Rules - 2:13

13.  Consider him a friend who privately rebukes you of your faults.  It is a pitiful situation indeed if a man has no one who dares correct him when he has need of it.  For if he is not rebuked, he may conclude in his own mind that he has no faults & thus continue in his sins to his own destruction, whereas by a friendly reproof he might be turned away from sin.  


Everyone most certainly needs correction at times.  For as the eye sees all & seeks the improvement of all yet cannot see itself or better itself, so by our very natures we are partial to ourselves & cannot see our own shortcomings & defects as easily as we can see those of other people.  For this reason it is very needful that our faults be pointed out to us - which others can see so much more clearly than we ourselves can see them.


Regardless whether reproof is given justly or unjustly, by a friend or by an enemy, it can do a wise & understanding person no harm.  For if it is the truth, it will remind you to better yourself.  If it is false, it will serve as a warning that you should heed in the future.


But if you cannot bear to be corrected, then never do anything wrong!

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