How far should we forget sin?

I agree. Even though we repent from sin, the weakness to sin still remains.

Should a recovering alcoholic work in a liquor store? He may have been forgiven for sins committed as a drunk, but the desire to drink will always be there. Likewise, pedophiles should not be allowed to be around children alone. He should never be in a situation where he will be tempted. This is just wisdom.

 

AJG1959...

I understand what you are getting at.

In my lost years I was a doper. Acid, mushrooms, qualudes, etc. And particularly reefer. I LOVED smoking the weed.

Now, I am a new man. Not only do I not DO those things anymore, I'm not even tempted to. Christ took my desire for those things away. Completely.

So, going back the the situation of the former child molester who now is forbidden to be around the children.

I can say that if I wanted to get involved in ministering to people who are into heavy recreational drug use...and I was told by my pastor that He couldnt let me do that because I might be too weak and get sucked into it...I would actually be offended and somewhat dumbfounded by such a stance.

"Pastor, do you not believe God can actually change someone inside and out?"

"Do you believe I am lying about my changed life now?"

"Do you have that little confidence in my trustworthiness?"

Regarding the child molester situation, I'm kind of caught between two views.

I certainly understand about protecting the kids, but I can also see how it might cause the new born child of God to wonder "Whats going on, here? God has made me new, and my own pastor doesnt believe it???"

Makes me glad I'm not called to pastor! :wavey: They have a tough job sometimes.


:godisgood:

 

Then you know what I am talking about here. Surely you know of people that will always remember your past and judge you by it. They just cant get past it. Even though God has forgiven you and delivered you from it, there are some that will never let go, and would object to you serving in certain positions.

This is why I say that we are not able to forgive like God forgives, it is impossible.

AJ

PS, I got saved in 1973, so I guess I am a "new born child of God " :thumbs:

 

People need to be encouraged to serve the Lord. That being said I am sure there is a place in the church for everyone including a past child molester. You never know there may be an awesome opportunity for that person to teach an adult sunday school class or to lead the choir, I am finding that God uses our weaknesses to develop our strengths. I had an awful time teaching others like being the leader of a class yet this spring I will be teaching a bible study because so many people saw the potential in me and even though I said "I cant do that" they told me oh yes I can. I dont think his past needs to be revealed to everyone because then he can be shunned for past sins and I dont think thats right, only the people that need to know like the elders and pastor and it needs to be told to the elders and stuff that this isnt to be revealed unless it becomes need to known in the congregation. God knows each and everyone of our past sins yet he overlooks that and loves us with this unconditional love. Wouldnt that be awesome if people could love like God loves and could look past sins and look at the person. The world would be alot better place.

 

Good post:thumbs:

AJ

 

I know this was addressing AJ but I was thinking there would be a gigantic difference between the recovering doper ministering to active addicts and a recovering pedophile working with children.

If the recovering doper does fall, they are hurting themselves; whereas if the recovering pedophile falls, they would be destroying lives of innocent children.

 

As I have said also, pedophiles are a different case altogether....I dont know that I could ever past that and completely forgive say a 30 year old man molesting a 10 year old. And I think my stance comes from a more humanistic view and not so much a godly one. I am not sure I could extend godly forgiveness to a pedophile.

AJ

 

I agree. I didn't notice that this man had committed the crime before he was saved. Would it make a difference if he had done it after he was saved?

 

I had posted this on another thread when I really should have posted it here:

I asked my pastor about this debate tonight and he said that both sides of this debate have valid points.

He said that the biblical way to deal with a persons past sins in some cases would to be to proceed with caution, and let the trust build up over time. He said what some of you have been saying, that trust and forgiveness are two seperate things, or at least they are supposed to be, and that he would be very hesitant to put a sex offender in charge of children, but that doesnt mean that there arent other ministries that a sex offender could serve in, or that over time the offender couldnt be restored to the full trust of the church.

But, (and here comes my but) he said that the biblical application of this is very hard to accomplish within a congregation. He said it is very hard for folks to seperate trust and unforgiveness, and for folks to allow time for trust to be restored without constantly harping on the original sin that caused the trust to be lost. He said that if he cheated on his wife and she forgave him, that it might take many years for her to trust him again even though she forgave him....but....if she constantly harped on him about it, then her untrust would actually manifest itself as unforgiveness. He said we have a hard time a humans being objective when it comes to earning trust and lots of times base all of our judements and opinions of a person on the one past sin. If all we can see in that person is their past sin, then it isnt just a trust problem we have, it is unforgiveness.

I am glad we had this conversation these past few days, and I have really learned from it. I appreciate all of the different opinions and input from everyone, and I pray that this will help me to make better judgements when dealing with others, and also help me to be more compassionate when compassion is needed.

AJ

 

I've never had a drink of any hard liquor or even tasted beer in my life of more than 60 years and I wouldn't even take a job in a liquor store, but maybe that's just me.

Not intended to derail this thread I just started reading, but find that an unusual example, personally.

Ed

 

Is a person really "forgiven" by the church members if he/she continues to be treated with suspicion and mistrust? God forgives us and then He buries our sins in the sea. We are then looked at by Him as justified.