the "charges" and the delivery of "consequences", he went on without missing a beat. As for the others. At a time when they VERY desperately needed love and support and to be in the Word of God, they felt a cold shoulder and a slap in the face. Several have never entered a church since that day. I often wonder how different their lives would have been if this situation had been handled as God had intended.
If a sinner is found in your church, (Thank goodness - since we are ALL sinners and church is WHERE we need to be) that person needs to be lovingly educated. They need to know - not your judgement, but your concern. They need to be shown - from the Bible - why there is a problem. They need to be educated again about communion. They may need their services, put on hold for a while. If what they are doing is illegal or hurting others - they need reported to proper authorities after you have your talk with them. If this is a sin against God, but not illegal or hurting others, you need to back up and wait. Let God do his part of the Work. Ultimately the person in question will answer to God for the sin - not you and not the church.
Communion is a act of obedience between a person and God. I believe that the importance of that act needs to be made VERY VERY clear to people, but ultimately it is an individuals choice as to whether or not they should be partaking at this time. Likewise that is the person that will be held accountable for that choice.
Some churches seem to have "traditional sins" as opposed to Biblical ones. Now don't get me wrong - sin is very real and very well defined in the Bible and needs to be avoided for our own sake as well as for our relationship to God. The "traditional sins" that I see are like dancing, consuming alcohol and gambling.
Some of the very conservative churches that I have attended in the past consider all dancing to be a "sin", even when there are multiple examples of people in the Bible dancing without such designations (one David even danced in his underwear! 2 Samuel 6:14). I did not give my heart to Christ until I was about 15 years old. I was in to the occult before that time and was not raised in a church, so all of this stuff was new to me. When I research ANY subject I always go to the primary source documents first if at all possible. So I read about all the happy sin free dancing in the Bible and then asked my Christian MIL (who was raised Plymouth Brothern BTW) and she explained that modern dances tend to put young people in "bad situations". Places where there is too much alcohol, bodies are held too close and temptation is much too great. THAT is why she believes that dancing is a sin. As a lover of dancing I refer back to that primary source document.
Alcohol is the same way. It says in the Bible that Christians should not consume so much strong drink that they are drunk and that church leaders, such as deacons, elders and pastors (that need to always have their wits about them) should not consume strong drink at all. So a glass of wine with a meal or a beer in the evening is considered OK for the average church member drinking to excess is NOT. Yet some churches consider even touching a glass of alcohol a "sin". Same goes with gambling. Playing a game of poker with some friends should not be a "sin" and some churches won't even let there members OWN a deck of cards or use a dice when the kids are playing Candyland! REAL gambling, like my dad losing almost all he had at the River Boat ... no doubt a sin of excess.
That rant said, I will cover the other part of this question. YES, the members of the church should be watching out for each other and be willing to confront a brother or sister that they see involved in a real (with verses to back it up) Bible sin. HOW they do that can make all of the difference.
In the past at this VERY VERY conservative church that I first went to with my now hubby. Such a problem arose that changed lives - forever. Several of the young people in the church were pot smokers. They often got together and had this special sort of good time on non-church nights. One of the young men got caught by his mom partaking (or preparing to partake) and when questioned did a Ralphy (you know from Christmas Story) and started naming names and swearing that he had never done this before. Some of the names given were my hubby (who hadn't partaken at all in about two years at this point), his brother and his cousin amongst other people. Instead of the mom going privately to each of the named young people and being kind and Biblical with her concerns, she wagged her tongue to just about everyone in the church. The parties were convicted without even an interview! The first they heard of it was when it "was decided" that they could no longer take part in communion! (This decision did NOT include the original tattling guy.) Hubby who was a very mature Christian even back then objected to the "charges" and the delivery of "consequences", he went on without missing a beat. As for the others. At a time when they VERY desperately needed love and support and to be in the Word of God, they felt a cold shoulder and a slap in the face. Several have never entered a church since that day. I often wonder how different their lives would have been if this situation had been handled as God had intended.
If a sinner is found in your church, (Thank goodness - since we are ALL sinners and church is WHERE we need to be) that person needs to be lovingly educated. They need to know - not your judgement, but your concern. They need to be shown - from the Bible - why there is a problem. They need to be educated again about communion. They may need their services, put on hold for a while. If what they are doing is illegal or hurting others - they need reported to proper authorities after you have your talk with them. If this is a sin against God, but not illegal or hurting others, you need to back up and wait. Let God do his part of the Work. Ultimately the person in question will answer to God for the sin - not you and not the church.
It was a mess, we BARELY made our appointment, but thankfully we did. Then we had to go back to the car 10 miles one way, then back to the tire shop with the rim, then back to the car, then hubs left stuff in moms car, so we had to chase them down at the Dr. office, you guessed it, 10 miles away *sigh* THEN we got the stuff, and went home....30 miles away and did not have time to go to church...35 miles away. I REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEALLLLLY don't like living so far from EVERYTHING sometimes :/
God must have had a reason for us to miss....I sure wish I knew what it was/is.
