Does God give no win/ no clear win situations?

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Dourbest

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Ex: I was w/ one of my best friends and he was talking to a kid I am mostly neutral w/, but with a little friendship I think. He stole something and trusted us with that fact, and apparently made a comment I didn’t hear about trusting us. Later though, I told the store something was stolen by a kid, but they didn’t really care(btw I told my best friend I wasn’t going to snitch but still thought I was doing the right thing when I told and semi-forgot I told him that). Never told the other kid. What was I supposed to do, because this could be seen as betrayal. i’m not going to tell the kid, as that’ll cause more problems.
 
You are talking about prudence. That means weighing as many factors as you can think of before making your decisions about what to do. It’s difficult to do, especially at a young age because you have less experience to pull from.

Some decisions can be fairly clear about whether they are right or wrong. And some decisions have no discernible degree of right or wrong but usually just amount to a different way of doing something even though our feelings might sometimes suggest otherwise.

Every decision should be made in good faith. But regardless of what choices we make, we should try to make the best with whatever we end up with. So it’s not really about a ‘no win situation’, it’s about doing our best to use prudence in our decision making and making the best of what happens. Sometimes that means walking something back, apologizing, making amends or maybe even just a little penance.

In your situation, since I don’t know the details, I can’t really say much about it. But generally, turning someone else in isn’t the right thing to do. If possible you should speak to them about how they might want to make amends for any wrongdoing they’ve shared with you. But you didn’t necessarily do anything wrong either.
 
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I personally feel things would be better if this person didn’t know. Also, my goal wasn’t to get this person caught as much as let the store know it had been stolen from.
 
Dourbest said:
I personally feel things would be better if this person didn’t know.
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That would probably be best.
Dourbest said:
Also, my goal wasn’t to get this person caught as much as let the store know it had been stolen from.
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That’s noble, but probably unnecessary unless it was something very expensive, like thousands of dollars or a car, that was stolen from a smaller family owned store that could really effect their business.
 
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This doesn’t make much sense to me. As Christians, isn’t it our duty to help the wronged out.
 
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I know, but this is where prudence comes in to play. You have to consider all the factors in play.

You said the store didn’t care. It’s not really that they don’t care. It’s that there probably isn’t much they can do about it, and, I’m guessing that whatever was stolen wasn’t extremely valuable, and if the store was one of the large national chains then they’ve got bigger fish to fry. It may not have been a big deal to them.

But for you, getting involved is a bigger deal. That’s why prudence would dictate that you don’t necessarily have to get involved beyond suggesting to the kid who stole that he shouldn’t do that again, and maybe even suggest that he return the item anonymously. The repercussions of turning this kid in could cause some pain in your life over what is essentially a small matter that doesn’t even concern you.

Like I said, your thoughts and actions were noble, but they weren’t necessarily in the best interest of everyone involved.
 
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Dourbest said:
What was I supposed to do
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Not easy when you’re put on the spot but I’d have encouraged the kid to return or pay for the item.

If we were close and I did’t think it would do more harm than good and I could afford it I would consider paying for it myself if the kid couldn’t.

I would also warn them that if I hear of then doing anything like that again I’ll turn them in/ go to their parents. It may not stop the child stealing but should prevent you being caught in an akward situation again.
 
So if it’s really tiny just let it go and encourage the kid not to do it? Also, I was reading about Dantes Inferno, and in it he gives a special place in hell for those who betray. Does this qualify there?
 
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He claims he couldn’t afford it (it was chicken) and at that point he hadn’t already walked out of the store amen started eating it gen prob wouldn’t but return it.
 
Dourbest said:
So if it’s really tiny just let it go and encourage the kid not to do it?
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Generally speaking, yes.
Dourbest said:
Also, I was reading about Dantes Inferno, and in it he gives a special place in hell for those who betray. Does this qualify there?
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Well first of all, that’s just a book, it’s not anything from the Church. Second, no I don’t think there is anything like betrayal there.
 
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Promise in Scripture that every time we are tempted to sin there will be a way to avoid sinning. Now, there are going to be times when we don’t like the ‘no sin’ option, where it is difficult or embarrassing, however, there is no situation where one’s only options are sin or sin.
 
If I misunderstood, pardon me (I am not familiar with this use of the word “daybreak”)

Your acquaintance told you they committed a theft.

In this situation, I would advise you to ask your confessor what your responsibility is. There may be some scruples at play.
 
Sorry daybreak was a typo. I meant “what would you say”. Also getting to my confessor can be difficult. I read what [1Lord1Faith] said about how I maybe shouldn’t have said anything. The kid did say he couldn’t pay so I don’t know. I thought I was doing the right thing because he just flat out stole it. My goal wasn’t to get the kid caught it was more to inform the big store he stole from that a kid did steal something.
 
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After Mass say “Father, may I speak with you for a moment”.
 
That still isn’t easy exactly because I’m part of a family and they like to leave as soon as the father does.
 
I don’t understand how you think telling the store was something you needed to do, but think saying nothing to the kid is fine. Saying something to the kid will “cause more problems,” so you said nothing to him.

I don’t understand the reasoning of informing the store. What if they asked you how you know something was stolen? What if they ask for a name, will you lie and say you don’t know?
 
Looking back I should’ve stayed out of it. And I was banking sorta on them not saying anything. twlling him now is pretty unnecessary. Also I told them I overheard it, which I thought was true at the time.
 
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In other words you agreed to make yourself complicit in his theft?
 
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