{"id":30225,"date":"2011-11-10T18:53:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T00:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=30225"},"modified":"2021-01-11T18:56:40","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T00:56:40","slug":"must-i-wed-because-i-slept-with-my-wife-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-i-wed-because-i-slept-with-my-wife-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Must I wed because I slept with my wife to be?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>I want to change churches. I have two churches in mind that I could go to. I don&#8217;t know which one to go to. I want to be where the man of God will help bring out what God has put in me. Please pray for me.<\/p>\n<p>Also, if I did not wed, is it a sin? Is it compulsory that I must wed because I slept with my wife to be? My pastor said no wedding, but rather a marriage blessing. I have paid her dowry.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Too many people select churches based on what they want instead of considering whether a church is what God wants. &#8220;<em>For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables<\/em>&#8221; (II Timothy 4:3-4). Selecting a church is about comparing the accuracy of its teachings and practices against what God said in the Bible should be done. &#8220;<em>Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world<\/em>&#8221; (I John 4:1).<\/p>\n<p>Just because you sinned, it doesn&#8217;t mean you cannot marry the woman you love. I have no idea why the preacher at your current church is claiming you cannot wed. At the same time, marriage is never required under the New Testament. However, it is recommended if you don&#8217;t have the self-control to not commit fornication. &#8220;<em>But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 7:8-9).<\/p>\n<p>But a better question is why are you wanting to call off this wedding?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I want to change churches. I have two churches in mind that I could go to. I don&#8217;t know which one to go to. I want to be where the man of God will help bring out what God has put in me. Please pray for me. Also, if I did not wed, is&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[662,1572],"class_list":["post-30225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-engagement","tag-fornication"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11792,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-took-vows-before-god-isnt-that-enough-to-say-we-are-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":30225,"position":0},"title":"We took vows before God, isn&#8217;t that enough to say we are married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does God disapprove of my marriage? I have been with my (wife) for over 3 years now. I know that a marriage must have a witness for it to be true. The day we wed we were under the canopy of heaven (outside.) We asked God to be a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34864,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-fiance-and-i-engaged-in-foreplay-how-do-we-answer-the-church-if-we-are-asked-knowing-this-will-mean-we-cannot-be-wed-in-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":30225,"position":1},"title":"My fiance and I engaged in foreplay. How do we answer the church if we are asked, knowing this will mean we cannot be wed in the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do we answer the church if I and my fianc\u00e9 are asked if we have had sex before marriage when we have engaged in the foreplay of sexual activities? Knowing we cannot be wed in the church if we say yes, though we didn't do the real act.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38493,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-church-without-elders-not-following-the-scriptures\/","url_meta":{"origin":30225,"position":2},"title":"Is a church without elders not following the Scriptures?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: There are three churches of Christ in my town. I have attended all three. There is one, smaller than the other churches, that has had no elders or deacons for about 15 years. My wife likes to go there. However, when I ask about the need for elders and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6779,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-these-mega-churches-attract-so-many-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":30225,"position":3},"title":"How do these mega-churches attract so many people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I wanted to get some feedback from you as to the way church services are conducted on TV (T. D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, etc.). It seems with these mega-churches, the attraction that they receive is astounding. It makes me wonder what the attraction is, as so many are lead\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42981,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-mother-wont-let-me-change-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":30225,"position":4},"title":"My mother won&#8217;t let me change churches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am 16 years old and I don't want to attend the same church as my family does. For a long time, I've wanted to change churches for my own personal reasons, but after going to this camp, I feel like God wants me to go to this certain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36549,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-the-bible-teach-that-not-belonging-to-a-congregation-is-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":30225,"position":5},"title":"Where does the Bible teach that not belonging to a congregation is a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I came across your question\/answer page online. My question is, where does the Word of God teach that not belonging to a congregation is an unforgivable sin and one will go to hell for not belonging to a congregation? I've heard Church of Christ preachers speak as though\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}