First of all I thank you for your ministry. I appreciate all the biblically sound articles and answers.
My question may sound off the path of the questions you normally answer. The other night in a Wednesday night church service a man brought his girlfriend to the service. She had never been there before. The woman was so drunk that she could barely walk and she was stumbling and tripping all over the sanctuary. During worship shortly after the service began she left the church and went and sat in her car honking the horn. She would honk the horn for a few minutes, then stop, then start again.
My first thoughts were to pray for her which I did during the service. I also thought that it was good for her to have least come for a few minutes. Then a few days later I just thought this was not right, that she should not of been in church so drunk she never would of remembered a thing. I don’t want to seem un-compassionate or hard hearted but I am not sure if this is respectful to our Lord to have someone carrying on like she did. I would greatly respect your opinion.
Just like it’s poor etiquette to bring a drunk to a friend’s house when everyone else is sober, it’s that much worse to bring someone into the house of God like that. Non-believers are welcome in church services, but they don’t have the right to disrupt the service or engage in disrespectful behavior. An official from the church should tell the man and his girlfriend that they’re welcome at the service and encouraged to attend as long as they don’t disrupt it.
Paul said, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not! (1 Cor 11:20-22) Good manners and common decency are expected in church just as they are any place else.