Interfaith Marriage

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moonshadow
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by moonshadow »

Wonderful Electric wrote: But if we choose, there was a 90 day money back guarantee that if we did tithe, the lord will favor us within that time period. He then told us the story of an anonymous woman from this congregation, “whose name is immaterial, it doesn’t matter,” who said that when she tithed here, she received two checks for money from two different strangers. Is this also the prosperity gospel that I’ve heard of?
That's a load of B.S.

If you're wife wants to go to church, at least tell her to go to a real one. Find some little hole in the wall along some rural byway, with an attendance no greater than 50 (on Easter Sunday). Those mega-churches are nothing but prefabricated, canned religion designed to make profits... I don't care how they're registered with the I.R.S.

Seek one like the one pictured below.... now you'll experience TRUE American Christianity!

Image
Now with air-conditioning!

If you walk up to the door and hear old time banjo with guitar, you're home!

And I'm being serious! Those churches rock!

They ain't got no WiFi, and probably ain't got no cell service either, but they got the Holy Spirit, and that's all a good church needs!

(Yes this is Moon Shadow, you're Wiccan member, I have a soft spot in my heart for old timey mountain churches!) :mrgreen:

HAI-ALMIGHTY! -- Makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and play it loud for ALL the neighbors!

LOL *sorry* I may be a skirt wearing "liberal" heathen, but I'm still Appalachian good ol' boy at heart! :D

Oh yeah, and about the kid, she'll be fine. We all will inevitably discover our own path.
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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Kirbstone
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

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What a lovely little church! I totally agree with Moon that religion should be free of trappings and money-making ploys using religion as a front are to be avoided.

The supreme example of that is evident to anyone who visits the Vatican Museum adjacent to St Peter's Basilica in Rome. The unashamed show of two Millennia of wealth/treasures accumulation on display there just smacks you in the face and evoked in me just one word...Obscene.

As it is, no one reformer (currently Pope Francis) has the power to dismantle all that within a lifetime. Suppose they decided to flog it all off, just who on Earth would in all conscience BUY the stuff?

Being an old fashioned quasi-musical sort, I'm afraid I just cannot warm to guitar music in Church. I'm speaking for myself, of course. Being also a life-long chorister I revel in seriously well performed liturgical music and of course the Church Organ tends to feature largely in this. A-Capella Gospel singing is also fine....for just a couple of numbers, max. A whole evening of it would send me running, I'm afraid.

....and as to Southern Bluegrass, again just a couple of numbers suffice perfectly well. I find it amazing how Archives have managed to get filled with renditions and versions of essentially the same few tunes and the same very few chords endlessly recycled for public consumption. Musically, the entire genre is going precisely nowhere. :!:

Tom
Carpe Diem......Seize the Day !
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Elisabetta
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by Elisabetta »

Hi there! I'm Jenn Moonshadows wife. I'm a Christian, Moons a heathen and last I knew my 18 year old daughter Amber is an atheist. To answer your question in how to raise your child in the right way to choose their own religion. Let me first say they're 4 years old. They're too young to even understand right now. Enjoy raising your daughter. In time when she gets curious you and your wife should both work together to answer any questions she may have.


People have always told me that I'll burn in hell because Moon and I are not yoked, even say we'll never last. I'm proud to say we've been together 17 years next December and 15 years married in May. When it came to my daughter choosing her own faith I let her make that choice. She went to a church and participated. She's gotten into what Moon believes in but in the end she made her own choice. In time that's something you must accept that while you want your child to share your similar views not always will it turn out that way. You and your wife need a compromise and an agreement when it comes to this decision while the child's still young to make her own choices. In the end Prayers that everything works out for the best. Good luck!!
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by Stevie D »

Love all you have written, Jenn!
JennC03 wrote: ...People have always told me that I'll burn in hell because Moon and I are not yoked, even say we'll never last. I'm proud to say we've been together 17 years next December and 15 years married in May. ...
In this context, what does 'yoked' mean please? I assumed at first that people were criticising you and Moon for not being married, but then you go on to say you've been married 15 years.
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Elisabetta
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by Elisabetta »

Stevie D wrote:Love all you have written, Jenn!
JennC03 wrote: ...People have always told me that I'll burn in hell because Moon and I are not yoked, even say we'll never last. I'm proud to say we've been together 17 years next December and 15 years married in May. ...
In this context, what does 'yoked' mean please? I assumed at first that people were criticising you and Moon for not being married, but then you go on to say you've been married 15 years.

Not being yoked by the Christians terms they're referring to is: I'm not to be married to a witch or a man that believes as Moon does because in the Bible it states no man should take another God before Jesus Christ. Moon believes in a different God not in the same way that I do and because of that they state we're not yoked.
"When life gets blurry adjust your focus."
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by moonshadow »

JennC03 wrote:
Stevie D wrote:Love all you have written, Jenn!
JennC03 wrote: ...People have always told me that I'll burn in hell because Moon and I are not yoked, even say we'll never last. I'm proud to say we've been together 17 years next December and 15 years married in May. ...
In this context, what does 'yoked' mean please? I assumed at first that people were criticising you and Moon for not being married, but then you go on to say you've been married 15 years.

Not being yoked by the Christians terms they're referring to is: I'm not to be married to a witch or a man that believes as Moon does because in the Bible it states no man should take another God before Jesus Christ. Moon believes in a different God not in the same way that I do and because of that they state we're not yoked.
I must admit to not being privy to these facebook comversations Jenn has where people online tell her she will burn in hell for being married to me. I will write here what I've told her, those people are idiots. Whether or not Jenn makes it to heaven is NOT up to a bunch of random facebook people.

My own thoughts on the matter:

When I met Jenn I considered myself Christian. Granted I've been somewhat of a spiritual seeker my whole life (which has led me down the road I'm on now), but all the same, at the point where we said our vows, by all intents and purposes we were "yoked". Since then, I have moved on into other spiritual beliefs and Jenn stayed where she is at. That is her right. However it's also (supposedly) against Christian doctrine to divorce. So what's Jenn to do? If she stays with me, they say she will burn in hell, of she leaves me, she burns in hell..

Typical American Christian paradox, and NOW we know where the saying comes from... "damned if you do, damned if you don't". Jenn, in this situation is a victim of circumstance, and if her God condemns her to hell just for that and based on the decisions that I made regarding my own beliefs, then... well not to be offensive, but that's a pretty crappy religion. Just sayin...

But for what it's worth, as a part of my beliefs, I can not imagine any deity condemning someone like Jenn to hell just for what I (the husband) believe.

Which brings me to something else Wonderful Electric,

Your family's biggest challenge will be combating the "two cents" of EEEEEEVVVVEEEEEEERRRYYYBOOOODDDDYYYYYY that wants to stick their nose in your family's business! Family and friends on BOTH sides, even the church will attempt to separate, condemn the other, convert, say you need to do this, say you need to do that, there will be facebook wars, awkward family get togethers, holidays will be weird, and any marital problems you have will need to be worked out on your own as you aren't going to want the counsel from a Christian standpoint (they will blame you for being a "heathen"), and she isn't going to want to counsel of a non-Christian, (they will blame it on her faith).

Despite being a non-Christian, we have a tradition that I actually started before I left the "flock", every Christmas I would read the nativity story from the book of Luke. I still do that presently and do not plan to stop. Be the first if need be to reach out to her and be a part of her faith. It doesn't mean you have to believe it yourself, but I don't think you'll burn in "atheist hell" for having a little bible study with her from time to time, in fact you may find it intriguing. I know I do! By doing this, and participating in her spiritual growth, it also gives you a point and boundary that she must also respect, I.E. not trying to covert you. I try not to throw a lot of mud at the Christian faith, and in doing so, actually uncovered an interesting irony... I started reading the bible and found out how "un-Christ-like" pretty much everyone I know is, and upon doing so I can easily trim most "holier than thou" folk down to size. I also learn a lot from those few Christians who DO actually read the bible and are not dogmatic in their discussions with me. I have a few at work and have even learned a lot from sites like this one. Also, if you do get into the bible, even from an academic standpoint, don't be surprised if you can no longer fathom or tolerate sites like facebook, or cable news channels (Fox News, CNN, etc), politics, and you may even loose all faith in western culture when you realize how hypocritical and f__cked up virtually EVERYONE is! You will learn that the television set IS the new bible! That's my struggle I'm having now.

But anyway, I understand and respect that this forum is not religious or political and I have refrained from a lot of what I would have normally said given the subject matter. But suffice it to say, this doesn't have to be difficult, just keep the outside world OUT of it and you'll probably do okay.

In a nutshell your family is your own business. How you manage the conflicting faiths is something you're going to have to work out on a day to day basis. Frankly you've already error-ed by seeking opinions on the matter. Ask 10 different people a question on how to handle something religiously, you'll get 20 different answers, and everyone thinks they're right..

A word of note: When/if your wife seeks counsel from other "Christian" folk, there will be a good number who will encourage her to leave you for this reason. Prepare for that. Be sure to have this discussion with your wife. Zealots can be nasty business, and do NOT underestimate how they can brainwash people like spouses.... You may consider a denomination that will encourage BOTH of your views, such as Universalist Unitarian.
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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Elisabetta
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by Elisabetta »

moonshadow wrote:
JennC03 wrote:
Stevie D wrote:Love all you have

In this context, what does 'yoked' mean please? I assumed at first that people were criticising you and Moon for not being married, but then you go on to say you've been married 15 years.

Not being yoked by the Christians terms they're referring to is: I'm not to be married to a witch or a man that believes as Moon does because in the Bible it states no man should take another God before Jesus Christ. Moon believes in a different God not in the same way that I do and because of that they state we're not yoked.
I must admit to not being privy to these facebook comversations Jenn has where people online tell her she will burn in hell for being married to me. I will write here what I've told her, those people are idiots. Whether or not Jenn makes it to heaven is NOT up to a bunch of random facebook people.

My own thoughts on the matter:

When I met Jenn I considered myself Christian. Granted I've been somewhat of a spiritual seeker my whole life (which has led me down the road I'm on now), but all the same, at the point where we said our vows, by all intents and purposes we were "yoked". Since then, I have moved on into other spiritual beliefs and Jenn stayed where she is at. That is her right. However it's also (supposedly) against Christian doctrine to divorce. So what's Jenn to do? If she stays with me, they say she will burn in hell, of she leaves me, she burns in hell..

Typical American Christian paradox, and NOW we know where the saying comes from... "damned if you do, damned if you don't". Jenn, in this situation is a victim of circumstance, and if her God condemns her to hell just for that and based on the decisions that I made regarding my own beliefs, then... well not to be offensive, but that's a pretty crappy religion. Just sayin...

But for what it's worth, as a part of my beliefs, I can not imagine any deity condemning someone like Jenn to hell just for what I (the husband) believe.

Which brings me to something else Wonderful Electric,

Your family's biggest challenge will be combating the "two cents" of EEEEEEVVVVEEEEEEERRRYYYBOOOODDDDYYYYYY that wants to stick their nose in your family's business! Family and friends on BOTH sides, even the church will attempt to separate, condemn the other, convert, say you need to do this, say you need to do that, there will be facebook wars, awkward family get togethers, holidays will be weird, and any marital problems you have will need to be worked out on your own as you aren't going to want the counsel from a Christian standpoint (they will blame you for being a "heathen"), and she isn't going to want to counsel of a non-Christian, (they will blame it on her faith).

Despite being a non-Christian, we have a tradition that I actually started before I left the "flock", every Christmas I would read the nativity story from the book of Luke. I still do that presently and do not plan to stop. Be the first if need be to reach out to her and be a part of her faith. It doesn't mean you have to believe it yourself, but I don't think you'll burn in "atheist hell" for having a little bible study with her from time to time, in fact you may find it intriguing. I know I do! By doing this, and participating in her spiritual growth, it also gives you a point and boundary that she must also respect, I.E. not trying to covert you. I try not to throw a lot of mud at the Christian faith, and in doing so, actually uncovered an interesting irony... I started reading the bible and found out how "un-Christ-like" pretty much everyone I know is, and upon doing so I can easily trim most "holier than thou" folk down to size. I also learn a lot from those few Christians who DO actually read the bible and are not dogmatic in their discussions with me. I have a few at work and have even learned a lot from sites like this one. Also, if you do get into the bible, even from an academic standpoint, don't be surprised if you can no longer fathom or tolerate sites like facebook, or cable news channels (Fox News, CNN, etc), politics, and you may even loose all faith in western culture when you realize how hypocritical and f__cked up virtually EVERYONE is! You will learn that the television set IS the new bible! That's my struggle I'm having now.

But anyway, I understand and respect that this forum is not religious or political and I have refrained from a lot of what I would have normally said given the subject matter. But suffice it to say, this doesn't have to be difficult, just keep the outside world OUT of it and you'll probably do okay.

In a nutshell your family is your own business. How you manage the conflicting faiths is something you're going to have to work out on a day to day basis. Frankly you've already error-ed by seeking opinions on the matter. Ask 10 different people a question on how to handle something religiously, you'll get 20 different answers, and everyone thinks they're right..

A word of note: When/if your wife seeks counsel from other "Christian" folk, there will be a good number who will encourage her to leave you for this reason. Prepare for that. Be sure to have this discussion with your wife. Zealots can be nasty business, and do NOT underestimate how they can brainwash people like spouses.... You may consider a denomination that will encourage BOTH of your views, such as Universalist Unitarian.

These we're not people from Facebook Moon these people was people such as your family, my family old neighbors, co-workers and people I thought were friends. Hence why I have no friends because I have chosen you and Amber over them. If I'm going to burn in hell as they claim than I'll do it with dignity in fighting and standing up for what I believe in.
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by Stevie D »

JennC03 wrote: Not being yoked by the Christians terms they're referring to is: I'm not to be married to a witch or a man that believes as Moon does because in the Bible it states no man should take another God before Jesus Christ. Moon believes in a different God not in the same way that I do and because of that they state we're not yoked.
Thanks for the explanation, Jenn!
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by Elisabetta »

Stevie D wrote:
JennC03 wrote: Not being yoked by the Christians terms they're referring to is: I'm not to be married to a witch or a man that believes as Moon does because in the Bible it states no man should take another God before Jesus Christ. Moon believes in a different God not in the same way that I do and because of that they state we're not yoked.
Thanks for the explanation, Jenn!

You're welcome
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by Ray »

Seems a bit sick when you condemn someone for marrying the one they love. Isn't that coupling a wonderful thing?

In the UK, we are far far less religious - so I have never come across problems with interfaith marriages. I'm sure there can be issues, but I don't come across them. Only about 20% of my friends are religious and the only ones who go to church are my father, and a friend who is abroad, in Denver, USA.
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by Gusto10 »

In the Netherlands it's said that two religions/faith on one pillow is the devil's resting place. Religions have been the cause of many wars eventhough it's in my opinion just a matter of another interpretation of the same story.
I do second or third the advice that in the end it's a matter between the spouses. Others may give their opinion and/or advice but they shouldn't get angry if the recipient of the advice decides otherwise.
Hence Jenn, I guess that your "hell" might be not being able to work the BBQ in the backyard.
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by Kirbstone »

Fact: No mere mortal (Pastor, Prelate or other) can or may condemn or consign another mortal 'to Hell', Period. Those who think they can are not to be heeded. To quote the Almighty: 'He who is truly without sin, cast the first stone'.
MOH & I are 'interfaith' to use that term. Nowadays it matters not a jot and all our large circle of friends, acquired through our varied activities are members of different faiths and anything remotely like religious friction has no place in our lives at all...or theirs.

For my sins (ha ha) I thump organ for the Catholics here and the Church of Ireland there, with the odd fill-in at a local Baptist chapel, too. (They're great singers, Btw!)

Any religious gathering MUST always be a truly joyous experience and there is absolutely no place on this Earth for anything else.

Tom
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by Wonderful Electric »

I like how we seem to have different experiences and beliefs and kept it civil and inclusive. This is a great board and a great group to be a part of. There was a thread a while back that asked “what happened to everyone” or “where did everyone go?” Was it something like this thread gone wrong?
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Re: Interfaith Marriage

Post by crfriend »

Wonderful Electric wrote:There was a thread a while back that asked “what happened to everyone” or “where did everyone go?” Was it something like this thread gone wrong?
It likely revolved around politics, but both politics and religion are hot-button issues and tend to raise more ire than they really should. The main problem is that both rely heavily on belief which sometimes isn't rational -- and when rationality intrudes it causes a lot of grief causing those who believe differently than what rational analysis can explain to sometimes get overtly hostile.

In any event, usually these things pass (like a bad case of gas), but can cause ill feelings for quite some time afterwards. The moderation team and myself try pretty hard to stay out of the way on things -- perhaps to the point of being a wee bit lax on stepping on things that look like they're going to catch fire -- and then have to try and put the fire out before it totally destroys the place. (I'm an old hand at dealing with trash-can fires; it's volatile fluids that bother me even though I've been taught how to put those out.)

Fortunately, we have a remarkably level-headed cast of characters here, and they know how to comport themselves civilly. Usually.
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