wmfinck wrote:The Wisdom of Sirach, chapter 12 wrote:1 When thou wilt do good know to whom thou doest it; so shalt thou be thanked for thy benefits.
2 Do good to the godly man, and thou shalt find a recompence; and if not from him, yet from the most High.
3 There can no good come to him that is always occupied in evil, nor to him that giveth no alms.
4 Give to the godly man, and help not a sinner.
5 Do well unto him that is lowly, but give not to the ungodly: hold back thy bread, and give it not unto him, lest he overmaster thee thereby: for else thou shalt receive twice as much evil for all the good thou shalt have done unto him.
6 For the most High hateth sinners, and will repay vengeance unto the ungodly, and keepeth them against the mighty day of their punishment.
7 Give unto the good, and help not the sinner.
8 A friend cannot be known in prosperity: and an enemy cannot be hidden in adversity.
9 In the prosperity of a man enemies will be grieved: but in his adversity even a friend will depart.
10 Never trust thine enemy: for like as iron rusteth, so is his wickedness.
11 Though he humble himself, and go crouching, yet take good heed and beware of him, and thou shalt be unto him as if thou hadst wiped a lookingglass, and thou shalt know that his rust hath not been altogether wiped away.
12 Set him not by thee, lest, when he hath overthrown thee, he stand up in thy place; neither let him sit at thy right hand, lest he seek to take thy seat, and thou at the last remember my words, and be pricked therewith.
13 Who will pity a charmer that is bitten with a serpent, or any such as come nigh wild beasts?
14 So one that goeth to a sinner, and is defiled with him in his sins, who will pity?
15 For a while he will abide with thee, but if thou begin to fall, he will not tarry.
16 An enemy speaketh sweetly with his lips, but in his heart he imagineth how to throw thee into a pit: he will weep with his eyes, but if he find opportunity, he will not be satisfied with blood.
17 If adversity come upon thee, thou shalt find him there first; and though he pretend to help thee, yet shall he undermine thee.
18 He will shake his head, and clap his hands, and whisper much, and change his countenance.
WOW!
This is very, very timeous -
I am currently involved in a very tedious problem with a so-called christian brother
(he sits in his church every week and does the sound system)
I could not leave the problem, nor write it off.
It got to the point where I had to consider legal action (no other options left)
I've long since given up the notion that we must forgive our brother "regardless". This philosophy
results only in the tolerance of evil
The extract above well describes this individual; he makes a big show of pretending to be a "lowly christian", he likes to play "woe is me", weeps crocodile tears, tells everyone in his church how he has "extended his hand in friendship" to me, but refuses to rectify his behavior.
The details are probably unimportant here, but in desperation I got hold of his "pastor" and we had an hour long session, where I explained my position, and WARNED him in no uncertain terms that should this individual continue to play games with me, legal action would ensue.
The pastor looked aghast, but promised to do something, and to speak to this individual.
Delay tactics and all kinds of excuses then took place; not responding to messages, ignoring emails, refusing to make an official statement on my allegations etc etc.
The pastor at one point sent me a message saying he couldn't understand why I was making such a big deal, ie taking legal action. But since going to my "brother" did not not work, since discussing the situation with his friends did not work, since discussing it with his pastor (representative of Christ?) did not work, the legal route was taken.
At one point, his pastor sent me an email saying that he did not have time for "such rubbish"
Yet, the man sits in his church! (Every week, doing the sound)
The only communications I have received from this individual consists of gay, effeminate themes such as "he is very hurt", "does not understand" why I am so angry with him, and numerous "invitations to have coffee and a good laugh"
My approach was explicit: I am not interested in being his friend, only interested in the complete restoration of my possessions which were stored at his place (long story)
He refused to respond, refused to be specific, and refused to state whether the particular possessions were still at his place or not.
Nine months later, we are still trying to get to the end of this matter.
(It looks like it might end, finally, though)
Hey, why should I write off a 30-year old guitar which I looked after since I was a wee lad, and is still in mint condition>
Arrangements had been made for a removals company to fetch my collection of guitars, whereupon he refused to release the equipment.
He claimed that he "had not been informed", yet the equipment was to be removed upon his ultimatum that ALL equipment had to be removed "within 10 days".
The date was arranged between himself and the removals company; when they arrived, he was not there.
I had to redo the arrangements, get his pastor involved, whereupon an arrangement was again made
(everything documented, communicated and validated)
The removals company finally moved the load to a store I had rented FOR THIS PURPOSE -
It became apparent that one of the guitars were missing.
We have battled for NINE MONTHS to get some proper response, there is other stuff, sure it's material stuff etc etc - - I'm prepared to write the other missing stuff off, but not the 30 year old guitar
The real issue is that this "christian" could have solved this within a few days - yay or nay, he agrees with the allegations or not, he has the stuff or not, he specifically has x, y or z - or not
No repentance was displayed, no apologies, no actions were taken.
Nothing but an airy-fairy, gay, "I'm very hurt, I cannot understand why you are angry" attitude.
This man is king-of-his-house, he has the keys to his place, he knows his availability, it's not my job to run after him and confirm every little thing with him - he initially refused even to speak to the removal company, etc etc.
Over the years, I've had very bad experiences with my "fellow brethren".
Doctrinal issues are a separate matter.
The scripture says: Lu 17:3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
Note that we SHOULD rebuke. And when do we "forgive"? When our brother r-e-p-e-n-t-s
As if I don't already have enough problems being surrounded by 50 million heathen (sigh)
Certainly, we should not accept crocodile tears from our brethren, I call it "dancing for the cameras"
The scripture says: Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
FIN
