Why does God tell us not to marry an unbeliever?
GUEST POST by Hannah Sipress
Have you ever thought about your future mate? Is he/she going to be tall or short, plain or handsome? How about his or her faith?
Now, assuming that you are a born again believer, and thatyou have read your Bible, you probably know that God said not to be unequallyyoked, (2 Cor. 2:14) or in plain English, married to an unbeliever.
Why does God tell us not to marry an unbeliever anyway? Ifelt compelled to share my thoughts and convictions on this issue, all of whichagree with Scripture. Now the first issue to address here is the question why.Why does God command me not to do this?
Number one. In the beginning, God had planned for marriageto consist of two people, one male, and one female, who had a mutual love forGod, and each other, and wanted to work together to further God's kingdom. Eachone would leave their family, to come together and create a new family, onethat serves God. If you are married to an unbeliever, you cannot share in this.Your partner will not understand your love for God, or why you do things differentlyfrom the world. He will not understand why you want to teach your childrencertain things.
Number two. Have you ever been in a place where you're theonly Christian around, and the people around you are doing things that you knowyou shouldn't be doing? You want to obey God and not do those things, but its reallyhard when there are no other Christians around to support you. Well, that'skind of what being married to an unbeliever is like. Your partner might be a goodperson, but he still does not hold all the same beliefs that you do. He doesn'tgive you the same support and understanding that a believer would. It would bevery easy to slip into sin without that support.
The next point to hit is, what are the consequences ofmarrying an unbeliever? Since the Bible says it is wrong, marrying anunbeliever would be a sin. Like any other sin, this will have consequences.
Number one. Your marriage is always going to be lackingsomething. A mutual love for God is a very important part of marriage, it willdecide how you make important decisions in your life. It would be a very lonelylife.
Number two. You lose God's blessing. As Christians, wepossess God's blessing. But when we walk into a situation, disobeying God, welose His blessing. (Deuteronomy 11: 26-27) I personally would not want to walkinto any situation without the blessing of my heavenly Father, would you?
Number three. Your partner would not share in your eternallife. This is possibly one of the hardest things to face in life. When youbecome a Christian, you are promised an eternal home in Heaven with God, yourpartner however, is not. How hard would it be to go into marriage, knowing thatif your husband/wife died, he would go to Hell? In some cases, non-believerswho have married Christians have been converted during the marriage. However,there is still a huge possibility that they won't, plus it is still goingagainst what God wants.
Now, think about this in the context of dating. You maythink, hey, wait a minute here! Dating is not the same thing as marriage! Andyou're right, it's not. If though, you are a Christian, dating is not meant tobe something you do that's fun during high school, it is meant to help you findyour future mate.
Dating a non-Christian during high school, or college, or anytimein your life for that matter, is a very tricky thing to do. So many times,Christians have been blown off course by their non-believer boy/girlfriend.Dating a non-believer, in hopes of bringing them to Christ, often called"missionary dating," is sometimes a widely accepted thing amongstChristians. This, however can be a deadly serious thing to do.
It can bring about many consequences, many of which aresimilar to the ones in marriage. As a friend of mine has quoted, "Don'thold someone in your arms, that you could not hold in your heart." As yougo through whatever stage you are at in life, keep this in mind. If you want toplease God, and have good healthy relationships, remember God's guidelines, andmake sure that you can be held accountable for whatever relational decisionsyou make.
God bless!
Have you ever thought about your future mate? Is he/she going to be tall or short, plain or handsome? How about his or her faith? Now, assuming that you are a born again believer, and thatyou have read your Bible, you probably know that God said not to be unequallyyoked, (2 Cor. 2:14) or in plain English, married to an unbeliever.
Why does God tell us not to marry an unbeliever anyway? Ifelt compelled to share my thoughts and convictions on this issue, all of whichagree with Scripture. Now the first issue to address here is the question why.Why does God command me not to do this?
Number one. In the beginning, God had planned for marriageto consist of two people, one male, and one female, who had a mutual love forGod, and each other, and wanted to work together to further God's kingdom. Eachone would leave their family, to come together and create a new family, onethat serves God. If you are married to an unbeliever, you cannot share in this.Your partner will not understand your love for God, or why you do things differentlyfrom the world. He will not understand why you want to teach your childrencertain things.
Number two. Have you ever been in a place where you're theonly Christian around, and the people around you are doing things that you knowyou shouldn't be doing? You want to obey God and not do those things, but its reallyhard when there are no other Christians around to support you. Well, that'skind of what being married to an unbeliever is like. Your partner might be a goodperson, but he still does not hold all the same beliefs that you do. He doesn'tgive you the same support and understanding that a believer would. It would bevery easy to slip into sin without that support.
The next point to hit is, what are the consequences ofmarrying an unbeliever? Since the Bible says it is wrong, marrying anunbeliever would be a sin. Like any other sin, this will have consequences.
Number one. Your marriage is always going to be lackingsomething. A mutual love for God is a very important part of marriage, it willdecide how you make important decisions in your life. It would be a very lonelylife.
Number two. You lose God's blessing. As Christians, wepossess God's blessing. But when we walk into a situation, disobeying God, welose His blessing. (Deuteronomy 11: 26-27) I personally would not want to walkinto any situation without the blessing of my heavenly Father, would you?
Number three. Your partner would not share in your eternallife. This is possibly one of the hardest things to face in life. When youbecome a Christian, you are promised an eternal home in Heaven with God, yourpartner however, is not. How hard would it be to go into marriage, knowing thatif your husband/wife died, he would go to Hell? In some cases, non-believerswho have married Christians have been converted during the marriage. However,there is still a huge possibility that they won't, plus it is still goingagainst what God wants.
Now, think about this in the context of dating. You maythink, hey, wait a minute here! Dating is not the same thing as marriage! Andyou're right, it's not. If though, you are a Christian, dating is not meant tobe something you do that's fun during high school, it is meant to help you findyour future mate.
Dating a non-Christian during high school, or college, or anytimein your life for that matter, is a very tricky thing to do. So many times,Christians have been blown off course by their non-believer boy/girlfriend.Dating a non-believer, in hopes of bringing them to Christ, often called"missionary dating," is sometimes a widely accepted thing amongstChristians. This, however can be a deadly serious thing to do.
It can bring about many consequences, many of which aresimilar to the ones in marriage. As a friend of mine has quoted, "Don'thold someone in your arms, that you could not hold in your heart." As yougo through whatever stage you are at in life, keep this in mind. If you want toplease God, and have good healthy relationships, remember God's guidelines, andmake sure that you can be held accountable for whatever relational decisionsyou make.
God bless!
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