C
CRATUS
Guest
We are called to take full responsibility for our actions. What if you do know you are in the wrong but you simply do not care. Do you correct people who acknowledge their sin but stubbornly cling to them
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.
N
Neofight
Guest
Yes, you correct. But you do it with love, not simply wagging a finger in there face. Repeating sinful acts is not always a matter of “not caring”, it often is a matter of the inherent weakness that we all have.We are called to take full responsibility for our actions. What if you do know you are in the wrong but you simply do not care. Do you correct people who acknowledge their sin but stubbornly cling to them
We don’t know the heart of any sinner, other then ourselves. Therefore, we should refrain from assuming repetitious sin is because the sinner does not care.
God knows the heart of the sinner. And, thankfully, He is slow to anger and quick to forgive.
We should endeavor to be like Him.
A
Ad_Orientem
Guest
Depends. Is it a brother in Christ?
Concerning fellow believers, Jesus said (Mt. 18:15-17):
But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.
Rabanus Maurus comments (at qtd. in Catena Aurea):
He does not command us to forgive indiscriminately, but him only that will hearken and be obedient, and do penitence; that neither should forgiveness be unattainable, nor sufferance be too far relaxed.
St. John Chrysostom says (ibid):
What you should do if he does not yield is added, “If he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two.” For the more shameless and stubborn he shews himself, the more studious should we be of applying the medicine, and not turn to wrath and hate.
St. Jerome writes (ibid):
If yet he will not hear them, then it must be told to many, that he may be held in abhorrence; so that he who could not be saved by his own sense of shame, may be saved by public disgrace; whence it follows, “If he will not hear them, tell it to the Church.”
St. Augustine adds (ibid):
Let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. That is, regard him no longer in the number of thy brethren. Though even thus we are not to neglect his salvation; for the heathens themselves, that is, the gentiles and pagans, we do not indeed regard in the number of our brethren, yet we ever seek their salvation.
Concerning those who are not in the Church in the first place, St. John Chrysostom explains (ibid):
Yet the Lord enjoins nothing of this sort to be observed towards those who are without the Church, such as He does in reproving a brother. Of those that are without He says, “If any smite thee on the one cheek, offer to him the other also.” [Matt 5:39] as Paul speaks, “What have I to do to judge them that are without?” [1 Cor 5:12] But brethren he bids us reprove, and turn away from.
Concerning fellow believers, Jesus said (Mt. 18:15-17):
But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.
Rabanus Maurus comments (at qtd. in Catena Aurea):
He does not command us to forgive indiscriminately, but him only that will hearken and be obedient, and do penitence; that neither should forgiveness be unattainable, nor sufferance be too far relaxed.
St. John Chrysostom says (ibid):
What you should do if he does not yield is added, “If he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two.” For the more shameless and stubborn he shews himself, the more studious should we be of applying the medicine, and not turn to wrath and hate.
St. Jerome writes (ibid):
If yet he will not hear them, then it must be told to many, that he may be held in abhorrence; so that he who could not be saved by his own sense of shame, may be saved by public disgrace; whence it follows, “If he will not hear them, tell it to the Church.”
St. Augustine adds (ibid):
Let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. That is, regard him no longer in the number of thy brethren. Though even thus we are not to neglect his salvation; for the heathens themselves, that is, the gentiles and pagans, we do not indeed regard in the number of our brethren, yet we ever seek their salvation.
Concerning those who are not in the Church in the first place, St. John Chrysostom explains (ibid):
Yet the Lord enjoins nothing of this sort to be observed towards those who are without the Church, such as He does in reproving a brother. Of those that are without He says, “If any smite thee on the one cheek, offer to him the other also.” [Matt 5:39] as Paul speaks, “What have I to do to judge them that are without?” [1 Cor 5:12] But brethren he bids us reprove, and turn away from.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.