However, the thing that saddens me the most about it is the blatant disregard of Scripture in the name of making a personal attack with no intention of the reconciliation that should be evident in the life of disciple. Matthew 18:15-20 clearly states:
I'm not sure how much simpler than that it is and sending an anonymous letter to someone is a sign of someone either ignorant of it or completely disregarding it. Jesus isn't calling here for some legalistic reaction to a brother or sisters' sin. It's the ministry of reconciliation that we are called to that it doesn't seem that the anonymous sender of the letter has no interest in.Dealing With Sin in the Church
15 "If a brother or sister sins, go and point out the fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 "Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
And it breaks my heart for them and for BST that he would get such a letter.
3 comments:
Amen
thanks, man
meant to comment on this the other day. But got to busy. This passage reads different in the Message. (yeah, go figure)
at the end it says,
"If he won't listen to the church, you'll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God's forgiving love."
now for me that's a different way of reading it. I had a good dose of Pharasee in me that used to think if you should treat someone as a big sinner then that meant hate them.
Basically its saying start over. Treat them as you would anyone who is lost. Much better reading to me.
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