Jump to content

Leaderboard


Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/27/2012 in all areas

  1. 1 point
    This response greatly concerns me based on my own experiences in my first marriage. We were raised in different denominations but had agreed to disagree AND respect each others outlooks on religion. That all changed when she got "saved" All of a sudden she HAD to save me as well. Out of respect for her ( and the marriage ) I did re evaluate my thoughts and went to many services, meetings, etc. After about 6 to 9 months of this I came to the conclusion that I still held my original beliefs. I expressed this repeatedly and occasionally rather pointedly. She did not stop trying to save me. I shut down emotionally more each time she would bring it up. Eventually it killed all positive feelings I had for her and I stayed in the marriage for another couple years "for the kids". Only years later did I realize that by my NOT doing whatever it took to wake her up then to the fact that her trying to "save" me, was in fact sending the marriage down the tubes. To me it was a total lack of respect for the agreements we had prior to the marriage that we had concerning religion. In a nutshell - it changed the terms of the relationship unilaterally. Any time terms of a relationship are changed unilaterally then trust will be lost. When someone can't own and acknowledge their own actions like you are encountering more and more trust will be lost. No relationship can survive without total trust and transparency. Trust also includes your "safe harbor" of home. Being able to trust that your feelings are being respected at home is lost when you are always on guard for the next "sermon". If you want to save your marriage I would strongly suggest repeatedly making her aware of what you are experiencing from this behavior. Be sure to own that these are your feelings about it WITHOUT placing blame anywhere. Just cleanly express YOUR feelings. It is then up to her to decide whether she wants to remain in the marriage under the original terms of the marriage. She can also see if you are willing to renegotiate new terms of the marriage just like the two of you did when you started swinging. For your kids sake please be aware of how extreme zealots can be. I didn't early on and only later discovered how it was affecting them. 10's of thousands of dollars worth of attorney and psychologist's fees later she woke up and moderated what she was doing. ( nightmares related to the book of revelations at 5 years old ) I am seeing a LOT of the same resignation I felt at that point in time in your posts. Please don't make the same mistakes I did in how I handled it. Feel free to PM me for more.
×
×
  • Create New...