Does God withhold blessings from Christians who are living in disobedience?

[Jewcy]

I am a Christian but my husband is not. I am desperate to be a better person in God's eyes but can not escape the instruction in 2 Corinth ch 6 re being unequally yoked to non-believers. I am nearly 42 and desperately trying to start a family (I mc'd last year). We are due to fly to the Czech Republic in June for donor egg IVF but I can't help worrying that God will not bless me with a child whilst I continue to willfully live a disobedient life. I entered into a relationship with my husband knowing that it is not God's will for me to be with a non-Christian. Am I to be forever outside of God's will? My prayer life has become almost non-existent as I don't feel I can appeal to the Lord for his blessings re a baby and yet it is all I can think about.

I guess the real problem here is that my obsession with starting a family has superceded my devotion and surrender to God's will. Please help me

Me too, daftdame. I'd like to thank you for your kindly concern and guidance. You sound lovely

spero how are you doing? Thnking of you. I don't for one minute think only Christian or people of faith can have morals or be ethical or anthing like that. Your posts are very wise and loving. You are an exceptional person. Thinking of you. Yes we can get along but actually I bet people can also find it amazingly hard to get along even when they think alike, it's not about thinking, it's more about feeling.

Jewcy hope you find a church to go to, I find it is very helpful to be part of such a group.

Lovely posts madhairday and TunipTheVegedude.

I'm a feminist and a Christian. I find they sit well together for me.

I just posted this falling plates and someone said they were washing dishes, maybe that makes sense!

Best wishes to all.

Jewcy I think some of the atheist posts are probably coming more from a place of care and concern than you might think.
I know it's not going to feel that way when you know from experience how important God has been to you and they're dismissing that. But I would not be surprised if several of the more forthright atheists are posting that way because they know what infertility feels like and are genuinely sad that someone is (from their perspective) making an already difficult time even harder for herself.
(Not all of the posts....some of them are just sarcastic for the sake of it....)

Italian, I've posted a couple of photos of my lovely husband. Will you pray for him?

Tunip, you are too lovely and are making me feel far too guilty

Hello again. Hope the treatment has finished for the day, spero. Jewcy, you asked about Mass. It's usually in church, generally has some hymns (depending on choirs, folk group, organists etc) mostly lasts around an hour, and has two sections.

'Liturgy of the word' is some prayers, a psalm, and 3 readings. These are usually an Old Testament reading, an early Church bit from the New Testament (eg part of an Epistle) and (highlighted) a Gospel reading. The prayers are usually heavily influenced by (or lifted) from the Bible sermon explains the Gospel,

Sorry 'lifted from the Bible' eg the Gloria. And there's the Apostle's or the Nicence Creed.

The 'liturgy of the Eucharist' is similar to what Evangelicals would call the Lord's Supper, or the Breaking of Bread. Again, very large chunks of the prayers are directly lifted from the Bible (Gospels especially). Though Catholics take the relevant Bible extracts literally, and so consider this part of Mass to be much more than a dramatic memorial of the Last Supper.

I'd say Our Lord was actually the first feminist

Mareeya, I have a problem with the Catholic belief that Christ's flesh & blood are literally taken into the body during the breaking of bread. I also have a problem with the Vatican and the Pope and the whole contraception thing. I'm afraid I have never had much time for Catholicism when I learned that they go to 'confession' rather than straight to Christ. Also, why do they pray to Mary?

I hope I haven't offended you, Mareeya - again, I'm probably wrong on some of the above.

Jesus loved women. Mary Magdalene was His right hand woman, He appeared to her before the disciples after His resurrection and He had nothing but love and forgiveness for prostitutes and others who were rejected by society.

My point exactly re Mary Magdalene and the other women . No offence re RC queries. I was a bit concerned about offending you!

The Body of Christ thing scares off a lot of people who dont take the Bible that literally. Same as the 'those whose sins you forgive they are forgiven'. And the Pope/Vatican issue was from Peter being the rock, etc. Confession traditions started as a way of being more accountable, and accepting spiritual guidance to mend one's ways.

I won't get into the contraception debate now, or there'll be far too many Catholics along to say I'm talking rubbish and it's the best thing since sliced bread

We pray with Mary and the saints, not to them (the scary candles statues thing is like skype-ing your overseas friends for prayer support)

Actually, it was sincerely meant. I lost a tube & was terrified I'd never conceive - then when I did (naturally) I bled for about 4 weeks & was convinced I'd lose him. (I didn't - he's currently annoying me with Muse at the moment). I wouldn't wish that on any woman & I'll keep everything crossed for you.

But a little balance, maybe. Thank God & your doctors. It's truly unfair to bypass them and thank someone else no matter what belief you hold.

Also - I'll add...when I was discussing (many moons ago) with my consultant the prospects of future fertility I was told, "Well, you HAVE conceived, even if it went wrong. So you're half way there". Hold that thought - it's true.

I have to say, moreover, that, in my past as a prostitute I can only imagine the criticism that would have been levelled at me from the likes of Nick, the feminist.

I have posted on threads discussing prostitution, including one started by a former 'escort' who was suffering really badly because of her experiences at the hands of the punters. I never criticise these women. If anything I vilify the men who use them. Most women who go into prostitution do it against their wishes and some men still want to have sex with them. I don't. I don't want to have sex with a woman who doesn't want to have sex with me. Simple as that.

It's a shame you don't like feminism; all feminism wants is equality, something your church will willingly deny you.

You've done well to turn your life around and I congratulate you. That you attribute this change to a deity is a shame, you are denying how strong you actually are.

But tbh, you could ignore the whole lot of that, and go along anyway if you wanted. Like vast numbers of paid-up Catholic church members do . A guest shouldn't be pressurised to sign up to the full package, it's a church, not a Sky+ box

Sorry nick and others, I meant ignore my post not yours

That is the thing with God, to whoever is reading.
Whatever your past, be it a prostitute like Rahab in the bible, the biggest criminal on earth, the biigest sinner on earth like Paul in the bible was, if you ask God to forgive your sins, He will.

Ellie, thank you for your post, it cheered me to read you eventually had your son. I have a blocked tube, too (I'm entirely convinced this is a result of the ERPC last year. Bloody stupid doctors [wink[). My good tube is attached to a fruitless ovary so I'm sure I can get pregnant again...but I will probably be forty-eight Thanks for sharing.

Mareeya, thanks for clarifying some points. I know how hard it is on a thread to make oneself understood in a series of soundbites or with limited space, so I thank you for trying.

Nick, my experience of prostitution was relatively brief. I was not pimped and didn't need to subsidise a drug habit. I was already on the fringes of the sex industry and decided I wasn't earning nearly enough to satisfy my greed. I love sex and, back then, I loved deviant sex. The problem was I didn't know where to go to find a man who would pay me. To cut a long story short I started dogging. Of course, the men there were expecting free sex and, after a few frustrating visits to various sites, I summoned up the courage to threaten the men who wouldn't pay. I carried a knife and wasn't afraid to use it. It worked nine times out of ten. The shock (and, dare I say it?) and hurt in the bloke's eyes when he realised he was going to have to pay for that blowjob freaked me out. One man didn't have a wallet, only a packed lunch, which we shared before he kindly drove me home (my engine wouldn't start).

Oh, Nicholas, there are married women all over the world who are having sex they don't wish to have. And their husband's know it. I had sex with a couple of hundred men before I was a prostitute and I swear I wish I had been paid for that. Rotten sex without even being paid to do it!

Crumbs. I didn't mean to negate the awful experience of some prostitutes.

Jewcy, you have experienced a lot of dangerous situations and I am glad you have come out of the other side.

I don't think N or any other atheist on this thread is trying to say YOU or your choices are reprehensible - people feel strongly about their atheism, just as you feel strongly that you want to protect your god and it is easy to slip into quite er, dogmatic language.

I used to do that a lot more and am still guilty of it on occasion but I guess I am slowing down in old age or have realised that you do catch far more flies with honey than vinegar.

Thankyou IG for your kind words, they really do mean a lot.

Thanks Spero hope today is a good day.

Well its under the duvet with mumsnet, child at school and dog seems to have run away, so don't know how it can get much better.

I hope dog hasn't run away but it is strangely quiet...

So sorry to hear of all you've gone through, Jewcy. So glad you're out the other side and experiencing freedom from all of that. :)

Hope you're feeling OK today, Spero.

"Please don't forget to thank science"

Ellie, what does this mean? I understand thanking the doctors etc, but thanking science?

Well, Jewcy thinks its god who enabled scientists to gain their knowledge and yet some religious sects will refuse blood transfusions as contrary to god's law.

This again I don't understand. Either god loves us and wants us not to suffer, so he sent us doctors and scientists to make us better - or he isn't interested or happy with some scientific discoveries which save our lives and he will punish us for using them.

This is I suspect another example of the 'picking and choosing' elements of religious faith which is so baffling to is non believers.

The bits I have read about god wanting to kill gay men, did not seem very clearly linked to wanting to protect temple prostitutes but rather flat out condemnation of gay sex and wishing death on those who engaged with it,

Similarly with the exhortation to kill adulterous women for bringing shame on their fathers, this appears to apply to all and any women.

Again, without faith, I can't make sense of this. I appreciate I am not going to convert any believers because you DO have faith but hope you can appreciate that most atheists are not motivated by hatred or spite - we just genuinely can't get our heads around what you say about god as love, when we read his words and see how religious people sometimes choose to act.