How do decentralized churches/denominations practically deal with "brothers" from another denomination in light of Matthew 18:17
score:3
Short answer: Baptists would qualify as a "decentralized" denomination, and from a baptist perceptive, the answer is "we wouldn't deal with brothers from another church/denomination in that manner".
More details:
Baptists (in general) and other decentralized denominations tend to hold to the autonomy of the local Church. This means a single local congregation, typically a group that meets in one building under the care of one pastor. It precludes the very possibility of being accountable to anything other than the local Church that you are a member of.
The membership of a particular local congregation is a voluntary thing. Nobody forces anyone to recognize a Church authority, we choose to join with like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ in a local Church. We voluntarily place ourselves under the authority of the Pastor of said Church, and discipline is typically handled through the deacons/Pastor/members that we have voluntarily chosen to bind ourselves to.
With that in mind, we recognize that if any brother or sister in Christ is in need of discipline, it is not our place to do so. We will speak to them, try to point out the error of their ways, and perhaps bring more than one brother in to try to talk sense into them, but the very idea of us having authority over anyone who has not willingly chosen to subject themselves to the authority of our particular Church is simply unthinkable. It makes no sense.
If subjecting ourselves to a Church's authority is voluntary, how can we possibly claim any authority over anyone that has not voluntarily chosen to align themselves with us?
It's not a matter of not recognizing that this person is a brother in Christ, it's just that we don't claim any sort of authority over that brother.
Upvote:0
I remember when Dr. Walter Martin, the "Bible Answer Man", met with a man regarding false doctrine and asked another member of that man's church to accompany him in accordance with this passage. That's how one man handled it.
Upvote:4
If appealing to authority is necessary, then you would have to appeal to authority that the brother in the wrong is submitting himself to. In this case, it would need to be someone in his congregation (or its hierarchy of authority).
The entire goal of the church discipline described in Mt 18 is to win him over to the truth. He ought to have close ties to the people in the congregation he's a part of, and so if those people must cut him off, the hope is that he will care about those lost/damaged relationships enough to reconsider what he's doing and repent.
More post
- 📝 Are all forms of giving equally morally 'good' according to the Catholic church?
- 📝 Dying for Christ
- 📝 According to Christianity, is only the Christian faith a gift from God?
- 📝 Mere Christianity Book I Chapters 1 and 2: How would Lewis explain morality being inherently known but also taught?
- 📝 According to Protestants following the Reformation, what did Jesus mean when he said "do this and you will live"?
- 📝 Do Catholics believe in the Old Testament?
- 📝 Why would the baptismal state of a spouse be relevant to whether someone can be confirmed in the Catholic Church?
- 📝 If the earthly sanctuary is a replica of the heavenly sanctuary, can there be death in heaven?
- 📝 Before anything was created, did God already know the events that would unfold?
- 📝 Does spiritual death mean loss of faith or doing a deadly sin (or sins) or separation from God?
- 📝 What's the Eastern Orthodox view on Roman Catholic notion of sanctifying grace?
- 📝 Which type of Baptism is preferred in today Catholic Parishes?
- 📝 A Question regarding arguments against the Nicene Creed
- 📝 What did John Wycliffe teach about the fate of infants who die?
- 📝 Is there an equivalent to cantillation or tajweed in Christianity?
- 📝 What is the origin among the Church of England of the Paschal Greeting?
- 📝 Who is Ba'al from the Old Testament?
- 📝 What is the very least a Catholic needs to believe about Genesis 2 and 3?
- 📝 What's the Biblical basis for "Without God I could do nothing"?
- 📝 Why has St. John or the three Nephites not come out in support of the LDS Church?
- 📝 Are natural disasters the result of evil being allowed into our world?
- 📝 Are there any archaeological evidences suggesting the existence of the Book of Mormon?
- 📝 Is God indirectly responsible for moral evil, according to Catholicism?
- 📝 Was what I was told about Catholics correct?
- 📝 Do any Christian traditions hold the belief that Adam was androgynous?
- 📝 Is there a prayer to rebuke storms at sea?
- 📝 How do Jehovah’s Witnesses support their belief that only 144,000 persons can be in the New Covenant and go to heaven, there to rule with Christ Jesus
- 📝 What role did the Donation of Constantine have on the development of the doctrine of Papal supremacy?
- 📝 What's the Protestants' view on the purpose of sacraments?
- 📝 What is the message of Matthew 9:5?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How do decentralized churches/denominations practically deal with "brothers" from another denomination in light of Matthew 18:17
- 📝 What is an overview of how different Christian denominations deal with demon possessions?
- 📝 How would Reformed Christians deal with h*m*sexual marriage of individuals prior to their conversion to Christianity?
- 📝 How can a loving God make a deal with the devil?
- 📝 How do Bible Literalists deal with trees older than the flood?
- 📝 How do proponents of Apokatastasis deal with the "Everlasting punishment" texts in scripture?
- 📝 How does Christianity deal with biblical criticism related to the Old Testament?
- 📝 How do Biblical Unitarians deal with the fact that the early church accepted the divinity of Christ?
- 📝 How do Protestants deal with pre-Reformation heresies?
- 📝 How do Catholics deal with prophecies of future perpetual animal sacrifice?
- 📝 How should a Christian deal with destructive higher criticism of the Bible?
- 📝 How does the Jehovah's Witness denomination deal with the filial piety among its East Asian believers?
- 📝 How should Reformed people deal with Wrong doctrine?
- 📝 How do the 3 Protestant traditions deal with the two types of sin mentioned in 1 John 5:16-17?
- 📝 What guidance has Scripture or church fathers offered on how to deal with sacred objects of other religions?
- 📝 How does the Catholic church deal with the differences between the God described in the old and new Testaments?
- 📝 Is there a name for the belief that God is not omniscient, but rather is "learning" how to deal with humanity?
- 📝 How would different Protestant denominations reconcile Matthew 5:19 with the notion of being saved by grace?
- 📝 How do restorationist Christian churches cooperate with mainstream Christian churches?
- 📝 How does Catholicism deal with the apparent paradox/conflict between "love thy neighbour" and "you will be rewarded"
- 📝 How do Trinitarians deal with imbalances in their relationship with each Person of the Trinity?
- 📝 How do Trinitarians deal with this contradiction regarding the Creator?
- 📝 How does Catholic Church deal with priests who have since turned atheists?
- 📝 How do superiors in a convent deal with the religious who are selective in the choice of food?
- 📝 How do Christians who reject the idea of purgatory deal with the fact that most people don't repent of every sin before they die?
- 📝 How do some denominations explain why they interpret the incidents with Elijah and Philip so differently?
- 📝 How do young earth creationists reconcile the age of the universe with the speed of light, and visible distant objects?
- 📝 How could Jacob wrestle with God if no one can see God and live?
- 📝 How does current Church of England polity compare with Richard Hooker's teaching?
- 📝 How do Young Earth Creationists account for civilisations with histories going back five thousand years or more?