Interracial marriage?
 

Guys,


What do you think about interracial marriage?

Here is some scripture to jump start the topic.


Atlas

So you would have joined Aaron and Miriam against Moses?

NOTE TO ALL:
The Scriptures NEVER speak of separate races.

Tim,


I Kings 11:1-8

1 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:

2 Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.

7 Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.

8 And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.

King Solomon was a good man, he was God's man. He even wrote three books in the Bible, Proverbs, S.O.S and the Book of Ecc.

So we all know for a fact that Solomon was God's man. Any man that helped write part of the Bible was God's man.

Now lets see how and why he fell from God's fellowship and blessings.

1 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:

Here is where it all starts. He liked “ strange women, “ now we know who the Moabites, Ammonites are. Now we all know who the daughter of Pharaoh was also. Now lets look at strange women in the Bible. It only come up 3 times One time is above in 1 Kings 11:1 the other time will be posted below.




Pro. 22:14

The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.

Pro. 23:33

Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.


Now we do need to cover Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites for some background information. This is important and should not be over looked by anyone.



The Edomites

Gen. 36:9

And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir:

The Edomites' original country, according to the Tanakh, stretched from the Sinai peninsula as far as Kadesh Barnea. Southward it reached as far as Eilat, which was the seaport of Edom. On the north of Edom was the territory of Moab. The boundary between Moab and Edom was the Wadi Zered. The ancient capital of Edom was Bozrah. According to Genesis, Esau's descendants settled in this land after displacing the Horites. It was also called the land of Seir; Mount Seir appears to have been strongly identified with them and may have been a cultic site. In the time of Amaziah (838 BC), Selah (Petra) was its principal stronghold; Eilat and Ezion-geber its seaports.

The Zidonians

Judges 10:12

The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.


The inhabitants of Zidon. They were among the nations of Canaan; left to give the Israelites practice in the art of war, Jud 3:3 and colonies of them appear to have spread up into the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephothmaim, Jos 13:4,6 whence in later times they hewed cedar trees for David and Solomon. 1Ch 22:4 They oppressed the Israelites on their first entrance into the country, Jud 10:12 and appear to have lived a luxurious, reckless life. Jud 18:7 They were skillful in hewing timber, 1Ki 5:8 and were employed for this purpose by Solomon. They were idolaters, and worshipped Ashtoreth as their tutelary goddess, 1Ki 11:5,33; 2Ki 23:13 as well as the sun-god Baal from whom their king was named. 1Ki 16:31

The Hittites

EX 3:8

And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.



The term " Hittites " is taken from the KJV translation of the Hebrew Bible, translating " Children of Heth " ( Heth being son of Canaan ). The archaeologists who discovered the Anatolian Hittites in the 19th century initially identified them with these Biblical Hittites. Today the identification of the Biblical peoples with either the Hattusa-based empire or the Neo-Hittite kingdoms is a matter of dispute.

The Hittite kingdom was commonly called the Land of Hatti by the Hittites themselves. The fullest expression is, " The Land of the City of Hattusa ". This description could be applied to either the entire empire, or more narrowly just to the core territory, depending upon context. The word "Hatti" is actually an Akkadogram, rather than Hittite; it is never declined according to Hittite grammar rules. Despite the use of "Hatti", the Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who inhabited the same region until the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, and spoke a non-Indo-European language called Hattic. The Hittites referred to their language as Nesili (or in one case, Kanesili), an adverbial form meaning "in the manner of (Ka)nesa." This presumably reflects a high concentration of Hittite speakers in the ancient city of Kanesh (modern day Kultupe, Turkey). Many of the modern city names in Turkey are first recorded under their Hittite names, such as Sinop and Adana, reflecting the contiguity of modern Anatolia with its ancient past.

2 Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

God told these people not do mess with these people. God told them “ not to go into them, ” God always warns his children before they get into trouble. God does not want to judge his children. Solomon could have turned back to God and gotten rid of these “ strange women, ” but he loved his “ strange women. ” he stuck to them and left God and God's will.

3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

No real comment needed here. This is very simple to understand.

4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

Well it looks like God was right as always. God told Solomon this would happen, and it did. Notice the reference to King David. Now David only had Jew wives. David's heart was perfect with God. Solomon's heart was not, and it was not because of one reason. It was his “ strange wives. ” God told him and he did not turn from his ways. Just as always God will tell you what to do and if you disobey you will pay.

5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

Well here he goes, just like God said.

6 And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.

Well here he is doing evil in the sight of the Lord. He fell from God's grace. He sinned against God with these “ strange wives. ” back to looking at David and saying that he did not do like his farther King David.

7 Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.

We here it is getting even worse.

8 And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.

He did the same for all of his “ strange wives. ”

You can read the rest of I Kings 11 and see God's judgment for the sins of King Solomon. It is indeed a very sad story. The story of God's man falling into sin and away from God. The good King that helped wrote three books of the Bible.


I am married to a lady who is 1/2 Jew 1/2 German by the way. I'm Scots-Irish, 100% white. She looks just like any other white woman, but she is not white, she is half Jew. I did not even know this until she told me. This is how white she looks. It looks like God is opposed to interracial marriage in the O.T. but not opposed to interracial marriage in the N.T. This is how it looks to me so far.

Atlas

Read the Scriptures you just quoted. "Race" is not in view!

The issue was Jews (Israelites) and non-Jews (Gentiles). The issue was Jews (God's "chosen people") marrying Pagan (Idol Worshiping) Gentiles. The issue was not about "Race".

According to the Bible mankind descended from three men who were the original progenitors of what we refer to as the three main "races" of mankind: SHEM - The progenitor of the Oriental "race"; HAM - The progenitor of the Negroid "race"; and JAPHETH - The progenitor of the Caucasian "race".

Although the Jews descended from Shem, they were not (strictly speaking) pure "Shemites", and to classify them as a separate "race" would be in error.

Ans so we come to the conclusion that "interracial marriage" is a "misnomer" - IF some Bible thumping bigot is trying to "prove" that because the Jews (Israelites) were FORBIDDEN to marry outside of their nation, that we Christians shouldn't marry someone outside of our "race"!

The world is divided into three kinds of people today: The JEWS; the GENTILES; and the CHURCH [1Corinthians 10:32]. Any other kind of "division" is "divisive" and unscriptural. :eek:

How does "strange women" equate to interracial marriage??

All these verses have shown is the mandate from God that the Hebrew nation was not to intermarry with other nations, and by application that the Godly are not to intermarry with the ungodly.

Tim,

Look at who the Edomites, Zidonians and Hittites are. They all are other races. You may also want to read the bottom of my 1st post. I was doing some edit work while you were replying.


Atlas

Good post George, I'm in agreement with you.:)

Atlas, "nations" do not equal "races".

If the OT law is for the Jews, did your wife sin by marrying a "strange man"? :eek: :D

Tim,

Maybe you need to see this part my friend.

In this case it dose, look who they all came from.

I know I'm under the N.T. and I do not see anything in the Bible opposed to interracial marriage in the N.T.

Why is everyone so uptight today?


Atlas

That's a distinction I've never heard before.

P.S. I'm not white either. I'm beige according to my children.

Uh, oh. Renee and George, check your skin tones!

George,

Are you calling me a bigot now?




Atlas

You seem to be wanting to stir up something here, Atlas. Your first post implies a present-day question, but then you jump to God's mandate for OT Israel, apparently slightly changing the subject.

If you have determined that the OT text no longer applies, why bring up the question at all? There is no debate whatsoever that God intended that the nation of Israel remain isolated from the rest of the world, marriage-wise. The only NT picture that can be drawn is restated in I Corinthians.

Tim,



It was a very good topic on Cody's forum. I thought it maybe a good topic here.

I think this maybe like the " God hates sinners topic " It's not the same in the O.T. as it is now. As Bro. Parish posted. Things do change from O.T. to N.T.

But this dose apply to saved and lost people just as it did in the O.T. Saves folks should not marry lost folks. I know that rule still appears in the N.T.




Atlas

SIDENOTE: Moabites and Ammonites were Shemites, yet were on the forbidden list. Jesus had Moabite connections through Ruth.

Tim,


This is a good side note I have never noticed before.

Did you ever notice the Noah issue?


Gen. 6:9

These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Notice what made God mad, race mixing with angles. Noah made God happy because of three reasons.

1. Noah was a just man

2. Perfect in his generations

3. Noah walked with God

I belive that Gen. 6:2 was talking about angles.



Atlas

Atlas,

The verses you quoted don't say anything about race. That's Scriptural. Equating them with "race" is isogesis.

In fact you'd be hard pressed to find anything in the Bible about race. The Bible defines nations, not races. Race is at its core an evolutionary concept, not a Biblical one.

From the beginning God commanded that His people only marry believers.
Most problems Israel had were due to false gods and marrying pagan worshippers.
In the New Testament we were are warned to 'not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
So, it is obvious Christians may marry anyone 'in the Lord', meaning fellow Christians.
There may be a few obstacles in such a marriage but it won't be with the Lord but with those who don't know the Scriptures or love the Lord.

Diligent,

Well Ruckman dose a pretty good job in his books, Segregation or Integration and Discrimination The Key To Sanity. I will not go into disagreeing with Ruckman on this issue. If I do I'm sure I'll be attacked over this issue as with the last, but he dose make some good points. I however do not agree with him fully on the race issue. I did read his books and he makes some good points and I agree with some of what he says. These books are not all about race by the way if you have not read them yet.



Atlas

Were those right angles, acute angles, or obtuse angles? :D

If you meant "angels", they are a different species, not a different race. If Dr. Ruckman preaches segregation, that would be an important fact to know.

Dr Ruckman's book is awesome and the best book I've seen on the topic yet.

The following is my understanding of the topic Biblically so far:

If we read Genesis 9, we see that God told Noah’s sons to be fruitful and replenish the earth. God made a distinct separation between Noah’s three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. He gave different blessings and curses to each son.

Genesis 9 has where Ham committed a homosexual act with his father when his father was drunk. God cursed Ham and his descendants for this. Ham’s descendants were to be servants. Ham is the father of the black races.

We also see in this chapter that Shem (who is the father of the orientals and Jews) was blessed with spiritual discernment. Oriental people are the most spiritually minded people (even though their spirituality is most times wasted on the wrong god).

Japheth was the father of the white races, the Europeans. He was blessed with being the explorer type. It’s been the Europeans that have gone to other lands as explorers even in fairly recent history.

Then comes the tower of Babel, where in judgment of sin, God causes groups of people to speak different languages. The people then went their separate ways.

In Genesis 10 we are told of the dividing of the earth in the days of Peleg. The earth used to be one land mass until the earth was divided into continents.

Acts 17:26 mentions that there are bounds to our habitation.

All throughout the Bible there is warnings not to marry different races.

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. Acts 17:26.

God has made us all one blood, which simply means that we are all humans. However, it was God that allowed our differences racially. God is a "racist" God to some people...just think of it...His chosen people are the Jews! Not everyone, everywhere, but just the Jews. A lot of people would say this is unfair, but God can do whatever He likes and it is fair. Just because we are all humans does not mean that we are all the same. This verse tells us that God has given us boundaries of where we live. That means that a certain race of people is to live somewhere, and other races somewhere else. If you don't believe me, think about the Tower of Babel. God purposely split different people into different language groups and made it so they had to move somewhere else. Races are a result of SIN!

And the LORD said, behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. God to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:5-9.

The earth used to be one big land mass, until the days of Peleg. So, not only did God choose to confound languages, and to scatter people over the earth, He then chose to divide the land mass into seven smaller land masses (plus islands).

And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. Genesis 10:25. So, right from the first book of the Bible, we see that God intended, because of sin, that humans be divided. I know that goes against modern-day thinking, but then again, most of the Bible does.

As Christians, we are to obey the Bible, not to be politically correct. The whole "intergration" movement is, in my opinion, part of the politically correct agenda that we as Christians need to stay away from. I will post about why our family believes interracial marriage to be wrong. (As a side note, last time I said anything about this I got a heap of junk from Ken Ham sent to me...I am not interested in what Ken Ham has to say...he doesn't even believe the King James Bible for starters. If you can refute what I say that's fine, I'm just not interested in what he has to say anymore because I think I've been sent it so many times I have almost memorized it haha).

Hope this helps explain my beliefs a little. By the way, I know many black friends who believe it is wrong for them to marry white people or orientals, and nobody calls them racist. It's only racist if a white person says it, as usual in this world.

I think it's a very tricky subject, and you're opening an enormous can of worms!

My basic answer: it's not unscriptural or sinful, but it's unwise.

Beyond that, it's between the people and God. If Christians are involved, they need great wisdom and "a multitude of counsellors." It's very, very difficult.


Why do you bring up these things? Are you just asking for a smackdown? Holy cow, Mama, I can't defend you all the time!

:p

Re: "Interracial Marriage"
 

"All throughout the Bible there is warnings not to marry different races."

Aloha Aussiemama,

Please give us the Chapters and verses, because this is one area (amongst others) where I am in disagreement with brother Ruckman. :confused:

Aussiemama! I beg your pardon. I saw your name and thought that you'd started the thread. I often make that mistake.

My mind is not what it once was....

LOL no I would not have started this topic. I only added to it. I wanted to make one good post on the subject and then leave it alone because I figured I would be outnumbered but that doesn't change what I believe. Since I am outnumbered and it's sensitive, though, I only really wanted to make one post. I also did not intend to stir the pot which is why I wanted to have it all collected in one post so that I did not appear to be arguing. I just wanted to present another viewpoint. I don't plan on saying much more on the subject. I won't promise that it and this will be my only posts because the minute I do that something will happen and I'll add to it lol.

A few things I wanted to point out:

1) Noah cursed Canaan, not Ham. Also there is no proof that Ham actually sodomized his father; all it says is that he looked upon him.

2) There is little to no evidence for "Pangea" or the supercontinent alluded to previously. Like Kent Hovind says: "If you take the water out of the oceans, you'll notice there's 'dirt' underneath. We're not just lily pads floatin' around here, folks!" The combination of Peleg and Joktan (division, shortened lifespans) points to a melting of the ice caps ("Ice Age," very short, post-flood) within a few hundred years of the flood. If the ocean levels were to be lowered by a few hundred feet, all the earth's landmasses would be connected by land bridges. Therefore it is more sensible to assume that the division spoken of here is the rising of the oceans that separated the continents.

3) God established the boundaries of the nations for specific reasons. Some had to do with prophecy (Gen. 9:27 for instance), and I believe He wanted to sequester some away from the rest for His own good reasons. According to the Scriptures, God designed the habitations of the different nations to keep them apart: He intended for distance and geographical features to inhibit intermingling, but largely (if not solely) for the purpose of keeping His chosen people holy before Him.

The main reason that God was against inter-"racial" marriage was because He knew the heathen would lead His people astray. Today, the largest problem with intercultural marriage is cultural differences, not Scriptural commands. There are going to be issues when getting involved with other backgrounds and cultures, so one must be aware of that when looking for a mate.

Overall, there is no clear-cut command to not marry outside one's "race." God created one race: the human race.

I will add one more thing...I don't know how interracial couples manage...my husband and I are in a cross cultural marriage (both European) and even that is hard enough!

Aussiemama, if the information that you gave comes from Dr. Ruckman's book, then he has another strike against him in my book. (That makes 2 and 1/2 strikes).

NO proof of a homosexual act.

Canaan was cursed, not Ham. Canaanites are not black.

Nowhere in the Bible is there a universal command not to marry outside one's culture or nationality. The Hebrew nation was under restriction, but other nations were not. Therefore, it does not apply to Gentiles, including Christians. If there were any such restriction, it would have been repeated in the NT, particularly since there was clear evidence of intermarrying between nationalities within the church.

Segregation is a vile belief, and those who encourage it are blind at best, and wicked at worst.

Bro. Tim, Doc teaches on these things, and he does believe Ham sodomized Noah, but you can be assured everything that he says in his book is his belief backed up with Scripture. Many times people get all bent out of shape because of something Doc supposedly teaches, when it's usually just something he believes and writes about as such in a "take-it-or-leave-it" manner.

Not everything people say about Doc is correct, even those who like or agree with him.

Well, that's not ALL it says:

Genesis 9:20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Noah got drunk and naked, Ham saw his father's nakedness, when Noah awoke he knew what Ham "HAD DONE UNTO HIM". Ham DID something to Noah, this strongly implies an act, which is more than a 'look'. If Ham only looked at him then how did Noah know it when he awoke?

An act of fornication is the likely conclusion (we are Bible believers so I need not run the references connecting drunkeness, nakedness and fornication), what are the other alternatives and explanations?

I didn't say that Ham didn't do something to Noah: in fact I strongly believe he did. However, that is not clearly laid out and so should be prefaced with some caution, especially when talking about interracial issues like this.

MC said,MC, just because a teacher quotes Scripture verses to back up his belief does not make him right. I'm sure that you know that, but your sentence implies it.

Since all that is said about the act of Ham is said in Genesis 9:22-24:
Where could homosexuality be seen here?! What I believe may have taken place is that Ham may have mocked his father to his brothers. Their reaction could imply this, and Noah's reaction could have followed after he learned what was said. To reach for more is adding to the story without support.

Read post 30 by Kiwi Christian about it. He laid it out pretty well.

I disagree. From his post#30:
How does he connect the missing pieces? Seeing his father naked then finding and telling his brothers about it IS a foul DEED/ACT. Question: How could Noah have awaken and immediately determined that it was Ham that committed an act? Without being very crude here, how could Noah even have understood what act had been done?!

A more rational understanding was that Noah awoke, heard about the words of Ham (whatever they were) from his other sons, and then cursed Ham's son. Ham had shamed his father and therefore his son would be shamed. The phrasing of "awoke, ...and knew..." could allow for time to have passed.

The fact is that Noah had something done to him, by Ham, that could be noticed upon waking. How he knew Ham had done it, I don't know. But those are the facts.

Now, being that I'm completely "straight," have never been in a homosexual relationship nor have had homosexual relations with anyone, and I'm happily married and have no intentions of sexual conduct with anyone else, especially males, I'm not sure exactly how everything feels with regard to sodomy. However, being that it's an unnatural and disgusting act, there are doubtlessly effects and feelings after the fact that Noah would have recognized. Therefore, I think it safe to assume that Noah, upon waking, felt an uncomfortable and unwelcome sensation in an area of his body where there should not be such a sensation, and through a process of deduction (perhaps he remembered something going on with Ham while he had been in a stupor) he realized that Ham had DONE something to him. Looking is not DOING something to him: it had to have been some sort of physical act. The fact that Ham's descendants' main problem is sexual (Japhethites are greedy and power-hungry; Shemites are prone to religious issues), combined with the situation, points to sexual impropriety with his father.

Sorry for the graphic nature of this post; I think the point needed to be made based on the issue at hand, however.

I don't believe seeing is the act here, and the Bible itself intreprets the word "saw" of verse 22 as "done" in verse 24. Also, if Ham was merely looking upon his father's nakedness, and mocking him to his brothers (which is speculation and nowhere in the verses), then is that worthy of a curse?

How he knew it was Ham we don't exactly know, but if it was an act of fornication Noah would know immediately when he "awoke from his wine", as has been described by the previous poster. Hence why I side with that notion.

Another solid reason why Ham's act was likely fornication is because the expression "uncovered" from Genesis 9:21 is defined in Lev 18 & 20 as an intimate relationship involving sex. Note Deut 27:20 and Lev 18:18, where "uncovering" is the equivalent of the act of fornication - excerpt from Ruckmans Genesis commentary pgs 251-252.

I agree this was not, I don't believe, a homosexual act, but an act of adultery and the documentation would be:

Leviticus 18:6-8 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD. 7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. 8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.

Leviticus 20:11 And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Why he curses Canaan, I assume, is Prophetic

An act of adultery? Nice try, BUT the nakedness of Noah is plainly defined in the text as his own nakedness and not that of his wife.

Genesis 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

Noah was plainly drunk and naked, his two sons covered his naked body with a garment. The Leviticus application of Noah's wife being his nakedness does not fit in this context.

Kiwi said,And claiming a homosexual act isn't speculation??

MC claimed,Talk about wild speculation!

Scott "speculated",
Clearly wrong by the verse evidence.

The REAL FACTS are that we JUST DON'T KNOW exactly what happened, and adding to where the Scriptures are silent often leads to erroneous conclusions.

Re: "Interacial Couples"
 

Aloha Aussiemama,

It's all very simple really. My wife and I have been married for 47.5 years and in all of those years I have never seen another couple that are of "One Mind" and of "One Heart" as we are.

#1. We are from different "races": She = Filipina & I am Caucasian.

#2. We are from different "cultures": She = Filipino/Hawaiian & I am New England/American.

#3. We were both very "young": she = 17 was years of age & I was 20.

#4. We both came from different "religions": she was Roman Catholic & I was a fairly new Bible believing Christian (no particular "Denomination").

We didn't have "3 strikes" against us - We had 4 "strikes" against us!

How did we make it? LOVE & GRACE! First of all, there has been God's love and His grace - in that around three years after we were married my wife got saved (received the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour), which solved any of the differences that existed between us {we both now had "the mind of Christ"}.

Secondly, we both have never let anything or anyone come between us! That means houses & lands; money, bank accounts, or possessions. It also included: mothers & fathers; sisters & brothers; aunts or uncles; children or friends. We have been ONE, not only in flesh, but also in heart and in mind.

The order of our "priorities" are: God First (in everything); Our marriage second (before children & friends); and everything else in their order. In 47 years of marriage, I can honestly say that the word "DIVORCE" has never entered my mind - No not once!

In the last 10 years we have had perfect strangers (mostly women) come up to us and exclaim: "You look so happy together"; or "When I see you together, it makes me feel so good"; or "I am encouraged about my marriage when I see you both together"; etc. My wife and I have been sitting in a restaurant and a woman (a perfect stranger) has come up to her and said: "have you ever seen the way he (me) looks at you?"

Why do suppose it has been this way for 47+ years? Because it was genuine "love" to begin with, and there was a definite "commitment" on both of our parts to MARRIAGE (God's Institution) FIRST, and each other SECOND. And whenever our love and devotion to each other may have "faltered" (and it has on a very few occasions), our COMMITMENT to God and to our marriage (God's Institution) has carried us through.

My wife is the closest woman that I have ever met to beineg God's "perfect" woman {Proverbs 31}. I have never met another Christian couple that are as "close" together as we are. I'm sure they are out there - It's just in the 50 years that I have been saved, I personally have not seen it.

If your "priorities" are right {as a couple}, you can overcome all "obstacles". If you allow "anything" or "anyone" to come between you {as a couple} you're going to have "problems". :)