Chastening: A Sign of the True Church

One sign of the true church of Christ is that the church disciplines its members for serious sin before those sins become a public scandal. Paul says that there should be grounds for righteous judgement resulting in partial disfellowshiping or excommunication. I wonder when it was the last time an Evangelical church disciplined its members for committing fornication, abortion, or adultery.

1 Cor 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
1 Cor 11: 31-32 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Does your church have mechanisms to receive confession and discipline its membership before a person's sins become a threat to the public and the membership. While a church should never shield and protect lawbreakers, a church is am important instrument and institution of self- government which has a duty to protect the public. Therefore, it should have active systems in place to discipline its membership and prevent sin and not only react when there is a public scandal and embarrassment. Does your church protect and enable sin, simply react to sin after the fact, or actively seek to prevent sin?

1 Cor 5:9-13 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

1Tim5: 19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses .20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

Titus 3: 10 A man that is an heretik after the first and second admonition reject;

Heb. 12: 7, 10-11 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Rev. 3: 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

i Cor 6:2-5 (Luke 22:30) Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. 5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?

John 7 :24 (1 Cor 11:31) Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment

see also 1 Cor 11:26-34, Titus 1:10-16, James 5: 16, 1 Jn 1:9

Most sins don't require confession to the bishop but to God only. But there are certain sins regarding morality, substance abuse, physical abuse, abortion, criminal law, heresy that are serious and require assistance. They are serious because they generally affect other people, are difficult to repent of, and manifest a longstanding pattern of sinful thought and behavior leading up to the serious sin. In other words, there has been a lot of water that has gone under the bridge. This is to not say that stealing candy bars is less sin than homosexuality. Both must be repented of and paid for by the blood of Christ. The reason certain sins get marked as needing discipline by Paul is the difficulty of repentance.

Depending in the seriousness of the act, and the repentant nature of the sinner, the bishop may counsel the person, withdraw rights in the church to partake of the sacrament or have certain callings for a time. If the seriousness of the seriousness of the sin requires possible excommunication, a church disciplinary council may be called so that disciple is not given without sufficient witnesses. The purpose of discipline is not vengeance but correction out of love for the sinner. Discipline is a wake-up call to the sinner, to inspire "godly sorrow" which worketh repentance, and to communicate to the sinner that certain sins cannot be tolerated in heaven or in the church and if the person really accepted Christ and His Spirit they would never have been guilty of them. Again, discipline is for the purpose of inspiring self-examination, godly sorrow, repentance, and faith in Christ.

2 Cor. 7: 9-11 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

Discipline and "godly sorrow" is not about inspiring guilt and shame, or a holier-than-thou attitude. Some Evangelicals I fear confuse the Spirit with a vain justification for sins. Evangelicals generally sin and vainly tell themselves "isn't God great and merciful that he justifies me in committing sin". Isn't God great who "tolerates sin and the sinner in his presence".God chastens those who he loves. God chastens and disciplines his children. God empowers his children to repentance and to forsake sin by giving us "godly sorrow". However, those who have experienced Gods chastening should not feel "holier-than-thou" but feel empathetic and sympathetic to others who are also suffering from sin and "godly sorrow". And true believers should seek to bare one another's burdens and not heap more burden upon them.

Many people know that LDS enjoy the blessings of the restored temple of God. Many people also know that not everyone can enter these temples unless that person meets minimum worthiness requirements. Many of these same people scoff and mock at the idea that anyone need be "worthy" to go anywhere. For an LDS member, a temple recommend is our ticket to admission to the temple and signifies we are members in full fellowship and standing in our church. And to get a temple recommend requires that we pass a worthiness interview with our spiritual leadership. And it turns out that in addition to confessing to our leaders our devotion and faith in Jesus Christ as our savior, the requirements of the interview are exactly the same worthiness requirements that Paul details in the Bible. Therefore, the temple recommend interview turns out to be one of our most important disciplinary mechanisms in the LDS church. And as I said before, it comes right out of the Bible.

1 Cor 5:9-13 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Paul specifically says that if those among us who enjoy our fellowship at church are fornicators, covetous, idolaters, railers, drunkards, or extortioners, they should receive some type of church discipline. Here is how the temple questions in the temple recommend interview correspond to the direction of Paul in the Bible.

1. Fornication involves sexual sin. Therefore LDS members in a temple interview are asked about and invited to confess any issues and sin with regard to their sexual morality.
2. Covetous involves greed and the love of money over God. LDS members are required to pay a full 10% tithing to God and are asked to declare that they are a full tithe payer. Tithing is a demonstration that God comes first before money in the life of a believer.
3. Idolatry involves belief in and support of heretical groups and/or ideologies. LDS members are asked to confess if they have sympathies and/associations with any heretical groups.
4. Railing involves verbal and physical abuse of wife and family. LDS are specifically asked to confess any behavior related to physical, emotional or sexual abuse of wife and children.
5. Drunkenness involves abusing mind altering substances for the purposes of intoxication. The LDS have a wonderful and inspired law of health known as the Word of Wisdom that prohibits the consumption of alcohol, tobacco products, tea and coffee, and other harmful substances. LDS are specifically asked to confess that they are living Gods law of health.
6. Extortion involves issues of honesty, cheating, and fraud. Accordingly, LDS are asked to confess that they are honest in all their dealings with their fellow men.

In addition to being asked if we believe and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and the only way to salvation we are asked specific questions about each one of these important issues that Paul specifies. If we do confess to sin, depending on the severity, and our repentant attitude, we may well be denied a temple recommend, and we will receive inspired discipline and instruction from our Bishops on what steps we must take to repent. The LDS temple recommend interview is not about stone throwing and exacting vengeance. These questions are part of church disciple that allows the person to confess and repent, to protect the public and the congregation, to judge righteously within as Paul says say so we wont be judged without.

In addition to authorizing and administering the gifts, sacrifices, sacraments, and ordinances of the church, receiving confession and determining ritual purity is the main job of an LDS bishop. LDS bishops are not "preachers." LDS membership preach the sermons and give the Sunday School lessons among ourselves. The LDS Bishop should be apt to teach, but one primary responsibility is to determine ritual purity just as priests in the Old Testament. But under the New Covenant, the Bishop is concerned with inward purity and not external purity.