Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes<\/em>” (Proverbs 24:4-5), the tone of my reply was firm but milder than the one she presented to me.<\/p>\nYou did not prove that the answer was wrong. You merely didn’t like the way it was presented. I wonder if you would have scolded John the Baptist (Matthew 3:7) or Jesus when he spoke to the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:22-28). One style of response does not fit all people.<\/p>\n
I have no idea if she was open to the answer. I suspect from the tone of her original note and her lack of response to my reply that she already had her mind made up. Any answer that disagreed with her position would have been rejected.<\/p>\n
So, no, I do not apologize for demonstrating that someone is taking an incorrect position. She was promoting a false idea, and I did as I must to rebuke her for that position. “Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you<\/em>” (Titus 2:15).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: I saw your response, “Since the church isn’t the building, you can’t make rules about how the building is used,” to an older woman who “dared” to say what is in\u00a0her\u00a0heart. What disrespect you showed her! Do you really believe she was open to your answer?\u00a0 Did you show her the wrong in her…<\/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_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[127,1598],"class_list":["post-30090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-about-this-site","tag-rebukes"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25684,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-apologize-or-move-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":30090,"position":0},"title":"Should I apologize or move on?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm 19 and I was in a relationship with a girl. I love her so much, but I do not know if she is the right girl for me. I believed that God sent me this girl because no matter what happened, we stayed together for more a year\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":19157,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-person-who-had-sex-with-another-persons-fiancee-needs-to-apologize-to-the-fiancee\/","url_meta":{"origin":30090,"position":1},"title":"Does the person who had sex with another person’s fiancee needs to apologize to the fiancee","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a Christian sister falls into formication with a brother who is engaged, and both have sincerely repented, is it necessary for the sister to call the brother's fianc\u00e9e to apologize as a form of restitution?\u00a0 Does the brother need to tell his fianc\u00e9e and show her the sister\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":31358,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-missed-an-opportunity-to-tell-someone-that-their-life-is-not-right-with-god-what-do-i-do-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":30090,"position":2},"title":"I missed an opportunity to tell someone that their life is not right with God. What do I do now?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My wife ran into an old friend at a store, and they were talking.\u00a0 Her friend talked of how she and her fiance were living together, and my wife said something that kind of approved it.\u00a0 Her friend was also cussing.\u00a0 I walked away and sat in the car.\u00a0\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":34579,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-for-a-younger-woman-to-teach-older-women\/","url_meta":{"origin":30090,"position":3},"title":"Is it wrong for a younger woman to teach older women?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been in several small congregations and my wife has been asked to lead woman's classes or has started one where there wasn't one. The problem is that she feels a little strange about it because she is a young woman teaching older women some twice her age\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":33031,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-lied-about-my-taxes-what-should-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":30090,"position":4},"title":"I lied about my taxes. What should I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: About 3 years ago I received a tax credit that I shouldn't have. I was claiming kids that I was legally allowed to claim but received a childcare credit for them also. Their mom paid the childcare fees and the daycare owner admitted to me that she altered the\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":4422,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-dont-understand-kids-today-have-to-live-with-someone\/","url_meta":{"origin":30090,"position":5},"title":"You don’t understand, kids today have to live with someone","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just wanted to say that your site is very distorted from the word to God and I pray that you find Christ. I read the topic over of the question beginning with: \"I am in the same situation as the young lady, who is 23 years old. I\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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}