The answer to your question can be found in the following verses of Scripture:
Do not intermarry with them (people of the land of Canaan). Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.In this text, God is speaking to the Jewish people. These are the people with whom He made His first covenant. They are preparing to enter the land of Canaan and drive out its inhabitants. God is giving them instructions regarding how they are to deal with these people.
This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
(Deut. 7:3-6 NIV)
In verse four He's telling them why they weren't to intermarry. It's not a racial issue, but a spiritual issue. God didn't want them to marry someone with different spiritual values than they had. He knew that these differences would cause them to serve the Canaanites' false gods. Israel did not obey God concerning this issue; every time they intermarried they fell into idol worship.
This is why God tells the Christian to only marry another Christian (2 Cor. 6:14-18).
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Joe Cameneti Sr. is the lead pastor of Believers Church, located in his hometown of Warren, Ohio. Pastor Joe, along with his wife Gina, pioneered Believers Church in 1983 following his graduation from Bible School.
In addition to leading a thriving local church, Pastor Joe is the host of a weekly show called "BCTV." The program is aired locally, reaching over 30,000 people each month.
Pastor Joe is a gifted communicator, skilled in the art of building bridges to unchurched America. Transparent and authentic, you'll walk away challenged and encouraged to connect with God in a deeper way.
