Last year I addressed the topic of shunning fellow Christians in an article titled “Should we shun Christians that we believe are living an immoral life?” The crucial excerpt comes in Paul’s comments on church discipline in 1 Corinthians 5. The essence of his directive is summarized in verse 11: “But now I am writing […]
shunning
Should we shun Christians that we believe are living an immoral life?
Christians disagree on a range of important ethical issues. Consider, for example, the fact that some Christians accept just war theory and believe that the call to follow Christ can be reconciled with the call to fight and kill state-enemies. Meanwhile other Christians disagree in the strongest terms whilst emphasizing the call to follow Christ […]
Should you ever shun anybody?
The 1527 Anabaptist Schleitheim Confession included the practice of the ban (or shunning), according to which the sinful offender should be warned twice before they are finally cast off and shunned from the community. Shunning was an extreme practice that set parent against child and child against parent as it expected community members to cut all […]