Questions that trouble a Baptist who wants to (not) marry a Catholic

After publishing the article “Can a Baptist marry a Catholic after they have committed adultery?” I received the following message from the same person with several questions:

You said the person I love is not mine and I should not say this, why so? Well, let’s say I go back to church, I repent of what I have done, I leave him, and like a Christian sister I get involved in the church ministry and when I found a Christian brother we get married, but our relationship does not work and because I still love the Catholic man we will have misunderstandings in our family or, maybe, I can not marry anyone at all. What will I do then? Let’s imagine another option: I leave the Catholic man who loves me and I tell him that we can not be together because I am Baptist and he is Catholic and I leave him and his life takes another turn to evil (for example: sexual immorality, drunkenness, theft and so on). Who will be guilty? The answer will be that I, I think so and it’s my opinion. Or, maybe he agrees to come to the Baptist church, repents, is baptized, but incidentally, in time, he finds something bad in the Baptist church that he really believes that by law it should not be that way to Christians, the question arises: will he not completely deny the faith and will tell me: “Look what Baptist Christians do.” What will I do then? Could you answer these questions, please?

Let’s take questions in a row …

What will I do if I leave the Catholic and marry another man, but the relationship will not work?

Yes, the relationship may not work when you marry another man because you have let your emotions and mind be affected. It is not accidentally that the Holy Scripture says:

Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23)(NASB)

Because you let the feeling of love grow and then you got involved in sexual relations with that man, it adversely affected your mind. But you must understand one important thing. True Christians do not live being led by emotions but by the Holy Spirit. If you believed in Jesus Christ and received the Holy Spirit, then you must live guided by the Holy Spirit, to follow His promptings. Moreover, now, through what you’ve done you grieved the Holy Spirit, however, He is the One who rebukes you and keeps you in this oppressive state to make you understand that you have to get out of it to be saved. The Holy Spirit is the One who gives you so many troubles, because He wants you with jealousy for Himself.

By the fact that you have entered into this relationship, you let the devil to raise up a lofty thing in your mind and now you have to destroy this fortresses and it may take years. But you must call to the weapons of God and destroy this speculations, as the Scripture says:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)(NASB)

And if another man comes to ask you to marry him and you will not have all the love necessary for founding a family, do not to get married.

You also ask what should you do if you will have to remain single, i.e. not get married. It is not a tragedy and if you want to devote to serving God, being unmarried will offer certain advantages and freedom in ministry. I think you have read in the Scriptures and have seen how Apostle Paul (who was unmarried) says and urges those who can, to not marry and to devote themselves to the Gospel.

And if a man asks you to marry him and you love him, in your future you will be happy only if you live by the Holy Spirit and if you build the relationship with your future husband on the truth of the Scripture under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Who will be guilty if the Catholic man returns to evil because I have left him?

I want you understand again that the problem does not lie in the fact that you are Baptist and he is Catholic, but because one is a born again Christian (if you are so) and one is Christian in name only, that means he is not a Christian, does not have his sins forgiven and life transformed by being born again. This is the greatest need of that man with whom you are involved in adultery and you must communicate him this. By the way, did you manage to talk with him about this? He is in a bad condition now, because he is sinful and the wages of sin is death. He must understand that he needs the salvation that Jesus Christ offers to get forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. But if he refuses this salvation and continues to live in fornication, as he is doing now or he will do other evil deeds, that is his choice and he will take charge of it.

What will be if the Catholic becomes a Baptist and then he gets disappointed?

I do not think he could have and see a greater disappointment to the Baptists than the one he sees now – a Baptist, who says she is born again and lives in concubinage with him. I repeat, his need is not necessarily to be Baptist, but to be born again and become a child of God. In this case, he will receive the Holy Spirit who will dwell in him and that will give him the most powerful and enduring testimony, which can not be denied.

Translated by Felicia Rotaru