Choosing Your Friends Wisely - A Question

[goofyjim]

I imitate Christ and have everyone as my friend.

 

[TMC]

For a Catholic to practice homosexual behavior encourage abortions, use contraceptives, etc. then that person is to be shunned after the “three warnings,” as Jesus says.

Jesus did not say to shun after three warnings. Here it the text you are referring to from Matthew 18:15-18:

15 "If your brother sins (against you), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
16 If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.

OK, so how did Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors, exactly?

If you read a few lines on, Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asks directly if there is a limit to the number of times someone should be forgiven. Does Christ say “Yeah, three.” NO.

21 Then Peter approaching asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.

And remember the parrallel quote in Luke 17:4 also contains no limit on forgiveness:

And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him."

Of course all of those quotes refer to sins against YOU, and your personal obligation to forgive personal slights. Neither passage refers to casting people out, or shunning people becasue you feel they are bigger sinners than you are.

 

[jaaraf]

I once found out that a close friend of mine (since high school) decided to enter a lesbian relationship while we were in college. I did not end the friendship. I did cry when I first talked to her, although I knew I did not need to explain anything since seh already knew it was immoral. I prayed for her for several months,a nd finally got her to attend a recollection and go to confession. It’s a miracle I attribute to St. Josemaria Escriva. She’s now engaged to marry this wonderful guy in the next few years.
You can’t drop friends because they have an immoral lifestyle. You have to help them out, and at the same time try not to be influenced by their way of life.

 

[latinmasslover]

Jesus did not say to shun after three warnings. Here it the text you are referring to from Matthew 18:15-18:

OK, so how did Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors, exactly?

If you read a few lines on, Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asks directly if there is a limit to the number of times someone should be forgiven. Does Christ say “Yeah, three.” NO.

And remember the parrallel quote in Luke 17:4 also contains no limit on forgiveness:

Of course all of those quotes refer to sins against YOU, and your personal obligation to forgive personal slights. Neither passage refers to casting people out, or shunning people becasue you feel they are bigger sinners than you are.

1. Gentiles and sinners were treated a certain way and that is likely what Jesus was referring to, as St. Paul reiterates the same opinion.
2. Forgiveness has nothing to do with the issue. If the point you try to make here stands, then we have no business locking robbers, rapists, murderers, etc. up as long as the person that they’ve offended forgives them.
3. Regarding homosexual behavior, it is not me saying that they’re the “bigger sinner;” the Scriptures make clear that some sins are more serious than others, and homosexual behavior is one of them.

Nobody says to cast them out because they’re sinners, and Jesus did not preach this. Only those **who resist the truth and persist in their sins **are to be cast from the community(again, *refuse *to change). Jesus does not approve this, which he made clear in Mt. 18, and St. Paul says the exact same thing. That was the point I was trying to make (see the bold).

See 2 Timothy 3:1-9, esp. verse 5.
Titus 3:10
2 John 9-11, particularly verse 11.

They are to be “cast out” or avoided **if they refuse to change **simply so they don’t corrupt the minds of the young and weak. The behavior is wrong and there have to be serious consequences.

 

[crenfro]

Hi everyone. Lets say that you know a person who is involved in a gravely immoral lifestyle such as homosexuality, is it okay to be friends with such a person or not?

Do you truly want to know what the Catholic church teaches as an answer to your question or simply approval for something you’re going to do anyway?

Sometimes I need to remember to be careful that what I’m asking is really what I’m asking.