What Does the Bible Say About Dating Someone Who Isn't a Christian?

What does the Bible say about dating someone who isn't a Christian? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. You can watch us on YouTube, and you can email us with your question at questions at corechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Paul in Johnston, Rhode Island. Paul, welcome to the program. Yes, hello, pastor? Hey, Paul, thanks for calling us.

What's your question, brother? I'd like to know where's the best scripture for me to go to when my prayers for healing aren't answered. Well, Paul, we know that we're encouraged to pray for healing at the end of the book of James. James says if anyone is sick, go to the elders of the church and ask for prayer. Have them lay hands on you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord, and praying for healing. We know that God can heal, but we know that the Lord doesn't always heal us when we ask.

We don't know why. There is the hope, brother, that one day everything is going to be restored, even our bodies. We have that hope because Jesus rose from the dead, but in terms of wrestling with the why question right now, what are some verses in the Bible that could be encouraging for you? One text of scripture that I think you can go to is found in the book of 2 Corinthians 12, and it's actually, Paul, a situation where the apostle Paul himself was praying for something, for a kind of healing, and the Lord didn't heal him. It's 2 Corinthians 12, beginning in verse 7. Listen to what Paul said there.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, he's speaking of the revelations that God was giving to him. You just think of all the blessing in Paul's life. Paul says, A thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But the Lord said to me, My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of all my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. So Paul, the apostle Paul is there talking, and he's saying, look, I pleaded with the Lord three times to heal me of this thorn in the flesh. Now, we don't know what the thorn in the flesh was specifically.

It could have been a physical ailment or sickness. It might have been some sort of spiritual attack. But Paul is going to the Lord and pleading with God, saying, take this away. Heal me. And God's response to Paul, and I think to many of us in these situations, was, My grace is sufficient for you.

My strength is perfected in weakness. We don't always know, brother, why the Lord doesn't heal us or loved ones when we pray for divine healing. That doesn't mean we need to stop praying. We can continue to pray and ask the Lord for His healing, but we don't always know why we don't receive it now. We know that in the future we have the hope of the resurrection. We will all be fully and finally healed because of what Jesus has done.

But right now, we trust in Him. And so I would point you to that passage, and knowing, brother, that the Lord loves you, that just because He doesn't heal us doesn't mean that He doesn't love us. We don't understand His purposes all the time, why He allows us to continue with a particular kind of suffering, but He does say this, My strength is perfected in weakness. And so you turn to the Lord Jesus, Paul, you hold on to Him in the midst of whatever it is that you're facing, you cling to Him knowing that His strength can be perfected even in your weakness, brother.

Thank you for that question. Adriel, how would you respond to a person who may go to a church where they're told, you know, if healing hasn't happened, you just don't have enough faith? I would probably say find a different church because that kind of teaching is so destructive, Bill. I mean, it's absolutely devastating for people to feel like, oh, the reason I'm not healed is because there's something wrong with me. I don't have enough faith, that kind of a thing.

People's faith have been devastated by that kind of theology, just not what the Bible teaches, certainly. I mean, Paul told Timothy, hey, have a little bit of wine because of your frequent stomach ailments. He didn't say, hey, you should have been healed. You should have asked for healing and you should be fine.

No, he's encouraging him. Hey, make use of the ordinary means that God gives you to help you with the various ailments that you have. We know that the disciples of our Lord Jesus had various ailments that God didn't take away.

And so to say that it's always someone who doesn't have enough faith, that kind of thing, is just a lie. And I would say find a better church. Good counsel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Madeline, who's in Bethany, Louisiana. Madeline, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi.

Thanks for taking my call. And our question is that we have a cousin who says that if we deny that there is apostles or prophets today, that we are quenching the Holy Spirit. So we just wanted to know what the biblical answer is to that.

Thank you for this question. It gets into a broader discussion about the gifts of the Holy Spirit described in places like 1 Corinthians chapter 12 through 14. And there are differences of opinion on this. There are some Christians who say, no, there are prophets today, that kind of a thing. People can prophesy in the name of the Lord. And they receive extraordinary revelation from God. They get these words from the Lord. And that should be a normal part of the Christian life today.

And there are others, and this is my view, who understand those sign gifts really associated with the ministry of the apostles in the first century to have been something that was really for that period of time, for the initial stage of the life of the church, to get the gospel out. And one passage of scripture that I frequently will go to in order to, I think, to make that point is found early in the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 2, beginning in verse 1, we read this.

Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? The church here to hold fast to the gospel, to the salvation message that they heard, really from the preaching of the disciples, from the preaching of the apostles. And then he says this, it was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. And so the author of the Hebrews is talking about something that had happened in the past and the experience of these Hebrew Christians, where the gospel message as it was being preached at that early stage was attested to by God.

God is bearing witness to that message with these miracles, with these sign gifts. And you read about it in places like the book of Acts and also in places like the book of 1 Corinthians. Now ordinarily in the life of the church, I think that we really should focus on what we sometimes refer to as the ordinary means of grace. The preaching of the word of God, the ordinances that Jesus gave to the church. When Paul outlines what the church is going to look like in places like 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1, he talks about ordaining elders and deacons.

He doesn't give any qualifications for the prophets who are operating in your local church, that kind of a thing. And I think the reason is because the focus was and is on the faithful preaching of the word of God. Now another really important thing, and I don't want to go on and on, sister, but what I would say this, under the old covenant, the prophets that existed like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, they were a part of the theocracy, the theocratic kingdom of Israel. And their job was essentially to bear witness to God's covenant to the kings in Israel and to the people of Israel. And so they're bringing to bear the terms of God's covenant on the people. They're prophesying in the name of the Lord. Well, that theocracy is gone.

Now we have the church, the kingdom of God here on earth. And so the prophets of the Old Testament, there's no place for them today. In fact, Daniel chapter 9 talks about a sealing up of vision and prophecy.

That's another text that I would point to. The apostles were individuals who saw the risen Lord Jesus. They had experienced his presence. They went, preached the gospel, planted churches, established those churches with elders and deacons, not with a brand new set of prophets, that kind of a thing. And I think that that indicates to us that in the ordinary life of the church throughout her history, as time goes on, that was going to be the focus and that that really should be the focus. And so that's that's what I would say, sister. And again, I know that there are differences of opinion in the church on that question, but I think we need to focus on the word of God. Thanks for your question.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Here's the number to call if you have a question. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Elias in Long Island, New York. Elias, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes.

Happy Mother's Day and Father's Day to you both. I have two related questions. The first is, I've heard Jewish men refer to God as Hashem. Is Hashem a true name of God or a false name of God?

The second question is, the names Adonai, Elohim, and El Shaddai, are those also true or false names of God? Hey, thank you for that question. Is today Mother's Day? Did I totally miss it?

Because if I did, my wife is going to be really upset with me. Next one. Oh, okay.

Good. Is Hashem a true or false name of God? Yeah, I appreciate that question. Hashem just means the name and for Hebrews, Jews, they wouldn't say the divine name in the Hebrew scriptures. We have the name of God, Yahweh, sometimes Jehovah, and Jews would not say that name.

Oftentimes, they wouldn't even write it. They would just say the name or Adonai, Lord. That would be how we translate into English the word Lord.

Elohim, God, it's the plural form of El. There are differences of opinion as to why God is referred to in the plural like in places early on in Genesis 1. Some people point to the doctrine of the Trinity, but those are all essentially just Hebrew titles for God, for God the Lord.

I don't think there's anything wrong with any of those. I think the problem, Elias, is when people get so wrapped up in this that they miss the forest for the trees. I've had conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses who will say, oh, you Christians, you've taken the name of God out of the Bible. What's the name of God? The name of God is Jehovah. They've built this entire sect off of the name of God.

That's what they distinguish themselves by. The reality is the focus is not on how we pronounce the name of God or whether we get the right pronunciation. The question is, do you know God?

Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? I'm not saying that the name is insignificant. I'm just saying I think a lot of times we really get confused about these things. Our focus isn't in the right place. It isn't on the gospel. It isn't on knowing the Lord, the Lord God Almighty.

That's what we need to ask ourselves. All of those names that you mentioned, Adonai, Elohim, El Shaddai, those are just Hebrew titles for God, different titles. They're totally fine, brother. God bless you. Elias, thanks so much for your call, and thanks for listening to Core Christianity. Well, we have a brand new Bible study that we want to offer you today, and it's on a book that really trips up some Christians. It's a mysterious book. It's the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. Yes, written by the apostle John, as you said, Bill, the last book of the Bible and a book that is a mystery for a lot of people. You have a lot of that apocalyptic imagery throughout the book of Revelation, these sort of cataclysmic cosmic events. How are we supposed to understand them, and how do they relate to us today?

This resource is going to help you parse those questions out, and it is yours. It's a Bible study meant to be used for groups, but you can go through it as an individual as well. It would be hugely beneficial, I think, and it's yours for a gift of $20 or more. We'd love to have you get that in your hands or maybe have your small group at church sign up for it. By the way, if you order a certain number of copies, we will offer that Bible study to you at half price if you want to use it in a church setting. Here's what you do. Just go to our website corechristianity.com forward slash revelation to order that corechristianity.com forward slash revelation, or you can call us for that offer or any one of our offers at this number, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to an email that we received from one of our listeners, and her name is Margie, and she says this, Hey, Margie, thank you for that email that you sent us, and the language of being unequally yoked comes from the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 where he said in verse 14, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial, or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

We are, you are the temple of the living God. Under the old covenant, the people of Israel were called to not intermarry with the nations of the world, the people of Canaan as they were going into the land of Canaan. They were to marry only within the quote-unquote covenant community, that is the people of God, among the people of God, and there that was the Hebrew people now under the new covenant. It's the same, but the question is, is the person that you're with, that you're thinking about being with, are they in the Lord? That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 7.

He says, Look, if you're single, you're free to be married to whoever you want so long as they are in the Lord. That is a part of the new covenant community. And the big question that we have to ask here is, does this person know Jesus? Do they have a relationship with Jesus?

We might share a lot of similarities with our Jewish neighbors and friends, some of those same moral principles. You think about the Ten Commandments, for example, but the biggest question, the most important question for you and for everyone in the world that we have to ask ourselves is, who do I say Jesus is? Do I recognize who he is?

Do I have a relationship with him? And in terms of dating and pursuing a relationship with someone, as Christians, we should pursue relationships with those who are in Christ because there's no more important question than that, Margie. This is something where we don't want to compromise. Now, I know that we've all heard stories of individuals who dated and one was a believer, one wasn't, and then one of them, the person who wasn't a Christian, eventually they came around, they started going to church, that kind of thing. God can do anything he wants, but we're commanded, we're told not to be unequally yoked. And so I think wisdom for you, Margie, would be not pursuing a relationship with this individual, but totally having a friendship. There's nothing wrong with that. You can be friends, but don't let the relationship progress beyond that if this individual is not in Christ. You want to be with someone who loves Jesus and who prioritizes their faith, and you want to prioritize your faith in Jesus as well. Thank you for that question.

Great question. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Keith in Branson, Missouri. Keith, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, thanks for taking my call. Can you hear me? I can hear you, Keith.

Thanks for giving us a call, brother. What's your question? Great, so kind of a deep question, maybe three parts to it, but they all relate. Are the scriptures about homosexuality in the Bible valid today, or were they just specific to a cultural time or specific situation? With that, I've also heard that the words kind of translated to homosexuality in the Bible are actually, their original meaning is more so something along the lines of pedophilia. Either way, if those scriptures are still valid today in our time and culture, what do you do with people who are hermaphrodites or have both sex organs, something like that?

Very, yeah, I mean, all very important questions, Keith. One, no, the prohibitions regarding homosexuality that we find in the Old Testament and also in the New Testament, that is same-sex relationships, sex acts, those kinds of things, are not just cultural for that time. They're part of God's revealed will, his moral law in terms of our relationships, in terms of marriage, in terms of sexual purity. It wasn't just something for the Hebrews under the Old Testament or for the Greco-Roman world, that kind of thing as the apostle Paul was going about preaching and teaching. The word oftentimes translated homosexuality in places like 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

It's actually two words, two different Greek words that are used there. Really, what they're referring to are same-sex sex acts, not just pedophilia. It could encompass that, but not just that.

When people try to limit it to that, they're incorrect. That's not, I think, a faithful interpretation of the scriptures. The reality is, in that world, there were homosexual gay and lesbian relationships.

It's something that the apostles knew about and were aware of, and yet they were still calling the church to essentially what God's word had said and had said all along in terms of their relationships and sexuality. Now, the last part of your question there, again, everything in terms of some of those things you brought, you have to be handled on a case-by-case basis. We recognize that as a result of the fall, we are born oftentimes in all of us, really, in this broken condition. Sometimes that broken condition manifests itself in other ways through things like sickness or through other biological issues. I think we have to be sensitive to that and deal with those things as they come along pastorally, with wisdom, with love, with tenderness, and ultimately knowing that there's a massive hope for all people regardless of what their background is or what they struggle with. The hope is the hope of the gospel, Keith. That's what Paul tells the Corinthians.

He says, look, such were some of you. Some of you were engaged in these homosexual relationships, same-sex sex acts, but you were washed. You were sanctified.

You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. That's the hope that we have. That's the hope for the whole world, that God is the one who by the grace of the Holy Spirit and through the blood of Jesus gives us a new identity. Thanks for your question.

Thanks so much for your question. Let's go to Gaylene from Topeka, Kansas. Gaylene, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hey, Gaylene. Are you there? Gaylene, are you with us?

I think we lost her. All right, let's go to Lois who is calling in from Kansas. Hi, Lois. How are you? And welcome to the program. Hi, I'm fine. Hi, Lois. Thanks for— Can you hear me? I can hear you. What's your question, sister?

Okay. This is in regards to Catholicism. I know that the Catholics have changed the laws in their church about—the one about—oh, what is it?

You've got me all befuddled now. Do not pray to—do not put any foreign gods in front of me. You know? And they don't do that. They have taken that out of their laws.

This is what I understand. It's even in their catechism book. No, I'm not Catholic. You're talking about the statues that they have and the images that they'll put up in their churches? Right, and they also pray to Mary.

I know some that have had Mary gardens where they make a shrine to Mary, and even in the Gospels, when Mary and his brothers tried to see him, and he was told that, he says, who is my mother? Yeah. So is your question, why do they do that, Lois, or what's your— They respond to a Catholic in regards to that. How can we respond?

Yeah. Well, look, this is just a reminder for all of us that when it comes to worship, the worship of God, we have to stick to the word of God and what God has revealed to us in his word. We all have this temptation to add to the word of God and to be creative when it comes to worship, but God really cares about how he's worshiped, and we know, based on scripture, you think of the second commandment, for example, God didn't want images being made of him, of the Trinity, and people bowing down before them, serving them.

They would take part of the pagan nations, what they would do, and God, there's no way in which we can perfectly depict him, and that's the problem, is with those kinds of things, the dangers were miscommunicating who the Lord is and what he did. What you encourage is going back to the scriptures. It's there that God revealed himself. It's in the Bible that we have the clearest image of Jesus for us today. Go to the scriptures. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.