catholicsphere

I came across this tidbit in my news reader this morning. As I am also in a “mixed marriage” of sorts, this is a subject near and dear to my heart.

On a message forum, a father wrote:

My son is marrying a wonderful, believing young lady. He is a Christian and she is a Catholic. Both my son and I are receiving advice that he shouldn’t marry until she becomes a Christian. My son has told them they are studying the Bible together and discussing both faiths. That is not good enough for some of the men in our congregation. They want him to hold off marrying his fiancè until she has been added to the body. Any advice and or help on this matter will be much appreciated.

Some of the Scriptures being used are 1 Cor. 7:12 and 2 Cor. 6:14.

Proving that anti-Catholic bias and bigotry is alive and well, the response he received, is as follows:

I would urge your son not to marry her until she became a Christian.

Um, I would venture to say that she is a Christian, especially since this father-in-law-to-be said she is “a wonderful, believing young lady”.

But, rather than recognize this, she’s called a “whore”, who would make his son a “whore” too.

God did not want the Israelites marrying outside their faith. Much can be learned from a study of that.

Exodus 34:12-16
12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:
13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

He also offers Deut 7:3-4; Josh 23:12-13 Judg 3:6-7, 1 Kngs 11:2-8, Ezra 9:1-3, Nehm 13:23-24 as additional proofs, all of which are significantly lacking in relevance and context.

But, my advice to this father, son and future daughter-in-law is that under certain circumstances “mixed marriages” can work, and can be beneficial to the faith lives of all involved and around the couple, including children that bless the marriage.

My wife and I are not of the exact faith and beliefs — although we are close on many things — and that has been good for both of us. We have been able to take what we share together and grow deeper in other areas of faith and morality because of our different perspectives; deeper than many others we’ve seen in either of our churches who share the same faith.

My wife and I, with our children, attend our respective churches together regularly. We talk about our experiences with the services, ministries, devotion and people in each church. That gift we share with our children, and will continue to do on a greater level as they grow in understanding and knowledge.

If there’s one thing I can say about it, it is that you don’t have it have it all planned out about how you’re going to bring those faiths, creeds and doctrines together; seek God and He will light the way.

All that said, this is certainly not for everyone; there are definitely challenges and bumps along the way. My wife and I have known each other for about 15 years and been married for nearly 9 years. Belief and the practice of our faith have been important to both of us. It touches every aspect of our life. If both people are committed to God and one another, as it appears is the case mentioned by the father in the above inquiry, it can be done, and will be a blessing to the couple.

[tags]catholic, christian, mixed marriage, faith, catholicsphere, scripture, religion, relationship, God, love, family, parenting, children, anti-catholic[/tags]