Christian with Non-Christian Relationships

[fixxmyweapon]

Originally Posted by Soldier

In any case, in my experience I've seen that it is much more difficult to raise Christian children with just one Christian parent.

Well sure, it can be difficult. But you changed what you said :P It isn't impossible.
Same as mrbiggs, I was raised with a Christian [Catholic to be exact] mum and a non religious father. It wasn't hard. He just didn't bother with any of our church business but still supported us through our first communion, confirmation, and such things and recognized it as a big deal to us and respected it. Which I think is all the other parent should do if he or she is not religious but will let their child be raised in the religion of their signifigant other. Just respect whats up and recognize it.

[ReverseLunge]

Originally Posted by Moonitic

I was Christian. Hubby was not. We married. He became Christian (because he WANTED to). End of story.

It's none of my business, or anyone else's, who dates whom. If you want to date a spoon, you can go right ahead. Just make that spoon happy, or I'll hunt you down & do very bad things to you.

Wow. Some more insane Christian psychology.

[Soldier]

Originally Posted by ReverseLunge

Wow. Some more insane Christian psychology.

Yeah, funny thing, love...

[ThatReallyHurt]

Originally Posted by ReverseLunge

Wow. Some more insane Christian psychology.

Actually, I would have expected you to go along with the "do what feels right" crowd...

[Soldier]

Originally Posted by fixxmyweapon

Well sure, it can be difficult. But you changed what you said :P It isn't impossible.
Same as mrbiggs, I was raised with a Christian [Catholic to be exact] mum and a non religious father. It wasn't hard. He just didn't bother with any of our church business but still supported us through our first communion, confirmation, and such things and recognized it as a big deal to us and respected it. Which I think is all the other parent should do if he or she is not religious but will let their child be raised in the religion of their signifigant other. Just respect whats up and recognize it.

Actually, no - I said I thought it would be near impossible.

In any case, again, matters of opinion - I happen to think mixed-faith marriages are a bad idea, as well as scripturally discouraged.

[fixxmyweapon]

my mistake- i tend to skip over words.
just out of curiosity, where is it scripturally discouraged?

[ThatReallyHurt]

Originally Posted by Soldier

Actually, no - I said I thought it would be near impossible.

In any case, again, matters of opinion - I happen to think mixed-faith marriages are a bad idea, as well as scripturally discouraged.

Just out of curiosity, how granular are you looking at it? Do you think the same way about, say, a Muslim and Lutheran marriage as you do a Roman Catholic and Baptist marriage?

[Soldier]

Roman Catholics and Baptists are both Christian; no problems there (unless one of the Catholic's parents are hard-core, old-school Catholic, and don't like a non-Catholic marriage (just like I got done talking to a friend about perhaps an hour ago).

Bring a Muslim into the equation, however, and that's inter-faith.

[Iwant2bafencer]

My mother's a Lutheran, my father believes in God but doesn't like organized religion. I'm a Christian and while it's possible my faith would have been stronger were both of my parents stronger Christians. I'm still Christian non-the-less.

[Soldier]

Originally Posted by fixxmyweapon

my mistake- i tend to skip over words.
just out of curiosity, where is it scripturally discouraged?

As Coup pointed out above - Paul saying for believers not to marry unbelievers. He does say that if they're already married, they shouldn't get divorced for sake of the children, but he does say that they shouldn't get married in the first place.

[Coup de Grace]

Consider the verse from 2nd Corinthians noted earlier.

Picture two oxen together pulling a plow. They are connected by a yoke. If the oxen are equally yoked, the plow moves forward and so do the oxen. The work gets completed and their purpose is fufilled. The farmer is happy. He sells produce. His family eats. The lights stay on at the farm house another day.

If the oxen are unequally yoked- let's say one ox does not or can't move forward- the plow might move in a circle, if at all. The oxen are going anywhere and neither is the plow. The unequal relationship between the oxen causes a negative impact on their purpose of being connected. The relationship as an ox team is not fulfilled. The work does not get completed. And you have an upset farmer to boot. There is a ripple effect.

The question to ask the Christian considering an unequally yoked romance is:

Will your God-planned purpose be fulfilled in this relationship?

[Soldier]

(And marriages between Christians and non-Christians are spiritually unequal, pretty much by definition.)

[Bayou Bum]

Iwant2bafencer ... Fencing, writing, history and Lutheran. The perfect woman!

[Coup de Grace]

Iwant2baFencer-
Thanks for the ava compliment.

[Soldier]

Originally Posted by Bayou Bum

Iwant2bafencer ... Fencing, writing, history and Lutheran. The perfect woman!

...and taken!

Back away quickly, or I skewer you with a pessimistic halibut.

[ReverseLunge]

Perhaps the most common complaint to Why Christians Suck is that we have generalized too far in our treatment of Christians. It is for this reason that I will now do my best to define what we mean by a "Christian."

Christians believe in Jesus.
A Christian believes that Jesus of Nazareth existed.
A Christian believes that Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet.
A Christian believes that Jesus of Nazareth died for his/her sins and that he died on a cross.
A Christian believes that Jesus of Nazareth was God in the flesh (God and His Son Jesus are two whom are one).
Therefore, a Christian believes that God died for his/her sins (that's what it means to be the "christ").
Christians believe in the source of their information about Jesus, otherwise they wouldn't believe in Jesus.
Christians believe that the source of information about Jesus is the Bible.
Christians believe that the information in the Bible about Jesus is correct, unless they don't like a particular passage (This of course makes no sense, particularly when I come along and say, "What if I don't like those statements about Jesus? Now he's just a person," because then the Christians say, "No, those are the correct statements about Jesus. The ones you think are correct are the incorrect statements." Whatever.).
They believe that most of the information about Jesus should be taken literally (He's literally the Son of God, he literally exorcized demons, he literally healed the blind, performed miracles, etc).
Not all Christians believe in the rest of the Bible or take the rest of the Bible literally because this is usually very inconvenient.
Most Christians have at least a few passages that they do not believe are accurate; this can be because they are flawed, misinterpreted, historically relative, or culturally relative. In any case, they do not reflect the "Word of God." This even applies to "fundamentalists."
This does not keep them from believing all of the ridiculous stuff about Jesus that is in the Bible, which brings us to the next point:
Christians have faith.
Faith is where you believe something stupid without any hard evidence simply because you want to believe it and someone else told you that it was good to believe it.
Faith allows you to interpret everything in the world to be in agreement with your own beliefs.
Faith allows you to completely ignore things that go against your beliefs.
Christians believe having faith is good because they have faith (circular but true).
Faith and the Bible together...
Allows Christians to believe in Jesus as God even though there is no reason to believe in this except for a book which also indicates that he is not God.
Allows Christians to believe that God is good, even though it describes him as being both good and evil.
Allows Christians to believe that Jesus was a perfect entity and is the best clue to knowing what God (who they believe is good) is like even though he is clearly described as imperfect by the Bible.
Allows Christians to claim the good things and people in the Bible, but to reject the bad things and people as being Jewish or heretical.
Allows Christians to accept the books/passages/sentences of the Bible that fit their world view, but reject those that do not (e.g., the Apocrypha)
Christians believe that Jesus (the Son of God) died for our sins.
Therefore, Christians must believe that there is some sin that people have committed that is so deeply serious that God had to die in order to redeem it.
Christians believe this without actually understanding how this works, exactly.
Christians believe that all people are sinners, otherwise why would Jesus have to die for them?
Christians do not agree on how, exactly, this big sin works, but they are sure that the Son of God died to remove it.
Christians believe that it is bad not to have your sin removed.
Christians believe that God knows this too and that's why he graciously died for our sins.
Most Christians believe that this bad thing is going to Hell, but some don't believe this anymore, but this makes no sense, because, hey, if there's no consequence of dying with one's sins, why did God have to die to remove our sins?
Christians believe that if you die without sin (because, somehow, of Jesus), you go to Heaven.
Christians who believe in Hell believe that Jesus "took their place" even though they believe he is not in Hell.
Christians who believe in Hell generally believe in Satan; those who do not believe in either are relying on the magic of faith because both are in the Bible.
Most Christians believe that not being a Christian means that Jesus did not die for your sins.
Because it is bad to have sin, the Christians try to make everyone a Christians so that no one will die with their sins.
Because it is bad to have sin, and the only way to get rid of sin is to be a Christian, Christians think it is bad not to be a Christian.
Christians think that people who are not Christians and like it that way are bad.
Christians believe that they go to Heaven when they die.
Heaven is where God and Jesus live!
Heaven is a wonderful place, but no one can explain what it's like except that God and Jesus are there.
In summary, if you love God, you'll love Heaven! If you think God sucks, well...
Once you get there, you stay there forever.
Christians believe that animals do not go to Heaven. They just die.
Christians used to believe that Heaven was Up; now they just believe that Heaven is Elsewhere, like another dimension, or if you're a Mormon, another planet which you get to rule over as God when you die while your wife pumps out spirit children...
For the Christians who believe in Satan and Hell:
Hell is a dark, unspeakable place, or it's a place where you burn. Either way you stay there forever once you get there.
Some Christians believe that Satan is the ruler of Hell and that he actively seeks people to go there; sort of like the head of the Hell Tourism Bureau.
Some Christians believe that Satan hangs around on earth tempting people into sin so that he can "get their souls" so he can have them over for tea (hot tea, that is) after they are dead. But seriously, we're not sure what he does with these souls. I mean, I don't know what I would do with a bunch of souls, do you? Anyway, that brings us to the next point:
Christians believe we have souls.
A soul is a thing that is inside you and animates your body and is your basic identity and personage. It is a distinct unit of spiritual energy which does not intermingle with other units of spiritual energy. It can get dirty and be cleaned, but it has special washing instructions: It can only be washed in the blood of Jesus.
Having a clean soul is good, it's the same as being without sin.
They believe this even though a head injury can permanently change who a person is. They can do this because they have faith.
Christians must believe in the soul, because their dead bodies are obviously in no condition for ethereal travel.
Christians believe that God created everything.
And he's perfect.
And he's all good.
And he's all powerful (not all of them believe this part, but they're a minority).
And terrible things happen because God has to make terrible things happen (for reasons we are just too young to understand or something) or because humans have free will and are sinners (see above).

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by Soldier

In any case, in my experience I've seen that it is much more difficult to raise Christian children with just one Christian parent.

I can't disagree with you there. But it is very possible, it just requires more effort on the religious parent.

It is a different situation, now that I think about it, when the parents are of two different religions. (If they conflict.) I've never met someone who was raised as a part of both religions who became a follower of either one. (Then again, I'm 17)

[Soldier]

Originally Posted by ReverseLunge

A bunch of moronic Google-gibberish...

Forgive him, Father, for he knows not what he says...

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by Soldier

Forgive him, Father, for he knows not what he says...

Me?




What did I do...

[Soldier]

You posted after ReverseLunge, that's what you did.