by Ron Daly<\/p>\n
To “coddle” is to treat indulgently. Coddling sinners not only can be but is disastrous to an individual or congregation. God does not give us any authority to provide an “escape hatch” for sinners, that is, people who sin and do not repent. Obviously, if a person repents of his sins and turns to God, he or she is not in the classification of a sinner. But, when a person persists in sin, any sin, and shows no evidence of repentance, the matter must be confronted!<\/p>\n
Some of the Lord’s people are more understanding toward sin and sinners than God is. Surely, God is merciful, understanding, and longsuffering with his children (Luke 6:36; Hebrews 4:14-16; II Peter 3:9). Yet, even our God eventually says, “Enough is enough!” (Hosea 4:17; Acts 17:30). It is never right to encourage wrong. It is never right to finance wrong. It is never right to cover up wrong. It is never right to just look the other way. According to God’s word, sin has to be dealt with.<\/p>\n
Sinners may fit several categories. There are transgressors in the area of morals (adulterers, homosexuals, pedophiles, rapists, and pornographers); speech (gossipers, liars, slanderers, blasphemers, and vulgar talkers); doctrine (false teachers, compromisers, and those who refrain from declaring God’s whole counsel) are examples.<\/p>\n
Most knowledgeable people wouldn’t knowingly “coddle” sinners in the realm of morality. Those who commit adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia, rape, and read\/publish pornography are obviously wrong and most people would say “We must not indulge their sins!” On the other hand, individuals and congregations are increasingly “coddling” those who persistently sin by speech and doctrine. God wants us to be consistently right in our treatment of those who sin. We don’t do ourselves or the sinner any good when we are passive and do little or nothing about his sin. We anger God, grieve the Spirit, trample the Christ, and hurt the cause when we, out of fear, favor, or the desire not to make people mad, overlook the obvious and “coddle” the sinner when we should correct the sinner (II Timothy 4:1-5; Matthew 18:15-17).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Ron Daly To “coddle” is to treat indulgently. Coddling sinners not only can be but is disastrous to an individual or congregation. God does not give us any authority to provide an “escape hatch” for sinners, that is, people who sin and do not repent. Obviously, if a person repents of his sins and…<\/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":[27],"tags":[179,255],"class_list":["post-54138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-sin","tag-tolerance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41622,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/saint-or-sinner\/","url_meta":{"origin":54138,"position":0},"title":"Saint or Sinner?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 1 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Would you describe yourself as a saint or a sinner? Or perhaps you see yourself as both. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0John Calvin, and his followers, believe that God selects those who are saved. Once selected, that person cannot be removed from God\u2019s saving hand. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-to-kick-people-out-of-the-church-for-openly-sinning-even-though-all-people-are-sinners\/","url_meta":{"origin":54138,"position":1},"title":"Is it right to kick people out of the church for openly sinning, even though all people are sinners?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it right to kick people out of the church for openly sinning, even though all people are sinners? I know one should not be unequally yoked with non-believers but does this apply to personal life or the church as well? Do you think churches should enforce the sins\u00a0they\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":23275,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/confusing-mercy-with-justice\/","url_meta":{"origin":54138,"position":2},"title":"Confusing Mercy with Justice","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford The other Sunday, I was approached by one of the younger sisters at church. She had a couple of questions. They involved hypotheticals that many of us have encountered before. What about the tribesman in the Amazon jungle who never gets to hear about the gospel?\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\/2020\/06\/Balance-Scale-300x236.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":32617,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-sinning-stumbling-in-sin-and-being-a-sinner\/","url_meta":{"origin":54138,"position":3},"title":"What is the difference between sinning, stumbling in sin, and being a sinner?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Brother, Can you explain the difference between a person sinning, stumbling in sin, and being a sinner? How does God separate the three? I know that it's all sin in God's eyes. But is it just a stumble here and there of the same sin or multiple sins?\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":55474,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-chief-of-sinners\/","url_meta":{"origin":54138,"position":4},"title":"The Chief of Sinners","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry \"Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief: howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his longsuffering, for an\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":33561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-christ-die-for-sinners-if-we-dont-inherit-sin-from-adam\/","url_meta":{"origin":54138,"position":5},"title":"How could Christ die for sinners if we don’t inherit sin from Adam?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I came across your website doing a bit of research regarding sin and the choices we make. I am a little confused by your statement that we are not born sinners. I am under the understanding that sin has been passed on through Adam and Eve, e.g. irrational\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54138","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=54138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}