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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[Beetow]

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141) 2Cor 6:1-2 . . As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace
in vain; for He says: In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of
salvation I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of
salvation.

Salvation is a project similar to tearing down a house and building it back better.
Well; the Corinthians had undergone the demolition phase in concert with Christ's
crucifixion and resurrection; but they were stuck in the rubble, so to speak.

Well; Paul said, in so many words; that they shouldn't wait till the afterlife to begin
building back better, rather, God wanted them to begin now, in this life.

"For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do--
living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry."
(1Pet 4:3 cf. Rom 6:1-14)
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[Beetow]

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142) 2Cor 6:14-18 . . Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion
hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part
hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God
with idols?

. . For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said: I will dwell in them,
and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate-- saith The Lord --and touch not
the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye
shall be my sons and daughters --saith The Lord Almighty.

Those instructions clearly prohibit intermarriage between Christians and non
Christians; and nowadays we would probably be wise to distinguish between
incompatible denominations too.
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[Beetow]

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143) 2Cor 7:1 . . Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse
ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness
out of deference to God's will.

* The promises are those listed at 2Cor 6:14-18.

Webster's defines "deference" as affected and/or ingratiating regard for another's
wishes. Deference is the opposite of resistance, rebellion, defiance, indifference,
stubbornness and/or doing things your own way.

Contaminations of one's body would include things like drug addiction, alcoholism,
adultery, promiscuity, gluttony, eating blood, etc.

Contaminations of the spirit likely refers to things that influence one's thinking
and/or have an effect upon the personality; for example: Critical Race Theory, the
political philosophies of Carl Marx, Mao Zedong, and Vladimir Lenin, Planned
Parenthood, Liberalism, LGBTQ sex education, transgender propaganda, anti
Semitism, certain kinds of television and/or internet entertainment, etc.
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[Beetow]

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144) 2Cor 8:11-15 . . If the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to
what one has, not according to what he does not have. Our desire is not that others
might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.

. . At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their
plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: He
who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have
too little.

* The equality we're looking at here has nothing to do with banning private
property and/or mandatory distribution of wealth; viz: this is about generosity
rather than politics, so please don't attempt to defend and/or promote Socialism
with this passage.

It's inevitable that some churches would be disadvantaged compared to others. For
example: here in the USA's big cities, churches have no lack of resources to take
care of themselves; while small town churches are barely scraping by. The
charitable thing for the big-city church to do is take a small town church under its
wing, like any normal person would a needy relative. The idea here is to moderate
the small church's disadvantages and keep things closer to a level playing field, so
to speak, i.e. fair vs. unfair.

NOTE: "if the willingness is there" tells me that church officers should not pressure
and/or shame their people into sharing their abundance, viz: should not attempt to
break down their resistance; like talking people into buying cars and vacuum
cleaners, so to speak.

The directive is an excellent passage for debunking the so-called Faith Promise;
which is a popular scheme for seducing congregations into pledging money they
don't have while expecting God's providence will somehow provide it. That is not
the Lord's way. By means of Paul, the Lord says to help out with what you already
have, not what you hope to have later; I mean: it is not His wish to copy ENRON's
mark-to-market accounting practices and/or futures trading with pork bellies and
soy beans.
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[Beetow]

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145) 2Cor 9:7 . . Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give,
not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.

Towards what end is the giving spoken of in the new testament? To finance
ambitious building programs? Well; Christians back then met in homes. Did their
contributions go towards obtaining more homes to meet in? No.

Within the context of the new testament; donations in the early church were
charitable. It met needs rather than expenses; and those needs were typically
congregational rather than universal; viz: their charity went towards those amongst
themselves and/or other congregations that were hungry, sick, injured, homeless,
alone, helpless, missionaries, full-time-church officers, orphans, widows,
abandoned, and/or oppressed, etc.
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