Spirituality question

Of course not. To say so is itself a type of reverse discrimination. (I'm a morally superior Christian because I am not limiting myself to a particular demographic when it comes to seeking a spouse) I'm not saying that I wouldn't have married someone from another race but I wasn't going to go deliberately seeking. And, I still wouldn't if I were seeking a wife.
I guess I'm really wrong then because in addition to remaining within my race I sought someone who was educated. I sought someone who came from the same socio-economic group. I didn't go down to the local transient trailer park and seek a spouse. I sought someone who spoke the same language, had the same values, shared the same culture, etc.

 

I know multiple couples, who are successfully and happily married, who are of mixed ethnicity in their marriage. Many are missionary couples who met on the field.

Yes, there are cultural differences that need to be worked out, and certainly there are heart issues in EVERY marriage, whether or not culture is actually a big factor (and I assume that culture is a big factor in every marriage -- the merger of two distinct families into one IS a big deal, culturally) that must be overcome, but the first command of every Christian is to LOVE unconditionally, and that includes marriage.

Arranged marriages actually have a better track record than do the dating/fall in love scenario, but that is not to say that we should run to arranged marriages! What we should do is run to wise marriage, where we learn of the biblical mandates and then put them into practice over and above our own needs or desires. In that, we begin to gain an understanding and intimacy that makes marriage work.

Further, marriage is God's way of demonstrating the truths of His kingdom, which will certainly be of every tribe, tongue, and nation -- all gathered together in love before His throne. We will not on that day point out the fact that one of us is black and another white, yet another yellow. We will look to our God and worship Him, arm-in-arm, in love, just as we do with our wife in marriage.

 

Being a respector of all persons does not mean that I can't be selective when choosing a spouse.

 

I don't think there is anything inherently sinful in seeking a bride outside of one's own culture (thought that was what I said above). But, that being said, the couple will need to realize that there WILL be issues to overcome.

I'm not even sure why you'd worry about being un-spiritual by not looking to another culture. I'm not sure we can conflate the two topics that you are working to combine. We can be guided by Abraham, who sent a servant to fetch Issac a bride from his people instead of marrying one from the new people in the new land. Jacob did likewise, but there were issues with "God's covenant people" in those cases. The Bible, for the most part, is culturally or ethnically blind. We seldom know the color, etc., of a person, which should indicate to us that God is not really all that interested in that aspect of humanity (apart from the fact that He is interested in everything...).

IF the primary reason for seeking a mate outside of one's culture is simply that they are not attractive or loving enough to land a mate within the culture, then there may be some other issues to discuss, but no harm to marry outside of the culture. As I said, I know multiple successful marriages that are definitely culturally and ethnically mixed and they are doing fine.

 

I completely disagree with that.


Marriage, by definition, is an exclusive relationship. We MUST prefer one to everyone else because otherwise we would be adulterous.

It's not appropriate to compare God's cross-cultural love for humanity with the relationship between a husband and a wife in this way.

God is not a respecter of persons in salvation, but he is also not seeking a committed sexual partner, either.

 

All things being equal between two candidates of different cultures I'd choose the one that is the closest match to my own and I see no reason why that would be a sin.