Disputable

I finished my reading of Romans. For me it was a hard read. I am a self diagnosed ADHD victim and when the writer starts repeating himself more than media personnel at a Brett Farve press conference I start to get lazy in my reading. There were a few things in the end of the book that I find interesting.
I struggle with knowing what to put up with around me. I mean, if I'm eating lunch with a non-Christian and he/she is gossipping what are my options?

A. Get up and leave and not participate in the gossip.

B. Reprimand that person for gossipping when I clearly have no authority over them whatsoever.

C. Sit there and listen to it and to stay out of it as much as possible.

I think that the answer for me is "C." What good does it do to leave the person? You immediately insult them, and pass judgement turning them off to a possible guiding opportunity later in your relationship.

Just because you sit there and listen to them doesn't mean you have to participate in the gossip. I think that you can try to change the subject, or anything that you can find that may switch the focus of the conversation.

This whole thought process was started by Romans 14:1-12 If you have never read it, take a quick read right here.

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother?

For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.

It is written:" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

I am struggling in my life to find out what the disputable matters are. Not so that I can cut corners, but because I want to be as open as I can towards people. I do not think it's fair to expect more out of them than they have been charged by God to do.

It's important to find the difference between the disputables and non-disputables. The reason is this. Later in Romans we are warned not to give in to the non-disputables.

Romans 16:17-18

I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.

We will see where God leads me in the future. Either way God will be there to lead me and guide me in His ways and according to His will.