Family against dating a non-Greek

[dunno]

I have been dating a Greek-Australian girl for the past seven months a I love her to bits. She feels the same way about me but since her family found out they have been giving her a very hard time at home.

She was born in Australia, is the same age as I am (29) and is still living at home. However her Father does seem quite extreme in his views towards marriage outside the Greek community - he has refused to attend weddings of a nephew and a niece of his because they both married Australians. Also, he has been quite outspoken about his views on dating/marriage outside the Greek community.

I would have no problem learning to speek Greek, nor would I mind 'becoming' Orthodox ( I am a pretty lapsed catholic and my girlfriend only attends church once a year at Easter anyway) , but this doesn't seem to be the issue.

My girlfriend reckons that she could put up with the abuse etc. she will get but is afraid that if she tells her Father that we are seeing each other (he knows that we were together but doesn't think that we are still seeing each other) that he will never talk to her again.

Does anyone out there have a similar experience ? And if so how did you resolve it ? How did your parents react and how are they about it now ?

Any advice would be very much appreciated . We are mad about each other and this whole crazy situation is wrecking both our heads .

[WHEELER]

This message is old and so the participant is not here and the problem is either still on or is settled. Either way I leave an aswer for posterity.

What the father is attempting to do is maintain the Greek tribe. Race-mixing is condemned in the Old Testament. The Hebrew tribes were only to marry within one's tribe. It is for the sake of preservation of the tribe. If inter-marriage continued the tribe will disappear.

The Father is right in not attending other marriage ceremonies. He is teaching by example and through example hopefully shows that intermarriage is wrong.

There are exceptions. Ruth in the Old Testament, a Moabitess, marries Joab a XXX, the future ancestor of Jesus. There are exceptions to the rule but when the exception becomes the rule, it then becomes wrong.

Racemixing, if one has a love for his tribe, is wrong. It is up to patriarchs to enforce this. The responsiblity for the tribe is up to the patriarchs.