Sleeping with two of my cousins

Dear Pastor,

I am 25 years old and I am having a little struggle. I am a schoolteacher.

I am sharing a house with two of my female cousins and they are very good to me. I was looking around for a place to live and couldn't find anywhere, so they suggested that I live with them and share the bills. I considered it seriously and decided that I would do so. I started to cook my own meals and they objected to that, so we cook one pot.

Everything was going well until I found myself loving them both. These women and I don't serve at the same school. I did not know this would have caught me. I never thought that I would have had sex with my cousins. But when it first happened, my cousins said I should not look at them as cousins - I should see them as my girlfriends. They had boyfriends but they weren't getting any help, so they were glad for my help.

I have a girlfriend, but she does not know that I am related to these girls. My conscience doesn't bother me any more. It is costing me $30,000 when I add up everything, which includes food. I do not know how I am going to handle this and for how long, because my girlfriend is making demands on me. But these girls are good actors, because when my girlfriend comes around, everybody lives as one. I sometimes have to take her home and come back.

What I want to ask you is this, is it wrong for me to have a sexual relationship with my cousins? Please don't tell me it is wrong because that would just make me kill myself. My girlfriend is 26 and when we started our friendship, she was my first. She is half-Indian. Please Pastor, give me a good advice.

O.S.

Dear O.S.,

Let me have another really good look at your letter. You are 25 years old. You were trying to find a place to live and your cousins told you that you could live with them and share the bills.

That was not a bad offer, except for one thing. When you realised that you could not keep your penis in your underwear, and this was going to cost you much, much more than lodging, you should have backed away. You should have considered that you already have a girlfriend. You should not have got involved with these girls sexually. Perhaps these girls threw themselves at you, but you showed weakness.

I know that in certain parts in the United States of America, it is not illegal for second cousins to get married, but not first cousins. I have never encouraged cousins to get married. I have seen the problems that has caused. The Bible does not encourage it and in the olden days, it was strictly condemned. It was strictly forbidden because of bad genes.

So, sir, I am telling you now, run away from these types of relationships; run away. Bring an end to this matter without delay.

Pastor