{"id":3958,"date":"2011-04-17T14:27:05","date_gmt":"2011-04-17T18:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=3958"},"modified":"2013-05-31T18:29:45","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T02:29:45","slug":"new-believers-party-old-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/new-believers-party-old-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Should New Believers Party with Old Friends?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"RedeemingGod image 3959\" href=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/new-believers-party-old-friends\/dance-party\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3959\" title=\"dance-party\" src=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/dance-party.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/dance-party.jpg 500w, https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/dance-party-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/dance-party-195x110.jpg 195w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is interesting to compare conversations we have with new believers to those that Jesus with His new followers.<\/p>\n<p>Here is how conversations usually go today between a New Believer (NB) and an Experienced Pro (EP):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>EP:<\/strong> It\u2019s been good seeing you in church. Are you learning a lot?<br \/>\n<strong>NB:<\/strong> Oh, yeah! I\u2019ve been reading my Bible every day, just like pastor said I should. I\u2019ve seen God answer a lot of my prayers, and lots of people here in church are so friendly.<br \/>\n<strong>EP:<\/strong> Good, good. We\u2019re always here for you if you ever need anything or have any questions.<br \/>\n<strong>NB:<\/strong> You know, now that you mention it, I do have a question.<br \/>\n<strong>EP:<\/strong> Sure, what is it?<br \/>\n<strong>NB:<\/strong> Well, some of my friends are having a party next weekend, and they\u2019ve invited me to go. Usually, before I became a Christian, I would party every weekend. But now, I haven\u2019t been to one in a while, and my friends are starting to wonder what happened to me. I had a lot of really good friends, and I would kind of like to go to the party. Do you think I should go?<br \/>\n<strong>EP:<\/strong> Hmmm. Well, will there be beer at the party?<br \/>\n<!--more--><strong>NB:<\/strong> Yeah. Lots of it.<br \/>\n<strong>EP:<\/strong> How about drugs, dancing, and sex?<br \/>\n<strong>NB: <\/strong>Well, of course people are going to dance, and some will probably hook up afterwards. There might be a few people with drugs, but it\u2019s not like in the movies where there are piles of cocaine on the coffee table.<br \/>\n<strong>EP: <\/strong>Do you think that as a Christian, you should be getting drunk, doing drugs, and having sex with strangers?<br \/>\n<strong>NB: <\/strong>Well, no, but I\u2019m not planning on doing that. I just want to hang out with my friends.<br \/>\n<strong>EP:<\/strong> Uh-huh. Tell me something. When you went to these parties before, did you drink, have sex, and do drugs?<br \/>\n<strong>NB:<\/strong> Well\u2026.yeah.<br \/>\n<strong>EP: <\/strong>So there is a good chance that if you go to this party, you will fall back into your old sinful habits, and will end up doing the same things you did before. You can\u2019t do that now. You\u2019re a follower of Jesus. You need to turn your back on the past, reject your sinful ways, and live your new life in Christ.<br \/>\n<strong>NB:<\/strong> I suppose you\u2019re right. I guess I\u2019ll have to tell my friends I can\u2019t make it.<br \/>\n<strong>EP: <\/strong>You know what? We\u2019re having a pot luck and board game night here at the church on Friday night. It is always lots of fun. Why don\u2019t you come and invite a few of your friends to the party here instead?<br \/>\n<strong>NB:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know if my friends would want to do that, but I guess I could ask.<br \/>\n<strong>EP:<\/strong> Yep. It never hurts to ask! See you on Friday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Now, here is how a similar conversation might go with Jesus and one of his New Followers (NF):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Jesus: <\/strong>I\u2019m glad you joined with us. I like hanging out with you.<br \/>\n<strong>NF:<\/strong> Yeah, Jesus, me too!<br \/>\n<strong>Jesus:<\/strong> You look like you\u2019ve got something on your mind.<br \/>\n<strong>NF: <\/strong>Well, some of my friends are having a party next weekend, and they\u2019ve invited me to go. Usually, before I started following you, I would go to one of these almost every weekend. But now, I haven\u2019t been to one in a while, and my friends are starting to wonder what happened to me. I had a lot of really good friends, and I would kind of like to go to the party. Do you think I should?<br \/>\n<strong>Jesus: <\/strong>Absolutely you should go, but on one condition.<br \/>\n<strong>NF:<\/strong> What\u2019s that?<br \/>\n<strong>Jesus:<\/strong> Can I come?<br \/>\n<strong>NF:<\/strong> Sure! You go to parties?<br \/>\n<strong>Jesus:<\/strong> I love parties. Did I tell you about the time when I was at a party and they ran out of wine, so I made 150 more gallons of it?<br \/>\n<strong>NF:<\/strong> What? You did that? Wow. My friends are gonna love you!<br \/>\n<strong>Jesus: <\/strong>I hope so. I truly hope so.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So let me ask: Which approach is better, and what are the pros and cons of each? Do you think that parties in the time of Jesus were so different from parties of today that Jesus would attend parties then, but not attend parties now?<\/p>\n<h6>This post is based on the <a href=\"http:\/\/gracecommentary.com\/bible\/showthread.php?t=57\">Grace Commentary for Luke 5:27-32<\/a>.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can new believers go to parties with former friends? Two conversations compare and contrast the answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[20,19,38],"class_list":{"0":"post-3958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-bible-commentary-luke","8":"tag-discipleship","9":"tag-theology-jesus","10":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Should New Believers Party with Old Friends?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Can new believers go to parties with former friends? 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