What would you do if going to a family birthday with people you love a lot meant you would be around a gay couple? Half of our family are not Christians and will say we are too judgmental.<\/p>\n\t
“Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners<\/em>” (Matthew 9:10-13).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The question you need to ask yourself is whether or not attending the party is giving honor to someone because they are sinning. I would not attend the wedding of a homosexual couple getting married because the event is in honor of sin. But I have no problems with attending a work-related dinner given in honor of an employee who happens to be homosexual. In the latter case, the event doesn’t honor the sin. “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world<\/em>” (I Corinthians 5:9-10).<\/p>\n
This changes if the person involved is a Christian who has returned to the ways of the world. “But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one<\/em>” (I Corinthians 5:11). Here the concern is not to show approval by indirectly showing that we accept the person even while sinning.<\/p>\n
What other people think about us should not guide decisions about what is right or wrong. Morality is not determined by a consensus of people. The standards for our lives are set by God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: What would you do if going to a family birthday with people you love a lot meant you would be around a gay couple? Half of our family are not Christians and will say we are too judgmental. Answer: “Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[173,353],"class_list":["post-13690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-family","tag-influence"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13258,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-the-bible-tell-us-about-matthews-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":13690,"position":0},"title":"What does the Bible tell us about Matthew’s life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What was the life of Matthew in biblical days? Answer: \"As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, \"Follow me.\" He got up and followed him. It happened as he sat in the house, behold,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93177,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/trusting-self-or-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":13690,"position":1},"title":"Trusting Self or God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Jesus told a parable \"to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt\" (Luke 18:9). What a statement! Jesus targeted head-on an attitude that was common enough that He wanted this parable to be known by future generations. \"Two men went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40562,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-ate-with-publicans-and-sinners\/","url_meta":{"origin":13690,"position":2},"title":"Jesus Ate with Publicans and Sinners","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton There is no doubt that Jesus was among publicans and sinners and ate with them. What was He doing? Was he gambling with them? Was He smoking with them? Drinking intoxicating drinks with them? Cursing and laughing at dirty jokes? Was He being complicit with them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62638,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-got-up-and-followed-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":13690,"position":3},"title":"He Got Up and Followed Him","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Think about this for a moment. Jesus passed by \"Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, 'Follow Me!' And he got up and followed Him\" (Mark 2:14). What an impression Jesus must have already made on Levi (Matthew) to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14879,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-point-of-the-prodigal-son\/","url_meta":{"origin":13690,"position":4},"title":"The Point of the Prodigal Son","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford I know that one should not have high expectations of religious memes, but the one below grinds my gears. Every time I saw it, I rolled my eyes a little bit harder, until I knew that either I\u2019d have to write about it, or my eyes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/prodigal-son-300x293.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":31423,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-i-shun-my-worldly-family-and-friends\/","url_meta":{"origin":13690,"position":5},"title":"Must I shun my worldly family and friends?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I was reading one of your Q&A's and a question came to mind about I Corinthians 5:9-11, \"I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 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