Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals’<\/em>” (I Corinthians 15:33).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWe cannot avoid interactions with all the sinful people in the world. Even if we could manage it, how would we be able to spread the Gospel message to the very people who need it most? But at the same time, we must acknowledge that the people we closely associate with will influence our behavior. The most dangerous are those who claim to be Christians but do not live godly lives. We naturally drop our guard around people we think are Christians. We trust them, but that also means we are vulnerable to being influenced by them if they are not what they appear to be.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, you and your former friend have two incompatible views of morality. “An unjust man is abominable to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked<\/em>” (Proverbs 29:27). People have a strong tendency to only like people who are like themselves. You have rejected sin, so those who want to sin will naturally reject you. As Jesus warned his disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you<\/em>” (John 15:18-19).<\/p>\nWhile it is hard to lose a friend because he values sin too much, you have a life to live and a God to serve. Don’t compromise your relationship with God to hold on to a friend who is destroying his life. Make more friends — good, righteous friends. It still hurts when you lose a good friend, but you value your righteous friends who remain all the more.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Please say a prayer for me. I’ve lost a good friend for my views on the sins of homosexuality. Pray that God will comfort me and give me His love and compassion to comfort me. Answer: I find it interesting that those who claim to want tolerance for their decisions to sin have no…<\/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":[579,35,552],"class_list":["post-69960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-friendship","tag-homosexuality","tag-integrity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36434,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/intolerance-of-contrary-views\/","url_meta":{"origin":69960,"position":0},"title":"Intolerance of Contrary Views","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: The Tribune Washington Bureau, \"Pastor drops out of inauguration,\" Omaha World-Herald, 11 January 2013. The President invited a man to give a benediction at his inauguration, but when it was discovered that the man had stated in lessons back in the 1990s that homosexuality was contrary to the teachings\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15740,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-it-say-that-a-person-who-approves-of-homosexuality-is-also-condemned\/","url_meta":{"origin":69960,"position":1},"title":"Where does it say that a person who approves of homosexuality is also condemned?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm certain that the Bible tells us that he who approves of homosexuality is condemned also, I just can't seem to find it anywhere. Can you help me with that? Answer: The passage you are looking for is in the last half of Romans 1 where Paul details 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":62739,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/homosexuality\/","url_meta":{"origin":69960,"position":2},"title":"Homosexuality (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Discussions of homosexuality have been occupying prominent places in the news \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many arguments that the rights of those practicing homosexual relationships need to be protected. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Arguments that homosexual relationships are normal and should be taught in public schools as acceptable alternatives. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Annoucements of new studies attempting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27834,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-bring-up-that-homosexuality-is-wrong-to-someone-im-teaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":69960,"position":3},"title":"How do I bring up that homosexuality is wrong to someone I’m teaching?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering if there is a tactful way to speak to someone about their homosexuality. I've made a dear friend in the last year and we have had numerous conversations about Christianity and faith. I've covered quite a lot of ground with her, definitely more than I have\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":50191,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-i-do-a-friend-propositioned-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":69960,"position":4},"title":"What do I do? A friend propositioned me","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: One of my friends, who is also a male, has sexual desires for me. He says that he loves me a lot and this is something that will complete the cycle of love for him. He also says that he is not gay. He has never had sex with\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":20826,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-two-homosexuals-truly-love-each-other\/","url_meta":{"origin":69960,"position":5},"title":"Can two homosexuals truly love each other?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering, can you explain loving someone as in I Corinthians 13? My friend I disagree regarding whether homosexuals love each other because the basis of their relationship is sin; there is nothing good about it. They might be nice to each other, get each other things, and\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\/69960","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=69960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}