KCU/03/A

Topic 11: Accept sinning Christians?

Question: In ch. 8 of How People Grow, Cloud & Townsend begin with the story of Gary, who confessed to his small group about an affair with a married woman & was accepted by the group. Do you think the group acted biblically in accepting Gary? If the circumstances were different, say Gary didn’t confess, but instead one of the group members found out, should they have treated Gary differently? (Be sure to do more research into the issue. If the group cannot come to a consensus, feel free to have different group members each express their own opinions.)

Topic 11: Accepting Sinning Christians?

Acceptance: "taking to oneself" (definition given in "How People Grow" by Dr. Cloud and Dr. Townsend)

What is Acceptance, and why is it necessary in order for people to grow? -The Bible teaches that acceptance begins with God: "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God" (Rom. 15:7). Christ's acceptance of us is the model for how we are to accept each other. (from "How People Grow" by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend)

When we sinned and fell from grace, acceptance posed a problem for God. His holy nature could not accept our sinfulness; yet his love kept him caring about us. (from "How People Grow" by Dr. Cloud and Dr. Townsend)

ACCEPTANCE INCREASES INITIATIVE AND RISK IN GROWTH. Acceptance often starts "movement" in someone's spiritual growth. In an environment of no condemnation, people are honest about issues they haven't felt safe to reveal before. When they find that it's okay to confess one problem, they fire up the backhoe and they dig deeper into the dark parts of their souls. As acceptance increases, so does confession, and with confession come intimacy and growth. ("How People Grow" by Dr. Cloud and Dr. Townsend)

-one of the most contriversal issues in accepting christians today would have to be gay christians. there isnt a more of an oxymoron than a gay christian. how could you say you are a christian and deliberatly go against what the bible teaches us. however as taboo as it seems people do it, and they have even started their own "community" on a website (www.gaychristian.net). in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 states "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." that states as plain as day that neither gays nor any other unsinful things will enter the kigdom of heaven. So in my opinion and from what the word says, everyone one sins so accepting a sinning christian is what god wants us to do. but god also wants us to lead people away from sin and closer to him. the word repent means to ask god for forgiveness and turn away from sin. if you are gay or you keep repeating the same sin over and over you have no clue to what the meaning of repent is. you cannot claim that you are saved if you continue to be homosexual and live a life of sinful nature

My opinion on accepting sinning christians is this: God tells us to love everyone. We need to leave the judgmental work to God, our father. (Mathew 7:1-3) says "Judge not,that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge,you will be judged;and with the measure you use,it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye,but do not consider the plank in your own eye?" As christians, we need to learn to accept the person but not to accept their sin. Homosexuality is an impure sin. It is continuing to live everyday in a sinful life without turning away from the sinful nature.

( The following has been posted by: Josh Corn )

Thruogh out history there have been some of the worst sins commited. Starting all the way back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit. They blatently disregarded Gods warning and fell into what we consider the first sin. God was so furious that, something he made, that he personally designed to be in his own likeliness, he banished them from the Garden. But did he stop loving them? Did God completely give up on them because of there sin? The answer is no he didn't. What we learn from this, is that it isn't fair to judge someone becaus of the sin. We are all siners in our own respect, but aren't there people who still love us?

The thing is, that God never gave up hope. He realized that we as human beings are not perfect, and that sin is going to creep into our lives wherever Satan can find room. But thats the glory of God for giving us free will. We have the choice wheather we sin or not. We know what God expects from us, and most people realize when they are being tempted by sin. And right there, at that moment, when Satan is trying his hardest to pull us into sin, is when we need to be accepted by other Christians the most, and not persecuted for our weakness. If God wanted us to be perfect he would have made us that way.

I believe it is our job as Christians to accept all those who have sinned, because we all have sinned our selves. Lets just think, if no one had accepted us when we have confessed about our sins, would there even be Christians? Would there just be God? What if God never forgave us for our sins, where would we be? We would still be stuck in the same old sins that we have done a thousand times before, and Satan would be in complete controll of our lives. The truth is though that God does care. God wnats us to want him. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) God wants us to live with him forever, or else he would never have done anything to help us at all.

I believe we all need to be messengers like Jesus was. I believe that we need to spread the Gospel, and not just practice it. ... (more to be added here later)