William, For some some reason you are missing the point. An unrepentant person is just that. Whether he or she is a true believer is none of our concern at that point. What we believe is irrevelant. If a person walks like the devil, smells like the devil and eats with the devil and refuses the loving discipline of the Church then let them go live with the devil. Only God knows their end. Moe > Matthew 18:17's mandate to declare the unrepentant to be an unbeliever. > (Chad) > > > Chad - the above words are incredible and indicative of a theology based on > deductions, presumptions and inferences instead of accepting what is simply > stated by Christ. Matt. 18 does not make any such declaration, any more than > Acts. 2 teaches infant baptism. It says what we are to do and how we are to > treat a man who says he is a brother caught in sin. > > Wm. > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Chad R. Bresson [mailto:breusswane@...] > Sent: 22 April 2005 15:23 > To: soundofgrace@... > Subject: RE: [soundofgrace] "sound" = gospel > > > William and Dorothy Oosterman <tulip01@...> wrote: > > they were never saved in the first place and only after they came back? > > or > > > they may have been saved, despite the church's text-mandated declaration > otherwise, and >they came back. > > > It doesn't matter and it is irrelevant to Matthew 18:17. That the latter is > a possibility is totally inconsequential to obeying Matthew 18:17's mandate > to declare the unrepentant to be an unbeliever. One who is "as" a Gentile > cannot be called brother.... because it is not the way we would treat a > Gentile. If we treat someone "as" a Gentile, we are treating them as if > they are unbelievers. We don't call unbelievers "brothers". > > Chad Bresson > Xenia, OH > > -- > Read the Sound of Grace pages at > http://www.soundofgrace.com > > To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: soundofgrace-unsubscribe@... > > To view our online archive go to our web page at > http://www.associate.com/groups/soundofgrace > > -- > Read the Sound of Grace pages at > http://www.soundofgrace.com > > To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: soundofgrace-unsubscribe@... > > To view our online archive go to our web page at > http://www.associate.com/groups/soundofgrace > > >