I have some friends who live in a senior retirement home.\u00a0I met one of them about a year ago and was introduced to some more of his friends. I also live in the same retirement home. I am the only one who is a member of the church of Christ.<\/p>\n
Hearing them talk, I learned that they like to go boosting from time to time. I had no idea what they meant by boosting, but I learned it was a sneaky way of stealing in grocery stores.<\/p>\n
One of the guys occasionally invites me out to lunch or comes to my house. Lately, he has been attending worship with me.<\/p>\n
My question is, am I in sin for being around the guy?<\/p>\n\t
“I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. <\/em>But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler–not even to eat with such a one<\/em>” (I Corinthians 5:9-11).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The only way to convert people from the world is to have some level of association with them. You need to ask yourself two questions:<\/p>\n
\n
- Does he assume that you think his sin is acceptable because you associate with him? Does he think that his sin is acceptable because he is going to worship?<\/li>\n
- Will associating with him draw you into his sin?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
I assume that the answers to both questions are in the negative. Encourage him to live righteously before God and to become a Christian. His time on earth is limited and now is not the time to throw away the opportunity to go to heaven.<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Thank you for answering my questions.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have some friends who live in a senior retirement home.\u00a0I met one of them about a year ago and was introduced to some more of his friends. I also live in the same retirement home. I am the only one who is a member of the church of Christ. Hearing them talk, I…<\/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":[353,526],"class_list":["post-68250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-influence","tag-stealing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53950,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-attend-events-where-people-might-be-drinking-or-smoking\/","url_meta":{"origin":68250,"position":0},"title":"Is it wrong to attend events where people might be drinking or smoking?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have had some best friends since my school days, years ago. I am the only person among them who is baptized. We all meet twice a year and during that meeting they all drink and smoke. I don't drink or smoke since I was baptized. They are all\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":60360,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-deal-with-a-friend-who-claims-to-be-a-christian-but-doesnt-live-like-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":68250,"position":1},"title":"How do I deal with a friend who claims to be a Christian but doesn’t live like one?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! First thank you for creating this website. I've used the articles here to help answer some questions throughout the years. I've been a doctrinally sound Christian for years and live every day for the Lord. 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I have two\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":17707,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-deal-with-homosexual-family-members\/","url_meta":{"origin":68250,"position":4},"title":"How do we deal with homosexual family members?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My husband's sister is homosexual and is living with a partner. My son's wife is best friends with a homosexual woman who is married to another woman. As a Christian who believes that everything Christ taught and everything the Bible says is true, I know this is wrong. My\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":54346,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-deal-with-erring-brethren\/","url_meta":{"origin":68250,"position":5},"title":"How do we deal with erring brethren?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm looking for clarity on \"liberal church associations.\" If I'm a conservative (non-institutional) brother, am I to fellowship with those who worship in a liberal church? Here is my view and please correct me if I'm in error. 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