Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site stolaf.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!stolaf!gulley From: gulley@stolaf.UUCP (William T. Gulley) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Church Discipline Message-ID: <1880@stolaf.UUCP> Date: Sun, 16-Sep-84 16:38:28 EDT Article-I.D.: stolaf.1880 Posted: Sun Sep 16 16:38:28 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 08:05:35 EDT Organization: St. Olaf College, Northfield MN Lines: 39 > I thought that the Christian concept of God was that of a >loving, forgiving God. If this is so, then I see *no* reason why >Born-Again POSSLQ's, or gays in seminaries should be denied the >possibility of participation in a church activity or community. If God >feels that these people are sinners of the worst kind, then he will >judge appropriately. This seems to be a personal matter between each >individual and his/her God. The Christian concept of God is precisely that, loving and forgiving even beyond what we sometimes expect, or want. And as God and Creator, He has a pretty good idea on what he built the human model for, and what not for. In the Bible, I am told by a person who knew Him (namely the Apostle Paul) much better than I that homosexuality is not in the blueprints for the human model. As a Christian, my qualms with those people are not so much whether they have the right to form their church or not, but whether they have the right to undermine my belief system by calling it Christian. > As for the wife-beater and the child abuser, there is a >very simple solution. The congregation needn't be involved here; >the police and court systems do an adequate job. If they're doing such an adequate job, why is wife- and child-beating still so rampant? (My answer: They're largely un-policable.) Their fellow members in the congregation would know more about the person, and therefore be more in a position to help, than some anonymous policeman. (However, I'm sure that there are cases to the contrary, also.) > Perhaps, if Christians were more like their God, there wouldn't >be quite so much persecution and anguish in this world. >Henry C. Mensch | Purdue University Computing Center I very much agree. But of the two groups, non-Christian and Christian, it seems like a safe bet to say that there is a much higher percentage of those in the Christian camp *trying* to be, than in the other. (But then, there's where the loving, forgiving God comes in again. .) ----- The Essential William Gulley {!inhp4 || !decvax} !stolaf!gulley