Charlottesville church of Christ - Questions - Please submit your Bible questions here and find answer to other's questions.

Questions will always be a part of a heart that is seeking God. A Biblical faith will recognize the awesome vastness of the knowledge of God and one’s constant need to learn. There is no place for the “know it all” when standing in the presence of an omniscient God.

Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him. (1 Cor 8:1-3 NKJV)

The scriptures are filled with examples of men who asked questions that resulted in their salvation as well as a greater knowledge of God Himself. A Eunuch from Ethiopia found a very important answer to a question he had:

“So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.” (Acts 8:30-31 NKJV)

I am thankful that you have come to “sit with” us at this page. My question for you in your Bible study is this: “Do you understand what you are reading?” Please fill out the following form with your Bible question.

What if a person is a Christian and commits a sin and goes before the congregation and ask the Lord to forgive them, should the men of that congregation tell this person that before he can serve in the worship service he has to prove himself. Is this the way that we as Christians are to be? God puts that sin behind Him and He never looks back. Help me understand how that this person can get forgiveness from God but man tells him has to prove himself. -- Rusty

A question was recently posed to the web site asking whether it is scriptural to prevent one who has confessed to sin from leading or assisting in the worship until they have “proven themselves.” Not knowing any particulars regarding this persons specific situation or what is meant by “proving ones self” we can only turn to Gods word for the answer. It may be that well intentioned brethren feel they are protecting the integrity of the worship, but scriptural evidence does not back this idea, and as in all matters, Gods’ word must be the guide post.

The general thought seems to be that because an individual has taken a precious thing (our relationship to God through the Son) and made a mockery of it through sin, they have exhibited a lack of trustworthiness and therefore cannot or should not serve until some period of time has passed that demonstrates a track record of repentance and spirituality. Couldn’t a lascivious person confess sin and seem to repent, and be viewing porn at home? Would anyone be the wiser? Couldn’t a drunkard do the same and drink out in his garage at night? So consider, a person might appear to have a demonstrated repentance, and be far from it, which then begs the question, who is able to determine when someone is worthy to serve? Can anyone but God know the heart of a man? If any drinks the cup of Christ in an unworthy manner, does he not harm himself?
(1^st Corinthians 11:27) If anyone serves in an unworthy manner, they condemn themselves.

Service to God has a great healing quality. The best way to help a brother is to help him know he is a brother. I quote from 2^nd Corinthians 2:7. “So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.” Consider also Colossians 3:12. “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” Forgiveness, comfort, humbleness and meekness are all attributes of Christ, and ours too, if we call ourselves His. One who has taken the steps of repentance and confession is still in need of healing. They need to know that they are again a part of the church and in a right relationship with God. There is no partial fellowship or partial forgiveness. What then is served by putting a person on probation, other than to tell them they aren’t yet fully for-given? Who hasn’t fully forgiven them, God or we? Where are these things taught? As with any stand we take, we must speak and do what God has spoken and done.

You see, great healing can be achieved by putting sin behind everyone. The pennant one can heal and become a useful servant and the church can exhibit a proper spiritual attitude, which helps it grow in strength. All learn and all are edified. If, however, a spirit of mistrust pervades, a Godly attitude is not displayed and great harm may result.

The final answer lies with the repentant one, for he will know if he has truly repented. He should be reminded of the responsibility he holds in resuming public service and allowed to judge for himself if he is ready. Only God and he will know the real answer. --- Chris Carter

Larry, In your answer to the question on divorce, what did you mean by: "If your mate has forced the divorce, then you have no sin"? What did you mean by "forced the divorce"? How would one party force the divorce? -- Pat

I used the term “forced divorce” to describe a situation where one mate puts away another for any cause against the wishes of the one put away. I believe that is the choice the believing woman is facing in 1 Cor 7:13-15 when she might face a choice between “bondage,” that is, being a slave to the unbeliever and giving up her service to God or having the unbeliever depart, which I understand as the unbeliever divorcing the believer. In this situation the believer can have “peace” in knowing the marriage did not break up due to any sin on her part. She does not, however, have any right to remarry.

There are those who hold that view would have the woman described above as having a “right” to another divorce. It is sad to see so many following the led of influential preachers and parroting the arguments of theses men.