Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jfields@aixvi2.intel.com Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Should Christians date Non-Christians Message-ID: Date: 22 Jan 91 07:50:30 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Microprocessor Component Group, Intel Corp., Santa Clara, CA Lines: 39 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article art@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Art Mulder) writes: >In article garyh@crash.cts.com > (Gary Hipp) writes: >> >>God will never call you to marry a non-Christian unless you are one. >> >>Gary > > I've seen a lot of articles that took exception to the above statement. I >think that by now I've read 3 or 4 "but look at this couple and how well it >worked out for them" stories. That's great, and we should praise God for >that. > However my first reaction to stories like that would be to regard them as >instances when God, in his infinite mercy, has taken a bad situation and >made it work out for good. This does not change the fact that the original >action was a sin, and therefore we should actively discourage others from >pursuing that path. The operative "we" in the last clause of this last statement has no right or authority to actively disuade a Christian from seeking the company of anyone, regardless of religion. Who are "we" to discern the sins of others when those sins do not directly affect "us"? On what basis can "we" make the determination that a brother or sister is sinning by an act or acts when that act or acts do not concern "us". In other words, "we" should mind our own business. The confession and repentence of sin is between God and the individual, or in some cases between a confessor, God and the individual. If the individual has transgressed against himself, then God will make that apparent to the individual through the Holy Spirit. How can "we" discern that God did not call a Christian to date a non-Christian or that such an act is a sin? If the early Christians had taken the attitude that Christians could not seek the company of the unconverted, then Christianity would have died as an obscure cult in the First Century AD because there would have been no converts to Christianity. -Jeff Fields