Bible Teaches Avoiding Evil Companions

Where the Bible Teaches Avoiding Evil Companions

Of course throughout the Bible there are many examples of the consequences of sin, and of people who lead others to evil. We can see this today in our society, where in an age of "relativism" people are "open" to "new ideas and experiences" without concern for whether these people will lead them to sin, and ultimately, cost them their salvation in eternal life, and result in their eternal suffering in hell. There are six passages in the Bible that are particularly instructive and pertinent to our times, because they trace the actual choices people make to follow evil companions, including times when it seemed like either innocent or "open minded" choices. Let's take a look at these examples, and think about your own life, where friends or relatives may be, in truth "evil companions."

Warnings Against Evil Companions: Proverbs 4:16-19

"The path of the wicked enter not, walk not on the way of evil men; Shun it, cross it not, turn aside from it, and pass on. For they cannot rest unless they have done evil; to have made no one stumble steals away their sleep. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they know not on what they stumble. But the path of the just is like shining light, that grows in brilliance till perfect dawn."

What beautiful and wise advice! And if you read it carefully, you will see that it is not just a simple truism, but a very astute assessment of how evil works. Notice that a path is a way that already exists because many have already walked it. So people are warned not to use a path that the wicked have created. This can be thought of as a place where evil is done, either on the job, or through lack of morals or fear of God. So it is important to avoid even going on the path created by evil companions, because by doing so (accepting that job, joining that "coven" of friends or relatives, or congregating with the immoral), even if one thinks one is in control of one's own actions, this Bible author warns that evil companions will not accept anything less than total control of you. The righteous or innocent person who walks on a path used by evil companions keeps the evil awake at night, because they crave self validation of their own evil by creating acolytes. Their sleep, their food, and their drink are all of their evil ways (think about food choices such as mystical diets, or choices such as substance abuse for real, concrete examples of this symbolism.) Evil companions will require those on their path to eat and drink as they do, share their addictions, abuse the same people, and fully validate all their wicked deeds, and will not rest until they have performed the evil of recruitment to their cause. This Bible author points out that eventually the evil will fall, because their way is in darkness and their stumbling will occur in a way they cannot foresee. However, the path of the just is a shining light that only grows in brilliance. Just companions and deeds only bring more and more illumination until the perfection of the dawn of eternal life in God. There is no stumbling on the path that is created by the just in the light of God, because the millions of good people, in communion with the saints, have shown the way to eternal life. One need only to look at the late Pope John Paul II to see that, with the total confidence he had at the end of his life and the beginning of his new perfect dawn.

St Paul warns Against Corrupt Good Morals 1 Corinthians 15:33-34

"Do not be led astray: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.' Become sober as you ought and stop sinning. For some have no knowledge of God; I say this to your shame."

In this passage, St Paul is very pithily saying much of what is discussed above in Proverbs. He is pointing out that even if one possess good morals, that being in bad company with evil companions will inevitably corrupt the person's morals. How many times have we heard a parent lament, "But he was such a good kid; he fell in with the wrong crowd." But parents themselves need to realize that if they consort in bad company, exposing their children to such, that even the parent's morals become corrupt, and the children will make similar choices. This is again where "relativism" and "new age openness" are such a damaging effect to even people with "good morals." Bad company and evil companions are corrosive and will eventually lead astray even those who think they have such "good morals." As Neil Young sang, "Rust never sleeps." I added the sentence after this exhortation against bad company, because St Paul makes another, related good point. He is saying that "sober" behavior is required to stop sinning. While we could enjoy this as a pun about drinking, this is not its intention. St Paul is saying that a thoughtful and serious mind is necessary to stop sinning. While one is being stupid and self indulgent, one cannot help but to sin. A thoughtful state of mind, informed by knowledge of God, is necessary to first, identify the presence and threat of sin, and second, to stop doing so. St Paul reminds the reader that one ought to feel shame at having no knowledge of God.

Lot's Choice: Genesis 13: 1-18

This is a long passage and I'm going to summarize it, although I recommend that you read it because you will see it with new eyes and with great pertinence to today's economic and social dilemmas. Abram and Lot prospered in their flocks, herds, and tents, so much so that they recognized that the land could not support them if their families stayed together in one location. The pressure on the land for resources created quarrels between their herdsmen, and other strife. Abram and Lot look out over the great land, and Abram gives Lot first choice of where he wants to go, saying "If you prefer the left, I will go to the right; if you prefer the right, I will go to the left," Lot selected the east, based on seeing the ample water available on the Jordan plain, while then Abram went to the opposite direction toward Canaan. What the Bible does not say but implies is that Lot selected water and lushness of the land without having hesitation about settling so close to Sodom, a city where the inhabitants were "very wicked in the sins they committed against the Lord." After Lot had left the Lord appeared to Abram. (Notice that the Lord did not interfere in their freedom of choice; both patriarchs made their own decisions based on information freely available to them.) The Lord promised Abram "I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth; if anyone could count the dust of the earth, your descendants too might be counted." Immediately after moving Abram "built an altar to the Lord."

We can all relate to the pressure on land and natural resources, which even the patriarchs faced. Notice, however, that Lot makes the choice to go where many others have gone before strictly on the basis of water resources and abundance... and that includes the city that was well known for depravity, called Sodom and Gomorrah. Here, just as discussed in the above passage from Proverbs, a good man takes a path with evil companions. In this case, Lot feels that he can choose where to settle based strictly on the resources, and not thinking of the risks of settling near those who are consumed with wicked ways (and I'm not making a point about homosexuality; I'm talking about the original "sin city" where people demanded sex from any visitors, including angels, who arrived at their city in the course of traveling through.) And for sure, eventually the city is destroyed and Lot, who had moved into the city with his family, escaped with only his life and his two daughters because the rest of his family chose to remain in the city despite the personal warnings of two angels sent by God. There is no starker example of people who have good morals and who think that they can control their own environment, based on economic choices, who then pay with their lives and those of their family through their own choice, and virtually gambled away their eternal salvation.

Evil Companions Led Israel to sin: Numbers 11:4-6

"The foreign elements among them were so greedy for meat that even the Israelites lamented again, 'Would that we had meat for food!' We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna."

This passage does not condemn or blame "foreign elements" because they are of a different nationality, but because of their greed. Here Israel welcomed within them foreign elements who only sought to consume their resources, and not to work and produce. If you read further, you'll see that because of these economic and social choices (again God permits free will), the people actually blame Moses and God for their lack of fresh produce, even though God has created the manna that has sustained them through the desert as they left slavery in Egypt! God ends up having to be nutritionist and restaurateur, providing them with food on the wind (flocks of quail) to feed them. So here we see how the introduction of evil companions (consumers and not producers) caused an entire nation to sin, blaming God and actually wishing to be back in slavery in Egypt so they could get fresh produce! Today, who are the greedy consumers among us? Hint: it's not the poor illegal immigrants who are seeking to harvest food, clean up after Katrina, and work on construction jobs and others that would not otherwise be done in our increasingly greedy consumerist culture.

Evil Companions Caused Samson to Fall: Judges 16:4-5

"After that he fell in love with a woman in the Wadi Sorek whose name was Delilah. The lords of the Philistines came to her and said, 'Beguile him and find out the secret of his great strength, and how we may overcome and bind him so as to keep him helpless. We will each give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."

Well, read my post about stalking. I think the rest of this lesson is pretty clear. Samson had ruled ("judged") Israel for twenty years, before he was ensnared by that whore. And by the way, in the end, even blinded, Samson pulled the temple in which he was prisoner down on the lords and all the people who were in it and "Those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his lifetime." Notice too that this is a great example of the stumbling block referred to in Proverbs, that the evil companions do not see coming, but causes their total destruction, while the good go on to their brilliant dawn.

Evil Companions caused Solomon's Fall: 1 Kings 11:1-8

I will summarize this reading. Solomon had been a glorious king of Israel, known for his piety, wisdom, wealth, peacefulness, and friendship with God. But he became so corrupt in both sexual and family excess ("He had seven hundred wives of princely rank and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart") and in what we would call today, "open mindedness" and "relativism" that he actually joined in the pagan practices of his wives and he worshipped other gods and idols. HERE WAS A MAN WHO ACTUALLY SPOKE TO GOD, AND WHO GOD CONSIDERED HIS FRIEND, AND HE STILL TURNED FROM GOD TO WORSHIP IDOLS.

I know that sounds so incredibly stupid, especially to the pious today who pray to be in any dialogue with God, as Solomon was, but it's not all that surprising anymore, seeing the lack of piety and faith in the world today. For the sake of God's love of Solomon's father David, God warned Solomon in advance that because of Solomon's sins and turning away from the very God he personally spoke to, that he would give away all that Solomon had accumulated through the grace of God, and would raise up secular enemies to Solomon to divide up and conquer Israel. Once again God allowed the free will of humans to operate, and his way to punish is to allow the free will of opponents to flourish.

Solomon's fall shows the incredible power of sin. Sins of lust, power, and pride are so strong that they can overcome even a holy man who is in direct dialogue with God. This is one reason that priests (and people in all walks of life) are succumbing to the sin of sexual abuse, because there is no more attractive target for being drawn into sin than one who had received grace from God. Now instead of seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, people have pornography, coarsened media, the sex trade, and a lack of boundaries in terms of sexual acts, especially toward the young and helpless, to lead them to evil and away from God, even when God speaks to them and gives them the good blessings of life and the earth. This is why it is so important to avoid temptation of corruption, because while God is stronger than the sin of men and women, people are weak and the path to hell is very wide.