I guess if I had really wanted to start my blog "in the beginning", I could have started there. It's hard enough to be married when you have a fantastic husband - I cannot imagine how it would be if I have picked a husband who was not a Christian, who had no interest in working, who beat me.
Instead, our arguments are about who emptied the trash last. (Me.)
In college, I knew a girl who would I think purposely date guys who were not Christians. Girls were a rare thing at my technical college, so guys were pretty desperate. If she wanted them to go to church, of course they would. But were they genuine about it? Mostly, no...
Where I grew up, we called this "missionary dating" - using the guise of a relationship to attempt to force a conversion. It's not a good idea. Some missionary daters might looks at 1st Peter 3 and think "oh, so this is a blueprint for how to get my significant other to convert":
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. (1 Peter 3:1, 2 ESV)
I wish it were so easy! Just be a good wife and your husband will come around. But read it again and you'll see that Peter never promises a change.
For those of us who have the option (suddenly I hear Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies"), focus on this verse instead of 1st Peter 3:1:
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV)
Don't get confused - these two verses don't contradict each other. I'll boil it down like this - don't date unbelievers. Period. And if you won't heed that advice and end up married to an unbeliever, you have your work cut out for you. Does that sound like happily ever after?
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