My family member disconnected from me. What does the Bible say?
Your grief is real. The Bible honours family, calls us to love and keep the door open, and God sees you.
Former members describe disconnection as a policy of cutting off people the Church considers suppressive; the Church says it is a personal choice. Either way, being cut off by someone you love is painful. Jesus rebuked religious teachers who used religious rules to avoid caring for their parents. Keep loving, keep praying, and keep the door open. The father in Jesus' story ran to his son the moment he saw him coming home.
9He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 11But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban,”’” that is to say, given to God, 12“then you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother, 13making void the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down. You do many things like this.”
Mark 7:9-13 (WEB) · context
20“He arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Luke 15:20 (WEB) · context
18Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
Psalms 34:18 (WEB) · context
For families and friends Suppressive persons and disconnection