Are We not Watchers of Our Fellow Man?

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We are not judges, we are Watchers with the responsibility to warn those who sin to avoid the consequences of their sin by repentance.

Ezekial Chapter 3
17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: 18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

20 “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”
 
This is one of the Seven Corporal and Spiritual Acts of Mercy: catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1017. It must be done in divine love–not to sit in judgment nor to lord it over anyone. One must be certain that he knows the full situation and have prayed for guidance before doing it.

Also, we cannot read Scripture and interpret it for ourselves without knowing the mind of the Church, have a full understanding of the text, what the author intended, what kind of literature it is, and to whom it was addressed and why.

It is far better for us to be concerned about our own sins than to look around at others. Remember that Jesus said we should take the beam out of our own eye before taking the splinter out of our brother’s eye. 🙂
 
Della said:
This is one of the Seven Corporal and Spiritual Acts of Mercy: catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1017. It must be done in divine love–not to sit in judgment nor to lord it over anyone. One must be certain that he knows the full situation and have prayed for guidance before doing it.

Also, we cannot read Scripture and interpret it for ourselves without knowing the mind of the Church, have a full understanding of the text, what the author intended, what kind of literature it is, and to whom it was addressed and why.

It is far better for us to be concerned about our own sins than to look around at others. Remember that Jesus said we should take the beam out of our own eye before taking the splinter out of our brother’s eye. 🙂
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I am confused here. A Watchman is appointed by God to warn others, in our day and time it is the religious priests, nuns, friars and monks to warn others. I do not have the impression that they are supposed to neglect their own souls while doing this, but I don’t see this as a general responsibility of the laity.

For the laity, we are to witness through our trades, general current events, our families and what few personal cases we come to light?

I know of cases where some Christian relatives of mine are being brow beat into keeping their faith based opinions to themselves. They have a job to defend God’s Truth when it is brought in front of them, and to not back down.

But they have no warrant to invade the privacy of anyone else and tell them what they are doing right or wrong. And none of them are doing that, to my knowledge. To the contrary, they wish the harbingers of a new secular faith would leave them alone!

🙂
 
RGCheek said:
I am confused here. A Watchman is appointed by God to warn others, in our day and time it is the religious priests, nuns, friars and monks to warn others. I do not have the impression that they are supposed to neglect their own souls while doing this, but I don’t see this as a general responsibility of the laity.
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This is why great caution is needed in interpreting Scripture. Surely those who are appointed as teachers and preachers have a greater responsibility. But we lay people have some of the responsibility, as well–mostly with our own families. Parents certainly have the right and ought to exercise the right to correct their children, yes?
For the laity, we are to witness through our trades, general current events, our families and what few personal cases we come to light?
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Yes, but we can speak out against public figures who err whose lives affect our own, such a politicians. I’ve written to more than one about their stance on cerrtian issues. Of course, all I ever got back was form letters that obfusticate and side-step the whole issue, but Our Lord never told us it was our responsibility to change others, merely to warn them of wrongdoing when it falls within our authority.
I know of cases where some Christian relatives of mine are being brow beat into keeping their faith based opinions to themselves. They have a job to defend God’s Truth when it is brought in front of them, and to not back down.
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When others won’t listen we cannot make them. It can be particulary difficult with adult family members who wish to go along with the world rather than listen to God. We have to pick our battles carefully and approach everyone with love and respect.
But they have no warrant to invade the privacy of anyone else and tell them what they are doing right or wrong. And none of them are doing that, to my knowledge. To the contrary, they wish the harbingers of a new secular faith would leave them alone!
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🙂
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Yes, I wish we’d be left in peace to believe and practice our faith, as well. But it looks like Western society is determined to fault Christians for its own shortcomings and make us into the bad guys so they can do whatever they want unhindered. It’s going to be a struggle over th next few years to see if we will be able to retain our religious freedoms.
 
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