DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM? IS SOMETHING BOTHERING YOU? WRITE TO: TELL ME PASTOR, DR. AARON DUMAS, P.O. BOX 188, KING STREET, KINGSTON. TELEPHONE: 929-1667/8. E-MAIL: PASTOR@JAMAICASTAR.COM

Dear Pastor,

I live in America and my boyfriend for almost two years lives in Jamaica. Things were going great until I came down to Jamaica and went to church with him, and the members found out that I am Seventh Day Adventist. From that moment they all hated me. My boyfriend kept telling me that his church is having prayer meetings for us to break up, and he is begging me to switch.

I told him that I would rather be dead before I switch because being a Seventh Day Adventist is who I am, and I do not believe that only one set of people will make it to heaven. There will be people there who never even set their feet inside a church.

church looking for someone

Three months later, he told me that his church is looking for someone for him to marry and he is begging me to switch. At this point I didn't know what to say because the whole thing sounded so crazy. It was hard to believe, but I noticed that he was acting different. Instead of calling every night as he used to do for over a year, he was now calling every other week, and when I called, I couldn't get him.

I called his phone last Sunday and a lady answered and said that she is his wife. She said that they got married in December and she asked whether he had told me. I told her no, and that a week ago we were planning our wedding. Later that night, his brother called and said the church forced him to get married.

pastor and members

The following day my boyfriend called and said that the lady was lying; he is not married. I told him what his brother said. Then he admitted that he was married, but it was the pastor and the members who forced him to marry the girl. They called a meeting and showed him verses in the Bible which say he should listen to them and get married in their church, or go to hell.

Pastor, please help me. How can someone go to hell if he didn't marry a person from his church? He only knew the woman for eight days. How can I trust him again? Yet a part of me still wants to be with him. Is that crazy? He is a damn jackass and he does not deserve me.

C. P., Ma, USA

Dear C. P.,

I am having difficulty in believing your so-called boy-friend. But you seem to accept everything that he told you. The church might have discouraged him from marrying a Seventh Day Adventist, but they could not have forced him to marry someone else he met for just about a week. He is a liar. And you should stop accusing the members of the church by saying that they hate you. You should know that is nonsense.

This guy has no shame. He is wicked. He has been lying all along. Even after he got married, he was not speaking the truth. I don't know why he is claiming to have been a Christian and is so crooked.

I don't believe that the church told him he would go to hell if he didn't do what they said. You would be a fool to believe him.

You have lost nothing. You should consider him as nothing. He is a nobody. In your mind, you should bury him.

Pastor