Christian friends

[bizzt]

Actually it is better to preach to them up Close and do as the Disciples did if they do not listen or come against you shake off your shoes as a Statement against them and leave!

Want to step to the front line? Preaching to them and making them your friends are two distinct things.

I do it everyday!! I preach with me works as James Did! I have made many friends doing that exact thing.

[Deborah]

We are also to be a light to others, but if we keep hidden away from others then it won't ever shine to them.
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As followers of Christ it is our mandate to set an example by following a rightious path. .

And I never disagreed with those remarks. But if all your friends are driven by sin and are the dregs of humanity (Satanists, communists, criminals, and so on), it's probably a good idea to preach to them from a distance.

Quite honestly my friends certainly are not any of those things.
They have beleifs as precious to them as mine are to me.
I have a friiend who was christian, who strayed and went wiccan, should I have turned my back on her?
Today she is back at her christian church. I found her alone and ashamed that she has abandoned her faith. I spoke to her and reminded her that god loves her and when one stay returns he rejoices much.
god has patience, and that is what we must have.

[kateliz]

Yes, and I've very glad that you're your friend came back, but we cannot forget that light and dark cannot share one yoke. Nor should they try to. It's one thing for an ox of light to encourage an ox of dark toward the light, and another all together for them to share one yoke.

[Prodigal Son]

you're right, august. that's the hardest thing to do...set an example.

kateliz: i don't really understand why you would stop being her friend. you really stopped talking to her?

[kateliz]

I had planned to call her back. We hung up saying that we'll talk later about it. The thing is that I hardly ever talk to her anyway. She's pursued me as a friend, and I'll respond sometimes, (bad, I know, but I don't really like her enough for more,) and it's not an odd thing to not talk for even a year. We were getting a little closer, and she came with me to my Bible study once, (asked for prayer and cried while she was prayed over,) but....

She claims she wants to be closer to God again, and then she'll just not care and do her own thing, living in rebellion for a while until she has a crisis, calls me up, and wants to turn to God again. It's repetitive. I mean, I know we all do this, I'm very aware of my own routine of doing this to whatever degree, but I can't force her or push her. She's a big girl, she's a Christian, and I can't do more than tell it like it is to her.

If she willingly chooses to continue in, or plans to begin, such a sin, what am I to do? She thought it out and planned it. Put much thought into it. I'm not going to yell at her. I'm not going to try to force her. It has to be her growth and her conscience pricked. I can't do it for her. I told her like it is, she fully acknowledged that, and she made her choice.

I cannot laugh with her, hang out with her, and act normal with her knowing that she's doing this out-right, full-knowledge rebellion. I never got around to calling her back because I got busy and forgot for awhile, and then didn't know what to say more than what I already had. She knows, like she's always known, that she can call me up for help anytime. That's what our friendship has been the last four years. She gets a crisis, and I help her out.

I'm the only Christian friend she has that tries to lead a Christian life, (if not the only Christian she has, period.) I'm not the kind she'd hang out with regularly on a long term basis, and neither is she that to me. She's too worldly, and that gets in the way. She swears, makes jokes about her friend having sex just before coming down to say "hi" to the both of us in the parking lot, (that friend of hers was an old aquantance of mine that I didn't impact near as much as I had wanted,) and just has a bad attitude all too often. We aren't bosom buddies, but I'm there for her.

If she decides she needs to call me up for something, I'll be there for her. But until this issue of planned rebellion gets cleared up, it'll stand between us. What else am I to do? Preach to her God's stance on when it's okay to have sex? She already knows all that, and I already reminded her. Am I to mail her a tract on it? For her birthday in the spring I gave her a framed verse meant to remind her of her being God's daughter, and as a call to remain in that relationship. She loved it, and said it was exactly what she needed. Now that too can stand, staring her down, ( ,) as a constant word from me about her situation. Prayer for her, (very scarce as it is,) is also there for her from me. What more am I to do?

[Prodigal Son]

i have many "friends" who do all the wrong things. i stopped hanging out with them when i became christian and then went back when it got too lonely. i laugh at their jokes and i watch them do things i know aren't right. they bash me for believing in God and make jokes about him. i say, "that's messed-up man," or "that's not funny" "whatever, you don't know what you're talking about." but then i'm there again just for the company. does it really change you? does it inhibit your efforts to grow closer to God?

[Believer]

i have many "friends" who do all the wrong things. i stopped hanging out with them when i became christian and then went back when it got too lonely. i laugh at their jokes and i watch them do things i know aren't right. they bash me for believing in God and make jokes about him. i say, "that's messed-up man," or "that's not funny" "whatever, you don't know what you're talking about." but then i'm there again just for the company. does it really change you? does it inhibit your efforts to grow closer to God?

From my experience in the situation outlined above, I would say, sure, it is fine UNLESS they start getting into some heated debate with you about God, if they do, you can either leave them behind, or pick up your cross and defend your beliefs. If they joke about God, it is not something that should be admired, even if they are jokes, but try to ignore it, and just be friends. We aren't called to ONLY have Christian friends, we are called to have friends of all kinds, friends that we can talk to about God and show them what God is about, if they permit it. But if you just can't stand them with their insults, move on, seriously, if you get too involved with them, you WILL be deceived and it will 'inhibit your efforts to grow closer to God'. Yes, it can change you if you are weak in faith.

[Prodigal Son]

i suppose the more negative things you see, the more acceptable they become. it becomes harder and harder to distinguish between right and wrong or to even care about the difference. so watching it or watching others do it helps you to become it.

[kateliz]

Very true Prodigal.

But Thinker, (who appartently got the help he needed from God! ) becoming honest friends with unbelievers is trying to join light to darkness. It's not a good thing. I don't think you'll come to seeing what I see on this anytime soon, so I won't go on and on, but I still feel a need to remind you of that side of things again, and to say it again for other Christians out there. Love them, and show them that love, but don't try to walk hand-in-hand with them when you're going down paths that go in opposite directions.

[Believer]

Very true Prodigal.

But Thinker, (who appartently got the help he needed from God! ) becoming honest friends with unbelievers is trying to join light to darkness. It's not a good thing. I don't think you'll come to seeing what I see on this anytime soon, so I won't go on and on, but I still feel a need to remind you of that side of things again, and to say it again for other Christians out there. Love them, and show them that love, but don't try to walk hand-in-hand with them when you're going down paths that go in opposite directions.

Well, I think it is acceptable to have friends who are unbelievers as we are called to have friends of all kinds and spread the good news to them if they haven't heard it already. Now if they reject the good news because they don't really care and they don't insult you or bash God, I think that is fine. But if they are people who like to argue the existence of God, such as atheists, with you while you are talking to them about God and they consistently bash God and your beliefs, it's time to move on and separate yourself from them.

[ochotseat]

I do it everyday!! I preach with me works as James Did! I have made many friends doing that exact thing.

Well, good for you. There are missionaries who risk their lives to preach in the most anti-Christian regions of the world. Thank God the media can also be used to spread God's message on a larger scale today.
Someone else agreed earlier that it's incredible to spread the gospel, but we aren't required to put our lives on the line to do it.

[kateliz]

We aren't required, but we should be willing. If we aren't willing, (only with the help of God's grace could I be,) there's something wrong with our relationship to God.

Well Thinker, you and I are on different pages of this one then.

[ochotseat]

If we aren't willing, (only with the help of God's grace could I be,) there's something wrong with our relationship to God

Why aren't you evangelizing in risky places?

[Ark~Magic]

There was an old story about some folks who went to evangelize to a man-eating tribe, got killed and turned into dinner, but then some woman went to go preach to them, and she forgave them and they converted. It was an odd story, but it's been shown on this crappy Sky Angel thing we get here at home.

[kateliz]

Well, as I see it, tripping over ants is pretty risky buisness! And I walk all the time in places where ants are known to tread: sidewalks, grass, streets, basements... you name it!

Ark: sounds likely. I've heard stories like that before. People don't want an angry, punishing God in their lives, they want a Heavenly Father. Those stories should be told to large groups of Christians, they hold very important lessons for us. Glad you shared it here.