Equally Yoked

Dear Victorious,

Equally yoked ... one of those concepts that make me want to stay away from Christianity all together. My husband is a Christian, albeit a lapsed one. I am not a Christian. We have been married for 14 years, and we have a stronger relationship than most couples.

Doesn't God appreciate such love and commitment? When it comes to our country, don't we have freedom of religion? Our government cannot insist on Christian *values* when we don't identify Christianity as our state religion. Not to mention the ideas of exclusion, discrimination and hate don't strike me as *values* that I would wish to hold.

Sarah

Dear Sarah,

So the concept of being "equally yoked" turns you off. I get that. I'm afraid you may be misunderstanding the concept though. You say yourself that your husband is a Christian, "albeit a lapsed one." You see, the Bible doesn't seem to recognize lapsed Christians. Jesus said that many would identify themselves as Christians ... and He would not recognize them. But that's not even the point here. If someone is truly grounded in Christ --- and has made Him Lord of their life and centered every aspect of their life around Him --- then they should not be unequally yoked with someone who isn't. That's all this concept means.

I don't believe there's any connotation of hate, exclusion or discrimination here. These are simply principles for effective relationships. Perhaps what you're tired of are so-called Christians who are just ignorant and religious --- but not really following Christ. Even if you become a Christian and find yourself of being married to a non-Christian, the Bible tells us specifically to stay in that marriage and be a good example to the unbelieving spouse. That's love. That's inclusion. There's no discrimination in that.

God laid down these principles for effective relationships along with many, many other principles that He wants His true followers to live by. The real challenge we face in today's society is to find some true followers who really do things God's way and don't just give lip service them. When you find such people, you typically find that they are quite attractive. They won't disgust you or be a turn off. Now we just have to find you some of them!