michaelvpardo
Well-Known Member
If you were to cast all sinners out of the church, first you would have empty pulpits (preachers preach first to themselves and secondarily to the congregation) and then you'd have nothing but empty seats.Again i say if we start letting leaven in for the sake of hugs and unity we are gonna destroy our church .
Now paul had to rebuke the corinthians for allow leaven to remain . What do you really think paul would have said
about two gay men that are married , claiming JESUS and sitting in a church .
HE would tell us what i am about to remind us all of , GET THEM OUT , My call would be the same as pauls
Deliver them over unto satan that perhaps the soul can be saved in the day of JESUS .
Cast out the leaven . We do it for the sake of the church and we do it in hopes they will repent .
Who gets to determine what is or isn't sound doctrine? Personally, I trust the word and the Spirit within me. I've heard some generally sound teachers say some of the most ridiculous things (though they might not have heard themselves say them.)
The reformation was a movement to return to biblical doctrines, but the dominant church at that time, the RCC, believed as they still do, that their doctrine is biblical. I don't know who came up with the idea of dispensing grace through sacraments. I don't know who decided that it was okay to sell plenary indulgences. I don't know who decided that it was okay to torture people in order to save them.
I do know however, that people have misapplied scripture and done evil works that they justified with scripture, since they were written and to this date.
The Lord has instructed us to preach the gospel and make disciples of men, but He clearly knew that the mixed multitude benefits from the blessings of the obedient children of God.
On sites like this we beat each other over the head with our Bibles, but the word itself says:
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. 1 John 2:26-27
This isn't a free pass to preach heresy, but the Lord left us to abide with tares until His coming, knowing that we have no power to see what's in a person's heart, or the future (God can turn anyone around and we haven't a clue who those potential brothers and sisters are.)
Pastors, shepherds, have a calling to protect their congregations and address visible sin in the church. Elders have a responsibility to minister to their pastors, to preserve sound doctrine, and administer church discipline. Prophets have the responsibility of addressing hidden or unacknowledged sin in the congregation through the application of the word given.
In all the appointed roles of the church, in all the callings empowered by the Holy Spirit, we're instructed to act according to our faith, guided by biblical instruction but primarily by His Spirit.
While I do see biblical instruction to contend for the faith, I don't see specific instructions to contend for sound doctrine, and probably because our minds aren't automatically renewed upon recieving His Spirit, but must be transformed as we are sanctified by the word. Those who are spiritual are to correct and rebuke those who are not, but we live in a time that rejects authority, disbelieves prophecy, and is scornful of godly rebuke.
I kind of think that unsound doctrine is the least of our concerns and the contentiousness born of it leads to broken relationships, animosity, and outright malice.
I really try to not go there anymore because doctrine divides rather than unites. The thousands of "Christian " sects all exist because of doctrinal division.
What unites the church is divine love flowing from His Spirit, mercy, forgiveness, and grace towards others, not doctrine.
However, there is no room for compromise with the gospel.
The gospel is the power of God to salvation, so a false gospel can not save, but only mislead.
9 Whoever transgresses does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. 2 John 1:9-11
Unsound doctrine is only a problem when we refuse to believe the word. There will always be a faithful remnant in the church, simply because the real church is His body of believers born of His Spirit and by His will, not our own.
If you trust the Lord, then you should trust that the head, Jesus Christ, is able to control His body. It is His body, not ours, purchased with a price paid in blood.
Where does your confidence lie, in the church, or in our God?
When the Jews made the temple in Jerusalem their house instead of God's house, they defiled everything and brought destruction upon themselves. The church at large is not beyond such foolishness. Sometimes the stewards of the house forget their position. Sometimes when they work to build it, they convince themselves that its their's and forget that they do nothing except through Him (nothing of Value at least.)
I'm not saying that we shouldn't seek sound doctrine, but the Scripture lays the burden of rejecting unsound doctrine on us, individually. God didn't appoint doctrine police in the church and that is an example of the long suffering of God, which scripture identifies as salvation. The Lord wants the angels to suffer the presence of the tares until the final harvest, for the sake of the wheat. Our responsibility to each other is to build up, not to tear down. Restoring a house is a destructive process by nature, but personal offense is primarily in our mind and perception, entirely subjective, and a form of temptation to sin in retribution.
Love covers a multitude of sins.
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