Thank you for your reply! First, the question posed to me at 1351 included several parts which I answered together:
Mad Dawg: Please tell me again what you make of the "binding and loosing", the "keys", and the words of Christ in the upper Room on he evening after Easter Day. And there are also advices to toss people out of the Church, are there not? What do you think of them?
From your reply:
me: The binding and loosing is a duty of the assembly. you: Yet, this authority was given expressly to the Apostles...
I realize this is what you have been taught, but it is a Spiritual error which is why I led my reply to the above question with this excerpt from Matthew 18:
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear [thee, then] take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell [it] unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. – Matthew 18:15-20
The paragraphs go together. The bottom line is where two or three Christians are gathered together in Christ’s name, He is in the midst of them.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. - Romans 8:9
And when two Christians - meaning filled with His Spirit, led by His Spirit (see above, Romans 8, I Cor 2, John 15 et al) - agree on a matter, it will be done.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. – Matthew 7:7-8
And again,
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive [them], and ye shall have [them]. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. - Mark 11:24-26
Concerning the second part of your objection:
You distinguish in your post between excluding someone from the assembly and their eternal destination. However, Our Lord said that what the Apostles bound on Earth would be bound in Heaven. So if an assembly (as you noted) bound someone on Earth for their exclusion from the community, how does that then have no bearing on their heavenly reward?
I Corinthians 5:1-13 makes the point clear. I also mentioned Matthew 7, I Corinthians 6:1-8 and included Revelation 2:18-24 as an example. An assembly which claims the authority to send one of God’s children to hell or the second death has presumed authority it does not have.
Those keys are in Christ’s hands alone:
I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. – Revelation 1:18
And we have His assurance:
My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father's hand. – John 10:29 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. – Psalms 23:4
Again I say, any religious institution or person that claims it has authority to send one of God’s adopted children to hell or the second death is in grave Spiritual error.
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. – Matthew 10:28
Only God sits at the Great White Throne Judgment:
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. – Revelation 20:11-15
And again, the claim of authority and good intentions will not do:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. – Matthew 7:21-23
We, God’s adopted children, have nothing to fear by such claims of authority.
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. – I John 4:17-19
Love God. Believe Him. Trust Him.
The paragraphs go together. The bottom line is where two or three Christians are gathered together in Christ’s name, He is in the midst of them.
AMEN!
Thank you for your wonderful, grace-filled, Scriptural posts -- enough to fill many Sunday School lessons. I learn from all of them. God be praised.
any religious institution or person that claims it has authority to send one of God’s adopted children to hell or the second death is in grave Spiritual error.
AMEN!
An assembly which claims the authority to send one of God’s children to hell or the second death has presumed authority it does not have.Christ grants that authority in Matthew 18:18; no presumption necessary.
Meanwhile, Jean Cauvin claims God creates countless souls predestined for damnation.
Sick.
Post 1571...Right on the mark... Appears as tho the Catholics read the Scriptures intellectually...They admit that a large amount of their religion is based on Philosophy which supposedly is wisdom and knowledge...It's common for a Catholic to ask on these threads if we think 'reason and logic' are gifts from God...
But what does God have to say about this???
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
1Co 1:22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
Gotta admit, most of what we say is foolishness to them...