Question:
I am an 11-year-old Christian, and I believe in God and Jesus. There is a kid in my class I really like, but he is a Hindu. I have heard my parents talk about how I need to marry a Christian boy. I know I most likely won’t marry him, but what if I find someone of a different religion I really love? Is that going against God? What would He want?
I know you think he might lead me astray, but I would never give up faith in God.Â
Answer:
God recognizes all legitimate marriages. “But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy” (I Corinthians 7:12-14).
When people of two different religious backgrounds marry, whether it will work depends on how they approach their differences. The best solution is for the couple to agree on a single religion to live and practice.
Some couples try to solve the problem by accepting the difference. He goes to his church, and she goes to hers. That appears to avoid controversy — up until the children come along. Even couples who agree in advance that the children will be raised in one faith or another typically end up disagreeing. It is one thing to talk about doing something in theory. It is another thing to actually see it done. Then there is the problem of answering the child’s question of why the other parent doesn’t join them at worship. Further, a child will ask questions of both parents and realize that he is getting different answers. Sadly, the typical result is that the child rejects all faiths because of his parent’s inconsistencies.
Another bad approach is done by couples who are weak in their faiths. They abandon religion altogether. There are no arguments because it is never brought up, but again, the children get the worse end of the deal. They grow up without the concept of a moral standard for their actions. One doesn’t learn to be religious by osmosis.
Marriage is about becoming one with your spouse. If you start off with a disagreement on religion, it makes the effort to become one that much more difficult.