Help! Sinful friends

[Controverse]

SO WHAT I HEAR YOU SAYING THAT THAT YOU REALLY HAVEN'T YET ACCEPTED GOD INTO EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE.

It appears that you are shopping around to find a "mentor" who will tell you what you want to hear--rather than tell you what God wants you to hear.

"Sinful friends" is an oxymoron for a Christian.

ephraim

How can you be so sure God wants her to NOT be friends with them?

 

[ephraimanesti]

How can you be so sure God wants her to NOT be friends with them?

Because He has told us, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. FOR WHAT FELLOWSHIP HAS RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH LAWLESSNESS? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or WHAT PART HAS A BELIEVER WITH AN UNBELIEVER?" (2 Cor. 6:14, 15)

ephraim

 

[TheCheat1]

Because He has told us, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. FOR WHAT FELLOWSHIP HAS RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH LAWLESSNESS? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or WHAT PART HAS A BELIEVER WITH AN UNBELIEVER?" (2 Cor. 6:14, 15)

ephraim

He also said the He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

And you expect these people to be reached HOW exactly if you don't reach out to them?

 

[ephraimanesti]

He also said the He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

And you expect these people to be reached HOW exactly if you don't reach out to them?

PRAYER KNOWS NO DISTANCE!

Using the old rationization that "I will keep hanging out with them in order to lead them to Christ" is faulty in that i have observed that more Christians are dragged into the darkness by this misguided tactic than sinners are led into the light.

Occasional meetings with old pagan acquaintences ("friendship" with them ends at the Cross) for the SOLE PURPOSE OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL--SURE! Hanging out in fellowship with sinners--NO WAY! The Scriptures cited below pertain:

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. FOR WHAT FELLOWSHIP HAS RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH LAWLESSNESS? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or WHAT PART HAS A BELIEVER WITH AN UNBELIEVER?" (2 Cor. 6:14, 15)

A BOND-SLAVE OF CHRIST,
ephraim

 

[ephraimanesti]

He also said the He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

And you expect these people to be reached HOW exactly if you don't reach out to them?

PRAYER KNOWS NO DISTANCE!

Using the old rationization that "I will keep hanging out with them in order to lead them to Christ" is faulty in that i have observed that more Christians are dragged into the darkness by this misguided tactic than sinners are led into the light.

Occasional meetings with old pagan acquaintences ("friendship" with them ends at the Cross) for the SOLE PURPOSE OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL--SURE! Hanging out in fellowship with sinners--NO WAY! The Scriptures cited below pertain:

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. FOR WHAT FELLOWSHIP HAS RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH LAWLESSNESS? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or WHAT PART HAS A BELIEVER WITH AN UNBELIEVER?" (2 Cor. 6:14, 15)

A BOND-SLAVE OF CHRIST,
ephraim

 

[bunced]

To the original poster - stick with your friends. By all means, find new friends too - but don't leave your old friends. We were called to be "set apart" from the world, but not isolated from it in such a way we no longer take part in the affairs of the world.

My Jesus was a Saviour who hung around with prostitutes, with tax collectors, in parties, and was accused of hanging out with drunkards. He was a God who was interested in those who society wants to put down and alienate, because he cared for them and he hand compassion for them. And through this, He helped and brought redemption to many people.

Those who say that Jesus does not want us to hang around with people who are non-Christians are describing a different Jesus to the one I know, a different Jesus to the one I find in the Bible, and a Jesus I'm not sure I'd want to follow.

My friend - hang in there - your life and the way you lead it is perhaps the only gospel these people will get to hear in their lives. Go, and be Jesus to them

 

[ephraimanesti]

My Jesus was a Saviour who hung around with prostitutes, with tax collectors, in parties, and was accused of hanging out with drunkards. He was a God who was interested in those who society wants to put down and alienate, because he cared for them and he hand compassion for them. And through this, He helped and brought redemption to many people.

The difference being, of course, Jesus Christ was the sinless Son of God and, being sinless, has the Power to overcome all temptations of the Enemy in any and all situations whatsoever.

We, on the other hand, are weak and easily tempted sinners, and have little defense against Satan's onslaughts. It is because of our weakness that Scripture VERY CLEARLY tell us to keep our distance from sin and sinner, and in no way to become unequally yoked with them as friends.

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. FOR WHAT FELLOWSHIP HAS RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH LAWLESSNESS? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or WHAT PART HAS A BELIEVER WITH AN UNBELIEVER?" (2 Cor. 6:14, 15)

"Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord." (2 Co 6:17)

We are even told to separate ourselves from fellow Christians who have fallen into heresy, "But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, THAT YOU WITHDRAW FROM EVERY BROTHER WHO WALKS DISORDERLY AND NOT ACCORDING TO THE TRADITION WHICH HE RECEIVED FROM US." (2 Th 3:6) By your logic, you would want them to hang onto the heretic and try to win him back.

Those who say that Jesus does not want us to hang around with people who are non-Christians are describing a different Jesus to the one I know, a different Jesus to the one I find in the Bible, and a Jesus I'm not sure I'd want to follow.

In other words you are saying "What does Paul know?-- and if Jesus doesn't do things my way I will follow someone who will."

SAD!

A BOND-SLAVE OF CHRIST,
ephraim

 

[bunced]

No, I am saying that we should be Christ to the people around us, and be salt and light to the Earth. And we can't be that if we don't get to know the people we are trying to reach. How are we to be salt and light to people if we cower under pots such as Churches because we might be taken into temptation. God promised he would help us overcome temptation - however, our role on Earth is to help be Christ to a fallen world, and to do that, we may need to get our hands duty.

Now this isn't strictly relevant to the original topic, so I suggest that we either both agree to disagree here, or we start another thread where we can discuss without confusing the original question

Either way, I think we should stop this discussion on this thread

Yours in Christ
David

 

[Controverse]

Man, you guys are more divided over this issue than...

Well, I can't think of an example. It's just that hard.

Regardless, I'm gonna keep hanging out and being friends with my friends because despite their religions and faiths, God has yet to instruct me to depart from them and besides, I'm not so weak-minded that they influence me into leaning closer to their faiths.

 

[visionary]

You can do more for Christ in the land of sinners than you can do in the land of saints with your eyes on Christ. If however, in the time of weakness, leave to refresh yourself in Him who saved you.

 

[ephraimanesti]

Regardless, I'm gonna keep hanging out and being friends with my friends because despite their religions and faiths, God has yet to instruct me to depart from them and besides, I'm not so weak-minded that they influence me into leaning closer to their faiths.

Yes, in spite of all the Scriptures cited to the contrary, i am sure you will indeed keep doing what is right in your own eyes. Which, of course, is your right as an exercise of your God-given freewill.

However, my problem is that this Post was placed in the "New Christians Forum," so i assume the OP is new to the Faith. This "newness" places her in a vulnerable position in that she may not yet be fully grounded in the faith, may not yet have acquired her spiritual armor, may not yet have any experience in spiritual warfare, and may not as yet come to fully understand the wiles of the Evil One. THIS MAKES IT SPIRITUALLY DANGEROUS FOR HER TO BE HANGING OUT WITH UNBELIEVERS UNDER THE CONTROL OF SATAN.

What is being suggested by those who are "wise in their own eyes" is that she rush in and lead her still sinning friends to Christ when she, herself has perhaps just arrived. May i relate this to my experience with alcoholism? i have countless times seen individuals in early sobriety--3 or 4 weeks clean and sober perhaps--rush around to their old "friends" who are still drinking and drugging to carry the good news of sobriety to them and, instead, get hooked right back in to active usage again because of a lack of strength and experience--the temptations were just too great to overcome, even with their best intentions. i fell several times in the past in this regard. Now, with years of sobriety under my belt (by the Grace of God--GLORY TO HIM!) i can go anywhere and talk to anyone without fear. In the early days, however, doing this resulted in disaster every time i tried it. (i'm a slow learner!)

It is the same with those in the early stages of their Christian walk--there are just SO MANY ISSUES WE HAVE TO RESOLVE WITHIN OURSELVES BEFORE WE CAN TURN AND BE OF HELP TO OTHERS. To hang out with old worldly "friends" without being firmly grounded and experienced in the Faith oneself is "putting the Lord to the test" to say the least. Notice that even Jesus did not send out his Disciples to preach the Gospel until they had several years of experience and teaching under their belts to carry them through the hardships and temptations they would face.

As St Paul explains, "FOR YOU HAVE SPENT ENOUGH TIME IN THE PAST DOING WHAT PAGANS CHOOSE TO DO--LIVING IN DEBAUCHERY, LUST, DRUNKENNESS, ORGIES, CAROUSING AND DETESTABLE IDOLATRY. THEY THINK IT STRANGE THAT YOU DO NOT PLUNGE WITH THEM INTO THE SAME FLOOD OF DISSIPATION, AND THEY HEAP ABUSE ON YOU. BUT THEY WILL HAVE TO GIVE ACCOUNT TO HIM IS IS READY TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD." (I Peter 4:3-5) It takes spiritual strength, firm grounding, and an accumulation of experiential knowledge to withstand and triumph over what presents itself when dealing with sinners still in the world--friends or otherwise. Those new to the Lord lack these things, and thus Scriptures, given for their protection, caution them to avoid intimate--as with so-called former "friends"--contact with those still living in sin. REMEMBER THAT PRAYER CAN ENTER WHERE CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT TREAD.

Our "job" (if you will) as Christians--the fruit we are called upon to bear for our Lord--is, of course, to bring souls into our Lord's Kingdom. However, as Solomon states, "THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERYTHING, AND A SEASON FOR EVERY ACTIVITY UNDER HEAVEN." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) If the intent is good but the timing wrong, the result can be spiritual disaster. i have seen it happen too many times not to know the truth of this statement.

You may say, "But if we are doing His 'work', He will protect us from the enemy." That is NOT TRUE in that we have been specifically warned in the Scriptures cited before to avoid intimate relationships with those still in the world AND THEREFORE THE WORK IS OURS--NOT HIS. To disregard these warnings leaves any bad outcome chargeable to our willful refusal to follow directions.

Which brings me back to my original point--if you choose not to heed the word of God, go ahead and do what you are going to do, but don't council others--especially those new and vulnerable in the Lord--to follow your bad example. Negative occurences which result will be charged to YOUR account, and YOU will be held liable in God's eyes for having placed the stumbling block in their path.

A BOND-SLAVE OF CHRIST,
ephraim