Ben Zartman
Puritan Board Junior
There is a strange situation where a member fell into sin, refused repentance, and before he could be excommunicated, claimed his profession had always been false--that he was not now nor had ever been converted. So now our elders want to simply remove him from membership without further censure. Is this normal in other churches? Is this how things ought to be? I would have thought that unrepentant sin in a member--whether he repudiated his profession or not--would be cause for excommunication. Sadly, our constitution (what we have in place of a BCO), is ambiguous about this.
The implication, if "we don't excommunicate unbelievers," is that the heretics we do excommunicate are blood-bought children of God, and remain so (clearly, since saints persevere). This seems to be a pretty shaky limb to be out on.
I'd be glad of Scripture support for either side.
Thanks!
The implication, if "we don't excommunicate unbelievers," is that the heretics we do excommunicate are blood-bought children of God, and remain so (clearly, since saints persevere). This seems to be a pretty shaky limb to be out on.
I'd be glad of Scripture support for either side.
Thanks!