Last updated on October 4, 2020
Question:
I am a 19-year-old boy. I am a Christian. I do believe in God with all my heart and soul and try to follow the Lord’s teachings. I have always trusted in God for help.
I have always wanted to give my heart to the one girl whom I truly love, marry her, and live a life filled with God’s blessings. Two years ago I fell in love with a girl. She was everything I had wanted in a girl — mature, decent, respectful, and most importantly, She loves me a lot. Before we knew it, we were in love with each other. In spite of the fact that we loved each other and were in a committed relationship for two years, we decided to many times to break up. The reason being she is a Hindu and I am a Christian. We tried to move on many times, but we just can’t do it.
I gathered my courage and told my parents about this. They, being broad-minded and willing to sacrifice their will for my happiness, have accepted this relationship. But her parents are not that broad-minded and won’t allow this relationship to move forward. We don’t want to hurt either of our families.
Another thing that concerns me is that I don’t know whether our relationship will be accepted by God, even if we do get married. Will it be a sin or something unacceptable to my God? Will God still bless our relationship?
I really need help. I know this is a bit early for me to take such big decisions, but I just have to know. Please help. I pray that this may give me the answers I have been longing for.
Thank you. God bless you.
Answer:
I always get concerned when people use the phrase “committed relationship” because it has become a code for “been having sex,” something a serious Christian would not be involved in (Hebrews 13:4).
Assuming sex is not a part of the issue here, let’s consider the long term issues. Marriage is for the rest of your life, so how is marrying this girl going to improve your walk with Christ? When you have children, what religion will they be raised in? What will happen to the children when they see mom and dad disagreeing about religion? (Hint: most become atheists.)
Marriage to a non-believer is not a sin. A few passages talk about this sort of situation: I Corinthians 7:12-15 and I Peter 3:1-2, but this does not mean it is an ideal situation. Clearly, problems have already existed between the two of you since you’ve broken up several times already. Marriage will not make those problems go away.