Orthodoxy and non-Denominational Christianity dating

[suzybeezy]

Ok, my daughter is dating a boy who is orthodox. He is an alter boy in his church. Although he's 18 and I'm not sure how old the age limit is on this. He's apparently very committed to his faith.

We are non-Denominational, most closely associated with a looser version of Assembly of God. My daughter too is very committed to her faith.

I'm wondering how these two faiths will work together as they move forward.
I'm positive our church services are extremely different. She said they talk religion all the time.

So what are some of the differences I can tell my daughter she should be aware of?

 

[suzybeezy]

anyone want to take a stab at givin' me some input on the possible differences?

 

[djsterf]

View on spiritual gifts, especially sign gifts, and the flow of the Spirit (liturgical vs. semi-structured).

Ultimately, the most important quality is outlined by Paul in 1 Cor. 7 & 2 Cor. 6 -- Believers need to marry (and presumably date in wisdom) Believers, but the above might be a big point of contention.

 

[Jerushabelle]

Is it a silly question to ask orthodox what? I'm orthodox or what many want to call literalist in my faith.

 

[suzybeezy]

I've since found out he's ukranian orthodox, if that helps. I think his church service may be more ceremonial than ours, but I could be completely wrong. I feel very uneducated and would like to be better informed prior to my daughter getting too heavily involved with this boy.

 

[Jerushabelle]

You know Suzy, I'd be willing to bet there are some nice folks over at Ancient Way forum that could talk to you about this. Drop in and ask. They might not want to do it on a forum but rather in PM. It's worth a try.

 

[CMDRExorcist]

Hello, Suzy. You mentioned in your posts that you felt uneducated. I recommend that you do a search for his religion and find out some more specifics about what he believes and what his religious practices are. I believe that you should open your heart and learn about him and perhaps you can open a door for him to do the same for your daughter’s way of faith. I wish you and your family blessings and happiness through this.

God Bless,
Wesley

 

[suzybeezy]

All good points, thanks guys!

 

[Aibrean]

I will say that if it ever gets as far as marriage you're going to be having it at an Orthodox church. He would have to renounce the faith otherwise (the Orthodox believe marriage is a sacrament - God working his grace - outside of the Orthodox church it may not be). It probably would be a good idea to ask in the Orthodox forum what they believe in specifically. It's not "ceremony" as much as it is tradition and liturgy. Liturgy is the order of service and Orthodox doesn't vary too much in style from Roman Catholic. It's just more structured and reverent.

The original church (i.e. the first church) existed peaceably until they couldn't agree on certain doctrines. This lead to a split in the church (1054 AD). One side became the Roman Catholic Church and the other became the Orthodox Church. Orthodoxy has what I call racial splits (Ukranian, Greek, Russian, etc) where services are conducted in those languages and the people are very culture-based, however that bears no change on their beliefs.