"Permitting" Unbelievers to Sin. A Sin?

This comes to mind in situations like this:

Ezekiel’s Task as Watchman
16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.

20 “Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 21 But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”

22 The hand of the Lord was on me there, and he said to me, “Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.” 23 So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.

24 Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25 And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people. 26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people. 27 But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.

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~Ezekiel 3:16-27 (NIV)

Bible Gateway passage: Ezekiel 3 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Ezekiel 3 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Ezekiel 3 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: Ezekiel 3 - International Children’s Bible

To my understanding, genuine prophets of God lead by example. You have made the effort to convince your brother and if he still refuses to listen, that is ENTIRELY on him, not you. It is better to try and fail than to never try at all. We all have free will and we will all have to deal with the consequences of our actions, whether in this life or the next.

As for giving your brother more customers, especially when dishonesty is present, you are to serve God, not Mammon. (Luke 16:1-15, Matthew 6:19-24)

"Am I my brothers keeper?"
Yes and no. You've done your part when you spoke with him about it. Consistent nagging alienates people and is generally ineffectual.
Ever man will answer for his own life.
Lot was in a town surrounded by lost souls.
"A mans enemies shall be those of his own household." Pray that your brother comes to Christ, the Spirit of God will do the rest.
You do not consent to the stealing, it is his alone.
Would it be a sin for me to give my brother's contact to my friend since I would be "permitting" and "supporting" an unbeliever (my brother) to sin?
Romans, 1:32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

npw11 said:

This post might sound ridiculous, but it has been causing me stress lately. I live in Indonesia, where pirated software are common. I know that it is a sin to use pirated software (Romans 13:1-2), but that is not the issue. My brother is a non-Christian who is a graphic designer, and uses pirated software for his work. I have talked to him about getting the legitimate version of the software, but I don't think he will budge. Now recently, a friend of mine asked me if he can have my brother's phone number since he needs the service of a graphic designer. Would it be a sin for me to give my brother's contact to my friend since I would be "permitting" and "supporting" an unbeliever (my brother) to sin?

I know my mind reaches way too far and connects things that people normally would not connect. But I am afraid if I simply follow what my mind says, this will be a persistent issue for me in the future. I have psychiatrist-diagnosed OCD. As a result, I often need the counsel of other Christians. Thank you for reading!

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You sound over concerned with other people’s sin. My advice is to focus on yourself. Also, if you believe in not supporting businesses that engage in sin, you’d need to be boycotting a lot of businesses.

If someone wants to give your brother work and isn't directly wanting to pirate software then you aren't responsible for "adding" to his sin of piracy. It is when someone asks where to get free software (piracy) that you would be responsible. It is possible if your brother gets enough business someone who considers hiring him will put him on the spot to stop using pirated software or lose their business entirely.

npw11 said:

"One of the driving forces behind Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an inflated sense of responsibility, known as hyper-responsibility." (Source: PsychCentral)

I am indeed, because of my condition. What do you suggest I do when I feel over-responsible for other people's sins, such as in this case? How do I focus on myself and at the same time, know the right thing to do? I know I need to tread carefully here, since this one decision of mine may affect all the other decisions I make in the future. Thanks, and God bless!

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I’m really sorry that you have to struggle with these things. I think you should do what your doctor or therapist recommends. The advice here, including mine, might be detrimental for you. Are you seeing someone regularly who works with you on these issues?

npw11 said:

Not to cause an argument here, but what do you then think of the first two replies above? I need a clear vision on this issue. Thanks, and God bless you!

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Let me ask you this: Is your brother a Christian or not?
I think that they are mostly correct. If someone is a Christian then as Christians we can hold them accountable for sinning because they should know better but if they aren't one then we cannot hold them to God's standards because they are essentially rejecting God and in that rejecting his standards is normal for them.
If someone doesn't respect you and/or God then trying to impose him and his standards on them simply won't work and will likely alienate them from considering God.
All we can do to help reduce sinning of those who reject God is to point out secular arguments and leave it at that. I would instead focus on loving your neighbor and those around you and not be judging right and wrong on them and yourself incessantly.
Another simple piece of advice when it comes to OCD is.... who is in control, you or God? If God is in control then things that you cannot control should be GIVEN over to God. I've been in situations in life where I was nearly coming unglued with stress and anger and bitterness over situations that I could not overcome. It is when I gave up and said to God..... I give this over to you that I've found great peace and all that I could think of doing didn't even come close to what turned out happening in the end as God did "handle" the situation.
Some times loving others forces you to shut your mouth when it comes to them sinning, if they don't want to be like you then they won't follow you and if they aren't following God or you trying to prevent them sinning is a losing battle IMO.

npw11 said:

This post might sound ridiculous, but it has been causing me stress lately. I live in Indonesia, where pirated software are common. I know that it is a sin to use pirated software (Romans 13:1-2), but that is not the issue. My brother is a non-Christian who is a graphic designer, and uses pirated software for his work. I have talked to him about getting the legitimate version of the software, but I don't think he will budge. Now recently, a friend of mine asked me if he can have my brother's phone number since he needs the service of a graphic designer. Would it be a sin for me to give my brother's contact to my friend since I would be "permitting" and "supporting" an unbeliever (my brother) to sin?

I know my mind reaches way too far and connects things that people normally would not connect. But I am afraid if I simply follow what my mind says, this will be a persistent issue for me in the future. I have psychiatrist-diagnosed OCD. As a result, I often need the counsel of other Christians. Thank you for reading!

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this doesn't in any way sound ridiculous to me - sounds to me that you take God's Word and ways seriously, and that has brought you to this delima

simply providing a phone number doesn't mean you are permitting and supporting someone to sin; the friend who asked for his number is responsible to know who he's dealing with - you aren't responsible to make sure everyone knows the worst about who they do business with. as long as you and your brother can talk about things, God has the opportunity to use you to reach him; if you start telling people he's using unlicensed sw in his business, your relationship with your brother will likely suffer. and what if your discussion with your brother caused him to rethink and buy the sw licenses he needs - if you refuse to give your brother's number to a friend who wants to do business with him, you might be acting on wrong information.

Judas, one of Jesus' disciples, was a thief, and likely stole money from Jesus; but there's nothing about Jesus telling others about this (they likely figured it out from just being around Judas) or reporting him to the authorities.

(Eze 3:16) And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
(Eze 3:17) Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

the Lord gave Ezekiel a mission to be the watchman over Israel; as such he was God's spokesperson. the Holy Spirit had not yet come to indwell people in Ezekiel's day, so God had to speak to them through a prophet; this is why God held him responsible for warning the people. today, we have the ministry of reconciliation, to bring people into fellowship with God through knowledge of Jesus; if someone won't hear and act on the gospel, they won't hear and act on warnings either.

as a saved child of God, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, and you can be led by Him in this. seek His direction, follow peace (which is to say don't follow strife) in recognizing His leading, walk in mercy and love (not judgement), and trust that you will be led by the Holy Spirit.

npw11 said:

Yes, I am. And thank you for your kind concern ! However, I only meet him on a biweekly basis. He suggested me to find the answers to these doubts myself, but then I would later discuss the answers I find with him during our biweekly meeting (he is also a Christian).


You may be right! But I would like to know if you agree with Sophrosyne when he said, "If someone wants to give your brother work and isn't directly wanting to pirate software then you aren't responsible for "adding" to his sin of piracy."

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I do agree with Sophrosene, but I also think that the best thing for you would be to work on letting go of all thoughts about whether or not you are causing or adding to others’ sin. What if you just focused on increasing acts of kindness, compassion, gratitude, and generosity in your life? You can avoid a lot of sin that way and also set a wonderful example for others.

npw11 said:

This post might sound ridiculous, but it has been causing me stress lately. I live in Indonesia, where pirated software are common. I know that it is a sin to use pirated software (Romans 13:1-2), but that is not the issue. My brother is a non-Christian who is a graphic designer, and uses pirated software for his work. I have talked to him about getting the legitimate version of the software, but I don't think he will budge. Now recently, a friend of mine asked me if he can have my brother's phone number since he needs the service of a graphic designer. Would it be a sin for me to give my brother's contact to my friend since I would be "permitting" and "supporting" an unbeliever (my brother) to sin?

I know my mind reaches way too far and connects things that people normally would not connect. But I am afraid if I simply follow what my mind says, this will be a persistent issue for me in the future. I have psychiatrist-diagnosed OCD. As a result, I often need the counsel of other Christians. Thank you for reading!

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Buy him the software. You are not responsible for what others do.

I think encouraging others to sin is a sin. In this example saying to your brother 'you should pirate your software' would be sinful because you are endorsing sinful behaviour in them.

I wouldn't say that it is a sin to permit others to sin. You aren't necessarily in a position to dictate what your brother does or not, his actions are down to him. All you can do is say that you think it is wrong and pray for him, after that it is between him and God. You could buy him the legit software I suppose, but I think that would be going above and beyond your duties as a brother