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 stores. He says he has nothing to do with the theft. He is just being paid to give these people rides.<\/p>\n
Should I discontinue my friendship with him?<\/p>\n\t
While he disavows involvement, legally, he is considered an accessory to a crime. If caught, he will be arrested and charged. The company he works for has policy statements that knowingly helping in a crime will result in his immediate dismissal.<\/p>\n
Thus, he is sinning by breaking secular laws (Romans 13:1-7). He is also breaking God’s moral laws by knowingly supporting those involved in crimes (Romans 1:32).<\/p>\n
If, after warning him that he is in sin and he isn’t inclined to change, then you should treat him as any other worldly person. You should also inform the elders at your church so that they can attempt to reason with him.<\/p>\n\t
This was bothering me. Thanks for helping me resolve this in my mind.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 stores. He says he has…<\/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":[1807,947,179],"class_list":["post-86925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-accessory","tag-crime","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52766,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-man-confess-that-he-helped-someone-steal\/","url_meta":{"origin":86925,"position":0},"title":"Should a man confess that he helped someone steal?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":19636,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-have-evidence-that-your-husband-committed-murder-should-you-tell-the-police\/","url_meta":{"origin":86925,"position":1},"title":"If you have evidence that your husband committed murder, should you tell the police?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a friend who married a guy while he was in jail. She says she has evidence that her husband tried to murder a guy. He pleaded innocent, but the jury thought he was guilty. He still keeps his innocent plea. He is abusive toward his wife --verbally,\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":28024,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-jesus-died\/","url_meta":{"origin":86925,"position":2},"title":"Why Jesus Died","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford How do you convict a sinless man of a crime serious enough to warrant His execution? It might sound like a logic puzzle to us, but for the chief priests, it was a serious problem. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, they determined that He\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\/01\/IMG033-1-290x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":69367,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-self-incrimination\/","url_meta":{"origin":86925,"position":3},"title":"Notes on Self-Incrimination","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Law required two or more witnesses to a crime. A person admitting to a crime would be insufficient gain a conviction. Deuteronomy 17:6 \"On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48680,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-one-year-old-son-refuses-to-apologize-for-hitting\/","url_meta":{"origin":86925,"position":4},"title":"My one-year-old son refuses to apologize for hitting","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sir, I have a toddler boy who is one year and eight months old. He is my first child. Recently he is learning to speak. I noticed that when he hits family or other toddlers, no matter knowingly or unknowingly, he refuses to apologize. Even worse, he will\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":44086,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-feeling-extreme-guilt\/","url_meta":{"origin":86925,"position":5},"title":"I’m feeling extreme guilt","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I feel extreme guilt for past sins. Sins that most would count as minor. Breaking the law whether intentional or not \u2026 not confessing to things I know about from years ago, breaking rules at home, work, friendship-wise, etc. It's the wee hours of the morning, and I feel\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\/86925","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=86925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}