Requesting insight on a gospel based dilemma

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So many of you know i have tried to explain the true gospel to my husband who is Greek Orthodox.
I left the Eastern Orthodox Church over 3 years ago and gave not been back since.

I did ask my husband if he wanted to come tomorrow to Easter services tomorrow at the Baptist church I’ve been a member of since leaving orthodoxy.
He declined but thanked me for the offer. He knows I get sad when he says no to any invite.

But then he said , he’d come to the Baptist church if I would go to the Orthodox Church and he’s be willing to switch back and forth. I said then come tomorrow but he countered with “ we’ll start fresh” ( whatever that means ).

It’s possible he’s just trying to appease me but if not, I am seeking anyone’s advice on if I should take him up on this offer.

I’m torn because I do not want to reintegrate back into Eastern Orthodoxy given it’s very unbiblical teachings and mysticism.
However, I know the truth and if he would then come to the Baptist church, he could get some true doctrine and deeper teachings into scripture than he ever has before. He’s 64 and being raised in the Greek church, he has never attended any other church that is not orthodox.
It is actually prohibited by them to do so.

I have repeatedly interjected the faith alone gospel in discussions with him when an appropriate opportunity arises. But where he’d have to sit and listen to an actual sermon and based on his proposition, possibly many sermons as he would come more than once , if I go back to the Greek church more than once I’m mentally mauling over if I should just agree to it.

Everyone is welcome to share any advice , insights, pros and cons etc. because I’m not 100% sold on what God would guide me to do.

(Also, if it were ever to come to my kids seeing their dad venture from Eastern Orthodoxy into the Baptist denomination it could be a great influence on them )

Thanks to any who have any recommendations :heart:

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I would go. When I married my wife, I was staunch Catholic and she was from Baptist. She “humored” me and came to Catholic church, even went through education classes to become Catholic. It was during that time when she questioned the doctrines during class that I began to realize that i didn’t know the Bible and what I’ve been hearing at church all my life wasn’t completely right. 4 years after getting married, I became born again! Paul would do anything to win someone to Christ.

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That’s a sobering thought!
Thank you for your advice. :heart:

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Yes, show your husband that you respect his traditions. Keep your heart guarded and point out to him the inconsistencies you hear. We keep praying his heart will be softened and God convicts his family traditions. Your husband might feel like he’s betraying his heritage, but ultimately, the path one takes to salvation is personal. This is the part when we must love God more than our loved ones.
I know that if I were in your situation, my stubbornness would keep me from walking into his church, but by “humoring him,” he agrees to do the same for you. BUT GOD will do the heavy lifting of changing the mind of your husband. We keep praying for him and for you!
Be patient with your family and keep on leading by example, Stephmerm. If we have no other mission than to lead our loved ones to Christ, no matter how hard, how long, then we have fought a righteous battle on our own turf.
I pray this day will be full of peace, happiness and joy in your heart. :heart:

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Thank you Michelle :heart:

After pondering everything and realizing the same things unity e so eloquently pointed out, I’ll going to talk to him later today on accepting his offer.

I was a member for so long in Eastern Orthodoxy yet know the truth. So I will be on guard in a way as to hopefully start many dialogues on doctrine that he may be more receptive to because I am honoring his tradition and respecting his different beliefs.

Thank you so much I appreciate such wisdom.

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Just remember Stephanie that you are the only light n love in Christ your husband has… God is the author of everyone’s life story so when God decides it’s time for your husband to believe in the gospel of Christ, the Holy Spirit will do the work. God is blessing you for loving him and planting seeds. :yellow_heart:

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One True God, Almighty God. I grew up in a Baptist church and I thank God for the biblical basis of salvation they have believed in and taught ~ the One and only true Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ ~ 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 KJV. I also got saved through that Ministry. Back then, as a teenager- growing in the family of God, I have had questions and spiritual concerns. I had questions and GOD answered them in His own sweet time as I continued to seek His face, ask of Him and wait upon Him. Just to sum things up, James 1:22 KJV But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. John 13:35 KJV “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” I just thank GOD that He brought me to one of the Calvary Chapel churches in California that preach the whole counsel of GOD.

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As you pray about attending your husband’s church, ask God if He is sending you back there to witness to OTHER people who attend that church.

Answers with soft, gentle words spoken in kindness can be used as a bold firm witness. You know the Bible. If you are there for Bible study in addition to sermon, You may be able to help others! Perhaps it’s your mission field.

If he has agreed to attend your church with you, Go with your husband first to his church. Ask him ahead of time if wants to alternate, or go to both churches each weekend. I would figure out a way to go to both churches simultaneously. Perhaps you both agree to one month (or 4 weeks) of this plan and reassess at the end of that time. Put the PLAN on the calendar.

FYI- Instead of pointing out how “his church” is wrong (which we know it is); perhaps bring up an incorrect doctrine (just 1-2) from that days sermon, ask your husband if he believes it & specifically why he believes it.

You can always point out something that some people in Baptist churches believe in error. Baptism does not save you. Good works does not save you.

Just a few thoughts.

IMPORTANT: Remember, honey not vinegar.
Proverbs 31:26; not nagging wife: Proverbs 21:9 & Proverbs 27:15-16

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That’s great advice!
Thank you.

I told him last night I was taking him up on his offer so we’ll see how this works .

Of note . I was a member of his church for almost 30 years. Knowing it had much wrong. I left 3 years ago for good. I will never become a follower of that church again, so I’m not worried about that. More just wanting to get my husband exposed to correct doctrine.

What will be most difficult for me is seeing and dealing with the priest to whom I sent a 4 page letter when I left that laid out an explanation using scripture to each unbiblical teaching they have.

I have since spoken to him when he was on a call with my husband ( on speaker phone) and he was kind.

The other congregants that know me will, I’m sure, be curious why I haven’t been in years and will probably assume I’m “ back” ( probably the priest too).

This church is 60 miles from our home. So while I’m absolutely open to discussing the truth and lovingly exposing Eastern Orthodox error with anyone there, time is not always on my side but if the opportunity arises, I will be saying as best I can in the time allotted what I feel the HS is pressing on my heart.

My plan is to discuss a teaching heard during a sermon and then as you said, inquire my husband’s take and respectfully discuss it.

I do appreciate continued prayers , one that he follows through with this offer and doesn’t bail on me , 2 that if we do this , he will start to comprehend that there’s a different gospel and just all around unbiblical teachings and 3, that over time , the HS opens his eyes to leaving orthodoxy for good and joining me in a biblically sound church.

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60 miles. Wow. That is a LONG round trip drive! It must have been difficult to be active within that church and in that community. (Beyond significant doctrinal issues)

I’m hoping your current church is located closer to your home.

If people at his church ask “if you are back”, let them know that actually- you are active with a church closer to your home & also active with a church in Hawaii. That opens the door for great conversations! :grinning:

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I returned to the Baptist denomination.
My current church is less than 5 miles from my house !!

My husband has not actually physically attended the Greek Orthodox Church since covid.
He now watches online.

When we did go, it too about 50 minutes there and 50 minutes back.
The service was about 1 1/2 hour. My husband was also on the church board as Vice President and when there was a meeting after church , it was another 2 hours.
So we’d leave about 8:45 am and get home anywhere from approximately 1pm on a regular church day and about 4 pm on a church meeting day.

To be honest , we have some good bonding memories of our Sunday road trips.
But unfortunately I had to choose doctrine over everything else.

Old church :

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I am somewhere in the crowd photo

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New church :

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You should not go indeed (they will deceive you), except EXCEPT if God has a plan and he asks you to go!

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Yes, they will deceive but I know their deceptions.
I’m only willing to go if my husband reciprocates and comes to the Baptist church I attend as he said he would if I’d go to his church.

I told him I’d accept his offer but he hasn’t said anything.
So now I’m going to ask him when we’re going so he can come to my church because I’m not sure his offer was legitimate or just so he could get me to stop asking him to come visit my church.
We shall see!

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I pray he will follow through with the offer, Steph. And that God will use the opportunity in amazing ways.

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I personally would not appreciate being manipulated like this.
would you? I believe that we are to live our lives before others (our husbands) and thereby win them over. It truly is a Holy Spirit work and I don’t feel I can lay a course for Him to follow…He knows way more than I do about what exactly the folks I’m praying for need. If it flows on it’s own…fine. If it dosen’t I feel prayer and patience is the better way to go.

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@sojourner2
You can call it manipulation but I see it as getting him to a church that preaches the true gospel.

I’m not hoodwinked by the Eastern Orthodox Church but he is. And if it takes me going again to that church to possibly get him to the truth , then that’s what I’ll do.
Maybe God is creating this opportunity.

I have lived as best I can with a man that has been verbally abusive and even narcissistic as per many marriage counselors input. So when lush comes to shove I can deal with his ways and have for over 30 years ONLY WITH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT…… without his help, I would’ve divorced years ago.
BUT GOD!!! I know for a fact that I am with this man for a reason.
Living my life in front of my husband has not been a picnic and I have been mocked and criticized for many years for standing on biblical truth and NOT caving to the works based / unbiblical teachings of Eastern Orthodoxy. I have been called a religious freak, lambasted for watching Christian programs ESPECIALLY anything about prophecy, told I’m crazy, threatened with divorce for leaving the Orthodox Church and much more. So maybe I am living as I should given what I could
say is a” persecution “ of sorts at least in a milder form than many deal with but persecution none the less by a man that tells me he loves me.

I am not perfect and I know at times I could’ve handled our differing beliefs better. However, my stubbornness and love for his soul, his family’s souls and my kids souls is why I’m still with him and why I continue to fight for their eternal destiny.
Yes, it is the work of the Holy Spirit but that doesn’t mean I do not take any and every opportunity to point them to the truth.

Regarding minding being manipulated: it isn’t new to me and it’s been a long emotional marriage and NO, I don’t like it but living with my situation doesn’t mean I can sit idly by, be a doormat at times and then when all is said and done explain to God Almighty as I stand before him giving an account why I wasn’t PROACTIVE in whatever way possible to lead him to truth.

He does not, I repeat does not read the Bible. He gets weekly sermons that are many times about church “ saints “ that turn out to be legends or fables and are not found anywhere in scripture. He asks me after a sermon by the priest if the story is in the Bible and in most cases , they are not but are merely stories passed down through traditions and speculations from one generation to the next. Yet, most in the church believe these stories to be biblically based. He asks me what certain biblical terms and phrases mean such as once asking what “ the blood of the lamb “means or during a documentary on the history channel about the tomb of Jesus and when they opened it
If and I quote, “ was he in there?”

There is an ignorance that requires purposeful discussion and correction that is a separate necessity aside from living my life in front of others. Actions are vital but so is verbalizing what is biblical and what isn’t biblical. It’s a lot of work and it is draining but it’s my Esther’s “for such a time as this “ existence and I’m ok with that.

The Holy Spirit will work as he wills and that includes working through me, a Jesus loving, heresy hating stubborn wife of a Greek man that deserves such a wife so that he can NEVER say. “Why didn’t you tell me”?

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God bless you and keep you in your righteousness, Stephmerm. I’m in total agreement with your approach and never ceasing to point others in the way they should go.

I, too, have a husband who never read the Bible until he was railroaded, convicted of a crime he did not commit and sentenced to prison for 4 years where Jesus convicted his heart to use his time in prison to open up a Bible. He was actually witnessing to me from inside that place and I knew the Holy Spirit was working in our marriage and in our hearts… until he was released. He has all but abandoned his walk and we are definitely not on the same page, biblically, spiritually, intellectually, or anything. We now seem to just cohabitate.

I continue to remain quiet as pointed out in JDs Bible Study last week and was very encouraged by that sermon. I must continue to live and cohabitate by example with a man who says he loves me, but it under the curse of worldliness.

You and I must stay the course because I know in my soul that God is not finished with our marriages and family. Keep up the good fight and know I’m in it with you!

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Thank you @Michelle for sharing your situation and such encouragement. That is more helpful than I can explain.

It is like cohabitating but I know it has a bigger purpose and there’s still hope so that does make it more tolerable. Many times I respond more in the flesh than through the Holy Spirit but I too am a work in progress and see God working in me despite me :sweat_smile:
I always liked roller coasters but not the emotional kind :unamused:…… but God!

Onward Christian soldiers🤺
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