Are membership councils a cruel exile, or a biblical and restored way to call people to repentance while protecting the flock?
The Bible answers
King James Version
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
NRSVUE
If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector.
Our explanation
Tell it to the church. If he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen.
King James Version
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. … Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
NRSVUE
But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy or an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. … Drive out the wicked person from among you.
Our explanation
Put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
The Book of Mormon answers
Mosiah 26:29–30
Therefore I say unto you, Go; and whosoever transgesseth against me, him shall ye judge according to the sins which he has committed; and if he confess his sins before thee and me, and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him also. Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.
Doctrine and Covenants 102:2
The high council was appointed by revelation for the purpose of settling important difficulties which might arise in the church, which could not be settled by the church or the bishop’s council to the satisfaction of the parties.
Dead Sea Scrolls and related extra-biblical texts that illuminate the same pattern the Restoration restores.
1QS (Community Rule) VI–VII
Whoever has uttered the Most Venerable Name even though frivolously, or as a result of shock or any other reason, shall be dismissed and shall return no more to the Council of the Community.
Second Temple communities already practiced graded discipline: rebuke, temporary exclusion, and in some cases expulsion. That does not make Qumran the Church. It does show that ‘belonging without boundaries’ is a modern demand, not an ancient Christian or Jewish one.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
A membership council is not a kangaroo court and it is not a social cancellation. It is a private, priesthood process aimed at the soul of a person and the purity of the Church. Some sins are so public or so harmful that remaining as if nothing happened would be a lie. Forgiveness is promised as often as people repent. Belonging is covenant, not a consumer membership that cannot be lost.
The purpose of church discipline is to help the member repent, to protect the innocent, and to protect the integrity of the Church.
Be the first to tell us if this case is strong.
