Sadie Robertson Huff warns against misapplying Bible verses on marriage to dating
Christian reality TV star Sadie Robertson Huff recently warned Christians not to take Bible verses intended for marriage and apply them to dating relationships.
In an episode of the "Whoa That's Good Podcast" posted to YouTube last week, the 25-year-old "Duck Dynasty" star and her husband, Christian Huff, discussed the topic of dating and relationships.
"I think sometimes we take these verses that are actually intended for marriage or intended for God's love for us, and we put them in a dating relationship. And I say 'we' because I used to do that," Robertson Huff said. "And it keeps us in dating relationships that we really shouldn't be in."
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She advised Christians who are in a non-marriage relationship to use "discernment" to figure out whether they need to "move on" from a particular issue in their relationship or just break off the relationship entirely.
"If you are not married and you are in a dating relationship, and someone is doing something perpetually that is wrong, ... I think that is when you go, 'red flag!' and break up with the dude," Robertson Huff said. "I think that is when you go, 'This person is showing me the side of his character that is not just a one-time mistake but actually a part of who he is and a sin he struggles with.' That should be a red flag to you."
But for those who are married and in a covenant relationship, she said couples shouldn't dwell on their spouse's wrongdoings if the other partner has apologized and asked for forgiveness.
Robertson pointed to 1 Corinthians 13:5, which states that godly love "keeps no record of wrongs."
"I do think that this verse is so important, and this has convicted me a lot in our relationship," she said, referring to her husband.
"It's so easy to be like, 'Well, you didn't do this,' or 'you didn't do that.'… Or 'remember one year ago when you did this.' You cannot do that. You cannot bring up all the past because one moment is going wrong."
Robertson Huff finds it essential to keep a clean slate over another partner in marriage because that's what God does for humanity.
"What if God was always keeping a record of wrongs over us? And I think that's the root of where that verse comes from," she said. "God is love. God keeps no records of wrongs. God's forgiveness washes over us. When the blood of Jesus comes over us, our sins are forgiven, and God loves us as new and as pure and as lovely."
In her marriage, Robertson Huff said constantly bringing up wrongs of the past "would just make for a really hard tough relationship with a lot of shame in it."
"For me to go; 'you know what? That's forgiven' and actually forgive him for it ... [and] not bring it up the next time something similar happens [and] not bring it up a year later when it has nothing to do with the context of what we're going through right now," she said.
She advised married Christians to approach each day as a "day of new mercies and a day of new forgiveness and a day of new opportunities."
Christian Huff shared that it's wise for couples to talk through things when disagreements arise, and one partner is tempted to bring up something from the past.
"It's easy for us naturally to keep records of wrongs. … The thing I have found is if you perpetually do that, then it's just so easy to just get bitter and just form resentment towards a situation or even towards a person if you constantly just knit-pick the things that they're doing wrong," he said.
"It's super difficult. We always want to knit-pick stuff, kind of keep score to feel better about ourselves."
Nicole Alcindor is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: nicole.alcindor@christianpost.com.
