Unregistered

I don't have a good answer to this, but I've considered this from a sociological perspective. In cults, a marriage involves three people: the married couple + the cult leader. In this way, each family unit is easily controlled and directed according to the interests of the cult. I realize that they may CLAIM that Jesus should be the third person in a marriage. But it's really their idea of Jesus (more like Witness Lee's principles) that becomes the controlling factor in the marriage... it's simply an effective method of control. At the rate at which they are losing members, particularly young people, they are really getting desperate to retain people and produce more children for the recovery.

You're absolutely right that the Bible doesn't say that we can't marry someone outside the "recovery." In my view, the local church is actually twisting the "unequally yoked" concept and wrongly applying it to everyone outside the recovery. They're almost implying that those outside the local churches aren't genuine believers and are not good enough to marry those within the recovery. I've met many single people in the local churches who desire very much to be married but refuse to date outside the recovery (more like they're mentally hindered from doing so because they judge other christians so much)... it's honestly sad.

As a side note, I've noticed that FTTA alumni are only willing to marry other FTTA alumni... and excuse me, but did the Bible ever tell us to put certain christians on a pedestal?? It's as if FTTA and non-FTTA people are on different levels of value and are automatically incompatible. It's all elitism and no substance, if you think about it.