The man I committed adultery with is trying to force me to marry him. What should I do?
Question:
I have a child whom I had with a man to whom I am not married. Actually, I'm still married to another man whom I left because of physical, and mental, and emotional abuse. My child's father has since been confirmed to the Catholic church. He calls our child a bad word for illegitimate. We are no longer together because he emotionally abused me severely. Now he says he cannot date or marry because we have a child together. I have a church that I have been attending for almost two years. I have asked God for the forgiveness of my sins. My child has also asked for his forgiveness. The child's dad will not leave me alone about this matter. What can I do to make him stop?
The child's dad is trying to force me into marrying him because he says that God has bound us together. So he said that I need to die. Why should I marry someone I don't love? Please help me.
Thank you and God bless.
Answer:
The child had nothing to apologize to the man who fathered him. If anything, the apology should have been the other way around.
No one can be forced into marriage. You are not available for marriage anyway. You are married to another man and even if you did end that marriage by divorce, you still won't have a right to another marriage because the cause of the divorce was not fornication. The idea that adultery on someone's part means they have to marry another is false. Sex does not make a relationship. Sin, including adultery, keeps a person out of heaven. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 6:9-10).
Since the child's father is making threats of harm, report it to the police and get a restraining order against him.
