Chapter 39—Love Among Brethren Dear Brethren and Sisters in -----,My mind has been exceedingly troubled in regard to your condition. I have not been able to sleep, and I arise at twelve o’clock to write to J, and to you as a church. I do not know what might have been the condition of J at the present time had you pursued a righteous, Christian course toward him—such a course as every child of God should pursue in such a case. Some of you will not be able to comprehend my words, for your own course has placed you where you have not sanctified discernment. You have allowed strong, hard feelings against him to come into your hearts, and have justified yourselves in treating him with indifference and even contempt. You have reasoned that by his unbelief and his wrong course he was certainly injuring the church and endangering souls, and you must have no fellowship with him. But will you, in the light of God’s great standard of righteousness, critically examine every word and act of your own that you can call to mind and compare these with the life of Christ? If you have been doing the will of God, then His light and His approval will second your efforts, and prosperity will attend you. I wish the members of this once prosperous church would each begin to build over against his own house. When they see their course in its true light they will know that they have made a very great mistake in allowing their own critical, pharisaical spirit to control their tongues and develop itself in their treatment of their brethren. This unchristian harshness has excluded Jesus from the church and has brought in a spirit of dissension. It has fostered a disposition to judge and condemn, a hatred of those who do not see things as you see them. Even if your brethren say and do many things that really injure you, will you push them to one side, and say: “I am holier than thou”? {5T 341.3}

Kære brødre og søstre i ___: Mit sind har været umådelig trængt med hensyn til jeres tilstand. Jeg har ikke kunnet sove og jeg står op klokken tolv for at skrive til J og til jer som en menighed. Jeg ved ikke hvordan J ville have det nu, hvis I havde behandlet ham retfærdigt og kristent, sådant som ethvert Guds barn skal være i sådant et tilfælde. Nogle af jer vil (342) ikke kunne forstå mine ord, for jeres egen handlemåde har sat jer der, hvor I ikke har en helliget dømmekraft. I har ladet stærke og hårde følelser imod ham, komme ind i jeres hjerter og har retfærdiggjort jer selv ved at behandle ham med ligegyldighed og endog foragt. I har forklaret at han, med sin vantro og forkerte handlemåde, skadede menigheden visselig og bragte sjæle i fare og I må ikke have fællesskab med ham. Men vil I, i lyset af Guds store retfærdighedsnorm, kritisk ransage hvert ord og handling hos jer selv, så I kan genkalde og sammenligne disse med Kristi liv? Hvis I har gjort Guds vilje, så vil hans lys og anerkendelse støtte jeres anstrengelser og lykke vil følge jer. Jeg ønsker at medlemmerne i denne før så fremgangsrige menighed, ville hver især begynde at bygge lige over for deres egne huse. Når de ser deres løbebane i dets sande lys, vil de vide at de har gjort en meget stor fejltagelse, ved at lade deres egen kritiske og farisæiske ånd styre deres tunger og udvikle sig selv i den måde de behandler deres brødre på. Denne ukristne hårdhed har udelukket Jesus fra menigheden og har bragt en splid ind. Den har fostret en tilbøjelighed til at dømme og fordømme, et had til dem, som ikke ser tingene, som I ser dem. Selv om jeres brødre siger og gør mange ting, der virkelig skader jer, vil I så skubbe dem til side og sige: "Jeg er helligere end du"?