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I suspect that you define countenancing as being willing to associate with and treat a sinner with human dignity and respect. Sorry but that is not encouraging or supporting the sin.

In my years living in San Diego I got to know a great many gay people, they’re everywhere in Southern California. I don’t encourage nor do I support that lifestyle, not only because it is a sin, but also because it is unhealthy
physically and especially mentally. But I am tollerant of the of the sinner as fellow human beings, because I’m a sinner too, just not for the same sin. I’m tollerant in the sense that I believe people can organize their lives whatever way they want, good behavior in a civil society means acting reasonably when interacting with people regardless of what their sins are or how you or I view their personal life choices. People have brains and can think for themselves and all human beings have free will, and by the way God gave us those.

Maybe the Christians in the article whom are also sinners, as are we all, are just treating him like a any other human being deserving to be treated with dignity and respect simply becasue he is a human being, instead of passing judgement on him and treating him like a leper or a non-human. Afterall, its not your job or mine to pass eternal judgement on any human beings sins, thats to be left to God.

One other point; would you not agree that Christians should be trying to help the sinners amongst us to accept Jesus as they’re savior and stop their sinful ways; is that not one of the very basic tenents of Christianity; it would seem to me, as well as most every other sentient being on earth, that the way to facilitate God’s will in that way is to treat the sinner as a human being that God loves and whom is deserving of dignity and respect because God created the sinner in his image also, but the sinner has strayed off the reservation and needs help getting back so to speak. Is that not the most important thing Christians can do; to lead sinners back to God.

I don’t think many Christians will be successful helping sinners find their way back to God by being disrespectful to them or by telling them they’re hated or by offering up the Fire and Brimstone rather than offering Christian love, respect, dignity and understanding.

Its kind of like that honey vs vinegar thing.