How to keep my children in Christianity if I am married to a person with different religion?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#61
Thank you for all your words . I really appreciate it. I even if I married to my actual husband ( and I never mention his religion as I don’t consider at all ) beside our God , I always was stron and faithful to my God to my savior, only to him , I was staying strong in my belive even I lived in difficult places I am happy I am Christian and I always sailed that to every one to every place even if I wasn’t welcomed . I pray but my children are watching often the father doing his rituals of pray and I can’t help my children if they see him doing that . Cuz they copy him as they think for it as a game .i don’t want to leave them without father but for me is more important that my children to believe to our savior.
Leaving with the children is the only wise thing you can do. But, you need only to seek non-muslims to help you do it.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#62
In the place that I live no books for Christians . For a long time I can understand that if I stay only with my children’s I will be free to teach them , to sing songs for God , to read books to them . This means that I will feel guilty from the other side that my children will not have both parents and sure they love their father . He is trying to do his max as a father but in the matter of religion he is not accepting my children to be Christians . I belive it is sin to go through the divorce just for the religion even if isn’t what I want , but to me the word of god is the food for my soul and the light of my life . And I want to be same for my children.
God does not bring together a Christian and a Non Christian. That is not a marriage with God's Blessing.
Such a marriage does not fall under God's blessing when one is teaching the Children to follow a false god.

The True God had a son, Allah has daughters.

1 Corinthians 7:15 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
15 But if the husband or wife who is not a believer decides to leave, let them leave. When this happens, the brother or sister in Christ is free. God chose you to have a life of peace.

He left your marriage when he started teaching about his false god.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#63
In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
1 Peter 3:1 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/1pe.3.1.NASB

Submission in this case is to teach the children to follow a false god. I think that goes beyond just being disobedient to the word.

2 John 10 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
10 Don’t accept those who come to you but do not bring this teaching. Don’t invite them into your house. Don’t welcome them in any way.

7 Many false teachers are in the world now. They refuse to say that Jesus Christ came to earth and became a man. Anyone who refuses to accept this fact is a false teacher and the enemy of Christ. 8 Be careful! Don’t lose the reward we[d] have worked for. Be careful so that you will receive all of that reward.

9 Everyone must continue to follow only the teaching about Christ. Whoever changes that teaching does not have God. But whoever continues to follow the teaching about Christ has both the Father and his Son. 10 Don’t accept those who come to you but do not bring this teaching. Don’t invite them into your house. Don’t welcome them in any way. 11 If you do, you are helping them with their evil work.

Philippians 2:5-11 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

5 In your life together, think the way Christ Jesus thought.

6 He was like God in every way,
but he did not think that his being equal with God was something to use for his own benefit.
7 Instead, he gave up everything, even his place with God.
He accepted the role of a servant, appearing in human form.
During his life as a man,
8 he humbled himself by being fully obedient to God,
even when that caused his death—death on a cross.
9 So God raised him up to the most important place
and gave him the name that is greater than any other name.
10 God did this so that every person will bow down to honor the name of Jesus.
Everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow.
11 They will all confess, “Jesus Christ is Lord,”
and this will bring glory to God the Father.

When I was in the Airforce and doing "temporary duty" in Muslims Countries, I disobeyed orders that were contrary to what the Bible teaches. I drove the Chaplins nuts when we discussed those events. People were coming to Jesus through my disobedience.

I am praying your husband runs across someone like me there.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#64
It seems like you are going to have to be very wise in this situation you are in....if the children know you are secretly praying for their Dad, they will hopefully one day comprehend the situation as you do and pray with you for him....keep trusting God in your heart; do not look at the circumstances, do not worry but instead pray and then trust God with all your heart, then you will be able to show God's love to your husband through the way you are. God can do it by His Spirit, don't push it with him, it will make it worse for you and the children. God loves you and your family- He knows and He cares- He is an ever-present help in time I feel trouble. Keep yielding to God.
The Bible says for us to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves xx
I always thought that text said, be wise as servants. ooopss.

Matthew 10 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
10 1-4 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to expel evil spirits and heal all kinds of disease and infirmity. The names of the twelve apostles were: First, Simon, called Peter, with his brother Andrew; James, and his brother John, sons of Zebedee; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas, and Matthew the tax-collector, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, Simon the Patriot, and Judas Iscariot, who later turned traitor.

5-8 These were the twelve whom Jesus sent out, with the instructions: “Don’t turn off into any of the heathen roads, and don’t go into any Samaritan town. Concentrate on the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go proclaim that the kingdom of Heaven has arrived. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure the lepers, drive out devils—give, as you have received, without any charge whatever.

9-10 “Don’t take any gold or silver or even coppers to put in your purse; nor a knapsack for the journey, nor even a change of clothes, or sandals or a staff—the workman is worth his keep!

11-13 “Wherever you go, whether it is into a town or a village, find out someone who is respected, and stay with him until you leave. As you enter his house give it your blessing. If the house deserves it, the peace of your blessing will come to it. But if it doesn’t, your peace will return to you.

14-15 “And if no one will welcome you or even listen to what you have to say, leave that house or town, and once outside it shake off the dust of that place from your feet. Believe me, Sodom and Gomorrah will fare better in the day of judgment than that town.”

He warns them of troubles that lie ahead
16-18 “Here I am sending you out like sheep with wolves all round you; so be as wise as serpents and yet as harmless as doves. But be on your guard against men. For they will take you to the court and flog you in their synagogues. You will be brought into the presence of governors and kings because of me—to give your witness to them and to the heathen.

19-20 “But when they do arrest you, never worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be told at the time what you are to say. For it will not be really you who are speaking but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21-22 “Brothers are going to betray their brothers to death, and fathers their children. Children are going to betray their parents and have them executed. You yourselves will be universally hated because of my name. But the man who endures to the very end will be safe and sound.

23-27 “But when they persecute you in one town make your escape to the next. Believe me, you will not have covered the towns of Israel before the Son of Man arrives. The disciple is not superior to his teacher any more than the servant is superior to his master, for what is good enough for the teacher is good enough for the disciple as well, and the servant will not fare better than his master. If men call the master of the household the ‘Prince of Evil’, what sort of names will they give to his Servants? But never let them frighten you, for there is nothing covered up which is not going to be exposed nor anything private which will not be made public. The things I tell you in the dark you must say in the daylight, and the things you hear in your private ear you must proclaim from the house-tops.

They should reverence God but have no fear of man
28 “Never be afraid of those who can kill the body but are powerless to kill the soul! Far better to stand in awe of the one who has the power to destroy body and soul in the fires of destruction!

29-31 “Two sparrows sell for a farthing, don’t they? Yet not a single sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Never be afraid, then—you are far more valuable than sparrows.

32-33 “Every man who publicly acknowledges me I shall acknowledge in the presence of my Father in Heaven, but the man who disowns me before men I shall disown before my Father in Heaven.

The Prince of Peace comes to bring division
34-36 “Never think I have come to bring peace upon the earth. No, I have not come to bring peace but a sword! For I have come to set a man against his own father, a daughter against her own mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be those who live in his own house.

37-39 “Anyone who puts his love for father or mother above his love for me does not deserve to be mine, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and neither is the man who refuses to take up his cross and follow my way. The man who has found his own life will lose it, but the man who has lost it for my sake will find it.

40 “Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me is welcoming the one who sent me.

41-42 “Whoever welcomes a prophet just because he is a prophet will get a prophet’s reward. And whoever welcomes a good man just because he is a good man will get a good man’s reward. Believe me, anyone who gives even a drink of water to one of these little ones, just because he is my disciple, will by no means lose his reward.”
 

bojack

Well-known member
Dec 16, 2019
2,309
1,006
113
#65
Read the book of Acts, they had to be refilled with the Holy Spirit on a regular, daily basis. You should seek out Non-Muslim authorities for getting yourself and the children out of that country.
My wife won me by being Christ like and when I did her wrong she reacted like a Christian should, many times .. I began to hurt because I hurt her .. Her prayers, my conviction ? .. I finally became so aware that it was me and I didn't like who I was .. I got sick and tired of being sick and tired .. If she had fought or nagged I would have felt justified , but she left me with no excuse to retaliate or blame .. She suffered on my account .. I didn't believe in God at all but I even hollered out ''God help me, why do I do act like this'' ,Jesus took care of the rest .. She loved me and won me with her manner .. Klara didn't say he was physically abusing her which makes it a different ball game .. The clue that tells me her husband may have hope is she said ''if she took her kids to church he would take them to his church'' .. He sounds reasonable to me with the information given . He just needs Jesus
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#66
This is a difficult situation. I can guess at the religion since I can think of one religion which has a lot of adherents in the world that really emphasizes prayer rituals and where they go to places of prayer.

There are people who are quite skilled at evangelizing those of this religion because their religious text has a lot of common ground with the Bible in that it calls Jesus a prophet and even the word of God, and endorses the Torah, Psalms, and Gospel. That is a good starting point for telling someone if they want to do right in their own religion, they need to read the Bible, too. Sometimes it is easier for a man to hear from people other that his wife.

Men in this religion may marry Jews and Christians, but women may not because the man is the head of the household. Historically, it was probably expected that the children would follow the father in religion. Jews and Christians are 'people of the book', so the men can marry them.

I see a problem with deciding to divorce over this. Paul said to the one married to an unbeliever if the unbeliever is willing not to depart, and that the children are sanctified by the believing wife, or husband. That is a promise you can hold on to, that the Lord sets such children apart. Also, in the Old Testament, a woman divorcing her husband wasn't valid. Jesus, in the New Testament scriptures, takes away the divorce rights a lot of people thought they had from the Old Testament.

Paul also asks how do you know, O wife, whether thou shalt save they husband. A husband can be saved through a wife's testimony. Peter taught submission combined with respectful ('with fear') and pure conduct as a means for wives to win their husbands.

If he only takes them to his prayer place if you take them to church, then is he not taking them? Do they go for annual holidays or participate in fasts? I'm torn on whether it would be appropriate to take them to church and let them go to his prayer place or just teach them at home. If they haven't been baptized yet, many churches would not want to serve them communion anyway.

He probably is not around the children every second you are around them. There are probably opportunities to teach them about Christ while he is not around.

I have known Christians raised in similar circumstances, where one parent was from this religion I mentioned and the other was a Christian. They would go to the prostration prayer buildings and church meetings and participate in most holidays, but eventually came to faith in Christ and joined in fellowship with other believers.

I heard a testimony from a man who was entrenched in this religion. His Christian wife constantly prayed for him. He rose to the rank of general in the army, and eventually repented and became a Christian after hearing the message of Jesus for years and having a dream. Then he got baptized. People posted it on the Internet and then the army took away his office (the room I mean) and his role their was kind of unclear.
Jesus says "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Would God join together a Christian and a person who worships a false god?
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,160
1,787
113
#67
Jesus says "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Would God join together a Christian and a person who worships a false god?
Would II Corinthians 6 warn against being unequally yoked together with an unbeliever if it were not possible to become so yoked? (And I am not saying that that passage is exclusively about marriage though that is how it is most frequently applied in my experience.)


Marriage is not just for Christians. God instituted it for mankind in creating Adam and Eve before Christ was born, before the seed promise was even given.

What do the apostles teach? Peter taught women whose husbands did not obey the word to be submissive, respectful, and pure, so that they might win their husbands. Paul advised staying with an unbelieving spouse who is willing to stay and also expressed a hope to win the spouse.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#68
My wife won me by being Christ like and when I did her wrong she reacted like a Christian should, many times .. I began to hurt because I hurt her .. Her prayers, my conviction ? .. I finally became so aware that it was me and I didn't like who I was .. I got sick and tired of being sick and tired .. If she had fought or nagged I would have felt justified , but she left me with no excuse to retaliate or blame .. She suffered on my account .. I didn't believe in God at all but I even hollered out ''God help me, why do I do act like this'' ,Jesus took care of the rest .. She loved me and won me with her manner .. Klara didn't say he was physically abusing her which makes it a different ball game .. The clue that tells me her husband may have hope is she said ''if she took her kids to church he would take them to his church'' .. He sounds reasonable to me with the information given . He just needs Jesus
It is likely, if she is in a muslim country, the children are considered to be Muslim already. In their schools they teach everyone to be muslim. This is not like living with a disobedient spouse. It is a marriage that God would not join together in the first place.
https://christianchat.com/christian...who-worships-a-false-god.189212/#post-4109069

If two Christians were talking about which church we should take our children to, trying both churches makes sense.
But, if it is a choice relating to people worshiping different gods, that makes it different.

Since, the children are exposed almost 24 7 to the false religion of Islam, then it makes sense to expose them to the True Jesus, God of the Universe. In Some Muslim countries it is illegal for a Muslim which the children are automatically are to visit a Christian Church.
In such a context, the advice of finding a way to leave that country with the children makes sense. Imagine the problems one would have getting Hilary Clinton as an US Ambassador to help.
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,160
1,787
113
#69
Submission in this case is to teach the children to follow a false god. I think that goes beyond just being disobedient to the word.
We submit to God first and foremost. if submitting to man means disobeying God, we obey God. But in other areas, we submit to those the Lord has submitted us to submit to. We can see the apostles do this when commanded not to preach.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#70
Would II Corinthians 6 warn against being unequally yoked together with an unbeliever if it were not possible to become so yoked? (And I am not saying that that passage is exclusively about marriage though that is how it is most frequently applied in my experience.)


Marriage is not just for Christians. God instituted it for mankind in creating Adam and Eve before Christ was born, before the seed promise was even given.

What do the apostles teach? Peter taught women whose husbands did not obey the word to be submissive, respectful, and pure, so that they might win their husbands. Paul advised staying with an unbelieving spouse who is willing to stay and also expressed a hope to win the spouse.
read on to the verse I posted from the same text. Once he started teaching Islam by example, he left the marriage behind in the dust.
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,160
1,787
113
#71
God does not bring together a Christian and a Non Christian. That is not a marriage with God's Blessing.
Such a marriage does not fall under God's blessing when one is teaching the Children to follow a false god.

The True God had a son, Allah has daughters.

1 Corinthians 7:15 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
15 But if the husband or wife who is not a believer decides to leave, let them leave. When this happens, the brother or sister in Christ is free. God chose you to have a life of peace.

He left your marriage when he started teaching about his false god.
Christians have called God 'Allah' for a very long time, probably since before Muhammad. That's what the evidence indicates, and it is probably cognate with 'El in Hebrew, at least 'illah' without the definite article and irregular contraction.

Paul addressed the Corinthians as if they were former idol worshippers in I Corinthians 12, so it is unlikely that his instructions in chapter 7 about staying with the unbeliever are specifically about Christians with monotheistic Jewish or God-fearing Gentile spouses. A lot of them probably had outright pagan spouses.

The religion you are discussing has a concept of the God of Abraham that does not align with the Bible in a number of ways, but there is a lot of common ground, too. There are differences in matters that actually relate to salvation, though, which is a danger of course. if Christians can stay with pagan spouses, why not Muslims?

From a missiological perspective, your approach would have families break up and shut down opportunities for many people to come to Christ. Both Peter and Paul saw this situation as a means of winning the unsaved spouse. You would break down the relationship. I would recommend you read a missions book 'Bridges of God' by Donald McGravin.
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,160
1,787
113
#72
read on to the verse I posted from the same text. Once he started teaching Islam by example, he left the marriage behind in the dust.
I just met you, but I do not think you are spiritually wiser than Peter or Paul....or the Holy Spirit.
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,160
1,787
113
#73
Jesus came to set one family member against another. These things happen when the parents deliver up the children to death, for example. The unbeliever is the one who instigates the division and violence. The believer should not. As much as it is possible, we should seek to be at peace with all men. Rebellious people who hate the truth persecute and create the division in the family.
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,160
1,787
113
#74
Btw, if the husband is saying IF you take them to church, i will take them to this prayer place, he doesn't sound that aggressive in promoting his religion to his kids, if that's as far as he will take it.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#75
Would II Corinthians 6 warn against being unequally yoked together with an unbeliever if it were not possible to become so yoked? (And I am not saying that that passage is exclusively about marriage though that is how it is most frequently applied in my experience.)


Marriage is not just for Christians. God instituted it for mankind in creating Adam and Eve before Christ was born, before the seed promise was even given.

What do the apostles teach? Peter taught women whose husbands did not obey the word to be submissive, respectful, and pure, so that they might win their husbands. Paul advised staying with an unbelieving spouse who is willing to stay and also expressed a hope to win the spouse.

2 Corinthians 6 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
6 We are workers together with God. So we beg you: Don’t let the grace that you received from God be for nothing. 2 God says,

“I heard you at the right time,
and I gave you help on the day of salvation.”

I tell you that the “right time” is now. The “day of salvation” is now.

3 We don’t want people to find anything wrong with our work. So we do nothing that will be a problem to others. 4 But in every way we show that we are servants of God. We never give up, even though we face troubles, difficulties, and problems of every kind. 5 We are beaten and thrown into prison. People get upset at us and fight against us. We work hard, and sometimes we get no sleep or food. 6 We show that we are God’s servants by our pure lives, by our understanding, by our patience, and by our kindness. We show it by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, 7 by speaking the truth, and by depending on God’s power. This right way of living has prepared us to defend ourselves against every kind of attack.

8 Some people honor us, but others shame us. Some people say good things about us, but others say bad things. Some people say we are liars, but we speak the truth. 9 To some people we are not known, but we are well known. We seem to be dying, but look! We continue to live. We are punished, but we are not killed. 10 We have much sadness, but we are always rejoicing. We are poor, but we are making many people rich in faith. We have nothing, but really we have everything.

11 We have spoken freely to you people in Corinth. We have opened our hearts to you. 12 Our feelings of love for you have not stopped. It is you who have stopped your feelings of love for us. 13 I speak to you as if you were my children. Do the same as we have done—open your hearts also.

14 You are not the same as those who don’t believe. So don’t join yourselves to them. Good and evil don’t belong together. Light and darkness cannot share the same room. 15 How can there be any unity between Christ and the devil? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 God’s temple cannot have anything to do with idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As God said,

“I will live with them
and walk with them;
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”

17 “So come away from those people
and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don’t touch anything that is not clean,
and I will accept you.”

18 “I will be your father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord All-Powerful.”
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#76
We submit to God first and foremost. if submitting to man means disobeying God, we obey God. But in other areas, we submit to those the Lord has submitted us to submit to. We can see the apostles do this when commanded not to preach.
The Lord does not "submit" us to anyone. Submission is voluntary. Note: In verse 14 below it is not God joining them together, it is the people who are joining themselves together.

2 Corinthians 6 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
6 We are workers together with God. So we beg you: Don’t let the grace that you received from God be for nothing. 2 God says,

“I heard you at the right time,
and I gave you help on the day of salvation.”

I tell you that the “right time” is now. The “day of salvation” is now.

3 We don’t want people to find anything wrong with our work. So we do nothing that will be a problem to others. 4 But in every way we show that we are servants of God. We never give up, even though we face troubles, difficulties, and problems of every kind. 5 We are beaten and thrown into prison. People get upset at us and fight against us. We work hard, and sometimes we get no sleep or food. 6 We show that we are God’s servants by our pure lives, by our understanding, by our patience, and by our kindness. We show it by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, 7 by speaking the truth, and by depending on God’s power. This right way of living has prepared us to defend ourselves against every kind of attack.

8 Some people honor us, but others shame us. Some people say good things about us, but others say bad things. Some people say we are liars, but we speak the truth. 9 To some people we are not known, but we are well known. We seem to be dying, but look! We continue to live. We are punished, but we are not killed. 10 We have much sadness, but we are always rejoicing. We are poor, but we are making many people rich in faith. We have nothing, but really we have everything.

11 We have spoken freely to you people in Corinth. We have opened our hearts to you. 12 Our feelings of love for you have not stopped. It is you who have stopped your feelings of love for us. 13 I speak to you as if you were my children. Do the same as we have done—open your hearts also.

14 You are not the same as those who don’t believe. So don’t join yourselves to them. Good and evil don’t belong together. Light and darkness cannot share the same room. 15 How can there be any unity between Christ and the devil? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 God’s temple cannot have anything to do with idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As God said,

“I will live with them
and walk with them;
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”


17 “So come away from those people
and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don’t touch anything that is not clean,
and I will accept you.”


18 “I will be your father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord All-Powerful.”
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,160
1,787
113
#77
2 Corinthians 6 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
6 We are workers together with God. So we beg you: Don’t let the grace that you received from God be for nothing. 2 God says,

“I heard you at the right time,
and I gave you help on the day of salvation.”

I tell you that the “right time” is now. The “day of salvation” is now.

3 We don’t want people to find anything wrong with our work. So we do nothing that will be a problem to others. 4 But in every way we show that we are servants of God. We never give up, even though we face troubles, difficulties, and problems of every kind. 5 We are beaten and thrown into prison. People get upset at us and fight against us. We work hard, and sometimes we get no sleep or food. 6 We show that we are God’s servants by our pure lives, by our understanding, by our patience, and by our kindness. We show it by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, 7 by speaking the truth, and by depending on God’s power. This right way of living has prepared us to defend ourselves against every kind of attack.

8 Some people honor us, but others shame us. Some people say good things about us, but others say bad things. Some people say we are liars, but we speak the truth. 9 To some people we are not known, but we are well known. We seem to be dying, but look! We continue to live. We are punished, but we are not killed. 10 We have much sadness, but we are always rejoicing. We are poor, but we are making many people rich in faith. We have nothing, but really we have everything.

11 We have spoken freely to you people in Corinth. We have opened our hearts to you. 12 Our feelings of love for you have not stopped. It is you who have stopped your feelings of love for us. 13 I speak to you as if you were my children. Do the same as we have done—open your hearts also.

14 You are not the same as those who don’t believe. So don’t join yourselves to them. Good and evil don’t belong together. Light and darkness cannot share the same room. 15 How can there be any unity between Christ and the devil? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 God’s temple cannot have anything to do with idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As God said,

“I will live with them
and walk with them;
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”


17 “So come away from those people
and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don’t touch anything that is not clean,
and I will accept you.”


18 “I will be your father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord All-Powerful.”
Paul addressed the situation of marriage to an unbeliever more specifically in a passage that is actually clearly about marriage. I will use a real translation, the NKJV.

I Corinthians 7
12 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. 13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14 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. 15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

Peter addresses the specific situation of marriage also.
I Peter 3
3 Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.

Christians should not marry unbelievers. But if one does, or if a married individual comes to faith, we or she should not advise him or her to divorce over the spouse' lack of faith and potentially hinder the work of salvation in that other individual's life.


If we are talking about Islam, Muslims eschew bowing down to graven images.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#78
Christians have called God 'Allah' for a very long time, probably since before Muhammad. That's what the evidence indicates, and it is probably cognate with 'El in Hebrew, at least 'illah' without the definite article and irregular contraction.

Paul addressed the Corinthians as if they were former idol worshippers in I Corinthians 12, so it is unlikely that his instructions in chapter 7 about staying with the unbeliever are specifically about Christians with monotheistic Jewish or God-fearing Gentile spouses. A lot of them probably had outright pagan spouses.

The religion you are discussing has a concept of the God of Abraham that does not align with the Bible in a number of ways, but there is a lot of common ground, too. There are differences in matters that actually relate to salvation, though, which is a danger of course. if Christians can stay with pagan spouses, why not Muslims?

From a missiological perspective, your approach would have families break up and shut down opportunities for many people to come to Christ. Both Peter and Paul saw this situation as a means of winning the unsaved spouse. You would break down the relationship. I would recommend you read a missions book 'Bridges of God' by Donald McGravin.
Christians do not use Allah as the name of God. We use Allah as the word God. The relationship as described is already broken. It is a question of raising the Children to follow the true God of the Bible. In some Muslim Countries that is against the law because the Children are already considered to be Muslim. If the book is available through public library I will give it a read.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#79
Btw, if the husband is saying IF you take them to church, i will take them to this prayer place, he doesn't sound that aggressive in promoting his religion to his kids, if that's as far as he will take it.
Islam is taught in their schools. And, what he said is very aggressive otherwise he would not be "praying" in front of them which breaks the terms of the agreement. I wonder if you really understand Muslim cultures. I live near Dearborn Michigan and taught in their schools. I have also done missionary work in Dearborn and led many of my former students to Jesus.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,183
1,574
113
68
Brighton, MI
#80
Paul addressed the situation of marriage to an unbeliever more specifically in a passage that is actually clearly about marriage. I will use a real translation, the NKJV.

I Corinthians 7
12 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. 13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14 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. 15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

Peter addresses the specific situation of marriage also.
I Peter 3
3 Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.

Christians should not marry unbelievers. But if one does, or if a married individual comes to faith, we or she should not advise him or her to divorce over the spouse' lack of faith and potentially hinder the work of salvation in that other individual's life.


If we are talking about Islam, Muslims eschew bowing down to graven images.
I fully agree with the part I highlighted.

I already dealt with the two proof texts in another post. In the yoke text, it is not God joining them together, it is the people only doing the joining. God is not part of the marriage of two non-believers. ---- at least to my knowledge.