Mr Delicious & MDGood, I also am a Christian and I know what you're saying about the scarcity of good-looking Christian women. They end up marrying the first obese nice guy that asks them out, hence my recent posting about a guy's looks not being the ticket.
It is interesting that some of the Reformed Christians of centuries ago, such as Samuel Rutherford (one of the Westminster Confession's authors) held the view that it was not a sin for a believer to seek out a wife who was not a Christian, as long as she was an adherent to the Reformed faith. A big problem with modern Fundamentalism is this myth that the Bible forbids marriage between believers and unbelievers - it simply does not. The "unequal yoke" so spoken of merely refers to the danger of religious alliances between Christians and Pagans, nothing else; otherwise a Christian married to an unbeliever would be guilty of the crime of having "concord with Belial" by abiding married to the unbelieving party. Of course, the ideal is to find someone who shares your beliefs. Sadly, I found all of this out after I had broken up with the girl I adored, to whom I had been engaged for 5 years, and all because I was deceived by the "unequal yoke" rule...
As for alcohol consumption, again, the temperance movement is the product of 19th century pseudo-revivalism and is nothing short of Phariseeism. Bluntly stated, the Bible does not forbid alcohol consumption. Yes, drunkenness is condemned, and put on a par with gluttony (a sin seldom condemned today), but mere alcohol consumption itself is perfectly legitimate. Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, the Puritans et al, all had no problem with alcohol consumption in moderation; indeed, Luther once wrote to his wife, a brewster, commenting on how much he missed her and also the wine he loved, and he signed the letter, "your lover, Martin Luther". Your lover???? What a worldy uncouth, disgrace to religion that man must have been, would be the cry of the pietists today. But true religion is nowhere near as restrictive as our present-day Pharisees make it out to be. There are many lawful pleasures they themselves decide are sinful, and they act as a kind of "fun police" to everyone. A rotten advertisement for religion is what they are.
Returning to the problem, I think you should try to get a Christian babe if possible, because it would make things so much easier for you later in a LTR, plus you would not have the worry of grieving over her lost condition if you went for an unbeliever, which is a terrible burden to have to bear. But remember, it is better to marry than to burn, and marriage is pre-eminently a sexual thing in Scripture, NOT a purely spiritual thing, as so many aver. Don't let any of the Pharisees con you into thinking you should marry the first fat, ugly girl with a good heart just because she makes a profession; I know a minister who made this error and he ended up running off with his organist, and why? Because he wanted a woman who turned him on, not a sexually bland or repulsive oaf, irrespective of her personality and other qualities. Like I said, marriage, as the Bible explicitly states, is pre-eminently about passion and sex, not spiritual empathy. The latter, not the former, consideration is the minor one. Therefore, make sure you go for a girl you could lust as well as love.
