Friends With Unbelievers

[dannibear]

Question:

One of my closest friends is not a Christian. In fact, she’s Hindu. I know the Bible says not to be yoked with unbelievers and I want to listen to what the Bible says, but I also still want to be friends with her. What am I supposed to do?
Answer:

The word Christian means “one who follows Christ”; so, should we, as Christians, be friends with people who do not follow Christ?
The answer is YES. We should. Following Jesus Christ means living by the example that He set for us while He was here on earth. It’s important, however to follow all of the example that Jesus set, we can’t just pick out parts of Jesus’ life and ministry that we want to follow and ignore parts that we don’t. So let’s look briefly, at how Jesus responded to some non-Christians.
We’re going to look at Matthew chapter nine, but before we do let me give you one very important background fact: By the time Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple, Jesus already had a least four of the 12 disciples – Peter, Andrew, James and John. Those four guys were with Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount and they had been hanging out with Jesus for a while. They were good Jewish guys, they believed that Jesus was the Messiah and they knew and followed the Law as they understood it.

Matthew 9:9-10 – As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He (Jesus) said to him (Matthew), ‘Follow Me!’ And he (Matthew) got up and followed Him (Jesus). Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house [probably Matthew’s house], behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.
​

Two things are important in this Scripture:

1. Jesus hung out and had dinner with sinners – people who didn’t know God, didn’t understand God or thought they didn’t need God.
2. Jesus did NOT do this alone. This is a very important part of Jesus’ example to be friends with non-Christians. Jesus took His Christian buddies with Him when He hung out with non-Christians. Jesus never sent His disciples out alone, they always had at least one strong Christian partner with them.

The second point is so important. We’re called to minister and be friends of those who don’t yet know Christ but this is something that we should never do alone. No matter how strong your relationship is with God, you can still be tempted. We all can. If you don’t take other strong Christian friends with you when you hang out with non-Christians, then your defense against temptation will be weak.
It’s so much easier for people to pull us away from God than for us to pull them to God.
Take strong Christian friends with you, as Jesus took His disciples. Your strong Christian friends can keep you accountable for your words and actions and help you maintain your walk with God while you show God’s love to people who don’t yet see.

Matthew 10:16 – “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Written by Jenn Arman

 

[Coconut]

Matthew 11:19 - "Absolved from every act of sin, is wisdom by her kith and kin." ISV :wink:

 

[WantToKnowHim]

True, and thanks to this.

Friends with non-believers is fine as long as he/she does not lead you to sin.

I remembered that Lord Jesus and His apostles started His ministry to His own race; however many of them did not believe in Him. The ones who did not believe in one God and the despised, such as the gentiles and the Samaritans, followed Him.

:shade:

 

[CookieRaider]

Didn't think about the part where you have a christian buddy with you. That is an idea I never thought of. It was a good read, thank you for blessing us with the share.

 

[Boanerges]

Mat 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.


Be loving and kind like Christ, lift Him up and He will draw all men (and women) to Him.

 

[Coconut]

Do not be afraid to go into the darkness to draw men into the Light

<3

 

[AlertChristians]

Evangelism Does Not Mean Believers May Make Friends with Unbelievers

A believer cannot read the following passage and honestly conclude that it is okay to have one or more friends who are unbelievers. There is to be no fellowship between a believer and an unbeliever.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18

The Lord Jesus makes it clear in this next passage that disciples who are tasked to evangelize are not to make friends with unbelievers.
Luke 10:1-12

Those posting in this thread to the contrary are deceived or are themselves deceivers.

 

[Bendito]

Question:

One of my closest friends is not a Christian. In fact, she’s Hindu. I know the Bible says not to be yoked with unbelievers and I want to listen to what the Bible says, but I also still want to be friends with her. What am I supposed to do?
Answer:

The word Christian means “one who follows Christ”; so, should we, as Christians, be friends with people who do not follow Christ?
The answer is YES. We should. Following Jesus Christ means living by the example that He set for us while He was here on earth. It’s important, however to follow all of the example that Jesus set, we can’t just pick out parts of Jesus’ life and ministry that we want to follow and ignore parts that we don’t. So let’s look briefly, at how Jesus responded to some non-Christians.
We’re going to look at Matthew chapter nine, but before we do let me give you one very important background fact: By the time Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple, Jesus already had a least four of the 12 disciples – Peter, Andrew, James and John. Those four guys were with Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount and they had been hanging out with Jesus for a while. They were good Jewish guys, they believed that Jesus was the Messiah and they knew and followed the Law as they understood it.

Matthew 9:9-10 – As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He (Jesus) said to him (Matthew), ‘Follow Me!’ And he (Matthew) got up and followed Him (Jesus). Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house [probably Matthew’s house], behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.​

​

Two things are important in this Scripture:

1. Jesus hung out and had dinner with sinners – people who didn’t know God, didn’t understand God or thought they didn’t need God.
2. Jesus did NOT do this alone. This is a very important part of Jesus’ example to be friends with non-Christians. Jesus took His Christian buddies with Him when He hung out with non-Christians. Jesus never sent His disciples out alone, they always had at least one strong Christian partner with them.

The second point is so important. We’re called to minister and be friends of those who don’t yet know Christ but this is something that we should never do alone. No matter how strong your relationship is with God, you can still be tempted. We all can. If you don’t take other strong Christian friends with you when you hang out with non-Christians, then your defense against temptation will be weak.
It’s so much easier for people to pull us away from God than for us to pull them to God.
Take strong Christian friends with you, as Jesus took His disciples. Your strong Christian friends can keep you accountable for your words and actions and help you maintain your walk with God while you show God’s love to people who don’t yet see.

Matthew 10:16 – “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Written by Jenn Arman

Did Jesus avoid contact with unbelievers? Not at all...But He did keep His beliefs separate from theirs...He answered any question or argument with truth.

 

[AlertChristians]

Did Jesus avoid contact with unbelievers? Not at all...But He did keep His beliefs separate from theirs...He answered any question or argument with truth.

"Did Jesus avoid contact with unbelievers?"

Yes, at times, Jesus avoided contact with unbelievers. For example, He escaped their grasps, He preached from a boat off shore, and often He withdrew for solitude, prayer.

There's a huge difference between evangelism and being friends with unbelievers. To deny this is to assert there is little or no difference between being friends with believers and unbelievers. Scripture is clear on this 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.

"But He did keep His beliefs separate from theirs...He answered any question or argument with truth."

In the supporting passage below, the Lord Jesus tells us He came to separate or divide. Why? Because the Lord wants believers separate from unbelievers. Verse 36 "And a person's enemies will be those of his own household." That person is a believer, and the enemies are that person's unbelieving family members. Lord Jesus puts the focus on the believers: brothers, sisters, mothers in Christ - those who do the will of His father. His focus is not on maintaining peaceful relations within the biological family.

Holy Bible - Matthew 10:34-39 (ESV)
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.