Q1. Sin's Effects

[Pastor Ralph]

Q1. (Joshua 7) How can the sin of one person affect a country? A congregation? How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body? How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches? What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation?

[ducminh]

The sins of one may affect the whole nation in the context of the conquering of the Promised Land is true because God has commanded as such (Joshua 6:18).

Not all individual sins can affect the entire community, or nation.  The example of the sick man that Jesus healed, can tell us that his suffering was the consequence of his personal sin:

Joh 5:14  Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

There are many more cases in the New Testament that show Jesus gave pardon to individual person. This means personal sins do not always affect the community, for example:

Mat 9:2  And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

Mat 12:32  And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

Luk 7:47  Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

Joh 8:11  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Certainly there are personal sins that have consequences spilling out over everyone and anyone that comes into contact with us because of another principle called "association." This means that those around you can be blessed or hurt by association with you and the choices and actions you make, both privately and publicly.

This is a case that Jesus has condemned:

Mat 18:6  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

The recent scandals involving famous paedophilia of evangelical leaders, match perfectly to the case that Jesus has condemned above (Mat 18:6).  They have serious effects on others of “private” sins.  Once they are discovered, families, friends, congregations, and the Christian community at large will be harmed. Worse still, the cause of Christ will be damaged as unbelievers scoff and sneer at Christians and blaspheme God’s name. It may seem that people sin without visible consequences, but what is secret will one day be made manifest.

Luk 8:17  For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.

Can we honestly say that there is no one that would then be affected by our secret sins if they should become known?

In the Old Testament we have learnt that the Israelites broke God’s covenant several times.  They disobeyed God’s commandments and broke His laws so they have to suffer the curse that God has warned them in Deuteronomy 16-68.

Since the Christian churches also have rejected God’s commandments and His laws, I cannot see any reason for God not to release His wrath upon the earth.  Thus the prophecies of the Bible must come to pass as we are witnessing the degradation of the human world its environment today.

There is no use of confessing sins on behalf of a congregation, or a denomination, or a nation.  The examples given by the Popes of Rome were purely for political reasons.  Their confession and plea of forgiveness were to appease the anger and hatred of the people against the cruelty and greediness of the Roman Church.  They have done that because of their political plan to promote the ecumenical movement for the establishment of the One World Religion and the New World Order.

Christ has named the entire Christian world as “Babylon the Great” (Revelation 17) and He has promised its judgement in Revelation 18:21.

Christ has instructed the sensible people who want to stay faithful to God as follows:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

[van]

I believe that the sin of one person can affect a country (probably not this country), but it does affect some of the other countries where they are not free to choose as an individual. One person choice in such a country can cause the deaths of many innocent people. It can also affect a congregation. If sin is committed in church, you can sense by the way people react. Those sins s what's keeping many people out of the church today. Ever since sin was born into this world through Adam, everyone has sin and fall short of the glory of God. Sin causes death. The consequences of sin in the church need to be addressed to the people as a whole. The bible which is God's law and rules for living a godly life needs to be practiced over and over. Prayer as a whole need to be taken serious instead of some praying out of tradition. Confessing sins on behalf of a congregation, a denomination, or a nation is done to receive God's free grace. Those sins need to be discerned, confessed, and repented of by the body.

[blezed]

(Joshua 7) How can the sin of one person affect a country? A congregation? How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body? How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches? What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation?

The sin of one person can affect a country because the command was given to Israel as a whole.  So the whole nation must pay for the sins of one. The same applies to a congregation.  Churches can be hindered by the sins of members, even members in the of the church's past. The old saying "one bad apple can spoil the whole basket" is so true.  So we must pray for repentance for that one to free them from the guilt of sins they had committed so that the church might prosper going forward. To be free to receive God's grace, those sins need to be discerned, confessed, and repented of by the body.

[Gladys E.]

A sin of one person affects a nation or congregation because of tge covenant made with God.

We take sin seriously by always asking for forgiveness and forsaking our evil ways.

It is important to confess sins of nation, or congregation because God will forgive and cleanse the nation or congregation. 

[JanMary]

Q 1 (Joshua 7) How can the sin of one person affect the country? A congregation?

The covenant  which God cut with Abraham was not only with him, but for the whole nation then and throughout history even to today and beyond. In Jericho God is still working with the nation, so Achan became the example for all regarding disobedience. One spy can reveal secrets which put an entire nation's defense in jeopardy. One gossip spreading a lie can damage an entire congregation as it spreads, each person reacts or responds, makes a judgment, takes sides or passes it on.

How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body?

Right now, and for the past few weeks the pastor has brought to our attention that 10 families in our church are dealing with the following issues, all alone, afraid to tell anyone for fear of rejection or all out shunning: Grandparents with a transgender grandchild who is undergoing a sex change operation, another family has a son dying of AIDs, two have teens who have come out as homosexual, and so on. The congregation's sin is in not extending grace, love and kindness to those who are suffering with particularly difficult situations because of our ignorance of scripture.....when one suffers, we all suffer. Sadly, the Church which is to be a hospital for sinners, has become a graveyard for homosexuals and their families.

We have 2 darling lesbian neighbors who are married,and I had to admit I didn't feel comfortable inviting them to church. They are lovely women...and in  need of the exact amount of grace that was needed to save me! No more, no less. We're all sinners saved by grace, but unfortunately the Church feels so threatened by the LGBTQ community that they are the modern day lepers of society..

How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic, spirit in our churches?

In the case I mentioned above, the self righteous attitude of the congregation created the agony for those families who have become isolated in their suffering, through no fault of their own, but from family members issues who have been judged as outside the limits of forgiveness and grace. Sin is sin....the only sin outside of Grace and forgiveness is in refusing to receive Gods' gift of eternal life through His Son, yet we seem bent on determining which sins are worse than others, (usually the ones we haven't committed or aren't committing currently) Paul tells us how to deal with known, sin in the congregation, and that should be followed by those who are capable of or called to do so, in love.

What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf of a congregation, a denomination or a nation?

God's goodness leads us to repentance, which is more likely to occur in a congregation where self righteous, legalistic folks are not the norm. For our church, our repentance for the cruelty to those families, through ignorance, was healing...it felt like fresh air blew in through the windows from Heaven. It was healthy to acknowledge that the entire subject has been taboo in the church and to hear it discussed from the pulpit,and to have fears acknowledged and reassurance that there are boundaries and guidelines in place for membership and leadership for the LGBTQ community. (Such as is required for all members...sexual purity, for example, and marriage between one man and one woman, as God's Word tells us.)

Just as Winston Churchill did during WWII, and several of our Presidents have done,  one individual can call an entire nation to prayer. Hitler was one evil man, whose sin and grab for power led his entire nation to be judged guilty and condemned.  Many admitted after the war that they knew about the prison camps but felt powerless, so pretended it wasn't happening. I remember as a young person not wanting to admit that I have German great grandparents, because all of Germany was being held responsible for what one despicable man accomplished. Egypt was held responsible for the Pharaohs decisions, and to this day they have never recovered. Haiti suffers from the sin of slaughtering thousands and thousands of non Haitians in the early 1800's until blood ran ankle deep in the streets. My French great, great grandfather was one of only a handful who escaped, (His account of the massacre is in the Library of Congress, and his book which I inherited, "The Black Rebellion in Haiti", Pierre Etienne Chazotte) I've often thought how wonderful it would be for Haiti if a Godly Haitian leader would confess that national sin and seek God's forgiveness and restoration for that ravaged, impoverished nation which was once lush, green and prosperous prior to the slaughter.

God is gracious to forgive true repentance, whether for a congregation, a denomination or a nation.

 

 

 

[Susan B]

On 6/10/2016 at 3:53 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q1. (Joshua 7) How can the sin of one person affect a country? A congregation? How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body? How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches? What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation?

 

Oh yes, the sin of one person can destroy a nation. Look at the evil rulers of the past. Look at church leaders whose misconduct it has caused the collapse of their churches. Confession lies rumors and conjecture and let's the healing begin.

[Blublack]

1Cor. 5:6-7, 13 "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (13) But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from yourselves wicked persons."

 The new testament repeats what the old testifies, that the sin or leaven of one has the potential to affect the entire body and it is for that reason that radical excision is prescribed.  From Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden  who after sin while not physically killed  were physically removed so as not to contaminate God's prefect space of the Garden to Judas  who removed himself from the world by hanging himself after betraying Christ and receiving his pieces of silver. In the contemporary setting, the media reports many stories of bodies of saints with leaders whose reported practices are not scriptural and constitute sin. These persons not only bring themselves into disrepute but their families, congregations and the universal church or the worldwide body of Christ.  The sinful actions of these persons whether leaders or ordinary members provide"grist to the mill" for persons outside the faith to hurl stones at Christ's church making our work of evangelizing more difficult. 

Saints are required to  follow the  scriptural guidance and discipline   members of the body of God observed  to have committed sinful acts.  The guidance ,to me,  is found in a surprisingly large number of books in the bible of which I will cite a few e.g Ps 144: 11-15; Matt:18: 15-18 ; Gal 6:1-2;  1 Cor 5: 1-11;1 Tim :3:15. Discipline in love to keep the saints hope of salvation alive is the role of every believer James 5: 19-20. The use of the disciplinary process as outlined in scripture for those adjudged too be in sin  will greatly assist in reducing the judgmental and legalistic approach that tends to creep in.  A key  part of the disciplinary process  is confession and repentance  and restoration 1 John 1 :8-10. This process is personal, individual, corporate and national as we have read of the many prophets successfully  interceding on behalf of these groupings.

[Eilen]

1. I can see this happening in the case of say a soldier turned rogue giving information to another government that can put a country at risk.  We live in a world of much turmoil where there is warfare continuously in certain parts of the world.

2. We know that a church can exist in a world of sin but cannot prosper when a world of sin is brought into the church.  We find today that sin in the church quite often is tolerated.  It is condoned.  Leaders of the church are reported of fornication and adultery and nothing is done about it.  This leads to the detriment of the church.  God wants his church to be doctrinally pure and morally pure.

3. As in any church one should confess one’s sins and sin no more.  We as Christians should do this but many times we fall short of the teachings of God and tolerate the sinner.

4. God forgives sins.   We as Christians should also be tolerant to those who sin against us.  Praying to God about a situation will certainly give us answers to how it can be handled.

5. We see how the sin of Achan brought sin on Israel but when this sin was judged God restored the blessing on Israel.  So God absolves us when we confess our sins.

[charisbarak]

The one who sins actually entices other weak ones to sin too.

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.  It has to be dealt with drastically.  AS far as I know they have taken steps biblically, to deal with the sinner.

By following the steps laid down in the Bible.

It is a good thing.  We are still all sinners.  What one does reflects the rest. We need to ask forgiveness for our nation--how they have sinned...Some of us sinned by voting the way we did......pray for our churches,  denominations & include ourselves in asking for forgiveness & help us to repent!!

[Ganti Vivek]

The sin of one person definitely can effect the whole country for example a bad ruler can destroy the progress, economy and lives of the whole nation, similarly the head ofa family who is sinful will bring curses on his whole family and make them suffer, like a drunken father, a quarrelsome mother.etc,

Regarding dealing with sin in the congregation is a tricky thing in the present day churches because the individual sins are hidden and to be confessed by themselves and the sins which are committed in the church operations are not questioned mostly because it brings splits in the churches so it goes unnoticed, but one cannot hide anything from God and what God does to those people and churches depends on Gods mercy.

If we take judgemental attitude against sins we commit and judge ourselves and ask for mercy and forgiveness from God, He will definitely forgive us, without judgemental attitude we cannot correct ourselves, because unless we do judgmental to our actions we cannot correct ourselves under the sight of God.

Its very important to confess sins of families, individuals, nations and churches on the whole because by confession we accept that we are sinners and seek forgiveness from God and in the process we are supposed to forgive others who sinned against us. And by confession of our sins we feel relieved about  our sins being forgiven and get encouraged to lead a Holy life.

[hanks]

Q1. (Joshua 7) 
How can the sin of one person affect a country? 
A congregation? 
How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body? 
How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches? 
What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation?
We only have to think of how Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, with his assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria-Hungary, started WW1.
His sinful act caused over 17 million deaths and changed the world forever. 
Sin is like a cancer, if allowed to grow, can have a profound effect upon an individual, on a family, on a church, and as we have seen, even on a nation. 
Israel was a holy nation, set apart from others, and God therefore was dealing with them as a collective whole.
Therefore, Achan’s sin was looked upon by God as “My people have sinned”.
God hates sin. Here He was teaching the Israelites that sin defiles the whole nation and therefore must be totally eradicated.
I think God also looks upon each congregation, and each denomination, and even each nation as a unit.
It is therefore vital for each unit to repent and confess their sin.
Any sin in an integrated unit can have significant effects on the blessings God may provide. 
 

[lighthouse2014]

On 6/10/2016 at 2:53 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q1. (Joshua 7) How can the sin of one person affect a country? A congregation? How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body? How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches? What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation?

 

One man's sin can affect a whole country because he has gone against God's will, especially a leader of the country. If the people of the country do not reconcile on this sin by repenting praying for forgiveness. God will hold the whole nation guilty because they have not dwelt with this sin.

As above the same may be said about a congregation. They must deal with this sin of transgression.

Our congregation deals with this sin by confronting the individual with the elders. If the person has not repented if their sin they must be excommunicated. Then the church will pray for forgiveness.

We deal with these sins in a love that Christ has for us, we are not to judge or condemn. We deal in a spirit of the Lord, he is the judge of all.

The importance of confessing of sins, where a congregation, denomination or nation, we must deal with these sins, confess, repent and ask for forgiveness.     

[PrayingMan]

Q1. (Joshua 7) How can the sin of one person affect a country? A congregation? How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body? How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches? What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation?

This question has always troubled me.  I understand that a shot fired or a secret shared with an enemy affects the whole army, And I can see Achan's sin against God was serious, especially after God explicitly told them not to do what he did.  I also understand the structure of authority in that Adam's sin affected all under his authority, including Eve and the creation.  But Achan was not an authority and the army wasn't under his command.  And I understand that a person is responsible for his own sin and not the sins of others.  This is why Achan's sin affecting the whole nation when they were not knowledgeable of it not complicit in it.  Our congregation is filled with people who fail weekly,  Are individual sins enough to take God's protection and blessing from a whole congregation.  Who could stand?  I do think we need confession and if a sin affects the entire congregation, it needs to be dealt with with the entire congregation, such as a church split.  Confession in behalf of a church, denomination or a nation (as did Nehemiah) is good for the individual, but the responsibility still lies on the guilty to also confess.  This is an area I have more questions than answers.

[DawnMc13]

Thank God that we no longer live under the old covenant of Law but the New Covenant of Grace.  We personally have a circle of influence of all who are around us and our behavior and decisions affect others, not just ourselves, for good or for evil.  When a fellow believer is living in unrepentant sin we realize the all sin hurts the sinner and out of love for that person, we gently step in to help and guide them back into repentance.

Blatant sin (unconfessed sin) needs to be dealt with by the church as to not have others influenced by that sin. God desires peace and unity among His family and divisions break that unity.

Our goal is to have many of God's blessings on our congregation, family and nation.  The more faithful followers there are, the more blessing will be bestowed on them.  

 

[Debra Grant]

       

Q1. (Joshua 7) How can the sin of one person affect a country?

A congregation? How does your congregation deal with sin that

affects the body? How can we take sin seriously without

developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches?

What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a

congregation, a denomination, or a nation? 

1.  But in a time of war, you must agree, one soldier who

fires prematurely can alert the enemy and destroy the

whole army. One person who shares a secret can expose an

entire nation to defeat. Real life demonstrates that all

can  suffer for the sins of a single person.  Repentance should be done.                                                 

2. Churches can be hindered by the sins of members, even

members in the church's past.

3. The person goes to the Bishop and confess and ask for

prayer.

4. Look at the future, understand that the person has a

chance as long as they are breathing, and willing to

change.Pray for the person.

5. To be free to receive God's grace, those sins need to

be discerned, confessed, and repented of by the body.

[haar]

Q1. (Joshua 7) How can the sin of one person affect a country? A congregation? How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body? How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches? What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation?

Sin pollutes and thus the sin of one individual can attract God's anger over the whole family, congregation or nation.

There are some sins committed by an individual, the church publicly places the individual under punishment.  For instance a person caught in adultery  bared  from partaking in holy communion for period while being counseled, watched mentored during the period. He is publicly restored into the fellowship after the period is over.

God hears the petition of the church and forgives the sin of individual, congregation and the nation hence the need to confess and intercede for these groups

[Commissioned]

On 6/10/2016 at 0:53 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q1. (Joshua 7) How can the sin of one person affect a country? A congregation? How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body? How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches? What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation?

 

The sin of one person affects a country in that the country of that person will receive the judgment that the individual will reap.

The sin of one person affect a congregation as we are reminded by the Apostle paul to the Corinthian church.  To do nothing is share in the sins of others and bear the judgment of God.  

As a congregation the church deal with sin that affects the body by coming together in corporate prayer.

We can take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches by counseling, forgiving and embracing the individual with love.

The importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation brings awareness, repentance and a brokenness before God. 

[Robyn G.]

When pondering this question, I think of the impact of the original sin,  If one decision of disobedience affected all people for all time-how can we not think others sins can affect us?  Though not really considered it that way before to be honest. 

Country- Well I think we only need to look at the decay and downward spiral of morals to know and take notice sins effect us all both directly and indirectly.

Congregation-This on I can speak to on a personal level unfortunately.  When people sin and there are sins that get people to choose sides, form conclusions and once a lie has ran through and battle lines drawn; there's no getting the love and trust back.  There are hurt feelings, relationships lost and the focusing and worshiping God is no longer the focus.  Many people leave churches and God because of how people act and treat one another,  We must be careful to lift God up, not break down His teachings.

I've not personally dealt with how our current congregation deals with sin affecting the body.  I do know they have a ministerial staff that goes and talks to the individual(s), I know we have a prayer network for each other and concerns and much emphasis is placed on the importance of small group studies and accountability for all our and our church's growth and mission.

I believe that Jesus best demonstrated this through hate sin, but love the sinner.  We've got to remember we all have a back story and skeletons we have lurking in out past that Satan wants to use to try and discourage and separate us fro God.  God forgives us, but we struggle to stay forgiven and accepted.  We've got to reprogram our thinking to be more of God's (seeing the good and potential) instead of the world's (egocentric, me , myself, and I and subconsciously proving we're better by making other's worse).  Our daily walk and time building our relationship with God is the only way to accomplish this- we can't do this on our own, it's so very true:  God I need you, every hour I need you, you're m one defense, my righteousness, oh, Lord how I need you.

We must admit and acknowledge sins or we can't grow.  Ignoring a problem doesn't make it better and solves nothing.  Too often (and I mean way too often) we know what to do to resolve or how to move away from a sin, but it's SO much easier and more comfortable to remain in sin than be set apart for God.  Sin is a disease, it's a disease of our soul, if left untreated it overtakes and spreads to our friends and family like wildfire.  As I continue to grow and learn, I'm understanding more how God's BIG PICTURE works and in being more Christ centered, I become more BIG PICTURE/God's will centered.  God made us in His image and thus to love and sin hinders our love and leads to sadness, regret and anger which lead to more sin and awful feelings.  It's a revolving door, you reap what you sow, monkey see; monkey do, and countless other metaphors--the point remains:  we are a slave to sin and doomed to repeat/relive it unless we do something different and use Godly means to fight our worldly battles.

[Stanley Tavaziva]

Q1. (Joshua 7) How can the sin of one person affect a country? A congregation? How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body? How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches? What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation?

The results of Achan’s sin:(1) Many men died; (2) Israel’s army melted in fear; (3) Joshua questioned God; (4) God threatened to withdraw his presence from the people; (5) Achan and his family had to be destroyed. When Israel eliminated the sin from their community, these were the results: (1) encouragement from God; (2) God’s presence in battle; (3) God’s guidance and promise of victory; (4) God’s permission to keep the plunder and livestock from the battle for themselves. Throughout Israel’s history, blessings came when the people got rid of their sin. You will also experience victory when you turn from your sin and follow God’s plan wholeheartedly.

[Anstey Jeremiah]

Some of the replies state that yes one person's sin could affect a nation or congregation and they signify leaders in particular, but we must remember that leaders can't be leaders unless they have followers and other people of similar thinking. Congregations cannot be congregations without members, while congregation themselves are members of members of the Body of Christ. In the Old Testament Israel was bounded by covenant with God as individuals and as a nation so yes one man sin can affect the nation and in any case God always has to show of all things His omniscience and His immutability. He had to show Israel that He knew Nadab and Abihu were drunk and used profane fire. He had to let Joshua ( letting him know beforehand) and Israel know that Achan had sin. just like he would later show that He knew that Aninias and Saphira (Acts 5:1-11) had sinned. Of affecting the . Church, we know a little leaven, leavens the whole lot (1 Cor 5:6,7; Gal 5:9)  so the old leaven, whatever is the sin that cause the name  of God to be blasphemed among unbelievers, or taint the household of faith must be purged

The Apostle Paul was doctrinal in stating in 1&2 Corinthian that you do not condone what is not right, 1 Cor 5:5, but yet forgive an d comfort such a one, 2 Cor 2:5 ff. Legalism often comes from poor interpretation of the word or rather different interpretation and minds and hearts that do not understand forgiveness, repentance and most importantly, grace. This not particular to churches or denominations. 

Confessings sins on behalf of a congregation shows that sometimes we cause on another to sin and the vulnerability of the flesh. We identify that we are members of the body and that the sin of on affects the body, so the body has to do what it can to help the whole. It shows God our willingness to do His will and our appreciation for His grace.

[Irmela]

Q1. (Joshua 7)

How can the sin of one person affect a country?

How can the sin of one person affect a congregation?

How does your congregation deal with sin that affects the body?

How can we take sin seriously without developing a judgmental, legalistic spirit in our churches?

What is the importance of confessing sins on behalf a congregation, a denomination, or a nation?

We see this in many instances where sin is eventually revealed, that it is as a result of the sin that the country or congregation has  come to ruin or fallen into disrepute.

When confessing a sin then healing or change can come about.  If the sin is not forgiven but bitterness and grudges are allowed to grow as callouses over these hurts, then eventually that person, or congregation members, or people in the nation reach the same place of destruction, which will not be reversed if the sin is not confessed. So it eventually becomes a vicious circle if not dealt with appropriately as we are taught by example in the Bible and total annihilation is the final outcome.

The importance of confessing sins on behalf of a congregation, denomination or nation enables many to become aware of this and should someone remark about that sin another can remind that it has been confessed and dealt with. Once dealt with appropriately it should be set aside as covered under the blood and not brought out as if not dealt with. When can healing otherwise ever take place?

An example of this comes to mind. The missionaries that were murdered in 1956 and later some of the families of the murdered men went and taught that same tribe about Christ and His love.  Read Through Gates of Splendour and other accounts of what happened before and after the murders.