I agree with your sentiments that a person who makes a claim to Christ(ianity) should be showing evidence of sanctification after having made such claims. My point is that oftentimes that scrutiny by "elders" (as was the manner you claimed had proper authority to do so) is practiced in a contrived way by virtue of some composed list (how much you read your Bible, how often you come to church, if you conform to some outward image of human standards of dress or hair length, etc). And the question remains, if there is a Biblical measure or evidence for us to see Christlikeness (and I agree there is, ie, Galatians 5:22), how long a time-period is a prospective convert given before they are cast out of fellowship for not living up to that list? And for the sake of rhetoric I will answer my own question by stating that if a person claims to be reborn but is living for an extended period of time in known blatant unrepentant sin (and they have been shown scriptural proof of their lack of repentance) that they should be considered an unbeliever. The key there is how the list of sins (and the lack of any other areas of Scriptural growth aside from those sinful struggles) is defined (ie, by the Bible, or by legalistic/externalistic improperly inferred/applied eisigesis).