Having spent years in an open table assembly, now 20 yrs in closed communion Anabaptist, I am wondering about which you can justify "fencing the table". In 1st Corinthians, Paul says let a man examine himself and so eat. He didn't say to be interrogated by a bishop/overseer/elder. The thinking here seems to be that if you attend a communion service with another group, and there happens to be somebody there who is divorced and remarried unBiblically or in some other sin, that it is somehow catching and defiles you
Our daughter is interested in a very conservative homeschooled Wesleyan traditional fella which makes this an issue since they do allow a divorce with remarriage in limited situations. Mennonites are very group focused; Protestants I believe tend to see it more whether the communing person is clean and it is more between him/her and God. In light of 'discerning the Lord's body, Steve, what do you think about open vs closed communion? Does someone else's sin sully us?
Closed or Open Communion
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