Unequally yoked believers

[PKnowler]

Hi everyone,

     I need some advice. I am so excited about what I am learning regarding Universal Restoration. I believe it to be true. The scriptures are new to me and filled with treasures to be searched for. While I am not new to UR I have been studying it for about 3 years now. It has been very hard to overcome my indoctrination. I have wanted to believe but some scriptures caused me plaguing doubts concerning UR. I have finally come to a place of peace and my questions have been answered.

Anyway I would like to know how others have dealt with a spouse who doesn't believe the same way. My husband is very orthodox in his thinking. He considers me a heretic. He has been very patient with me though and I have been able to show him some things. Although when I showed him about Aion, Aionios being an undefined amount of "time" not everlasting. I think that was the last straw! He is very upset that I am saying anything bad about his Bible translation NIV. I had him read out of Young's Literal Translation and Greek and he doesn't accept it. He says I am trying to act like a Bible scholar that I am not!

I know I need to leave him alone, it is God's work. I am having a hard time keeping it to myself. Has anyone else gone though this? How have you dealt with it? Also church is an issue.

Any advice?

Thanks, Paula

[Chris R]

Dear Paula,

A wise man once said: I would rather SEE a sermon Rather than HEAR a sermon, Love your husband, be the best wife you can be.

Despite what Christendom teaches we cannot draw men to these truths. Any knowledge we have is given us from above.

Be prepared to answer questions,  Read the material on this site many times, The church issue should become clear as you study the scripture.

Gods peace

Chris R

[Kat]

Hi Paula,

I agree with everything Chris has said.

You are having your eyes opened to this precious Truth,
and you want to share it.
But your husband's is still blinded, and you should try to keep peace with him.
As long as he is blinded, he will not understand.

Mat 7:6  "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

I am in a simular situation, but my husband is not in the church.
I do not discuss this Truth with him, I would only answer if he asked.

This forum is a place where you can seek fellowship that you desire.
You can also learn a great deal from what is shared here.

2Ti 2:15  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

I pray for your strength and courage.

mercy, peace, and love
Kat

[jennie]

I don't know if this will be helpful but when we married , Michael was a big party guy! The drinking, drugs and so on. He had a very bad taste in his mouth from churches because of what he had been brought up in. I didn't push it. He later told me that each night when I read my Bible made him stop and think of things. Long story short... we have a happy marriage and try to serve the Lord in whatever way we can. Love and prayers, Jennie

[Deborah-Leigh]

Hello Paula

Col 3 : 28...be subject to your husband, subordinate and adapt as it is fit in the Lord. Understand and support your husbands by submitting to them in ways that honour the Lord.

Prov 12 : 4 .,...Be a virtuous and worthy wife, earnest and strong in character...a crowning joy to her husband...

Eph 5 : 33...respect, notice, regard, honour, prefer, venerate, esteem, praise, love and admire your husband.

Paula perhaps God is more concerned with you than you are about your dear husband. Perhaps God is working on you first before He decides to work on your precious husband. God loves your husband. God loves you. Perhaps God is training you into HIS image of LOVE for your husband. Wouldn't THAT be  WONDERFUL.  I believe that your husband's as you say "non acceptance" shows perhaps his integrity. He wants God to teach him and quite rightly refuses you that position of authority over him. He is obviously a real man! I have no doubt that you love him very much as you should according to the scriptures you are perhaps already more that half way there! You obviously have a very precious husband Paula and I do not think he would be married to you if you were not loved and cherished by him even though you may have been tryiing to do Gods job.....   I am not tryingto make you feel bad at all Paula. I am trying to make this stick!.....I know I am prodding you a little here but you see the Scriptures also show that blindness is no big deal for God....and opening minds is not a huge issue for God.  I believe that your husbands  "blindness"   is a snitch...!... for GOD to remove once HE has conformed YOU to HIS IMAGE Conformation into the image of God is not a snitch....it is a process.....Get with the program and rejoyce.....You have a big menue to begin on by seeing first how you shape up against the scriptures above, and watching yourself more than you are trying to share with your husband your knowlege and new found intimacy with God. Trust God. He knows exactly how to handle your precious husband. After all, God made him the head of you.

Mercy, Grace....Unmeritted favor to you Paula

Arcturus

Arcturus

[Slim]

Hi Paula,

My wife is Jewish (non religious) and we don't really share my faith in Jesus or Universalism. However, we both love each other and I firmly understand that I am the one who needs to conform to my beliefs not her. She respects me (but probably thinks me whacky, just a little) and I respect her. I have no doubt God is executing his plan flawlessly and she is not just my wife and companion but chosen for me, by God. And what a perfect choice he made. I'll bet that is true for you too. You probably have a more curious nature than your husband and are willing to ask questions that he will not. So.....I doubt he will change unless God wishes it so. I am glad that at least you have come to learn more about what is actually in the Bible and more about God's plan. It makes so much more sense to me than any other Biblical explanation to me (Universalism) and it gives me great peace. Today I discovered I have Prostate Cancer and I have great peace that this too is part of God's plan. And since God is good and his plan is perfect, all I have to do is trust in him and rest in his plan. Whew, thank God. If I were hung up on my carnal life I would be freaking out but I am not. But I digress, I see the bigger issue is do you love each other and if so, that will be enough. If God wishes to drag your husband to Universalism he will. In the meantime, love each other.

[pstrevnglstchrls]

the scripture ,Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, is an intresting one as when I was in grammar school learning language I learned an intresting thing that stayed with me all my days. I however lost the idea when it mattered most, in algebra. The idea is the use of two negatives make a positive. "Not" and un in "unequal" make the sentence a positive so the sentence reads be equally yoked together with unbelievers. You know intresting thing when Jesus our Saviour came to this earth that's what he did and when he got yoked together with this unbeliever this unbeliever got born-again. Thank you for listening oops reading God bless.

[eggi]

pstrevnglstchrls,

I fail to see how your grammar/algebra trick changes the meaning of 2Co 6:14. How do you explain the rest of the verses that follows? Can you use the same grammar/algebra rule on them?

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2Co 6:14-18 KJV)

The Word of God is clear, we should NOT be UNequally yoked together with UNbelievers. Will light and darkness also make a positive? Or maybe it would make a neutral, so we should just be neutral? The real question here is whether this verse applies also to marriage, or put in another way: Does it apply to everything else EXCEPT marriage? And how serious must the trespasses be before one can call it darkness?

Besides, the verse reads: Be ye not [negative] unequally [negative] yoked together with unbelievers [negative] which then makes a negative again! Therefore we could say, "Be ye not equally yoked together with believers..." I think these word games lead astray when it comes to this scripture, and probably the rest of them too.

God bless you and keep you,
Eirik

[PKnowler]

Thanks everyone for writing. I appreciate it! You all have given me good advice, thank you.   

I know it is God's work to open my husbands eyes. I am not the Holy Spirit. I think about how much time & study it took for me to fully believe UR and have my questions answered. Though I believed the possibility after reading one scripture "every knee will bow every tongue confess" but I had a hard time with the scriptures on "those being thrown in the fire with weeping and gnashing of teeth."
After much study most of my questions have finally been answered and I have so much JOY, I just want to share it with my husband and I can't. Or I find myself continuously talking about it and I know I shouldn't so I tell him I will leave him alone and he says "I've heard that before".  I ask for prayer that I will be quite in my excitement and let the Lord do His work.

Thanks, Paula

[indianabob]

Paula,

You've had some good advice here in the letters that I have read in response to your query
I would add only one thing to try to give you peace of mind.

As a believing universal salvation Christian you have an advantage over most others in that you
know that your husband will have his FIRST opportunity to believe and trust God in the future.
You understand that God is a God of perfect love and is not about to waste any life that He
has given.  God is not about to fail in His desire to grant salvation to each and every one.
The only thing you have to face is that your husband may be one who comes to God in the
general resurrection AFTER Christ has restored paradise to the earth.  Your part in the life
of your husband and his conversion is to appreciate God's plan and to be very patient. Your
husband will be in God's family eventually if not in this first life.  So, keep up the good work,
live a life of faith and trust in God and believe that God knows what is best for your husband
and will call him when the time is best for both of you and for God's holy purposes.

Think of how much Jesus sacrificed to provide salvation for each of us and then accept your
smaller sacrifice as your reasonable gift to establish the plan of God in this age.  Remember that
you have the fellowship of the chat group to support you in this your work of love.

ole Indiana Bob

[chuckt]

God is so wonderfull!!!

1Cr 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.


what wonders in Christ!!!

love
chuck

paula you know me as euty.

[PKnowler]

God is so wonderfull!!!

1Cr 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.


what wonders in Christ!!!

love
chuck

paula you know me as euty.

Hey Euty!

     You get around don't you! My husband is a believer he just doesn't believe in UR. I think I may have been misunderstood about that.
I was asking how I shut up so God can work when I am so excited about what I am learning. I wondered if anyone else had gone through that and how they handled it. It is so exciting as the blinds of orthodoxy come off. How do you keep it to yourself? I guess these forums help alot!

Blessings, Paula

[gmik]

Bob that was a very well-put reminder.  Thanks.

gena

[hillsbororiver]

This has been an incredibly edifying thread, having love for your wife or husband (or anyone) requires patience, empathy and understanding, all these qualities together could be called charity. Once we understand that only God can drag someone to Him we can be patient in faith that the Lord is working with our spouse in His time, not ours. We can empathize with our mate remembering how we were before He revealed Himself to us, understanding that by being a living sacrifice, that our deeds are selfless and mirror the words we speak is a powerful testimony of Him in us.

Reading through all the great posts I thought of this chapter;



     1 Corinthians 13 (King James Version)
 

1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.



His Peace and Wisdom to you,

Joe   

[gmik]

Lets not forget Slim in our prayers!!!

[Slim]

Lets not forget Slim in our prayers!!!

Yeah, don't forget to pray for me , I need all the help I can get. BTW one of the nice things about getting cancer is all the people I know are nicer to me. I especially like getting kisses from my previously mean spirited 17 year old daughter. And if I get people praying for me too, well getting cancer isn't as bad as I thought.

[pstrevnglstchrls]

Well once again we misunderstand the english language. Not, unequally are the two words described together. Unbeliever describes alone what Not and unequally combined we are to be. If you disagree go to a english teacher and ask them about the sentence. Yes the rest of the scripture might imply what the rest of the world thinks but if you really read the rest of the passage it asks questions and never really answers them. How can we put it on ourselves to answer questions for the bible. The first question is what has darkness to do with light, well the light hasthe right and power to turn the dakness into light powerful. Aint it powerful that Jesus became equally yoked together with unbelievers and turned them into believers?

[hillsbororiver]

Well once again we misunderstand the english language. Not, unequally are the two words described together. Unbeliever describes alone what Not and unequally combined we are to be. If you disagree go to a english teacher and ask them about the sentence.

Not if the English teacher was familiar with the common usage of Old and Middle English, remember these King James verses are not in the modern language.

Here is some history of the English language taken from H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) in his book The American Language written in 1921.

The Double Negative


Like most other examples of "bad grammar" encountered in American the compound negative is of great antiquity and was once quite respectable. The student of Anglo-Saxon encounters it constantly. In that language the negative of the verb was formed by prefixing a particle, ne. Thus, singan (=to sing) became ne singan (=not to sing). In case the verb began with a vowel the ne dropped its e and was combined with the verb, as in noefre (never), from ne-oefre (=not ever). In case the verb began with an h or a w followed by a vowel, the h or w of the verb and the e of ne were both dropped, as in noefth (=has not), from ne-hoefth (=not has), and nolde (=would not), from ne-wolde. Finally, in case the vowel following a w was an i, it changed to y, as in nyste (=knew not), from ne-wiste. But inasmuch as Anglo-Saxon was a fully inflected language the inflections for the negative did not stop with the verbs; the indefinite article, the indefinite pronoun and even some of the nouns were also inflected, and survivors of those forms appear to this day in such words as none and nothing. Moreover, when an actual inflection was impossible it was the practise to insert this ne before a word, in the sense of our no or not. Still more, it came to be the practise to reinforce ne, before a vowel, with na (=not) or naht (=nothing), which later degenerated to nat and not. As a result, there were fearful and wonderful combinations of negatives, some of them fully matching the best efforts of Lardner's baseball players. Sweet gives several curious examples. 97 "Nan ne dorste nan thing ascian," translated literally, becomes "no one dares not ask nothing." "Thaet hus na ne feoll" becomes "the house did not fall not." As for the Middle English "he never nadde nothing," it has too modern and familiar a ring to need translating at all. Chaucer, at the beginning of the period of transition to Modern English, used the double negative with the utmost freedom. In "The Knight's Tale" is this:   
He nevere yet no vileynye ne sayde
In al his lyf unto no maner wight.
 
    2
  By the time of Shakespeare this license was already much restricted, but a good many double negatives are nevertheless to be found in his plays, and he was particularly shaky in the use of nor. In "Richard III" one finds "I never was nor never will be"; in "Measure for Measure," "harp not on that nor do not banish treason," and in "Romeo and Juliet," "thou expectedst not, nor I looked not for." This misuse of nor is still very frequent. In other directions, too, the older forms show a tendency to survive all the assaults of grammarians. No, it doesn't," heard every day and by no means from the ignorant only, is a sort of double negative. The insertion of but before that, as in "I doubt but that" and "there is no question but that," makes a double negative that is probably full-blown. Nevertheless, as we have seen, it is heard on the floor of Congress every day, and the Fowlers show that it is also common in England. 98 Even worse forms get into the Congressional Record. Not long ago, for example, I encountered "without hardly an exception" in a public paper of the utmost importance. 99 There are, indeed, situations in which the double negative leaps to the lips or from the pen almost irresistibly; even such careful writers as Huxley, Robert Louis Stevenson and Leslie Stephen have occasionally dallied with it. 100 It is perfectly allowable in the Romance languages, and, as we have seen, is almost the rule in the American vulgate. Now and then some anarchistic student of the language boldly defends and even advocates it. "The double negative," said a writer in the London Review a long time ago, 101 "has been abandoned to the great injury of strength of expression." Surely "I won't take nothing" is stronger than either "I will take nothing" or "I won't take anything."

The entire article plus links to more research can be found here;

http://www.bartleby.com/185/45.html

Here is 2 Corinthians 6:14 in some other translations;

Rotherhams

2Cor 6:14 Be not getting diversely yoked with unbelievers: For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness?

New International Version   

2 Cor 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?


Amplified Bible
   
2Cor 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?

I hope this helps, His Peace and Wisdom to you,

Joe

[eggi]

pstrevnglstchrls,

I'm not a native English speaker but I do understand most, if not all, of the English I read. Sometimes I may need to refer to a dictionary, but then again, who doesn't? The scripture in question (2Co 6:14) is talking about how we should not keep company with unbelievers. You suggested that it is saying that we should keep company with people who are not believing, so that they might become believers. You refer to the ministry of Christ and ask:

Aint it powerful that Jesus became equally yoked together with unbelievers and turned them into believers?

It IS powerful. Jesus Christ IS powerful. Are you just as powerful? Can you resist all the temptations in the way Christ did it? This is why Paul is saying:

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. (Gal 5:9 KJV)

and

But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. (1Co 5:13 KJV)

It is clear that Paul is talking about separating ourselves from unbelievers who are trying to bring in something which isn't acceptable.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2Co 6:14-18 KJV)

However, Paul is not saying that we should interact only with believers (meaning that we should separate from the rest of the world):

I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. (1Co 5:9-11 KJV)

So, we may be a light to unbelievers, and in the same time, be careful as to who we keep close company with. It is clear that Paul is warning us against having spiritual relationships with fornicators and detractors. This doesn't prevent us from being a light to those around us.

God bless you and keep you,
Eirik

[pstrevnglstchrls]

the scriptures say I live yet not I christ liveth in me and the life that I live I now live by faith of the son of God. So it is not I who am equally yoked with unbelievers but the Lord Jesus Christ who lives in me that becomes equally yoked with them and shows them the truth of the gospel. this truth of the gospel unequally yoked is always referred to as marriage. This is the one reason the lost hate christians is because the Christian think they are better in thier attitude of I cant become equally yoked together with you. Just like the Jew of old thinking that the gentile Dog has no place with them such  as the christian saying I cant be equally yoked with you. So what you are saying is that bad is greater than good whoa darkness is greater than light. You folks can translate the bible any way you want to fit what someone else taught you. Cool the word of God says not unequally yoked which is equally yoked just ask a grammar teacher and if they say it dont mean that i stand corrected