Dating/marrying a non believer

[aliceyyyy2654]

Id Like your opinions and experiences on marrying/being in a relationship with someone who does not believe or is an atheist.

specifically if possible a case where both were atheists but one has found a calling from God to follow him through Jesus midway through a relationship

thank you

I can't imagine being able to marry someone who didn't believe in God as a believer myself. I think when it comes to marriage having shared values and beliefs is incredibly important. But that's just me!

I agree with @Ipsevenenabibas

Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness?

Since I've personal experience of being married to an unbeliever I'd say one thing. Don't! Whilst you can have things in common ultimately there's a big, big gap and as your journey in sanctification proceeds then you'll find that gets ever wider as time goes on.

I've Christian friends who've been married now for 40-odd years. It really is a beautiful thing to see. I feel very sad that my own stupidity and insistence on going my own way denied myself that experience.

However if you were both unbelievers at the outset and one becomes a believer, that's a very different thing, if you are already married.

I did.

I spent many years only dating other Christians and then without aiming to I fell in love with my friend who had walked away from the faith, from a Christian family. I was very conflicted, but he behaved in a more Christian manner than many of the Christian men that I did date, and went above and beyond in supporting me in my own faith journey and raising our children Christian. It makes me sad that he doesn't believe and I pray for him every day, but I am glad I married him. We dated for 5 years without having sex before we married (I was virgin, he had plenty of previous partners).

Your mileage may vary but in churches I attended young, single women outnumbered young, single men about 3 to 1. This often meant the men didn't have much incentive to work on themselves as they had many many options. I do not think that Christian-unbeliever relationships are the ideal scenario, but many people do it, given how many more single Christian women there are than men.