How would you deal with these situation

greetings

A brother shared with us recently that there are some companies and business that I use that are very huge on supporting things that I am not for supporting. They use funds and time to support outside groups that I would never use money to support directly myself. I was wondering though is it the same for me to use this business now that I know what they support as supporting the groups themselves? After a bit more research I was shocked to find out how many businesses do support outside groups that I would not. Is there anything in the Bible on this? I am not seeing how a christian would be held accountable as sin for going to a store to buy a shirt when they have no control over what the store does with the money they take in right??

Also I know of a young lady who had been dealing with convictions about modesty and has cleaned her closet to get rid of all clothes that are immodest. She said that she has two boxes of things that she no longer feel proper wearing and was at first going to donate to a local charity because the clothes are in really good condition(some were expensive items) but then she began thinking if she should donate them or just toss them because if they are immodest for her they are for other young woman as well?

Has anyone dealt with this? If so how did you feel led to handle things?

God Bless
mj

Edit: I was also wondering how would you share with another brother who feels strongly that going to the store would be sin on the part of a believer if you do not share that conviction?

A person could go crazy trying to avoid association with everything evil in this world. What is important is that you do what the Lord would have you to do. Pray as ask Him to show you His will in the matter and then be ready to make adjustments accordingly.

As for the brother's concerns, that is between him and the Lord. Just stand in the truth that the Lord has shown you - not judging your brother, nor letting him judge you.

The Bible does deal very specifically and concisely with this issue in the Book of Romans when Paul talks about eating meat sacrificed to idols. Paul says that a weak Christian cannot do so, but that a mature Christian should not flaunt his liberty in front of someone who might sear their own conscience to what they feel they are supposed to do concerning their obedience to God. What could possibly be a worse thing to "support" for a Christian than eating some meat sacrificed to Zues or Appolo or Bachhus for that matter? What about meat sacrificed to Dionysius, one of the most vile of Greek gods? Paul said we can enjoy the liberty of consuming this meat knowing that it is only meat. Do not sear your brother's conscience and tell him that he is immature. I would just not flaunt your liberty in front of him because he may be in a delicate frame of his understanding of the faith. Encourage him to obey what he feels his conscience is burdening him with. Pray for him, and maybe in time, God may show him this truth...but it must be revealed by God. Hope this helps, don't take my word for it though, study the book of Romans where it deals with this issue, pray about it and ask God to either confirm or deny my understanding of it. God Bless MJ

A person could go crazy trying to avoid association with everything evil in this world. What is important is that you do what the Lord would have you to do. Pray as ask Him to show you His will in the matter and then be ready to make adjustments accordingly.

God Bless and thank you for responding
maryjane

Greetings Areadymind

I would just not flaunt your liberty in front of him because he may be in a delicate frame of his understanding of the faith.

I agree with you here and I want to be so very careful in speaking with him about this. As I mentioned this seems to be such a heavy burden on his heart and I do not want to offend him in any way.
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Hope this helps, don't take my word for it though, study the book of Romans where it deals with this issue, pray about it and ask God to either confirm or deny my understanding of it.

I had thought about those passages in Romans, your mentioning them does confirm to me what the Lord was showing me also about this.

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God Bless
mj

I really don't know about the brother but from what I have seen for the sister, I use to have a movie and video game collection and then the Lord convicted me to clean it my library of Dvds and Games, so I did I took everything rated R and every mature game or game that wasn't family friendly out of my Library as far as what to do with them, I took the steps the Corinthian Church took when they burned all of their ungodly books. I destroyed them with the thinking that if these are displeasing to God then selling them wouldn't be a good thing because it would just infect another person, I ultimately destroyed the games and dvd's and threw them away. I hope that helps in some way.

God Bless,
Matthew

MaryJane,

I agree with the writers who posted answers to your question.

Many years ago when our boys were younger and I was responsible to buy their clothes, I saw an ad for 'Guess' jeans in a magazine. I was really disgusted with the ad because the models were posing in very suggestive forms. I decided that no way will I buy any of their products, not even in a thrift store. To wear them would be like giving them approval for their ad. I have always felt like this was the proper decision in this case and I am still of this opinion/conviction.

Blessings,
ginnyrose

MaryJane,
I don't know about the first situation. I have honestly never thought about that before.
But I have been in the second one. Mine was not with clothes. It was with manga (Japanese comics), books, CDs and videos. I was incredibly convicted about the material in each of these things. Almost all the manga had something to do with "gods" or magic or something, the books were vampire/horror ones, the CDs were just secular though somewhat depressing, and the videos were horror. My first thought was to round them and sell them. But then I started thinking, that is putting those vile things back out there for an unbeliever or "carnal" believer to see or purchase and thus harden their heart more towards God. So by putting them back out I would be responsible for making someone stumble, whether believer or unbeliever. (Matthew 18:6-7 came to my mind...) I realize that some people will purchase stuff like that whether I put it back out there or not, but I am not held responsible for that.
In the end I threw everything away. Probably totally $2,000-3,000 worth of stuff. Did some people think it was a waste of money to throw them out? Yes. But in light of the Judgment Seat, it was worth it. Someone else's soul is more important to me than stuff or money.
Was it hard to throw it all out? Yes. But God blessed me with massive Spiritual growth because of my obedience.

Does that apply to clothes? I'm not sure. But does putting immodest clothes back out there cause a situation where a man (possibly even a brother in Christ) could stumble? Yes. I personally would not want to take the chance, seeing that it could cause someone to stumble. I would just throw them away.
The other thing she could do is maybe find a way to make them modest. Some things I had that were immodest I wear tank tops or long sleeves under them. That is another option.

The verses that really stuck out for me concerning this was Deuteronomy 7:25-26: "The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God. Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction."
And I will tell you, I feel as if the enemy has less access to me since I've gotten rid of those "doors" to the demonic.
Is immodesty a god? Maybe. Fashion and materialism definitely is. Especially among young women.
Again I would say if you can't make them modest, throw them out. But that is the conviction I hold. I know that others view things differently. =)

I pray that the Lord would guide you in the "supporting businesses" issue and that He would guide the young lady as to what HE wants her to do with the clothes.
God bless!
In Christ,
Veronica

Greetings

As it turns out another sister has talked to my friend and she is going to take the clothes and modify them. Apparently she knows a lot about sewing and can tailor these items and make them usable for children clothes. I was really surprised by that but thinks it a great idea. I was talking with the ladies and was saying how frustrating shopping can be because of so many things are not very modest, she gave me so many great ideas on altering or adding fabrics to tops, shorts, and skirts to make them more modest.

Thanks to everyone for your replies

God Bless
maryjane