Some friends and I were talking this evening about relating to people who are different from you; particularly those who have made lifestyle choices you disagree with, perhaps even destructive choices. Our conversation quickly focused in on the question of what to say when a co-worker or other acquaintance confides in you about these types of things. Where do you draw the line in such a situation? If you don't tell them you disagree with their choice, are you condoning it? If you say nothing, or skirt the issue, are you somehow betraying your own beliefs and values? Do you risk being pulled into the same behaviors?
These are difficult questions. For the majority of my christian life I was part of a denomination that drew a very hard line on a variety of isues. In other words, if you didn't toe the line as they saw it, you weren't welcome. The inside joke was, "Don't drink, don't smoke, don't chew; don't hang out with those that do." This attitude is one of the reasons I left that denomination. It's not an attitude I think Jesus would have agreed with. Indeed, Jesus was criticized by the religious establishment of his day for spending time with, for even enjoying fellowship with, tax collectors, and sinners. So how did Jesus interact with these people?
The story that comes to mind is that of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus rebuked the woman's accusers and then simply said that he wouldn't condemn her. Condemn--wow, we condemn people to death. Is that what our judgment does to others--kills their spirit? Perhaps we, like Jesus should accept people as they are, realizing that, their sin, their brokenness is more often a symptom of the wounds they have suffered instead of inflicting further wounds by condemning them.
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