According to the Bible, does God prohibit or encourage us to mix/befriend/do business with people from different religions?
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A person of a different faith should be dealt with love, not indifference. Each baptized Christian is called to be an apostle, sent out by Christ's mandate, "Go and make disciples of every nation." We take this mandate to heart. Does God encourage us to mix/befriend/do business with people from different religion? Yes. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.
Are we ALLOWED? We are TOLD to befriend the world by way of offering the world a different tree to eat from, the tree of life, the truth. Jesus is the Truth! Build your house on the Rock (Matt 7:24) and invite visitors to your house. The caution is noted because of the question Haggai asked the priest: "If someone carries meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy"? The priest answered "No." Haggai 2:12. Then Haggai said "if someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean? The priest answered and said "It does become unclean." So, if someone who is "supposedly" clean merges with someone who is unclean, which one is at risk of losing their station, the clean or the unclean? Jesus said to him (Peter), "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean (John 13:10a). (After washing their feet) "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you an example... John 14:14,15. We are ALLOWED to wash dirty feet.
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