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If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 KJV
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 KJV
I generally try to avoid worshipping with spiritually abusive people, but I would go out to dinner with them provided they could just chat about life.
Me too. I am severely allergic to spiritually abusive people. I am allergic to abusive people in general.
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"Most human beings are not able to stand the message of the shaking of foundations. They reject and attack the prophetic minds, not because they really disagree with them, but because they sense the truth of their words and cannot receive it." Paul Tillich
The whole teaching of not "fellowshipping" with those that are lost is an unscriptural ideology. IMHO those churches that practice this type of exclusionary and elitist type of dogma are borderline cults, and present a very weak God to their people and to the world at large. I do understand that there are weak Christians who are unable to be around certain influences until they have reached a place of maturity, however if the God who was strong enough to save us is not strong enough to keep us, he is not a God I want to serve.
Again IMO this kind of teaching creates weak and feeble saints who believe that the enemy is so strong that he can snatch them out of the church/body of Christ if they do anything with unsaved folks. But the scriptures declare that nothing/no one can pluck me out of his hand. (except for my self) I can have a blast around someone who is not saved and never partake nor be tempted to partake in their sin.
Very good post...my sentiments exactly !!
and as faor "our" practice of shunning those who have left the (our) faith.
They need us to stay after them, to keep them in prayer.
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God has lavished his love upon me.
I would say that it would depend on what is meant by the term 'fellowship'. If you refer to constant contact that would lead people to believe that we are best friends, no to almost all of the above. But, if I am acquainted with them, I will do some of the activities and be as kind and considerate as I can possibly be.
I have acquaintances who are sinners and living in sin, I try to be a constant witness to them.
I have known many people of questionable moral character. A pastor should be very careful who he lets into his house, and his wife should always be present if such an event is to occur. I would say that it is far better to meet them at a diner with said wife with the pastor, than to have them in active prostitution and inside the home.
(That is my opinion right now and is subject to change without notice. Also I am not a pastor.)
No I would not invite an openly gay co-worker over for dinner. I am a single young man and that would be a situation that would compromise my ability to witness. (Let not your good be evil spoken of.) That does not mean that I would not be kind and courteous, but a Christian should always be careful.
It would depend on the situation as to whether I would ever be in any of these places, and for how long.
Yes I would spend an evening with a person who has done me harm, with the care that I not give said person another chance to do me injury. My care would be even more pronounced if the hurt was deliberate.
As to people who left our denomination, I would say that it would depend on the circumstances that precipitated their departure. If it was over an honest disagreement about an issue, then I would probably stay in contact with them. There are situations that I probably would not associate with an individual, but again to protect my reputation.
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I am an Apostolic Pentecostal. Apostolic in teaching, and Pentecostal in experience.
To give you an example, I went to a musical play a few years ago where the lead role starred a male-to-female transgendered co-worker at (her?) invitation.
Now, I don't ask this question in the political sense. Such as a pastor officially "fellowshipping" with people he or she does not agree with, but rather I ask in a much more personal way.
Do you have friends who are sinners to the core?
As a pastor would you invite a prostitute over for dinner?
Would you invite a gay co-worker? (Such as my immediate supervisor)
Would you GO to either of their homes?
How about spending an evening with a man who did you great harm in the past?
....Or left your denomination?
I am really curious.
*all ears*
Do I have friends who are sinners? Sheesh... that sometimes sounds like me.
Having a prostitute over.... that's an easy one. Would you have a former-pedophile over at your house??
My immediate supervisor at work is gay (and has been with his "partner" for 17 years now....). Obviously I do not condone the lifestyle but he is a very nice guy and we are good friends. At the beginning, I have been not-so-subtly reminded that my faults in totality are probably much worse then his.... the only difference between us is the cross.
And the cross makes all the difference. It empowers us to live freely...
Have to be some witnesses with that one
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