Pathways For Sojourners

[Beetow]

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137) 1Cor 16:22 . . If anyone love not The Lord, let him be accursed.

One's love of The Lord is exemplified by loyalty. (John 14:15, 14:21, 23-24)

Does a Muslim have to be a terrorist to be accursed? No; they only have to be a
loyal follower of Muhammad ibn `Abdullāh instead of Christ's loyal follower; same
goes for Atheists, Nonreligious, Baha'i, Buddhists, Chinese Universalists,
Confucianists, Jains, Kabbalah mystics, Shintoists, Spiritists, Taoists, Zoroastrians,
Jews, Sikhs, and Hindus-- they're all accursed and there is nothing to be gained in
arguing about it.

How many people am I talking about? Well, as of mid 2014, worldwide there were:

550,000 Scientologists
1,500,000 Mormons
8,200,000 Jehovah's Witnesses
18,479,257 Seventh Day Adventists
7,794,000 Baha'i
515,951,000 Buddhists
451,292,000 Chinese Folk Religionists
8,424,000 Confucianists
974,597,000 Hindus
5,567,000 Jains
14,142,000 Jews
1,673,590 Muslims
2,819,000 Shintoists
24,918,000 Sikhs
14,183,000 Spiritists
8,660,000 Taoists
196,000 Zoroastrians
828,594,000 Nonreligious
692,111,000 Agnostics
136,483,000 Atheists.

The grand total of just those categories alone is 5,3387,550,257

If those figures are in the ball park, and if conventional Christianity is the reality;
then a minimum of at least 75% of the world's 2014 global population of 7.2 billion
people wasn't unified with Christ.
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[Beetow]

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138) 2Cor 2:6-8 . . The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for
him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be
overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for
him.

The cause for which Paul wrote that piece was a guy in the Corinthian church
sleeping with his stepmother (1Cor 5:1). Paul had instructed the congregation to
not only hold the man's feet to the fire, but also to ostracize him.

Some time had passed since then, and the man was apparently regretting his
actions, and broken off the illicit relationship with his kin, so it was time to let him
back into the group. No doubt the humiliation of it all had a tremendous impact
upon his attitude-- probably upon the congregation's too because at first their
attitude wasn't all that good about it either. (cf. 1Cor 5:2)

Here in America scolding and ostracizing a church member would probably just
make them resentful rather than repentant. (cf. Ps 51:17)

FAQ: Does 2Cor 2:5-10 support the Watchtower Society's shunning and/or
Scientology's disconnection?

REPLY: Those organizations practice vindictive forms of ostracizing that oftentimes
destroy friendship bonds, destroy family ties, destroy marriage vows, and even
endanger careers.

Christian ostracizing is pretty much limited to fellowship, i.e. congregational
functions, e.g. worship services, communion, prayer meetings, banquets, etc.
Extreme shunning practices put Christians in jeopardy of failing to comply with
Christ's instructions per Matt 5:44-48. (cf. 2Thess 3:14-15)

* A rough-hewn example for us to think about is located in the 15th chapter of
1Samuel wherein king Saul disobeyed God's instructions to utterly destroy Agag.
Afterwards Saul entreated Samuel to accompany him to church but the prophet
refused until the king fully admitted he was in the wrong.
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[Beetow]

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139) 2Cor 2:10-11 . . If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have
forgiven-- if there was anything to forgive --I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for
your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his
schemes.

One of the opposition's tactics is to create disunity in a church. Sure enough when
that happens-- as when one portion of the congregation believes in judging and
ostracizing while the other doesn't --people start taking sides and the church will
end up divided into cliques and factions. According to the lord and master of New
Testament Christianity, a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Paul mentioned that his extension of forgiveness was "in the sight of Christ". There
exists some controversy as to the exact meaning but I think it's just saying that
Paul's forgiveness of that man was done in accordance with Christ's approval; to
the end that the Corinthians all go along with it, i.e. stand together as one in their
compliance with the apostle Paul's decisions.
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[Beetow]

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140) 2Cor 5:20-21 . . We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were
making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to
God.

There's two different aspects to reconciliation. One is a criminal justice kind of
reconciliation (e.g. Rom 5:6-11, Rom 6:3-11, 1John 2:2) and the other is a
fellowship kind of reconciliation. (e.g. Gen 4:1-7, Gen 5:22-24, Gen 6:9, Gen 17:1,
1John 1:3-7)

For example, a man and his wife may not be speaking to each other; and sleeping
in separate beds; but they're still married: they're just not getting along; in other
words, they're out of fellowship with one another. It's God's wishes that His own
walk with Him in fellowship while they're waiting for their departure; and the
Corinthians weren't doing very well at it.

In order to restore diplomatic relations between themselves and their Father above,
that congregation had to knuckle down and deal with sin in their midst in
accordance with their superior's wishes rather than their own. Compare Josh 7:2-26
where Moses' people couldn't win anymore battles until they first dealt with a sin in
their midst.

It's ironic that a fully functioning Christian church like the one at Corinth was in
need of reconciliation with God. How many Christian churches are just like that
today? They pride themselves in being Spirit-filled congregations, yet their
congregational attitude is completely out of touch with Christ. Yes, Christian
congregations are oftentimes out of touch and need to come to their senses and
reconnect or else they risk becoming like the church at Laodicea where the central
figure of Christianity is depicted outside the building banging on the door trying to
get someone's attention to let him in. (Rev 3:14-22)
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