Here is a scenario for you. Please give Scripture references for your answers. If unable to provide Scripture, then please be prepared to give a detailed explanation for why you answer the way you do.
here you go...
You have just sat through the church service. The sermon is over and everyone is heading out the door. All of a sudden, the pastor's child comes up to you and confesses something to you and tells you not to tell anyone about it.
The thing that is confessed is something that shows absolutely no fruit of the spirit within them. Immorality at the highest level for that child. No desire to repent of the sin, in fact, this person actually enjoys the sin very much and is very proud of it. This person's dad (pastor of the church) spends much time bragging about this child to the congregation.
You have told the child what the Bible says.
Here is your question...
What if anything do you say to the child?
What if anything do you say to the parents of the child? (by the way, the child lives at home and is 19 yrs old)
The dilema here is that this person shows no fruit of being saved. Do you keep quiet? Do you hold on to the confidence that they had in you? If you keep the confidence, and this person should die in an accident, then their eternal destination is not going to be pleasant for them.
This presents a moral vs ethical dilema. Which side do you take?
remember, please try to back everything up biblically. If not, please give strong support for your answer.
thanks! God bless
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3 comments:
Eternal takes presidence. 1 Cor 3:12.... I would spend a long time praying over the issue.
I agree, although, it is amazing how many people would put more value in the keeping of the confidence issue than worrying about the eternal issue.
If the child is 18, he's an adult. Your concern is with him and not his parents. His stiffnecked attitude toward sin will eventually be clear to his parents anyway. Prov. 28:14
You could tell him that glorying in his shame (Phil. 3:19)will not win him any favors with God and that for his own sake he should stop despising the riches of God's goodness toward him because a hard heart allows him to "treasure up God's wrath" Romans 2:3-5 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt.%206&version=KJV
If he gets a lot of hypocritical scripture-quoting at home, more quoting isn't likely to help matters.
If that is the case, it might be best to take him aside and say something like, "You know, Josh, I'm concerned because you seem to be defying God and that's not healthy for you. Would you mind if I prayed with you about this?" Then you pray for him and give a chance for him to pray too before closing.
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