I Corinthians 5:11

[FTL]

First time here, hello everyone.

My family has been struggling with an issue that I would love some help on.

I will try to keep it short.

My wife's sister left her husband and son two years ago and eventually started living with another man that is also married. Knowing my wife's sister is a professed Christian (bible college and all) and finding out the man is a self professed evangelist, we spoke to them from the bible as lovingly as we could. They informed us that God put them together, everybody sins, and we just need to be happy for them and welcome him into our family.

We have been standing our ground after reading I Corinthians 5:11 and not getting together with them.

We are quickly becoming ostracized from our family because they have excepted them and we haven't. All family members are life long professing Christians.

The most compelling argument is that we are all sinners and what makes their sin worthy of our stand.

 

[Bobinator]

I'm sorry to hear that your family will not stand with you. I'm with you on this matter. Your sister and her live-in boyfriend are clearly living in adultery. This scripture came to mind immediately upon reading your testimony.

Matthew 10:[33] But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
[34] Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
[35] For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
[36] And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
[37] He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
[38] And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

May you have the strength and fortitude to take a stand. It may be the only thing that may save these two individuals from destruction. If all of you welcomed this relationship as it is, there would be no place for repentance.

 

[Coltogum]

God bless you, sir.

I've never had the courage to tell my brother that If he sleeps with his girlfriend without having intentions of marrying her it would be ungodly.
Not only that he told me how he desires to have/experience as many women as possible..
I know he somewhat loves his girlfriend but never asked whether he would marry her.
We were both raised as Christians and it does displease my Christian parents.
I would fully accept any judgement from God on this matter as I knowingly ignored my duties as a brother and a Christian to correct him.

 

[FTL]

It's only too late when you are dead Coltogum. Peter abandoned Christ and denied even knowing Him three times before he was emboldened by the Holy Spirit to do all that he did. We can't do this stuff without His Spirit, and if we try, our efforts end up empty anyway. Pray up, bible up, connect up, and He will help you man up. Thanks for your humility, God will most certainly bless that.

 

[FTL]

Thanks Bobinator for your support. Most of our Christian friends tell us not to judge. It's almost like being back at the schoolyard kick ball game when the teams are being picked and wandering why you are all alone. It most certainly causes you to doubt yourself.
I'm still having a tough time addressing the issue that we are all sinners and continue to sin and require grace. I believe His Word tells us that as long as we are fighting sin and don't find ourselves comfortable in it then we are on the right path. Yet I look at more hidden sins like greed ( which is also listed in 1 Corinthians 5:11 ) and think to my self all the things I could do without and give those funds to the poor. Isn't it a form of greed to have two pairs of shoes? I know I'm reaching here, but in the light of a Holy God, I see myself in that verse and everyone else I know. Am I just choosing which sinful acts to disassociate from and which to accept based on there levels?

 

[miamited]

Thanks Bobinator for your support. Most of our Christian friends tell us not to judge.

Hi FTL,

Well, I would say that most of your christian friends are wrong. Paul says that we are to judge those who claim to be a part of us. He even gives an example where he judged that a man should be put out of fellowship for continuing to live as an unrepentant sinner. It was even over a similar kind of sin, sexual immorality.

However, yes, it can be a difficult line to walk. We must keep in mind that the sin is not against us, but against God. David cried out in his sin with Bathsheba and having her husband killed, "Against you only have I sinned!" Remember also that Jesus pretty fairly warned us that he did not come to bring peace and then told us that one of our difficulties was going to be that we would be pitted against our own family.

This is just another sign of how we disgrace God when we claim to be a part of Him and yet don't live as we are. The day of judgment is coming and Jesus was also pretty clear that there were going to be 'many' who would stand before him crying out 'Lord, Lord...'. I think it fairly obvious that these people will be people who called themselves christians upon the earth. After all, he says that they will be declaring to him how they worked mighty miracles in his name.

Anyone can call themselves a christian and any one can call themselves a Jew, but God looks at the heart.

God bless you.
In Christ, Ted

 

[Bobinator]

God bless you, sir.

I've never had the courage to tell my brother that If he sleeps with his girlfriend without having intentions of marrying her it would be ungodly.
Not only that he told me how he desires to have/experience as many women as possible..
I know he somewhat loves his girlfriend but never asked whether he would marry her.
We were both raised as Christians and it does displease my Christian parents.
I would fully accept any judgement from God on this matter as I knowingly ignored my duties as a brother and a Christian to correct him.

It matters not whether he loves her or intends to marry her. There is no holy covenant between them.

Unfortunately, it seems you love your brother more than you love God. Please note that if you choose the path that you've stated, you may either sorrowfully regret your brother's ultimate fate for all eternity, or you'll be sharing real estate in a place that's really hot. Your blood will be on your own hands.

Ezekiel 3:[18] When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
[19] Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
[20] Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
[21] Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

 

[A New Dawn]

First time here, hello everyone.

My family has been struggling with an issue that I would love some help on.

I will try to keep it short.

My wife's sister left her husband and son two years ago and eventually started living with another man that is also married. Knowing my wife's sister is a professed Christian (bible college and all) and finding out the man is a self professed evangelist, we spoke to them from the bible as lovingly as we could. They informed us that God put them together, everybody sins, and we just need to be happy for them and welcome him into our family.

We have been standing our ground after reading I Corinthians 5:11 and not getting together with them.

We are quickly becoming ostracized from our family because they have excepted them and we haven't. All family members are life long professing Christians.

The most compelling argument is that we are all sinners and what makes their sin worthy of our stand.

The truth is, we are all sinners. I think it is wrong to reject your wife's sister, as she is your family, and there is a difference between loving her and accepting her because she is family and accepting the sin that she is committing. If you see them, see them as you would any non-believer. Would you not associate with non-believers?

As was mentioned earlier, the sin is not against you, but against God, and God will deal with her (and her current live-in boyfriend). You can be supportive of her family, and still see her, and encourage her to repent of her sins. Judging is not what we are called to do, Matthew tells us not to judge, because by what judgment we judge, we will also be judged by (Matthew 7, Luke 6).