12-29-2009, 08:00 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-05-2016, 03:22 PM by Director Michael.)
I have a question in regards to married Noahides, if a Noahide is married, and their Gentile spouse or children follow a man-made religion. Obviously, in a perfect world, this would not be an issue. Since the vast majority of observant Noahides were originally involved with other faiths, this seems to be a challenge.
Here are a few examples:
1) How far should it be pushed to not have any idolatrous books or items in the home? If it would cause major discord in the marriage to discard such items, how should this be handled?
2) Prayer: If a Noahide leads a prayer to the God of Abraham for the family at mealtime, their spouse who follows another religion may be saying the prayer in their heart to "the God of Abraham" as they have been taught from the doctrinal perspective of their religion. Should a Noahide refrain from open prayer in such an instance?
In general, it seems to me that you can't push the faith of the Noahide laws on a spouse or family member that believes otherwise. I think a better approach is to live according to the laws, and hope that the gentle persuasion of your actions and lifestyle convince them to follow suit. Is this the best approach? It seems that there is a balancing act that needs to be done to maintain family harmony while also staying faithful to the Noahide laws. In my case, I love my wife and sincerely pray that she will become an observant Noahide in time, but I am not sure of the proper path to encourage this.
Here are a few examples:
1) How far should it be pushed to not have any idolatrous books or items in the home? If it would cause major discord in the marriage to discard such items, how should this be handled?
2) Prayer: If a Noahide leads a prayer to the God of Abraham for the family at mealtime, their spouse who follows another religion may be saying the prayer in their heart to "the God of Abraham" as they have been taught from the doctrinal perspective of their religion. Should a Noahide refrain from open prayer in such an instance?
In general, it seems to me that you can't push the faith of the Noahide laws on a spouse or family member that believes otherwise. I think a better approach is to live according to the laws, and hope that the gentle persuasion of your actions and lifestyle convince them to follow suit. Is this the best approach? It seems that there is a balancing act that needs to be done to maintain family harmony while also staying faithful to the Noahide laws. In my case, I love my wife and sincerely pray that she will become an observant Noahide in time, but I am not sure of the proper path to encourage this.