I'm an 18 year old high school senior from PA. I'm attending XXX Univ. in the fall to study Christian Ministries. I'm passionate most about...
...loving like Christ did and does, and living somewhere "above the line."
Developing a relevant ministry in this postmodern time is, what I feel, my calling But before that, I'm striving to live a relevant ministry.
At about the same time I stumbled across both "Generous Orthodoxy" and "A New Kind of Christian" I met a girl. She's really cool and I like her a lot. We went out a few times for dinner and I found out that she's Mormon. Immediately red flags went up from my conservative evangelical upbringing and thoughts of not being "unequally yoked" filled my head. I also remembered how ineffective and dangerous "dating evangelism" has been preached to me at so many youth group events.
I sought out my pastor, with whom I'm very close, my parents, my sunday school teacher, and some other good men that hold me accountable. I got a wide variety of responses. The ones that stuck out most were..."You're heading into the lion's den...you can't compromise...get rid of her, cut things off completely." And I decided that I would uphold God's word over this earthly relationship....end things with her....and be happy about it...barely.
Then I got to reading some of your stuff and it hit me pretty good...kept me up at night and all. Some things that stuck out were that "Christianity doesn't own Jesus," we should strive to "make Buddhist and Muslim followers of Christ," and thoughts like that. That we're to serve and love everybody especially with different beliefs...learn about them. And even though maybe Mormon have some pretty crazy beliefs as part of their orthodxy...but my church very well may as well. So this wonderful girl and I talked a little about some things and I found, much like the guy in your book, that she likes Jesus too. She belives in salvation through Him.
So, I took my Bible, using it much like an answer book, and saw right there in black and white "can't be yoked with an unbeliever." I read and read through context and commentary and it seems so black and white...but then, it seems so devisive. And I believe that this Mormon girl won't take Jesus further away from me. So...I'm not sure if my understanding of the scripture is even in the ballpark of accepted theology or even emergent thinking. And I'm not sure if I'm trying to use this all to justify dating this girl for selfish desire. Whatever the case may be and may become, I'd really be interested in any thoughts you may have...
Answer: I wish I could give you the kind of specific counsel you need, but I think the best thing to do is encourage you to stay in touch with leaders and friends in your life and work this through with them.