My question is: If you end up counseling someone you are considering to perform their wedding and you find out they are currently living together, what do you do? I know you will discuss that with them from the Bible no doubt. But what do you do if they do not get that right (separate from living together) before they get married? Would you still marry them?<\/p>\n\t
If I was talking to someone about becoming a Christian, I would insist that whatever sin he is currently involved in would need to end before he could be baptized. That is because repentance is a prerequisite for baptism (Acts 2:38).<\/p>\n
Marriage doesn’t have such a prerequisite. In the Old Testament, if a couple committed fornication, they were required to get married (unless the father objected). “If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife. If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the dowry for virgins<\/em>” (Exodus 22:16-17).<\/p>\n Now, if I find out that a couple has been committing fornication, I will be discussing the sin because I want people to get to heaven and they need saving. But refusing to marry them doesn’t solve the problem. Even if I can’t get them to see that they are in sin, at least by the time they are married that particular sin is no longer continuing. “But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion<\/em>” (I Corinthians 7:9).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: My question is: If you end up counseling someone you are considering to perform their wedding and you find out they are currently living together, what do you do? I know you will discuss that with them from the Bible no doubt. But what do you do if they do not get that right…<\/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":[1572,64,566],"class_list":["post-30719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-fornication","tag-marriage","tag-weddings"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49282,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-true-that-a-couple-who-commits-fornication-cannot-get-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":30719,"position":0},"title":"Is it true that a couple who commits fornication cannot get married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have had sex with the girl I proposed to marry. Now we are very close to our wedding. Her pastor became aware that we have had sex by virtue of her confession. She was told that I am not her husband and as such, can not get married\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":78982,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-i-wrong-to-withhold-my-blessing\/","url_meta":{"origin":30719,"position":1},"title":"Was I wrong to withhold my blessing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir, My adult daughter is living with a guy twice her age. They want to get married, and it appears he wants my blessing. However, he doesn't have a vehicle, can't keep a job thus far and just started a new job a couple of weeks ago, doesn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43038,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-talk-to-family-members-who-are-committing-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":30719,"position":2},"title":"How do I talk to family members who are committing fornication?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question regarding two people getting married. Someone in my family was once married and got divorced. In Matthew 5:31-32 it says that one can't divorce her husband or his wife except for sexual immorality. This family member did not divorce her husband for sexual immorality but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67739,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-a-person-lied-about-his-past-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":30719,"position":3},"title":"What if a person lied about his past marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings, I have enjoyed reading your studies and answers for many years. I have two questions if you could answer them please. So far I have only been able to find an answer in necessary inference. If a Christian in good standing unknowingly marries a person who lied about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-i-do-something-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":30719,"position":4},"title":"Did I do something wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I have a question for you guys: Does having sex with someone makes you a married couple? If not, then am I obligated to marry the man I had sex with? I have a doubt in my heart that's been tormenting me. I had sex with some guys\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33218,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-scriptural-to-marry-someone-who-had-a-marriage-annulled\/","url_meta":{"origin":30719,"position":5},"title":"Is it scriptural to marry someone who had a marriage annulled?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is a marriage annulment from the state of Texas the same as a divorce? Is it scriptural to marry them? Answer: It would depend on the reason for the annulment. An annulment is a declaration that the marriage should not have taken place. Reasons for an annulment in Texas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","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\/30719","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=30719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}