I had a family friend that one day, came home from work in a very excitable
condition. He said "At my new job, there is this woman co-worker who really,
really likes me!" This sounded okay until I heard the next part. "Guess what? She's married", he said.
I thought this would be the end of the story, but unfortunately not. Apparently, this co-worker was very flirtatious and my friend
was easily manipulated by some soft features and someone who wanted to be with him.
It was the advice of those in my family to this person to avoid any kind of flirtation with this person as it could only lead to
trouble. Our friend did not heed this advice and in a very short time he was spending a lot of time with this co-worker. Very, very
soon, the relationship became a personal and physical relationship. His family would warn him that all of this was bad news, but
being a bit thick headed and in love, he felt his "feelings" would never betray him, and so in no time at all he was having an
affair with a married mother of several children.
The woman would tell him how unhappy her marriage was, that her husband was into drugs and was abusive. All of this made him feel
protective of her. Very soon, she had separated from this husband and was seeing our friend exclusively. In no time, our friend
was living with this woman and her children.
People do what they want and in this day and age, this story is very, very common. The thing was, our family friend respected our
opinions very much, and he could tell that we were not comfortable with any of this. This caused a great deal of distance between
us - one bad situation on top of another. This friend was with this woman for some time. He married her, and she became pregnant
with his child. It was at this point, human compassion told us that "Hey, this was family now. There is going to be children in
the family. Maybe it is time to make amends." So our family went against our better instincts and put all the sordid history
behind us in order to have the semblance of a regular family life.
Flash forward a couple of years. The couple with three children, two dogs, a house, cars everything seems like everything is going
okay, but, it turns out that the wife is now spending evenings with her girlfriends who are single, going to clubs. The next
thing we know the couple is getting divorced because the wife has been caught having ... you guessed it - an affair!
Now, there is that part of you that says "How unfortunate", but there is also this part of you that says "Well, its not
unprecedented", meaning this sort of thing had happened before. As a matter of fact, that is precisely how he ended up in
a relationship with her in the first place - through her infidelity and his inability to stay away.
What does this tell us? That a person who cheats, while they might mend their ways, does have it in their nature to cheat.
A wild animal, if it gets a taste for human blood, becomes a great danger to people as it will not stop killing.
Not so long ago, there was a cleric that joined a certain church. This cleric found themselves in a very high position of
authority and respect. This cleric, however, determined that he did not like the church's teachings after becoming a cleric,
and instead of moving on to a church that believed the same things that he did and leave with grace and dignity, this cleric,
intentionally sought to teach doctrines - his own beliefs - beliefs that were very different from the church that he was currently
devoted to. This cleric sought to influence the hierarchy of the church. This ultimately resulted in his dismissal from the
church. The church in question did not seek to condemn this man and as a matter of fact, sought every means to find a peaceful way
for this person to either find peace within the church or for him to leave gracefully and move onto other opportunities.
This cleric did not accept this and made this known publically. The church had no choice but to remove the cleric from office,
giving them the choice of leaving on their own or being excommunicated for their actions. The individual left but did so in such
a disrespectful and disgraceful way, that he, by his very own conduct excommunicated himself. This cleric was an apostate. Not
worth the time and energy of any church.
Now, it is interesting to note: that this person's conduct did not seem to put off other churches. As a matter of fact some
churches came calling and thought this person was worth having as their cleric or at least to be in affiliation with this
apostate priest.
The individual chose to use a public forum to air every lie and half-truth that he had ever dreamed up in his warped and
paranoid brain. Remarks that nobody questioned. Things he once taught with conviction he turned around and spat upon. In the
end, the religious institution that accepted the apostate cleric, in turn, excommunicated the individual for many of the same
issues.
Now, the first story and the second story have something in common. There is an individual that is completely untrustworthy.
They have made this known by their words and actions. The person or group that comes into contact with this person knows
precisely what that person has been involved with, and yet they align themselves with that person anyway.
In the former experience, the man came face to face with the ever present sin of a wayward spouse. The latter experience, an
organization came face to face with the ever present sins of a wayward priest. Once an apostate always an apostate.
So, what is the message here? Shouldn't we forgive the sins of others? Sin should be forgiven, but a person who does not seek
forgiveness and continues to sin and rejoice in their sinful nature is not something you want to be around, and we cannot be
surprised if they revert to their sinful ways.
The wayward spouse has it in his or her nature to cheat; the apostate cleric has it in his nature to betray their Church.
There are no surprises here, only that the person or group involved with the sinner thinks that that sin will not spill out
over onto them.
When a person is the recipient of a sinner's attention, if you do not stand firm and resolute in rejecting the overtures of
the sinner, you become complicit in the designs of the sinner in question. A person complicit in the sin of another is guilty
of sin themselves.
A person who builds a house on a toxic dump site, cannot be surprised if everything around them becomes poisoned and dies.
I had a family friend that one day, came home from work in a very excitable
condition. He said "At my new job, there is this woman co-worker who really,
really likes me!" This sounded okay until I heard the next part. "Guess what? She's married", he said.
