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 I’m afraid because I didn’t say anything I approved of this girl’s sin.\u00a0 Should my wife go to her and let her know she doesn’t approve of her fornication? Should I go to her and let her know I don’t approve of her fornication?\u00a0 Or should we just confess it to God and do better in the future?<\/p>\n\t
You did show some disapproval by walking away, but not in such a way that this other woman would understand what was wrong.<\/p>\n
The problem is that you both lost an opportunity to tell someone that God’s way works better. A simple question, such as “Do you really enjoy living with a guy who hasn’t made a commitment to you?” could lead to some interesting discussions. Or she might just walk off in a huff. But look for opportunities to get people to think about their sins and see that what they have been ignoring really does matter.<\/p>\n
So apologize to God that you didn’t have the courage to use the opportunity that He gave you and ask for another opportunity to shine His light. “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain<\/em>” (Philippians 2:14-16).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 I’m afraid because I didn’t…<\/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":[1598,451],"class_list":["post-31358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-rebukes","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46667,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-ex-boyfriend-married-someone-else-but-wants-to-come-back-to-me-what-should-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":31358,"position":0},"title":"My ex-boyfriend married someone else but wants to come back to me. What should I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have never been married, but I do have children. (I know -- not good.) My child's father and I broke up and a few weeks later he married the girl with whom he had cheated on me.\u00a0 After nearly a year of no communication, he reached out to\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":43313,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-tell-my-friends-wife-that-he-has-been-unfaithful-after-he-has-repented-of-his-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":31358,"position":1},"title":"Should I tell my friend’s wife that he has been unfaithful after he has repented of his sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello sir, I hope that God is blessing you in what you do. I am writing you on the matter of infidelity. I am aware of a man who has been unfaithful to his significant other. This is not the first time that he has been so. The previous\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":16757,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-husband-left-his-third-wife-for-reasons-other-than-fornication-what-do-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":31358,"position":2},"title":"My husband left his third wife for reasons other than fornication. What do I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My husband has been divorced. I read some of the topics about divorce and it really scares me. My husband was divorced three times. The first two divorces were filed because his ex-wives were cheating on him. But the third divorced is different. It was filed because it wasn't\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":54614,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-my-friend-leave-her-husband-so-she-can-worship-the-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":31358,"position":3},"title":"Should my friend leave her husband so she can worship the Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Brother, Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. This question is regarding my colleague. She was born in a Hindu family but accepted Jesus in her youth. Her parents did not allow her to marry a Christian, so she married a Hindu, concealing the fact that she was\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":27706,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-confront-my-friends-pastor\/","url_meta":{"origin":31358,"position":4},"title":"Should I confront my friend’s pastor?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been arguing with a girl at school. She calls herself a Christian.\u00a0She recently invited me and my friend to go to her church. So my friend asked her if there's a female preacher there, she said yes. She asked if women speak there, she said yes. Later that\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":9757,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-tell-my-wife-that-when-i-was-young-i-might-have-fathered-a-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":31358,"position":5},"title":"Should I tell my wife that when I was young I might have fathered a child?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, Nearly 30 years ago, I may have gotten my girlfriend at that time pregnant, and she gave birth to a child. I was young and ashamed and didn't want to have anything to do with her when I found out. Later on, I got married to another girlfriend,\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\/31358","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=31358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}