Hello, my brothers and sisters,<\/p>\n
How should family disputes or arguments be dealt with when the family members are Christians? A certain family at my congregation have arguments about how they talk to each other, not being patient with one another, hurting each other’s feelings, yelling, etc. I know this because one of the ladies, who married into the family, told me about how she’s treated. If something like this continues to happen, should a leader of the congregation get involved, or should I continue to encourage her to communicate with them with love, patience, humility, and respect about how they are making her feel or treating her unfairly? Perhaps setting boundaries on how they should talk to each other?<\/p>\n
God bless you and thank you.<\/p>\n\t
“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you<\/em>” (Ephesians 4:29-32).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Difficulties exist when you are told information by only one person. Solomon warned, “The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him<\/em>” (Proverbs 18:17). We all have a tendency to believe the first story we hear. It may likely be true, but we can’t allow ourselves to accept it as truth until we have verified what we were told independently.<\/p>\n
When we only hear the complaints of one side against another, it can easily degrade into gossip. Problems need to be resolved and not just sympathized with.<\/p>\n
I gather that this woman has tried to resolve the conflicts but has not made a dent in the problem.\u00a0 See if you can get the preacher, an elder, or someone else you trust to go with you and this woman to sit down and discuss the problem. This will allow everyone to hear both sides of whatever is going on. “But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established’<\/em>” (Matthew 18:16). Continuing to press that this woman has to deal with the problems on her own won’t cause matters to change if they haven’t listened to her in the past.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, getting these problems out into the open will lead to the various parties settling their differences and learning how to treat each other as the Lord desires.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Hello, my brothers and sisters, How should family disputes or arguments be dealt with when the family members are Christians? A certain family at my congregation have arguments about how they talk to each other, not being patient with one another, hurting each other’s feelings, yelling, etc. I know this because one of the…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[173,231],"class_list":["post-27179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-family","tag-strife"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68491,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-a-church-handle-a-significant-event\/","url_meta":{"origin":27179,"position":0},"title":"How should a church handle a significant event?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings Brother Hamilton, I trust your worship service went well today. Please, I need your guidance on these matters: What can the church do when someone in the church dies? How should the church go about it? I need a procedure. In other words, how can the church take\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":41276,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-prospective-spouse-meet-his-or-her-future-in-laws-before-the-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":27179,"position":1},"title":"Should a prospective spouse meet his or her future in-laws before the marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does the Bible encourage an engaged couple to travel together to places abroad, so that the lady can meet his family, as they reside in different countries? They still don't belong to each other and temptations are more likely to arise, even in just being boyfriend and girlfriend. Would\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":48688,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-parents-dont-get-along-how-do-i-fix-the-situation\/","url_meta":{"origin":27179,"position":2},"title":"My parents don’t get along. How do I fix the situation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I feel so sad right now. I'm a 23-year-old female. I have my parents who never got along well. They've been having problems since I was young. They would always complain and talk badly about each other to my siblings and me. They would blame each other for\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":12727,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-does-god-view-switching-congregations\/","url_meta":{"origin":27179,"position":3},"title":"How does God view switching congregations?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning, Mr. Jeffrey! My husband and I have decided to switch our church membership to another local body of believers. 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Answer: Before I answer the question, I want to note that some congregations add people to their membership simply because they keep\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":60045,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/which-congregation-should-i-have-my-membership-at\/","url_meta":{"origin":27179,"position":5},"title":"Which congregation should I have my membership at?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Jeffrey, Thank you for your excellent work on the La Vista Church of Christ website. Over the years, I have learned very much from your sermons and the question-and-answer section posed there. 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