TO ANY MODERATOR: i have decided that the debate is starting to become stale and i've gained everything i could from talking with you all. i'd like to thank you all (except alabaster) for giving me a better understanding of what my girl is going through. your insight is greatly appreciated. i'd also like to thank you for being accepting of an atheist on your boards and not making an issue out of it or making an issue out of an interfaith relationship. i was quite honestly expecting a lot more "alabasters" and was pleasantly surprised at the understanding you all gave. i could not find any way to delete my account from the settings tab so i am kindly requesting that you delete my account for me, as i will not be returning to this site.
friendly atheist farewells ;) :waving
Hey FFTG;
If you've come back to read this, please re-consider leaving us! I don't know if the mods here delete accounts or not (in some forums they don't), but I think your presence here is valuable to all of us, including yourself. It has been good for us Christians to interact with you and be reminded that we are not as separate from the world as a lot of us like to think and say we are. I think it's been good for you as well as I think you have gained some understanding of what Jan will be facing from her Christian perspective in her relationship with you, and this will help you to understand and relate to her. There are other non-Christians that contribute and glean info from this site as well. Some atheists/agnostics, some from other religions, some just curious. In my short time here I've gained good insights from reading some of their posts as well, and it seems to have been a positive experience for many of them too.
For you in particular, if you continue your relationship with Jan, as I assume you will be doing, you may find that this site will be a help to you in the future to understand Christian perspectives when other issues come up. (You can also put Alabaster, as well as anyone else who's writing style really bugs you a lot, on your ignore list and you won't have to deal with them anymore!
)
Not all Christians see everything the same way. Many of us see a certain area as pretty black and white when, in reality, it isn't so. Jan is probably not that much different, and it may help both of you to relate to each other by seeing other perspectives of what is required of Christians from other members here. Who knows, you two may (probably will) run into an impasse on a subject that she feels she can not do your way, and you can not do her way. Maybe you both would learn that what she thought was required by God was really just a requirement that came from church traditions of from a misinterpretation of scripture. Since Christians are not required to follow man's traditions or misinterpretations, with that knowledge (assuming she learns her stance was based on mis-information) maybe she would be able to relax her stance and the issue would be solved!
I wish that could have been the case in this thread for you. Unfortunately, scripture does seem pretty clear on the subject, and it didn't seem that anyone had any information to show that there are any exceptions that would apply to you beyond the fact that some people have managed to make it work, at least for a time. But sometimes exceptions
are there, and someone who has studied it can give you insight!
Anyway, I wish you both the best of luck and hope you and Jan stay with us.
but dude, OCEAN VIEW. i was gonna say something along on the lines you better hope you don't see me cos i'll throw something at you but if you're going to OCEAN VIEW forget it 
