My girlfriend is a Baptist

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Yes it happens all the time, and all the time you hear of people having problem with it. It is not about extremist. Children how do not go to church at all once they get into their teens cuz even their parents can not agreee on a faith. Grandparents fighting with their children because the grandchild is or is not being raised Catholic.

You make comments about people shutting themselves in a comfortable shell of absolutes. What about those that are wlaikng around on the warm foggy of relativity?
I would be giving the same warning to the girl in this case. and If I were a protestant I would voice the same concerns to some that is protestant and thinking of marring a catholic.

Oh and God is all about absolutes. Take a look at the 10 comandments. they are comandments by the way not recommendations.
Your right, infact God is an absolute. Your interpretation, however, is not.
 
When an interfaith couple meets with the Catholic Priest whos going to marry them, he asks them to sign a paper that says that they have every intention of raising their child as a catholic. If they don’t want to do that, they won’t have a sacramental marriage.
 
Your right, infact God is an absolute. Your interpretation, however, is not.
My interpetation of what. I have not interpeted anything I have only give advice on very real possible problems in a interfaith marriage. I give this advice based on growing up in a mix religious family. Also I the fact that my late wife not catholic. There are real problems that come along with it and you need to be ready to deal with them and If at all possible aviod them and marry within the faith. Marriage can be hard anyway, why add to it.
 
My interpetation of what. I have not interpeted anything I have only give advice on very real possible problems in a interfaith marriage. I give this advice based on growing up in a mix religious family. Also I the fact that my late wife not catholic. There are real problems that come along with it and you need to be ready to deal with them and If at all possible aviod them and marry within the faith. Marriage can be hard anyway, why add to it.
Your faith clearly influences how you view this issue. How you view the Catholic Church obviously influences how you look at this issue. Its a very real problem if people make it a problem, if their views are so constricting that there is no room for compromise, thats when stuff becomes a problem. Your interpretation, and that of your church, is that there is no leeway so naturally this would create a problem. People who hold such extreme tribalist views wouldn’t want to marry someone from another denomination anyways so clearly that is not the case of the OP.
 
Your faith clearly influences how you view this issue. How you view the Catholic Church obviously influences how you look at this issue. Its a very real problem if people make it a problem, if their views are so constricting that there is no room for compromise, thats when stuff becomes a problem. Your interpretation, and that of your church, is that there is no leeway so naturally this would create a problem. People who hold such extreme tribalist views wouldn’t want to marry someone from another denomination anyways so clearly that is not the case of the OP.
I was married to a non catholic, most of my family is non catholic. I am not speaking in the abstract, but from real life experiance.
 
You really need to reevaluate your position that things like this don’t matter.
At this point I could say that we (my fiance and I) are taking part in the sacrament of marriage in the Anglican Church but that doesn’t matter to the Catholic Church because the whole basis of the RCC’s infallibility unfortunately has to involve the non equity of any other Christian Church, so much so, that the RCC doesn’t even consider them churches in the sense that the RCC is a church. I would say this is where the chip that is so obviously on my shoulder comes from.
 
At this point I could say that we (my fiance and I) are taking part in the sacrament of marriage in the Anglican Church but that doesn’t matter to the Catholic Church because the whole basis of the RCC’s infallibility unfortunately has to involve the non equity of any other Christian Church, so much so, that the RCC doesn’t even consider them churches in the sense that the RCC is a church. I would say this is where the chip that is so obviously on my shoulder comes from.
I’m really not quite sure how to respond to this, other than you seem not to understand what the Church teaches. FYI, just so you know you will need a dispensation from your Bishop to be married in Anglican Church… Actually, to be married in any Church other than your home parish. With out this, since you are Catholic your marriage will not be valid.
 
At this point I could say that we (my fiance and I) are taking part in the sacrament of marriage in the Anglican Church but that doesn’t matter to the Catholic Church because the whole basis of the RCC’s infallibility unfortunately has to involve the non equity of any other Christian Church, so much so, that the RCC doesn’t even consider them churches in the sense that the RCC is a church. I would say this is where the chip that is so obviously on my shoulder comes from.
Maybe you should just consider that the Church knows what she is talking about. She has been pondering these matters for 2000 years.
 
I am Catholic and my wife is Baptist. She sometimes attends Mass with me.

But…even more to the point…my grandfather was Catholic and my Grandmother is Baptist. They were married for 69 years until he died at the age of 93. He never missed Mass. She was in her Baptist Church every Sunday (she still never misses and she is now 93). They manged a long and great marriage. Their key: respect. It can done…my wife and I do it, and my grandparents did it.
May be you are correctnowadays we respecting other religions people, why don’t he should respect the wife’s{same LORD} ?
 
Maybe you should just consider that the Church knows what she is talking about. She has been pondering these matters for 2000 years.
I agree that we should listen to the Church teaching. However, no where in the catechism, or in an ex cathedra statement does it say that you cannot marry a Protestant. The point that many of the posters here are trying to convey (even if they don’t ever say it), is that this man should break up with his girlfriend, simply because she is Protestant.

*If they were giving him a warning about the requirement to raise the children Catholic, and that it may be difficult because she is baptist, that would be fine. However, comments like: *

"Run from her, now. Or your kids will never have the Holy Eucharist, knowledge of Mary, and you will find yourself held to account for your kids not getting to fully know Jesus the way you did. "

"There are loads of Catholic women that are single "

"My advice: marry a Catholic. I also ask, is your current girl friend willing to attend RCIA? Time will tell if she can shuck her Baptist upbringing and embrace the Truth. Marry her only if she joins the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, thus assuring that your children will be raised in the True Faith. Know your Faith well, live it in her presence, and be ready to answer her questions."


Are OBVIOUSLY not giving advice, but rather speaking down to him. They give him one piece of advice “marry a Catholic”, but then go on to bash the Baptist religion. I understand why everyone has such little hope for a Christian reuinification in the future, its because we can’t trust each other! I might add that trust is something required for marriage. Many people here obviously do not possess that trait.
 
I agree that we should listen to the Church teaching. However, no where in the catechism, or in an ex cathedra statement does it say that you cannot marry a Protestant. The point that many of the posters here are trying to convey (even if they don’t ever say it), is that this man should break up with his girlfriend, simply because she is Protestant.

*If they were giving him a warning about the requirement to raise the children Catholic, and that it may be difficult because she is baptist, that would be fine. However, comments like: *

"Run from her, now. Or your kids will never have the Holy Eucharist, knowledge of Mary, and you will find yourself held to account for your kids not getting to fully know Jesus the way you did. "

"There are loads of Catholic women that are single "

"My advice: marry a Catholic. I also ask, is your current girl friend willing to attend RCIA? Time will tell if she can shuck her Baptist upbringing and embrace the Truth. Marry her only if she joins the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, thus assuring that your children will be raised in the True Faith. Know your Faith well, live it in her presence, and be ready to answer her questions."


Are OBVIOUSLY not giving advice, but rather speaking down to him. They give him one piece of advice “marry a Catholic”, but then go on to bash the Baptist religion. I understand why everyone has such little hope for a Christian reuinification in the future, its because we can’t trust each other! I might add that trust is something required for marriage. Many people here obviously do not possess that trait.
Being a former Baptist myself, I can see the problems. I know there are multitude of different associations of Baptists, but a great many of them tend to hold the opinion that the Pope is the Antichrist. This isn’t like a Catholic-Orthodox, Catholic-Anglican, or even a Catholic-Methodist union, where there is a great deal of common ground, and anti-Catholicism tend to be less common or even minimal. This would be a union where the couple would be almost guaranteed to encounter a good deal of resistance not just from certain windbags at church, but from family. What happens when the first child is born? Is the child baptized as he should be, or is he denied the grace of the sacrament due to pressure from the baptist family?
 
Being a former Baptist myself, I can see the problems. I know there are multitude of different associations of Baptists, but a great many of them tend to hold the opinion that the Pope is the Antichrist. This isn’t like a Catholic-Orthodox, Catholic-Anglican, or even a Catholic-Methodist union, where there is a great deal of common ground, and anti-Catholicism tend to be less common or even minimal. This would be a union where the couple would be almost guaranteed to encounter a good deal of resistance not just from certain windbags at church, but from family. What happens when the first child is born? Is the child baptized as he should be, or is he denied the grace of the sacrament due to pressure from the baptist family?
While I can see the problems as well, I also look at it as someone from mixed religious parents. My dad was an evangelical for around 10 years after he married my mom. He still converted. Obviously it isn’t impossible for a Baptist to become Catholic, since you give the example of yourself.

I know it will be difficult. I wrote that in my first post to the OP. It in no way will be easy, the OP will have not only family and your parish, but even your friends might go against him. Trust me, I am not illusioned to think that all mixed religion marriages work. However, neither do all Catholic marriages. The point I am trying to make is this, marriage is hard, not matter who you marry. Some marriages are going to be more difficult than others. However, saying that a marriages shouldn’t take place, simply because the other person is a different religion, is not Church teaching, and shouldn’t be. Saying that someone should break up because of different religious views is simply mean-spirited.
 
At this point I could say that we (my fiance and I) are taking part in the sacrament of marriage in the Anglican Church but that doesn’t matter to the Catholic Church because the whole basis of the RCC’s infallibility unfortunately has to involve the non equity of any other Christian Church, so much so, that the RCC doesn’t even consider them churches in the sense that the RCC is a church. I would say this is where the chip that is so obviously on my shoulder comes from.
so you are upset that the RCC holds to its principals? If you are Baptized and married in the Anglican Church the RCC would hold that you have a valid marriage. Also the RCC still holds that all Christians are members of the body of Christ.

But your arguments show that religion for you is only a convenience and not a Truth. Any old religion that caters to your desires is good enough. Unfortunately the CC doesn’t take that point of view. Either you are Catholic or you are not. No one forces anyone to be Catholic. Complaining is like being on a baseball team and whining that you can’t play by football rules.
 
You’re both saved, right? I would suggest trying to look past the denominational differences, and try not to talk about it. If you do continue to debate, remember that your relationship is more important than difference is denominations. Pray that God will help your relationship grow and that you will have a good marriage, if you decide to do that, even with your differences.
I don’t date, so I’ve never been in a situation like this, but my friend and I got into a huge fight about Catholic Church vs. Protestant/ non- denominational, and it almost ruined it, but with plenty of prayer and by agreeing just not to talk about it, things smoothed out.
Some people I’ve met had friends who had this problem: the couples just both became non- denominational.
 
The man who first invited me to Mass went to my Baptist church for 20 years. He dated his Catholic girlfriend for 6 years (we all went to high school together), and they’d even went as far as bringing both their families together to discuss what would happen if they did get married. They agreed to raise them Catholic, but joked that their children would be “Batholic”.

When they were in college he really started to consider marriage and decided to take his understanding of her a step further, and joined RCIA. He didn’t intend on converting, he just wanted to understand her faith and how his children would be raised. He now teaches RCIA and has been a faithful Catholic for 3 years.

They were together almost 7 years before he took that step. It’s not impossible for a relationship like that to work out. It was because of the love and respect for each other that they avoided fighting about religion, and their families jointly decided to support them no matter what.

Sometimes it takes a while, but God works in mysterious ways. He’ll find ways to bring people to him, possibly through mixed religion relationships. It doesn’t have to end horribly 🙂 .
 
You’re both saved, right? I would suggest trying to look past the denominational differences, and try not to talk about it. If you do continue to debate, remember that your relationship is more important than difference is denominations. Pray that God will help your relationship grow and that you will have a good marriage, if you decide to do that, even with your differences.
I don’t date, so I’ve never been in a situation like this, but my friend and I got into a huge fight about Catholic Church vs. Protestant/ non- denominational, and it almost ruined it, but with plenty of prayer and by agreeing just not to talk about it, things smoothed out.
Some people I’ve met had friends who had this problem: the couples just both became non- denominational.
People don’t “get saved” in an instantaneous event. Salvation is a lifetime effort and one must persevere to the end (Mt 10:22).

Relativism – the belief that one religion is as good as another – is rampant in Protestantism. A practicing Catholic is not a relativist. Catholics know that their Church alone was founded by Jesus Christ and teaches the full Revelation of God. Jesus gave us seven sacraments to help us get to heaven, and they are available only in the Catholic (and Orthodox) Churches.

All Protestant organizations, by contrast, are man-made and are based on their founder’s (or founders’) interpretation of the same incomplete Bible cut by Martin Luther. And all teach conflicting and competing doctrines. All claim to teach the truth, but no two agree on what the Bible means. The Catholic Church wrote the New Testament during the first Christian century and canonized and formed the Bible when she was nearly 400 years old. She is its only rightful interpreter.

The only assurance of salvation is to be Catholic and to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. A Catholic who knows his faith would never expose his children to the relativisim of Protestantism. His (or her) solemn obligation is to raise his children in the True Faith.

A Catholic may feel his religion doesn’t matter while the hormones are pumping, but when reality sets in, he may find himself facing a lifetime of regret. It’s best to settle the religion question before marriage – and, unfortunately, many who agree to raise the children Catholic prior to the marriage do not fulfill their promise once the ring in on the finger. And the battles begin.
 
You’re both saved, right? I would suggest trying to look past the denominational differences, and try not to talk about it. If you do continue to debate, remember that your relationship is more important than difference is denominations. Pray that God will help your relationship grow and that you will have a good marriage, if you decide to do that, even with your differences.
I don’t date, so I’ve never been in a situation like this, but my friend and I got into a huge fight about Catholic Church vs. Protestant/ non- denominational, and it almost ruined it, but with plenty of prayer and by agreeing just not to talk about it, things smoothed out.
Some people I’ve met had friends who had this problem: the couples just both became non- denominational.
It is a tragedy when someone leaves the Catholic Church. The Non-denominational movement is an innovation of the 20th century and hos no grounding in Scripture or Tradition. It does not foster unity, because there is no unity between any two congregations. It is impossible to know what a non-denominational pastor teaches without an in-depth discussion with him. Non-denominationalism undermines church discipline, and is truly the end result of the Protestant Reformation: a heretical free-for-all with all manner of false teachings flaying about. It is for this very reason why Catholic/Protestant marriages should be avoided. It is an opportunity for the devil for Satan to wrest a Catholic away from Holy Mother Church.
 
You’re both saved, right? I would suggest trying to look past the denominational differences, and try not to talk about it. If you do continue to debate, remember that your relationship is more important than difference is denominations. Pray that God will help your relationship grow and that you will have a good marriage, if you decide to do that, even with your differences.
I don’t date, so I’ve never been in a situation like this, but my friend and I got into a huge fight about Catholic Church vs. Protestant/ non- denominational, and it almost ruined it, but with plenty of prayer and by agreeing just not to talk about it, things smoothed out.
Some people I’ve met had friends who had this problem: the couples just both became non- denominational.
Without wanting to get into the particulars in this thread, if you’re interested I"m sure there are a number of threads you can scan for. But you make an assumption in here, and that is that salvation is a one time event which occurs sometime in the past, there for whatever “chruch” you go to doesn’t really matter much.

To the Catholic this is a gravely erroneous belief, and very highly problematic for the original poster. I could not recommend this course of action.
 
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