Among our dear brothers and sisters, there are marriages with serious problems, because sometimes one spouse is in the faith and the other is not. Maybe this means disunity in many things because while the converted spouse loves the Lord and is willing to live according to Him, the unconverted follows the world and does not care about herself or her faith. These are truly delicate and painful cases where special heavenly help is needed.
Although some of these cases are very difficult, as believers we must not cherish the idea of abandoning the spouse. For such cases, many years ago, a precious inspired instruction was given: "And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him." 1 Corinthians 7:13. Why should not the believer leave the unbeliever? The servant of God answers: "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy." 1 Corinthians 7:14
Every follower of Christ will accept the will of God rather than his or her own conclusion, which can often be wrong. In all cases, referring to a situation in which the husband was the unbeliever, the Spirit of Prophecy gives the same advice.
“The husband and father is not a believer, and everything is made hard for the mother in the training of her children. The husband is a profane man, vulgar and abusive in his language to her, and he teaches the children to disregard her authority. When she is trying to pray with them, he will come in and make all the noise he can and break out into cursing God and heaping vile epithets upon the Bible. She is so discouraged that life is a burden to her. What good can she do? What benefit is it to her children for her to remain at home? She has felt an earnest desire to do some work in the Lord’s vineyard and has thought that it might be best to leave her family rather than to remain while the husband and father is constantly teaching the children to disrespect and disobey her.
“In such cases my advice would be, Mothers, whatever trials you may be called to endure through poverty, through wounds and bruises of the soul, from the harsh, overbearing assumption of the husband and father, do not leave your children; do not give them up to the influence of a godless father. Your work is to counteract the work of the father...”The Adventist Home, p. 348
By Antonino Di Franca
