Lifting of the Veil

Submitted by sandie (United States), Jan 4, 2008 at 23:23

Ok ladies,

I have been lurking here for 5 months or so. At first I thought everyone here was just bitter because their marriage didnt work. But now I am beginning to see the light as the Lord is lifting this muslim veil I have been wearing since meeting( online) a jordanian man.

To begin with, I met him on a Christian dating website. Where he was to disclose his faith, he put" prefer not to say". Being Armenian, I am attracted to men in the middle east but I wanted a CHRISTIAN, which is why I went to a CHRISTIAN WEBSITE.

Anyway we began chatting last april, became very close in our thoughts, our hearts, our ideas, we kind of bonded very quickly and very securely. We email and chat on msn and call and text eachother each day. If a whole day goes by and one of us hasnt heard from the other, we call to see if they are ok. He has poured his heart out to me in a way no man ever has. During some very personal issues, I was able to confide in him and lean on him for support and understanding, he is soft spoken, polite, considerate, loveable and handsome.

He has wanted me to go to Jordan to visit but being honest, I suffer from panic attacks, have never been out of New England, and have never flown. I want to see him but I am just too darn scared to fly. It may be difficult for him to come here but he is trying, he is in the process of filling out papers for his visa. He suffers from Polio, which I have seen on webcam, this may make it easier for him to come here or it may make it harder, who knows?

The problem? Well, he told me and I do believe him, that he ws born in Bethlehem, and during"the war", when he was a baby, his mother and him had to flee and took refuge in a catholic church, he said the priest there gave him his name, Basel. It was there that he caught polio and 200 other children as well. He did disclose his polio to me right off the bat because he said most women dont want someone who is crippled. To me, this only added to his beauty. He said after the war his family could not return to Israel so they settled in Jordan.

Little by little he has become " more muslim" than I first thought. I have tried to witness to him and tell him about the Lord and does tell me he would read a bible if it were in arabic. There is a missionary from a baptist church I know who went to amman on a mission trip and stayed with a JORDANIAN pastor 's house. This jordanian pastor happens to know Basem, and his family. They are aware of our relationship.

But while waiting on this to occur, I noticed that during Ramadan, he wasnt online as much, when I questioned him he told me his entire family celebrates it and he goes along with it. Ok I will give him that much. There are non practicing christians who celebrate christmas and easter so who am i to judge?

Then came EID, again, another muslim celebration, this time he got more into it, supposedly, ate the slaughtered sheep/lambs is what i think he meant. I dont knock him for this, however, I do wonder just how muslim he is. When I questioned him on somethings from the Koran today he became very defencive, told me he didnt want to talk about it, he wanted to only talk about "love". After some gentle but persistent nudging, he opened up a bit about it. He is twice divorced( but how do i know)

I truly do feel he loves me, he has demonstrated that to me so many times and through such tough times for me, in my heart i find it hard to believe he would waste all this time , energy and money on my for communicating if he didnt feel something worthwhile. I do believe we love eachother but this muslim thing has me scared. Especially the suras that refer to marriage, they just take other wives like it is a draft beer or something, dont smoke or drink it is a sin, but have 4 wives and you will be happy? This is twisted.

He does know about the catholic faith from being raised in the church, and he said when he left there the nuns would come and visit him to make sure he ws ok, etc... I am Orthodox Armenian so I know he isnt saying this just to please me. The two faiths are very different indeed.

I guess what I want is some advice. Him being Muslim is the ONLY issue for me. It truly is the ONLY issue. I will in fact follow the Lord, I have given Basem, a mental deadline, have not told him this, it is only for me to make a decision. I will give him 6 months. If he doesn't convert, I must leave him. The question is HOW? Because I truly do love this man. He is the other half to my heart. His face lites up on webcam when he sees me, he sends my grand daughter cartoons, he loves her too, he is like a little kid when she is on webcam too with me.

I need help ladies, please help me.

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