Bible Q&A: If There's No Flash of Lightning, Am I Born-Again?

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My husband and I have been together for 11 1/2 years, we've been married for 6 1/2. We have 2 beautiful children. My husband has recently been born again and now thinks our marriage is a sin. He was married before, his wife left him, they did try to get back together and that didn't work. All that happen 16 years ago. Because he was married before, does God honor my marriage ? (This is my first marriage.) Are we living in sin? -- Timber

Your question is a complex one, and it involves several components. In 1 Cor. 7, Paul advises a Christian person not to divorce their non-Christian spouse because that spouse might indeed be sanctified by the believing partner, and the children of such a marriage are called holy. In other words, Paul hardly suggests that a Christian married to a non-Christian is in any danger of being defiled or living in sin simply because he has a non-believing spouse. If you are also a Christian, but have not had a Christian marriage ceremony, it might allay your husband's fears if you had a service of consecration of your marriage celebrated by a minister.

Doing a comparison of twelve tribes list in Genesis 35 and Revelation 7, what happened the tribe of Dan? Could you explain why Joseph ends up with his own tribe plus the tribe named after his son? --Annette C.

The tribe of Dan, the northernmost tribe, was considered apostate in some circles of early Judaism, and so was replaced in some lists of the twelve tribes that appear around the turn of the era.

Who or what is the immoral woman mentioned in Proverbs 2:16-19? --Mourad

The woman in question is called a 'strange' woman in the Hebrew text. Then, in what follows in Prov. 2.17-19, it is made clear that she is an adulteress, one who has violated a marriage which was arranged for her when she was a teenager. The advice given may in fact suggest that the woman has gone so far as to become a prostitute, for it speaks of 'those' who go to her, referring to more than one. It is also possible, indeed likely, that the term 'strange' indicates we are also dealing with a foreign woman.

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