Fat Bald Guy is right.
Monty, you assume too much. My entire family and most of my relatives are perfectly aware I am a Latter-day Saint.
My wife’s here, she’s happy (except for missing home), we’re all happy. There has not been this much happiness and excitement in the extended family for ages.
She is well aware I am not a praticing Muslim. She asked me to throw out my Jewish paraphernalia, I refused, and she acquiesced. We are slowly coming to an understanding of each other. There is still time for us to grow and adapt.
Many of you seem to think I am doing this out of selfish motivation. The reason I got married is simple - I believe that a divinely-mandated goal of a human is to create a family. I firmly believe in and practice the social and moral aspects of my culture (which promotes arranged marriages), and so this is the way I chose to be married. I’ll have to think very hard to find a person in my extended family who got married outside of the arranged marriage network, at least a marriage that worked.
I did not do this for myself - I did this out of a sense of obligation to my family, culture, and greater cultural community. I could have been perfectly happy by myself or following the dictates of my own selfish desires. But instead I decided to bow down to what I believe is right and put away such childish, selfish, decadent ideals.
Do not be so judgmental and assuming of other people and their intentions. It’s because of this offhanded judgmentalism that I withdrew from this thread. It disgusts me that people would assume so much and develop a portrait that is so false.
For the LDS: I was fully active and faithful. My priesthood was still valid. Everyone around me knows who I am. They were also very aware I was marrying a non-member. The Church believes in families, and so I am going to start one. The Church advocates marriage within the religion, but there is no condemnation or excommunication for those who do enter an inter-faith marriage, even if the person will become inactive. True, it’s sad and undesireable, but the Church looks - rightly so - at the caliber and moral standing of the person. I have consulted with many Latter-day Saints - from bishops to temple presidents - and they all expressed a hope that my wife will one day accept the Gospel and we be married in the Temple, and otherwise wished us well. If she doesn’t convert, then so be it. If she does, great. I’m not going to force it either way.
Let me also remind my Latter-day Saint brothers and sisters that it is a sin to judge a person without knowing the circumstances they are in. Focus on your sins and faults, and leave me to mine.
Also, I never said I am a Christian and a Muslim. I said I consider myself both. Just as I consider myself Jewish (but not a Jew - notice the adjectival ending), Buddhist, Zoroastrian, and Hindu. In the end, we all seek to serve God. I don’t care by what name He is invoked or what label his path has.
What are labels anyway? People are willing to die and kill because of a label. I don’t think God sits and examines what labels we apply to ourselves.
My own philosophy of religions and religious groups is unorthodox, and perhaps rightly so. My ancestors have been Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim so far. Perhaps even Buddhist, Zoroastrian, and Jewish. My grandfather had a death sentence against him because of his unorthodox views.
Anyway, more later.
For those who were less inclined to assume and who expressed support, thanks.
WRS
