“Keep Your First Life”

Friday, November 25, 2016

I have a friend at work that is having "cyber" sex relationships online.  And he has a wife; would you consider him cheating on his wife; is that adultery or some form of adultery?  Also, are we sinning by listening to him tell us these stories?  What advice should we give him?  We already told him that he should not be on that website because it might get out of hand.  Please help.  Thanks.

Sincerely,
Concerned Employee

Dear Concerned Employee,

Yes, what this man is doing is a sin.  Jesus says that we commit adultery in our heart when we lust after a woman that is not our wife (Matt 5:28).  There is debate over whether or not what your friend is doing is at a level that can be deemed fornication… but there is no doubt that it is wrong.  Any man that has started a second life (ironically, the same name as the game) in order to pursue illicit relationships is living a very ungodly and harmful lifestyle.

The Scriptures teach that the best thing you can do is to rebuke him privately in hopes that you can win him back (Matt 18:15), but ultimately, you cannot continue to encourage this horrible behavior by listening to him recount his sinful experiences.  Continuing in your current pattern will corrupt you (1 Cor 15:33), and it will continue to feed the flame of his bad choices.  In the end, you are doing him more good by rebuking him than by continuing to flatter him by giving ear to his escapades (Pr 28:23).

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