Ten years ago a friend of mine committed a crime. He helped a homeless man carry a computer screen to sell it for drugs, even though he himself never broke in but helped carry it from the outside. No harm to anyone was done as it was empty and just after midnight. Anyway, he was saved afterward and has enjoyed a fairly gracious Christian life with ups and downs and got married and has a child. He is now tormented by guilt and anxiety about what he did 10 years ago, and it’s not helping him live his life. Should he confess what he did ten years ago or trust God and move on?<\/p>\n\t
I disagree with the idea that no one was harmed. Clearly, the person who was robbed was harmed. Helping to commit a crime is no less a sin than directly committing the crime. “Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure<\/em>” (I Timothy 5:22).<\/p>\n I assume your friend was baptized after he participated in this crime, so he would be forgiven by God for it. A part of becoming a Christian is repenting of your past sins (Acts 2:38). While sins cannot be undone, sometimes it is possible to correct some of the damage done by our past sins. Here I would suggest that he send some money to the victim anonymously with a note explaining that he had once helped with a crime and he is sorry to have caused the harm. If he doesn’t know who was robbed, he could give a similar amount of money to a charitable cause that helps out victims of crimes.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Ten years ago a friend of mine committed a crime. He helped a homeless man carry a computer screen to sell it for drugs, even though he himself never broke in but helped carry it from the outside. No harm to anyone was done as it was empty and just after midnight. Anyway, he…<\/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":[51,50,526],"class_list":["post-52766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-confession","tag-repentance","tag-stealing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32771,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-confess-a-wrong-i-did-in-the-past-to-someone-who-is-not-aware-of-it-and-wasnt-harmed-by-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":52766,"position":0},"title":"Do I need to confess a wrong I did in the past to someone who is not aware of it and wasn’t harmed by it?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Brother, I have a question that has been weighing on my mind. I have read some of your responses to\u00a0confession.\u00a0 I believe that I have come to a correct conclusion but wanted to ask you to be sure. I did something that could have harmed a friend back\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":22014,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-much-should-be-confessed-to-be-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":52766,"position":1},"title":"How much should be confessed to be forgiven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This was\u00a0an answer given to a question regarding adultery, and if the husband should be told about it. I am assuming he didn't know about it. \"Everyone sins, but the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is that a Christian does not want to stay in sin. 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":86925,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-a-ride-sharing-program-is-used-to-commit-a-crime\/","url_meta":{"origin":52766,"position":2},"title":"What if a ride sharing program is used to commit a crime?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question is: Should I continue to be friends with someone who takes someone to the grocery store to steal? My friend works as a ride-sharing driver (Uber, Lyft, etc.). He was recently baptized, but he continues to take people to stores, knowing that they are stealing from 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":42203,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-correct-a-lie-that-ive-told-for-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":52766,"position":3},"title":"How do I correct a lie that I’ve told for years?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I lied for several years about something, and the substance of the lie is probably known by many people in college. It was just something to help my image; however, I recognize sin is sin. It is likely not criminal or anything of a serious kind. Do I need\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":24299,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-fix-all-my-past-sins-in-order-to-repent-must-i-confess-sins-i-did-years-ago-before-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":52766,"position":4},"title":"Do I need to fix all my past sins in order to repent? Must I confess sins I did years ago before the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! Okay, I am going to tell you some things that have happened over the course of about six years. I am currently 20 years old. When I was 14 years old, I was baptized. Soon after, I began to mess up and commit sin. (By the way, 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":[]},{"id":39876,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-lied-to-my-preacher-about-having-committed-fornication-do-i-have-to-tell-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":52766,"position":5},"title":"I lied to my preacher about having committed fornication. Do I have to tell him?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I started a relationship with a man about a month ago. One thing led to another and we had sex. I felt bad about it and asked for God's forgiveness, but didn't break it off with him. 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