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crankius -> RE: Ray Boltz - GAY?... (9/15/2008 6:54:07 PM)
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Torch, The Corinthians church had a man who was in a sinful lifestyle among them. Rather than rebuke him in the Lord, they proudly kept him in their midst. Paul clarified that this was the wrong approach. He instructed them to confront the man and put him out if he would not repent: quote:
1 Corinthians 5: 1-7 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Later, when the man had repented, Paul instructed them to bring the repentant man back into the fellowship, lest his sorrows overtake him: quote:
2 Corinthians 2:5-8 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent--not to put it too severely. 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. If Ray Boltz had been part of a fellowship somewhere, hopefully that fellowship has followed the Biblical procedure for handling practicing unrepentant sin in a brother. The rest of us are right to pray for him and rebuke him, because this is love for a brother lost in his sin.
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