I am currently very interested in this. Have browsed that subject here for a while without posting anything....(new here !!!)
(and sorry for the bad english beforehand ^^)
What you will notice very soon is a strong tendency towards: physical aspects are not soooo important, character is very important..... i think that is very very wrong... or at least kinda naive.(sry if i sound rude, i am very direct ^^)
First of all:
They make a huge difference between body/looks and character/personality.
If you observe people carefully you will notice that those two aspects correlate very much.
Sure, some of your physical traits are permanent, genetic, independent.
Your height, cheekbones, bodyhair, ....maybe voice, etc.
But a lot of other aspects are influenced tremendously by your character, habits, attention, good/bad experiences and many other things.
Secondly:
If there is something extreme with the looks: very skinny, obese, obscene clothing etc. there is usually a reason for that.
And that reason is more often than not a bad character-trait, a trauma and so on.
That does not mean that we cannot be crazy sometimes or do stupid things for fun or try out strange new styles ^^
You have to be attracted to the whole person. Not just the personality or the body or the fact that said person is seemingly a nice godly guy/girl.
I also have to correct the assumtion that beauty only fades and charater grows.
This growing character is then supposed to make shure the relationship becomes better, tighter, happier and outlasting.
What is left out, is that marriage(i assume that this is the goal) is "introduced" by god, but it is also a very worldly thing(in a positive way ^^).
Body/looks/bad habits are often one of the key points in a crisis and a main factor for a divorce.
AND THIS GOES FOR MEN AND WOMEN!
Especially in the first years, physical attraction IS KEY. Not everything, but very very important!!!
It helps to bind you together. It is comforting, pleasing, helps to stay loyal.
I am a guy so for me that is mostly the looks of a person(yes body, not inner beauty, body),
for women that could be the ..... higiene? for example?
no matter how much you like the personality, if your significant other does not take care of himself as
you like it. As is required to please you, then this is wrong of him and weakens the relationship.
And that also means that this is a problem of his character. So not just physical....
I belive many of the writers here mean well when they say that personality is so much more important.
(And if someone chooses only by looks than... well he/she probably is and idiot......nothing you can do.....)
But this is actually not ony christian wisdom. its what the whole world is saying.... look at every forum, chatroom, youtube channel. Tons of people saying how the body is not as important, "mind over matter" and so on.
But still everyone cheats, divorces, has affairs. And sadly, its the same in the christian community(at least in the USA/EU).
Porn, Photoshop and Video-Games may have twisted our sense of beauty into something unrealistic, ungodly which needs correction.
But beauty is important and NOT superficial