Far Away

Hello, friends!

As I mentioned in my previous post, my girlfriend is away and we won't be able to chat for a while. When I chat with her I always tell her that I love her and I give her e-kisses and e-hugs. I always feel that typing those things is not enough, that typing those words is nothing like actually kissing her and hugging her and looking into her eyes while I tell her that I love her.

Sometimes an impulsive 2:00 AM cross-country trip is the only solution.
(In our case it would be cross-world.)
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At this point, I'd be happy just being able to chat with her and read about how her day went; telling her that I love her and sending her an e-kiss would be simply amazing.
This is a reminder to my future self to learn to appreciate the small things and not take them for granted.

Update

Hello, friends!

My girlfriend is going on a trip for some days and I won't be able to chat with her. I'm kind of sad and I didn't feel like posting, but I'm just leaving this little update here so you know what's going on.
Hopefully, I'll be in the mood for a longer post tomorrow.

Going to Church

Hello, friends!

As part of my trying to understand my girlfriend's religion a bit better, I went to church with her. It was kind of a weird experience.

My family is Catholic, so I have a Catholic background. I used to go to Catholic church when I was a kid (they are extremely pretty) and I was baptized as a baby. I was kind of expecting to see something similar when I went to church with my girlfriend. What I saw, though, was completely different.

Catholic churches, for those of you that never went to one, have wooden benches and they all point towards the altar and they have kind of like a step that you kneel on when you pray. There are saints, icons, and a big cross on top of the altar and Jesus is on the cross.

The protestant church I went to had many tables and people sat around them. There was breakfast before the service and a band was playing some music. The have projectors and a stage. Jesus is not on the cross (He resurrected) and there are no saints or icons of any kind. More than half of the service was the band playing and the projectors showing the lyrics so people could sing. The people singing had their hands in the air (I had never seen that before and I was quite surprised). I felt completely out of place.

Even though I felt that I didn't belong to that Church, I see that they have a great sense of community and I find that very important. I promised my girlfriend that I'd attend service with her every Sunday, even though I don't believe what she believes. I mean, I love her and I want to spend time with her and this is very important for her so I want to be part of it even if I'm not Christian myself.

I want to know if you'd be willing to attend a church / temple / mosque of a different faith than yours on a regular basis. If you have already done it, did you feel as awkward as I did? I'm really looking forward to your comments, particularly ThatBastardFromBellingham's since it seems that we have a lot of things in common, haha.

Children and religion

Hello, friends!

I'm going back to religion in this blog post.

Although I respect my girlfriend's religion and I want to learn more about it, it kind of scared me at first how I would feel about what would happen if we have kids. I don't want them to feel pressured into any religion (or lack of it).

I have talked about this with my girlfriend and she has told me that she wants to be able to teach our kids about Jesus Christ. I have no objections there, as long as our kids can hear what I believe in (or not believe in) and why. And they should have the option to believe whatever it is they want.

If you're not religious, would you be okay with having religious kids? If you're religious, what would you think if your kids decided they don't believe in the same things that you believe?

On virginity

Hello, friends!

Related to the last post, where I talked about my girlfriend's religion, I want to mention something else that is very important for a couple.

My girlfriend and I have been together for 3 years now and we plan to be together for the rest of our lives. The idea is to get married in about 4 years. Unfortunately for us (yes, for her too), she wants to remain a virgin until we're married because that's what the Bible mandates (or she thinks that the Bible mandates).

The Bible verse used to support that idea is Hebrews 13:4 which says: "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.". I think that verse is very ambiguous, but to her it's clear that we are not to engage in sexual activities until we marry.

I said unfortunately for her too because she obviously would like to have sex with me and the only thing stopping her is the Bible. I respect this, even though it's very frustrating for both of us, and I don't push her to do anything (that wouldn't be a nice thing to do).

Dear followers, have you ever been in a situation like this? Would you accept it if you were in my position or no sex is a deal-breaker for you? Let me know in the comments!

About religion

Hello, friends!

Today I want to talk about a delicate issue. As I mentioned before, my girlfriend is Christian and I'm not. I used to be an evangelical atheist but that has changed over time and now I'm agnostic. I really don't understand why she believes what she believes, but I respect it so it's not a problem for me. On the other hand, she thinks that believers and unbelievers shouldn't marry. She bases that belief on 2 Corinthians 6:14 which says: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?". She believes that the Bible should be taken literally and she thinks that that verse talks against interfaith marriages. But, even though she thinks she's going against what the Bible says, she loves me and she wants to marry me some day. Her family and friends are not that understanding, but we haven't had much trouble on that front.
Unfortunately, my girlfriend also thinks that unless I embrace Jesus as my lord and savior I'll go to hell. The idea of not sharing heaven with me makes her sad, but there isn't really much I can do about it. I quoted 1 Corinthians 7:14 to her, which says: "For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy". She considers that that verse talks about couples that married as unbelievers and then either the husband or the wife embraced Jesus.

I'll be talking a lot more about religion in the following posts, but I'd like to know if you ever dated somebody of a different religion (or religious, if you're agnostic / atheist / humanist / naturalist). If you did, did it work out? Would you date somebody that has a different faith from yours? Let me know your answers in the comments!

Age gap

Hello, friends!

Today I feel like talking about the age difference between my love and I. We don't find it to be a problem for us, but sometimes it does feel weird. Also, some other people find it objectionable (like our families).

My family thinks that our relationship might not be serious because she's so much younger than I am. I don't understand how they can think we aren't serious while we work so hard to keep the relationship working even though all the differences we may have.
My friends think I'm robbing the cradle (she's not underage, though. As I mentioned in my first post, she's 18).

Her family things that dating an older guy might not be a good idea and that she should find somebody her age. They think I might make her do things that she might not want or might not be ready to do.
 

For her and I the age gap is not a problem, but it is a curiosity: when I graduated from college she was just starting high school; I was in elementary school before she was born. Things like kind of surprise us a bit, but we love each other very much so they don't bother us.

Have you ever been in a relationship with an age gap (say, more than 5 years)? Did it make you feel weird? What did your families and friends think about it? Did it work for you or was it the reason why maybe the relationship ended? Please, let me know in the comments!