How will a mixed couple feel at our church?

Q: “A mixed race [bi-racial] couple came to our church about a month ago, looking for a new church home. I don’t have any problem with that, because they are both believers and everyone is free to marry whoever they want to, as long as there aren’t any legal reasons why they can not be lawfully joined together. But, a tiny percentage of our church members has been whispering about it, and I feel bad that this couple may be made to feel awkward or unwelcome…”

 A: You’re right to be sensitive to this, since our Master and Lord says, “Whosoever will, may come . . .  The Bible doesn’t say anything at all prohibiting a person of one skin color from marrying a person of another skin color, but it is clear that a Christian is not to marry a non-Christian. 

1 Corinthians 7:39 talks about this, in the case of a Christian woman whose husband has died. “The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.”  She can marry anybody she chooses who is free to be married, as long as the person is a Christian.

An EXCELLENT resource for this topic is http://www.onehumanrace.com/docs/inter-racial_marriage.asp . It is amazing to me, the people who will take a stand against a Christian with one skin color marrying a Christian with a different color skin, but have  no qualms about a Christian marrying a non Christian. Actually, I have gotten several emails about mixed marriages based on skin color, and not even one (as of now) about whether a church should welcome a woman who has a husband who is not a Christian.  

Final thought: There are lots of people in the world that I wouldn’t want to be married to – and most of them would not want to be married to me! As long as a legally marriable couple love each other and treat each other well, and want to be married to each other, why should I care? A man was complaining to me about a woman of his race who was married to a man of another race. I asked him, “What’s the problem, did YOU want to marry her?” He said, “No! Of course not! I’m already married!”

Copyright Steven L. Davis  www.SteveDavis.org