Marriage Question

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by nth78:
I am 23 years old. I have been a Baptist all my life. I am engaged to be married this spring and my fiance is Catholic. Her priest has said on numerous questions that my pastor is more than welcome to participate in the ceremony. I'm not sure how Baptist preachers feel about the Catholic religion and whether he would participate or not. What should I do?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I took out the nonessential from your post and left the essential. Do you read your own lines? You should be able to answer your own question if you have been a Baptist all your life, attended church and listened to your Pastor's preaching.

P.S. Welcome to the BB! Why don't you go to the Welcome forum and introduce yourself there.

[ February 12, 2002: Message edited by: Barnabas ]

 

I like the saying that a good friend told me, "It's not about religion, it's about Christ." However naive it may be, I like it and it helps me see through the religious affiliations of another and see how dedicated they are the the one true living God.

-Ryan

 

The bible also says "be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." If your fiancée is Catholic, and believes the dogma of the Catholic church, she is unsaved and marrying her would violate the biblical injunction against unequal yokes. The fact that you would ask for advice, then, when it is given, not only ignore it, but criticize those whom you asked, and seem willing to ignore of disobey 2 Corinthians 6:14 indicates to me that you have a far greater problem than just your choice of fiancée.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by nth78:
first of all, I never criticized anyone.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Dr. Bob said <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I told them I would not even attend, and that the church member of mine being married (sacrament, way of getting to heaven) in a Catholic Church will mean automatic discipline from our membership.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>To which you replied <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>If my pastor makes such a ignorant comment[emphasis mine] about me facing discipline, I will immediately leave the church and go somewhere else.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>"ignorant comment" - That sounds pretty critical to me! <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>As for the "dogma" you speak of. I doubt even you know much about it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I have been a Seminary Professor for 17 years and a Bible College Professor before that. One of the classes I teach is "Comparative Religion." I have over 3,000 pages of material dealing with Roman Catholic dogma. I will gladly post material from Roman Catholic writings, bearing the official Imprimatur of the papacy, stating that salvation is not by grace alone, but by grace plusworks, and that the Roman Catholic "sacraments" are the "means of grace" unto salvation. This is in gross violation of the clear statement of scripture in Romans 11:6. In my opinion, your major concern at this time should be for her eternal soul and not her marital condition. Take your pastor with you and visit her. If you are unable or unwilling to explain the true Gospel to her, I am fairly certain your pastor would be happy to tell her of the true Gospel and what faith in Christ as Saviour is all about. If you are unwilling to do that, then this conversation is a waste of time.

 

nth78, your oversimplified approach to salvation is going to cause great problems if you continue with your plans. Many believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He dids for their sins. The question is: do they believe they are forgiven by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Those alone phrases are critical.

Also, Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice and they do NOT follow after another." A brief biblical and historical examination of Roman Catholicism would demonstrate that it is opposed to Christ. So how dedicated to Christ is she now?

 

nth78,

It seems that you have gotten some pretty good answers but you are not willing to listen to anything that runs contrary to what you think. We all are guilty of this from time to time. Just make sure that you are willing to make such a committment and go against what God's word insturcts us as believers to do. Marriage is hard enough without having a difference in faith. It only adds that much more contention. I have been married about 2 years and I guarantee the person I am married to today is not the person I thought he was just 2 years ago. Things change and it helps to have faith and the Lord's blessings to get you through. The bottom line is it really doesn't matter what we think here on the board it is what the Lord says, and marrying an unbeliever is in definate contradiction to God's word.

 

Yes nth78, only God knows our hearts, however, when you learn the truth and find that there is a large world-wide church teaching false doctrine (i.e. praying to Mary for intercession with God, confessing sins to a priest, worship of idols, etc.) you would think that one would steer clear of it.

If you truly love this person, perhaps you could give them the plan of salvation. I had a friend who was raised Catholic from infanthood (is that a word? LoL) and I invited her to my church for an Easter play and at the end of the play, the Pastor gave the plan of Salvation. When the lights came up, there were tears rolling down her face and I asked her what was wrong and all she said to me was "They never told me that"

Kathy
&lt;&gt;&lt;

 

You shouldn't have to "explain" why you are doing things. If the Bible says there is one mediator between God and Man (Jesus Christ) then there is no reason to "explain" the purpose of confession or praying to saints. It goes against the Word of God, plain and simple.

From someone who is currently married to someone of a different faith, let me caution you to beware. I was naive enough to think we both loved the Lord and that was enough. There have been some issues that have come up and have hurt and divided our family "faith" wise. Thankfully, the Lord is working through them and there is hope that someday we will both be able to worship together in a way that is pleasing to God and is in complete accord with His Holy Word. I would hate for you to realize too late how unequally yoked you truly are.

No, a Baptist preacher shouldn't participate. You will have to make a choice, I pray that you would use the Word of God to choose wisely.

~Lorelei

 

nth78 -

We are strangers on a computer and do not know you or your fiance. I should have responded to this inquiry sooner but I wanted to give it some consideration. I know you came here to ask us about this and probably got advice you didn't want to hear. If your pastor is an understanding man, I think you should approach him on this matter. My wife's first marriage was to a Catholic and she had some bad experience with the Catholic church but I don't think it's the denominations here that matter but you and the lady to whom your engaged. Approach your marriage with care and try to work out the way you two will worship before hand. Work out how you will raise children.
I married the first time to a non-religious woman (a Quaker) and when we had children, it became a reason to fight. I wanted us all to go to church but she would not go. I took the children myself and it became an unequally yoked marriage.
I'm not going to tell you that Baptist have the market cornered on going to Heaven, although I will say that we are as close to a New Testament church as we have on this earth. Go ahead and approach your pastor who DOES know you and see what he says. If he is a man of God, he will listen to you and act accordingly. I wish all of you luck.

- Clint