REINSTATEMENT No2

[HollyW]

On 2/23/2016 at 0:03 PM, Γιαννης Διαμαντιδης said:

Since nobody understood my previous question ( because everybody says his/hers opinion, I will make it more general. And this time I want you to prove it from the scriptures -2 John 1:10) : Is it Christian NOT to accept someone who comes to the congregation and asks for forgiveness ?

When the Prodigal Son in the parable of our Lord Jesus came back home the father accepted him. His brother didn't want him back but the father corrected the second son: “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found". -Luke 15:31.
Imagine the father question his first son's motives for coming back... imagine - instead of making a party - telling him "I will not speak to you till you will show proof of remorse" ... "you must come here every Wednesday and Sunday for at list a year, no body will talk to you but you must come here to prove you are not proud".

"Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him". - James 5:14.

 

In the 2015 brochure, "Return to Jehovah", the parable about the Prodigal Son is referred to and seems to indicate that inactive ones who return, even after 40 years, and confess sins such as having celebrated holidays, gone to other churches, been involved in politics, and probably much more, will be forgiven and welcomed back in the same way as the prodigal son:

From page 10 of the brochure:

 

Jehovah does not abandon repentant sinners. In fact, he reaches out to them! In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus compared Jehovah to a loving father whose son abandoned his family and pursued a debauched life. In time, the son decided to return home. “While [the son] was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him and was moved with pity, and he ran and embraced him and tenderly kissed him.” (Luke 15:11-20) Do you wish to draw closer to Jehovah but feel that you are “still a long way off” from him? Like the father in Jesus’ illustration, Jehovah is moved with tender compassion for you. He is eager to welcome you back.

 

 

This even might indicate that they should be welcomed back right there in the parking lot when someone sees them drive up.