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Why should Christians not date or marry
Roman Catholics or other unsaved persons?

1. God forbids marriage between His people and the unconverted. Witness His commands to His chosen people in the Old Testament: Genesis 24:3—not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites. Genesis 28:1—not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Deuteronomy 7:3—Neither shalt thou make marriages with them … for they will serve other gods. Joshua 23:11-13—if ye … make marriages with them … they shall be snares and traps unto you. Ezra 9:10-12—Give not your daughters unto the people of the land … nor take their daughters. Nehemiah 10:30—Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons or for yourselves. Nehemiah 13:26—Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Even him did outlandish women cause to sin.

2. God requires separation of the saved ones, the people of God, unto Himself. Exodus 33:16—So shall we be separated from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. Leviticus 20:26—And ye shall be holy unto me … for I … have severed you from other people. Judges 2:2—Make no league with the inhabitants of this land. Ezra 10:11—separate yourselves from the people of this land, and from the strange wives. Deuteronomy 22:10 pictures the principle of separation in commandments against unequal yoke in plowing the fields, and the surrounding verses evidence it in the sowing of seed in the vineyard, and in prohibition against wearing woolen and linen together. Finally, the principle of separation in the unequal yoke of marriage or complicity with compromise is set forth in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. Amos 3:3 asks the question, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” The obvious answer is NO! 1 John 5:21 commands separation from idols. Revelation 21:8 plainly says that all idolators shall have their part in the lake of fire. The same is said of other unbelievers in this verse. No child of God should be yoked together with a child of the devil. No matter how nice, sweet, loving, kind, considerate that person may be, he or she is still a child of the devil if they are unsaved.

Many name the Name of Christ without being truly converted to Christ. They call themselves Christians when they are not Christians at all. A Christian is a converted person, a saved person; one who has turned from sin, works, merits, false doctrines, idols and put all his faith, trust, and hope in Jesus Christ—the Christ of the Bible—as his only, personal and all-sufficient Lord and Savior. No saved person should marry an agnostic, atheist, Buddhist, Shintoist, Muslim, unsaved Jew, Christian Scientist, Jehovah’s Witness, Roman Catholic, modernistic or other unconverted Protestant, or any kind of person who has not been truly converted, from the heart, to the Christ of the Bible and evidenced it by a changed life. He should not even marry a “backslidden” Christian.

Christ demands and deserves our complete devotion and dedication to Himself (Romans 12:1-2; Colossians 3:1-17). How can He have this if our spouse is pulling the other way? In the case of a Roman Catholic who says he believes in Jesus Christ and is sure he is a Christian, it is an easy matter to prove the contrary. Simply show him the wafer (host) used in the communion of the Roman Catholic mass. Ask him if he believes that when it has been consecrated by the priest at the altar it is literally the body of Jesus Christ. As a Roman Catholic, he must say yes. This is the central doctrine of the Roman Church—the doctrine of transubstantiation—that the substance of a cake or cracker made with flour and water and baked thin and crisp becomes the absolute, literal, full and complete body of Jesus Christ—eyes, teeth, nose, fingers, ears, liver, feet, toenails, skin, blood, hair, organs of Jesus Christ. And that every Roman Catholic actually swallows and receives into his stomach the literal body of Jesus Christ. This is the worst form of idolatry. Jesus said, “If any man says here is Christ, or there, believe it not” (Matthew 24:23). And yet at every mass the priest tells the people that Christ is actually present and give Him to the communicants to swallow! What blasphemy! Also, every Roman Catholic must believe that the new birth is water baptism!

Child of God, don’t date a Roman Catholic. Witness, yes. Date, no! If God is calling two people together, He will call them in agreement, in common love for the true Christ, for the Bible, for fellowship in a true, Christ-centered, Bible-teaching, missionary-minded, evangelistic, fundamental church—for family worship true to the Bible. Any other union is not of God, and will result in compromise and unhappiness. “Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalms 37:4). If God calls you to marry, praise the Lord! If God calls you to remain single, praise the Lord! The only place of happiness is in His perfect will. If you are already married to an unsaved person, live all out for Jesus. Don’t compromise anymore. Pray and witness for the conversion of your spouse.

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