Thursday, November 15, 2007

Feeling like Solomon


I counseled a couple last night that presented me with a dilemma much like the one Solomon faced with the two women and the baby (1 Kings 3:16-28). This couple came to me to resolve their dispute, and here it is- she's a Christian, he's a Muslim, they are married with two children.....each of them wants to raise the children in THEIR faith! She wants to raise them Christian, he wants to raise them Muslim. How's that for a problem?
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I complimented him on being willing to come to a Christian pastor for advice (in fact the Koran tells Muslims to do that when they have questions) but the issues are difficult and eternally serious.
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As always I prayed, "Lord, HELP! What do I say to this couple? How do I direct them so both will work towards the right end?"
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Before I tell you what I said, what would you tell them? How would you counsel them?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd call YOU and ask YOU what to tell them. :)
AH!

Natalie said...

John and I chatted about this challenging question! This is our initial response...After listening carefully to their 'story' of how they got married, etc, we think we would have to speak truth knowing this would be extremely difficult for the Muslim gentleman... Doesn't the Quran speak of learning the teachings of Jesus... if He learns the teaching of the prophet, as they know Him, via the bible...maybe he would see the Truth. She on the other hand needs to pray like there's no tomorrow! Just thoughts....

by the way, I aboslutely love your blog! I am so encouraged by what you write! Thanks for sharing your thoughts everyday!

Anonymous said...

Honestly, that is a very difficult situation. I always wonder how couples with different faiths raise their kids. Essential, if you are a Christian parent and you are teaching your children about OUR faith, you are essentially telling them their other parent is doomed for hell unless they accept Jesus as their savior. That is a heavy matter to lay on a kid. However, it is truth. If the Muslim trains the kids in his faith, he is telling them that mom is a infidel and should be killed (if my understanding is correct).

But in answer to your question -- No clue. Absolutely no clue how to answer that one.

Pony and Petey said...

We talked with some friends of our's from church...they're missionaries with Christar and minister to the Bhora Muslims here in Houston.

I posed your question to them as I've been thinking about it alot. It opened up a very interesting conversation!

So can you tell us what you counseled them to do? Inquiring minds want to know!!!