Is it a sin for us to marry a non-Christian or not born-again person?

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Katy-follower

Senior Member
Jun 25, 2011
2,719
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#41
Exactly, unbelievers in a work place, in shops, in travel...and return to home to another unbeliever.

Truly a fulfillment of "separate from them".
Yes, but not to confuse... we don't cut ourselves off from non believers. We're not of the world, but we do still live in it. We're supposed to mingle and share the gospel. Paul said he would be all things to all people, so that he might win some. Within reason though... you don't take drugs with drug addicts, for example. And there has to be a division between the truth and the lie, no compromise.

Believers are to be salt and light.... including in those places you mentioned above.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,902
26,063
113
#42
God is definitely against a believer marrying a non believer.

But is your boyfriend a non believer? I agree with Trofimus:
there does not seem to be fruit of the Spirit with this guy
regarding the quality and quantity of his faith.

What I wonder too is why you think you must break up with
your boyfriend without having a very important conversation
with him about this very topic. Will it be uncomfortable and
possibly difficult? Very likely. But if you cannot navigate this
with a man you have considered spending the rest of your life
tied to in marriage, then you should maybe not even be
considering marrying him, or anyone else for that matter...

And what about you? How evident has God been to others in how
you live your life? If you went to court being charged with being a
follower of Jesus, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

That is a rhetorical question :) Often we think about having a partner
and forget a lot of important things just because we think we are finally
being loved and able to love another in the way we think we are meant to.

However, marriage is a life long commitment and a huge responsibility.
The bedrock of your life needs to be Jesus Christ or you are building
on shifting sand, and all may sink and be washed away over time.

Breaking up is hard to do. Communicating your most cherished
beliefs and fearing facing rejection may be just as hard. Marriages
ending are harder still. Having your deepest sense of intimacy and
self torn away from you against your will is devastating.

Better to have that conversation with him, no matter how long it takes.

No matter what, trust God. He cares for you with an everlasting undying love.

GLU.jpg
 

trofimus

Senior Member
Aug 17, 2015
10,684
794
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#43
Yes, but not to confuse... we don't cut ourselves off from non believers. We're not of the world, but we do still live in it. We're supposed to mingle and share the gospel. Paul said he would be all things to all people, so that he might win some. Within reason though... you don't take drugs with drug addicts, for example. And there has to be a division between the truth and the lie, no compromise.

Believers are to be salt and light.... including in those places you mentioned above.
Preaching gospel - yes.

Mingle - I do not think so. Its enough for me to see how Israel mingled with other nations, what were the results and what God did with it. When we must, we must... but when we have a choice, we should not mingle.
 

notuptome

Senior Member
May 17, 2013
15,050
2,538
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#44
Ladies it seems like the plan is always to marry the guy and then change him. Not really a good plan in fact really a terrible plan in the Spiritual aspects. Plenty of change is in store for the married folks even in the best of compatibility matters.

Anyhow to the point.

Jas 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

If we know that the word of God warns against being unequally yoked with an unbeliever and do it anyway well I think the outcome is predictable.

Forty three years of marriage and my wife is still trying to change me. Always another mountain to climb.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 
Apr 23, 2017
1,064
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#45
well unfortunately for some of us we have already reproduced with a non-christian so there is that :p
whats done is done.............
 
C

CaptainGoat

Guest
#46
Can I add it is possible to be unequally yoked with a believer if the two of you have separate visions and directions. An unbeliever may be more cooperative, as for years my dad was faithful until he finally came to the Lord a few years before the Lord took him home safe.
Mind you, sometimes similarities clash. My dad and mum were not at all similar but both met nicely in the middle!
 
M

Marc001

Guest
#47
Hi Sherlock,


Here's a great article from got questions.org.


The phrase “unequally yoked” comes from 2 Corinthians 6:14 in the King James Version: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” The New American Standard Version says, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?”


A yoke is a wooden bar that joins two oxen to each other and to the burden they pull. An “unequally yoked” team has one stronger ox and one weaker, or one taller and one shorter. The weaker or shorter ox would walk more slowly than the taller, stronger one, causing the load to go around in circles. When oxen are unequally yoked, they cannot perform the task set before them. Instead of working together, they are at odds with one another.


Paul’s admonition in 2 Corinthians 6:14 is part of a larger discourse to the church at Corinth on the Christian life. He discouraged them from being in an unequal partnership with unbelievers because believers and unbelievers are opposites, just as light and darkness are opposites. They simply have nothing in common, just as Christ has nothing in common with “Belial,” a Hebrew word meaning “worthlessness” (verse 15). Here Paul uses it to refer to Satan. The idea is that the pagan, wicked, unbelieving world is governed by the principles of Satan and that Christians should be separate from that wicked world, just as Christ was separate from all the methods, purposes, and plans of Satan. He had no participation in them; He formed no union with them, and so it should be with the followers of the one in relation to the followers of the other. Attempting to live a Christian life with a non-Christian for our close friend and ally will only cause us go around in circles.


The “unequal yoke” is often applied to business relationships. For a Christian to enter into a partnership with an unbeliever is to court disaster. Unbelievers have opposite worldviews and morals, and business decisions made daily will reflect the worldview of one partner or the other. For the relationship to work, one or the other must abandon his moral center and move toward that of the other. More often than not, it is the believer who finds himself pressured to leave his Christian principles behind for the sake of profit and the growth of the business.


Of course, the closest alliance one person can have with another is found in marriage, and this is how the passage is usually interpreted. God’s plan is for a man and a woman to become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24), a relationship so intimate that one literally and figuratively becomes part of the other. Uniting a believer with an unbeliever is essentially uniting opposites, which makes for a very difficult marriage relationship.
Very well said!
 
Dec 19, 2009
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#48
Hi! I have just recently found this site and one of the few things I earnestly wanted to know about a Christian life is about marriage. Honestly, my boyfriend right now is, I think not a born-again Christian. I mean, he attends church (Catholic) but unlike us, it's okay for them to drink alcoholic beverages and they do the sign of the cross. Although I know that salvation is received individually, I'm still bothered by the thought of it (and the future). I hope someone could enlighten me about this.

Thank you, brothers and sisters. :)
The Bible does not outlaw moderate alcohol use, and I don't know why it would bother anybody that someone does the sign of the cross. However, marrying someone from another church can cause major problems in a marriage. Before you marry, you'd better talk this out and make sure both of you are satisfied with the results.
 
Apr 23, 2017
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#49
sherlock19 the sign of the cross is very ancient thing before the current catholic church was even formed............. so there is nothing bad about it...... orthodox and lutherans do it too and maybe others.........
 

Marcelo

Senior Member
Feb 4, 2016
2,359
859
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#50
Hi! I have just recently found this site and one of the few things I earnestly wanted to know about a Christian life is about marriage. Honestly, my boyfriend right now is, I think not a born-again Christian. I mean, he attends church (Catholic) but unlike us, it's okay for them to drink alcoholic beverages and they do the sign of the cross. Although I know that salvation is received individually, I'm still bothered by the thought of it (and the future). I hope someone could enlighten me about this.

Thank you, brothers and sisters. :)
People who just call themselves Christians will not have much trouble as a result of marrying a non Christian, but sincere and faithful Christians will.

A friend of mine was a Christian some decades ago and he married a non believer. His marriage survived, but his faith did not.
 

notuptome

Senior Member
May 17, 2013
15,050
2,538
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#51
If the Lord blesses with children how will they be raised? Catholic or Christian?

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 
C

CaptainGoat

Guest
#52
I've met Catholics that I can't deny that they didn't know the Lord. They most truely did. It was funny as I used to get into debates with them when I was younger to convert them to Chriatianity and the more arguments I gave the more they agreed with me. It puzzled me! They were evangelical Catholics. I came to the conclusion after a while that made me think "Why are my trying to win someone to the Lord who already knows the Lord? It was plain that as they were on the right path already for them to keep on the path the Lord has for them". While I agree so many dont yet know the Lord. While it is easy for us to see aspects that can lead astray like Mary which the Catholic friends I found certainly knew where they stood on this!
 

Demi777

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2014
6,877
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#53
i dont think its a sin.. i just think its not a smart idea generally
 
Jan 24, 2009
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#54
If the Lord blesses with children how will they be raised? Catholic or Christian?

For the cause of Christ
Roger
Roman Catholics that truly embrace/practice their faith know that the RCC demands children to be brought up in the RC faith.

Something for Evangelicals/Protestants/Pentecostals to consider if they are dating a RC.
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#55
Hi! I have just recently found this site and one of the few things I earnestly wanted to know about a Christian life is about marriage. Honestly, my boyfriend right now is, I think not a born-again Christian. I mean, he attends church (Catholic) but unlike us, it's okay for them to drink alcoholic beverages and they do the sign of the cross. Although I know that salvation is received individually, I'm still bothered by the thought of it (and the future). I hope someone could enlighten me about this.

Thank you, brothers and sisters. :)
So, now that you got every kind of opinion on the subject that is possible, might I recommend something that ought to be obvious? (In this day and age, I really should give up on thinking obvious is obvious anymore.) If you want to know how God stands on an issue, study it from his word. What does the Bible say about marriage? All of what it says -- good, bad, what you want to hear, and what you don't want to hear.

And while studying, keep asking God to make it clear to you. Who cares if it's a sin, if there is more at stake in this than a single sin? (Also, drinking alcohol is not against God either, or Jesus sinned as his first miracle.)