The priest, his dead relatives and disfellowshipped Christians

[ComfortMyPeople]

(Ezekiel 44:25, 26) “They should not approach any dead human, or they will become unclean. However, they may make themselves unclean for their father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or an unmarried sister. And after the purification of a priest, they should count off seven days for him”

 

The priest should not contact any dead human… except his nearest relatives. Jehovah is very reasonable and comprehensive when dictating rules.

Would not it be fine to apply the same principle when we deal with disfellowshipped people? Why Paul doesn’t mention these exceptions in 1Cor 5? Why Ezekiel doesn’t mention the priest’s wife? Perhaps, because the common sense would guide the application. It isn’t the same my cousin than my father, it is?

Other reference:

(Leviticus 21:1, 2) “Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “Talk to the priests, Aaron’s sons, and say to them, ‘No one should defile himself for a dead person among his people. But he may do so for a close blood relative, for his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother,…”

[Shiwiii]

Excellent point and great scriptures to support! 

 

I think it is unnatural for a parent or child or sibling to ignore their family member. Who is the closest to us? Who has know our tendencies from birth/childhood? When the family moved across country, who was there? Family. Family is part of what makes a community, but a community starts with a family. To treat family members lower than strangers is wrong, it is not loving, it is not encouraging nor is it up building. This practice is only meant to control

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

On 6/27/2017 at 11:48 AM, Shiwiii said:

I think it is unnatural for a parent or child or sibling to ignore their family member. Who is the closest to us? Who has know our tendencies from birth/childhood? When the family moved across country, who was there? Family. Family is part of what makes a community, but a community starts with a family. To treat family members lower than strangers is wrong, it is not loving, it is not encouraging nor is it up building. This practice is only meant to control

To treat family members lower than strangers is wrong, it is not loving, it is not encouraging nor is it up building. This practice is only meant to control.

I agree 100% .... but then again I got my morality not only from the Bible, but from the old "Code of the West", and I embrace BOTH.

Sometimes we become parts of EXTENDED families... like joining a wagon train for mutual support and protection back in the early settling of the West. (Western United States ... think Cowboys and Indians, and the struggle for survival in a hostile land.).

..and sometimes that extended family abandons you, or casts you out as a perceived danger to them, when ignorant incompetence and  peer pressure prevails. 

 

[Shiwiii]

On 7/3/2017 at 8:50 PM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I agree 100% .... but then again I got my morality not only from the Bible, but from the old "Code of the West", and I embrace BOTH.

I did too, by my family who experienced the "code of the west" which was loosely based upon the Bible.

 

On 7/3/2017 at 8:50 PM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

..and sometimes that extended family abandons you, or casts you out as a perceived danger to them, when ignorant incompetence and  peer pressure prevails. 

this is exactly the same thing going on. It is sad to think that the group mentality out weighs the moral compass in instances like this. It is a collective thinking instead of people making up their own minds on the matter, hence your statement of ignorant incompetence. Lemmings will go over the cliff, sheep will wander off together, but we were created with a mind to use and unfortunately some choose not to use it but relinquish it to others. 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

Check out the video I linked to above ...  an especially good "morality play".  

Especially where the woman and her baby are "disfellowshipped".