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My GF has a not so clean past....

JRO116

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and it bothers me still. Shes slept with more than a few guys..this was before i was in the picture..but since i met her, we been to church every weekend, regulalry study the bible, and she was baptized 2 weeks. ago...i know youre a new creation when ou are in christ, but knowing abou ther past still bothers me. I dont know her fulll past, i chose to not know it full because i feel it will just make me more insecure.


but who am i to say. i have a bad past. we all have bad pasts. what can i do to change my thought process on this?
 

Dave-W

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Just remind yourself:

"For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God." You, me, your GF, EVERYONE.
 
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Soyeong

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and it bothers me still. Shes slept with more than a few guys..this was before i was in the picture..but since i met her, we been to church every weekend, regulalry study the bible, and she was baptized 2 weeks. ago...i know youre a new creation when ou are in christ, but knowing abou ther past still bothers me. I dont know her fulll past, i chose to not know it full because i feel it will just make me more insecure.


but who am i to say. i have a bad past. we all have bad pasts. what can i do to change my thought process on this?

Interestingly, there is a thread floating around asking whether people would rather be in a relationship with someone who remained sexually pure, or who had a shady past and repented. The shadier that someone's past is the more they show how much God loves them, so you should do the same.
 
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JRO116

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I suspect that it's not that he cannot forgive, Dave, but rather that he can't forget. That is something he'll have to look straight in the eye and decide if it's worth wasting a potentially good relationship to hold onto.

nail on the head..I truly have forgiven her. it's just forgetting about it that's hard..like I'm not angry or bitter towards her, it just pops up into my head and it annoys me
 
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Albion

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nail on the head..I truly have forgiven her. it's just forgetting about it that's hard..like I'm not angry or bitter towards her, it just pops up into my head and it annoys me
I understand. And I really do believe that you have to force yourself to think straight on this matter, for the very reason that your feelings are understandable. By the way, if you succeed at this, I also think the annoyance will gradually disappear as the relationship develops.
 
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paul1149

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As with all of us, it's not her past that matters, it's her future. And what you think about that is largely contingent or whether you trust the sincerity of her conversion. If you do believe in her commitment to discipleship, then the next question is whether you want to be there as God's change agent as she goes through her sanctification process.
 
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Mudinyeri

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A. The wonderful thing about the past is that it has passed.

B. Why does her past matter? What if you didn't know about it?

C. In my experience, most people who are bothered by the past of another person are presently dealing with something relevant themselves. What are you dealing with?
 
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JRO116

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here's what I'm struggling with now...I don't know her full past...how many guys she's slept with, and anything else involved with that...do I ask her, and find out the whole truth?

God knows our past and still loves us...do I face my insecurity that will come with it, and find out anyway, and still show forgiveness and love, with knowing all she's done? or do I just forget it and move on
 
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Albion

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here's what I'm struggling with now...I don't know her full past...how many guys she's slept with, and anything else involved with that...do I ask her, and find out the whole truth?
This is a toughie, and it causes me to wonder what your benchmark will be--

And what's "more than a few?" Is that 24? If so, discard the assurances I've given. But would 6 guys=too many for you to love her while 3 is bearable, etc.? If that's what we're discussing, and her past is behind her I think that you already know what you need to know and you have to deal with that.

By the way, it wouldn't be wrong for the two of you to talk about the idea of fidelity and commitment, focusing on the future, and in a general and two-way manner. But if doing this tempts you to move into "How many men?" it would be a mistake IMHO.
 
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Razare

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and it bothers me still. Shes slept with more than a few guys..this was before i was in the picture..but since i met her, we been to church every weekend, regulalry study the bible, and she was baptized 2 weeks. ago...i know youre a new creation when ou are in christ, but knowing abou ther past still bothers me. I dont know her fulll past, i chose to not know it full because i feel it will just make me more insecure.


but who am i to say. i have a bad past. we all have bad pasts. what can i do to change my thought process on this?

If you believe in STD's and don't operate on a supernatural healing level, getting both checked out for STD's before marriage could be a good move.

And really, if you arrive at marriage, what matters is who does God want you to marry? If she is God's match for you, then what God esteems is what your focus should be. If she is not the person God wants for you, then she is not the one and her past does not factor into this.

Also, how committed to Christ is she? I mean if she is just tagging along with you to church and is doing it for you, that's very shakey, wishy-washy Christianity. If she actually became a Christian because she wanted to, that's different.

As for insecurity, I think we should always endeavor to be secure in Christ, and therefore, how the world evaluates us in terms of esteeming sexual partners or performance in the bedroom is irrelevant if we're mature. And with our culture it really does make us men feel like junk because 60%+ of women sleep with 30% of the guys or less. And maybe the numbers are wrong, but if you're outside that, it's intimidating. It's all negatives in God's kingdom, but in how the world evaluates us, this stuff is considered.

And so, I would say, if she evaluates you on this carnal level at all ever, she's wrong. And if she is a baby Christian as it seems, it's quite likely she would evaluate you on that carnal level. Christians take years to mature, and that's only if we apply ourselves diligently to God's word by renewing our minds. So the question is then her commitment to Christ, because even if she evaluates you incorrectly because she is a new Christian, she could grow out of that in Jesus and mature.

So me personally, I wouldn't trust a woman just because she converted. It would take more than that to earn my trust, and looks or a nice personality is insufficient if we go by scripture. That said, if you're both new/immature Christians (not intended as an insult), then maybe that balances out and you learn together.

But if you are mature in the faith by revelation of God's word, and she is young in the faith as you say, then I think the match might be unbalanced... one of the main reasons being is you probably have not even met who she really is yet. Took me over a year before any glimmer of who I really was in Christ started to pop out of me. Everything before that was a fake person who was dead and falling off of me.
 
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Razare

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here's what I'm struggling with now...I don't know her full past...how many guys she's slept with, and anything else involved with that...do I ask her, and find out the whole truth?

God knows our past and still loves us...do I face my insecurity that will come with it, and find out anyway, and still show forgiveness and love, with knowing all she's done? or do I just forget it and move on

You forget it and move on, but you forget it according to God's word, not by trying to forget it in your own strength.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. - 2 Corinthians 5:16

The reason you do this is to help yourself. If you stop feeling bad about such things according to God's word and value who she is in the spirit, this is a proper mindset that helps you. Her getting it all out would not help the situation anymore than you trying to forget it on your own.

And if you believe that verse completely, then if she does tell you everything, you wont care anyway, because if your heart and mind is renewed the question is irrelevant whether you know or don't know.
 
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seashale76

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here's what I'm struggling with now...I don't know her full past...how many guys she's slept with, and anything else involved with that...do I ask her, and find out the whole truth?

God knows our past and still loves us...do I face my insecurity that will come with it, and find out anyway, and still show forgiveness and love, with knowing all she's done? or do I just forget it and move on

No- you don't ask her. How on earth can her past remain there (all forgiven and forgotten) if someone is constantly trying to remind her of it and dragging it into the present? She didn't sin against you anyway, so there is no need for you to give her your forgiveness. This insecurity issue has nothing to do with her really. It's about trust issues and you somehow feeling that you are going to be compared to other men in a carnal way. You're not giving either of you enough credit here. Also, it's like somehow you've devalued her because her virginity isn't yours to take. Isn't a person worth more than that?
 
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FutureAndAHope

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and it bothers me still. Shes slept with more than a few guys..this was before i was in the picture..but since i met her, we been to church every weekend, regulalry study the bible, and she was baptized 2 weeks. ago...i know youre a new creation when ou are in christ, but knowing abou ther past still bothers me. I dont know her fulll past, i chose to not know it full because i feel it will just make me more insecure.


but who am i to say. i have a bad past. we all have bad pasts. what can i do to change my thought process on this?

Hi,

This is my natural mind ticking over. But I would say wait a little while and see how genuine her conversion experience actually is. It won't hurt to date her for a longer period. You should be able to pick up change. I don't feel anything either wrong, nor right with the situation, so I am not saying God is telling me anything, I am just using my mind. I have just seen Christian girls hurt by unsaved men pretending to be Christian, to get the girl. Then dump her into a worldly life style. Believe me when I say this, I am not saying this girl is in any way like that. But it is just a precaution. And in no way be judgmental to her, but just see how things go.

As for her past, it is gone. You should no longer be concerned by it. See her as pure. In a relationship the past may come up, but each of us who have gone from GF & BF to married suffer some disagreements and hurt. It would be no different in this circumstance. It will not ruin your life.
 
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dhh712

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and it bothers me still. Shes slept with more than a few guys..this was before i was in the picture..but since i met her, we been to church every weekend, regulalry study the bible, and she was baptized 2 weeks. ago...i know youre a new creation when ou are in christ, but knowing abou ther past still bothers me. I dont know her fulll past, i chose to not know it full because i feel it will just make me more insecure.


but who am i to say. i have a bad past. we all have bad pasts. what can i do to change my thought process on this?
Having been through this before, you ask God to help you have forgiveness. Also, pray for Christ to be in your relationship. It may take a while. Sometimes the only thing that can help is the passage of time. Do you trust her? You have to build a trust that she is not like that anymore. Building trust takes time. Those are the only things that helped me. (You are right not to question anymore about her past. The past is past. People do change. I have found it best to not know of sins of the past).

here's what I'm struggling with now...I don't know her full past...how many guys she's slept with, and anything else involved with that...do I ask her, and find out the whole truth?

If you want any chance for this relationship, you do not ask her. I am telling you that you are asking for a world of hurt to go down that route. You will regret it (and your relationship will probably not last).
 
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Cernunnos

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Sexual sins are no different than any other sin

You say her past occurred before you got together, therefore it isn't even your place top forgive her. Her sins were with other people, against God & Christ has cleared that account. Man, Christians get so warped over sexual purity! For every woman you have ever had an impure thought of, you have in your heart committed adultery. Did she forgive you for all that? Should she need to forgive you for that time in the store when you saw the female who looked ________ & you thought _____________?

Could on the other-hand be, we are all supposed to have grace toward each other. Seems like being Christ-like would be being pretty free and giving in the grace department.

Most of the time when people play the "my partner is impure ohnooz" card, what is going on under the religious strutting is insecurity. Was one of those guys endowed better, could one of those guys move better, will she be thinking of "him". .. or all they all bigger and better? Man, ya got to let go the focus on the physical & know you can offer a Godly relationship with real emotional intimacy and security . . stuff women really crave that men too often overlook. . .. but is written right in to the descriptions in the Bible about how a man should act toward a woman.
 
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Four Angels Standing

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and it bothers me still. Shes slept with more than a few guys..this was before i was in the picture..but since i met her, we been to church every weekend, regulalry study the bible, and she was baptized 2 weeks. ago...i know youre a new creation when ou are in christ, but knowing abou ther past still bothers me. I dont know her fulll past, i chose to not know it full because i feel it will just make me more insecure.


but who am i to say. i have a bad past. we all have bad pasts. what can i do to change my thought process on this?


Your girlfriend was Baptized and accepted Christ as her savior? She is a new creation, washed clean of her sins that God the Father does not remember.
___________________________Isaiah 43:25
Maybe also read Hebrews 8? Particularly verse 12.

Why then would you let the past of the prior sinner that she was bother you now?
Are you Baptized? You didn't mention that in your remarks in the first posting.
These verses may assist you in your Bible study. :)
Ephesians 4:32 "And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

1 John 3:19-20 "We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before Him, 20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things."
 
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