[Iowegian]

The biblical warning was clearly to the individual to examine himself and determine properly or face the consequences. Why have some churches taken it upon themselves to come between the individual and God? Don't they trust in God's judgement? Remember: "vengence is mine, saith the Lord".

[AnalogReigns]

Traditionally churches and communities have been less individualistic than we are today in urban America. You may be correct that churches shouldn't concern themselves in the examination of conscience, however, historically its rather new that they have not. Closed or open communion isn't a Protestant/Catholic issue, its really a modern vs. traditional approach issue. In your typical small community (where most throughout most of history have lived) everyone knew everyone's "lifestyle" anyway, so it wasn't a long stretch for the church to believe it was a part of their pastoral responsibility to help its member's examine themselves--forbidding communion to those who didn't measure up.

Always, ALWAYS, closed communion has been a contentious issue--involving the necessary nettlesome confrontation of Church discipline, which is probably the real reason most modern churches have done away with it.