Today’s thought July 13 Reading 1 – 1 Samuel 26:19 Driven away

“They have now driven me from my share in the LORD’S inheritance and have said, ‘Go, serve other gods’ ” (1Sa 26:19).

David’s sad words here demonstrate that his greatest sense of loss in exile was not that of his personal comfort or material prosperity, but rather his opportunity for fellowship with God. By making him an outcast, as they did at the behest of Saul, his countrymen were cutting him off from the tabernacle and the altar, and ‘suggesting’ that he serve other gods.

In our zeal to do right, our ecclesias should consider whether their treatment of offenders might not have the same effect. It is impossible to justify the ‘middle-of-the-road’ course in a matter of disfellowship — that is, to ‘separate’ or ‘withdraw’ while still attaching no taint of moral judgment. For an ecclesia to practice excommunication, while holding out no realistic possibility of refellowship, is in effect to tell the brother or sister involved,

‘Go, serve other gods!’

How many righteous “Davids” have been so treated?

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Preceding

Today’s thought “Be aware of what went on” (August 15) He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame unto him.

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Additional reading

1. Atonement And Fellowship 6/8
2. Atonement And Fellowship 7/8
3. Atonement And Fellowship 8/8
4. What makes you following Christ and Facebook Groups
5. Belonging to or being judged by
6. Grey areas, debating and disfellowshipping

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Related

1. Nugget – No Trespassing
2. Deuteronomy 23, Shunning, Exclusion from the Assembly, Cleanliness, no Harlots, Pay your Vows to the Lord!
3. Exile
4. God of the Valley(s)
5. Keeping Your Distance
6. Married To The Organization Part 3 -Through The Eyes of My Jehovah’s Witness Husband
7. You Will Be Disfellowshipped!
8. Shunned
9. Shunned -(The Wall part 2)
10. Shunning in the church
11. Can I Just Leave?
12. Can I Just Leave? Part 2
13. To the exiles scattered
14. Compassion for the Other: Faith and Doubt among Jehovah’s Witnesses
15. Jehovah’s Witnesses Elevate Watchtower Literature Above the Bible, and Shun Children of Disfellowshipped Ones!
16. The Powerful Need to Belong: Especially After Leaving a High-Control Situation
17. A Personal Testimony From an Ex-Witness
18. If It Is the Truth, With a Capital ‘T’
19. You Will Be Disfellowshipped!
20. Withdrawal of Fellowship — Adam Orr
21. The Sin of Greed
22. 2. Adolescent Memories
23. You Remember I am an Apostate, Right?
24. Going with God
25. Behind the façade in the SBC
26. TPPP Episode 91 : A Woman’s Story of Abuse in an Evangelical Cult
27. A Lesson in Tolerance
28. A promise of real belonging
29. A future filled with hope
30. World | Watchtower Victims Memorial Day, 26 July 2018