Are Christians expected to only marry other Christians?

I come from a Catholic family and I tell you this much from my two sisters who had married outside of their faith and their marriages ending in divorce and me and my older sister having married into our faith and are still married I can say there is a reason why people should marry of their own faith. My oldest sister not a very devout Catholic but still a Catholic married a Baptist man and their marriage lasted for five years. And my younger sister who is a devout Catholic married a Lutheran man and their marriage lasted for seven years. My older sister a Catholic married a Catholic they have been married for twenty years and me and my wife both of us Catholics been married now for eleven years. If you marry outside of your faith the chance of divorce is greater than marrying within your faith. The differences within a couple does not build bridges it creates chasms.

So what I will teach my sons is to marry Catholic women, they are to young yet to understand.

Heya Lisa!

I think Jesus died for us, and we are under no law! SO i can do whatever i want! But the thing is I love Jesus! And since i've decided to follow him, well, stuff just hasn't been the same, and i just love reading the bible, love talking about Jesus, and getting to know the God who created the Universe! And i wish everyone could just feel this joy i have of knowing that Jesus died for me. So the question is, how is this life i am describing coherent with marrying a not believer? If she doesn't get the "Jesus" part of me I feel like she'll be missing out on the biggest part of me! I don't really see how it could work!

Remember everyone one of the commandments are for our joy, in the Old Testament, God forbides Jews to marry non-jews, i think he was just stating something made perfect sense to the Jewish who loved God! It is just a burden for those who are struggling to follow other of God's principles...

Love is following the law and it is not burdensom (1 John 5:3)

Bless ya Lisa!

From what i've obvious, the kids of this Union will be Muslims. No question about that. On the otherhand many so known as Christian females have married Muslims and have converted to their faith. When the going received difficult, the Husband has taken the youngsters with him out of the nation to a nation that abides via the legal guidelines of the Quran, and in many cases the mother certainly not sees her kids once more. NO court In these lands can even entertain the suggestion of the kids leaving with the mummy in particular if she remained Christian. Watch out.

I would say it is close to an requirement. And it is not because of the OT but what is in NT

2 Corinthians 6

14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you[b] are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them

And walk among them.

I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.”[c]

17 Therefore

“Come out from among them

And be separate, says the Lord.

Do not touch what is unclean,

And I will receive you.”[d]

18 “I will be a Father to you,

And you shall be My sons and daughters,

Says the Lord Almighty.”[e]

It can be worth nothing that the quote is from OT, so that just amplifies the necessity to take this serious.

I used to think this too. I grew up in a church and as was always around Christians. But now that I'm 19 I've kind of ventured off on my own thing. Don't get me wrong i still love God and i have a strong faith in him and i relationship with him still. But people I've always dated weren't really "Christians". They just believed in him, prayed, has faith in him. But there not hard core religious people you know what i mean? To me, that's all you need. You don't really need to go to church every single sunday to prove your a christian. But that's my opinion.

Yes. The New Testament likens being married to an unbeliever as being "unequally yoked."

For Christians, Christ is central to our life and how we live it. How can we share the rest of our life with someone who doesn't share what is most central and definitive of our lives?

yes - and thats because in Christian marriage two Christians marry, become one in Christ, and raise their children to be Christian for God's glory. Its how he builds his church one family at a time.

Its a key tenet of all scripture

2Cr 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Mal 2:15 Didn't the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union.

Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

No! We can marry anyone as long as it is person of the opposite sex. My father was Catholic and my Mother was Protestant. .We are free to marry Jews, Muslims, and other Religions outside of Christianity..

Yes, but that does not mean every Christian you see is your potential life partner.

Sometimes the one could be thousands of miles away from where you live.

It depends which Church you are in. Some churches don't mind if only one person is a Christian, or indeed if both are non christians. But other Churches insist that both people have to be Christians.