Signs of a Cult

Welcome to De-Commissioned, a place for former members of the Great Commission movement (aka GCM, GCC, GCAC, GCI, the Blitz) to discuss problems they've experienced in the association's practices and theology.

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[EverAStudent]

James 3:1 (Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness) is the verse I was referring to.

Yes, I am accusing GC of false teaching. No, I don't monitor their every movement and blog about it.

There is a big difference between a personal offense that needs to be forgiven (Matthew 18 applies here) and a false teaching that needs to be corrected (Matthew 18 does not apply here).

False teaching should be exposed and corrected. It should never be forgiven.

Linda, your post is biblically correct, factually accurate, inisghtful, and sobering.  With so many Bible passages that warn us ("us" being the body of Christ) to not tolerate unsound doctrine, ever, we have an obligation to act when unsound doctrine raises its ugly head.  Unsound doctrine hurts the church, kills people (in the worst cases), and drives people from Christ to their eternal detriment.

As Paul told Timothy and Titus, teachers of unsound doctrine must be silenced.  What passage of Scripture can ever justify tolerating unsound doctrine?

[Innerlight]

False teaching should be exposed and corrected. It should never be forgiven

EAS:  Wow, you went to great pains to defend this website, and this went unchecked???  I expected better!

[Linda]

Innerlight, to clarify, false doctrine is not something that can be forgiven. It makes no sense to forgive a "thing". It is not possible to forgive a bad idea.

I'm guessing you reinterpreted my statement to mean someone who teaches false doctrine should never be forgiven. To that I would say this. A person who teaches something that is unsound should never be given a pass on what they teach. False doctrine harms people. It should never be overlooked.

If the false belief leads an elder to sin (say, for example, they excommunicate someone wrongly and 30 years later realize their bad doctrine led to some bad behavior), the right thing for the elder to do is change his ways, give a public statement acknowledging his error and how he has corrected it, and go to the offended party and ask for forgiveness for the excommunication. The right thing for the excommunicated person to do is forgive the elder.

The wrong thing to do is give a pass on bad teaching under the misguided assumption that God just wants us to love each other.