Contentment in singlehood
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If you know anybody has a dad and butler searching for a spouse for them, let me know.
I'm advocating for submission to fate, be it singleness or marriage. Be content with what God has given you.
So you're advocating sitting on your thumbs and doing nothing.
Farmer: "I was going to water the crops, but then it rained. Then I was going to tear the old barn down, but then a lightning bolt hit it. So now I'm just sitting here waiting for an earthquake to shake the taters out of the ground."
Which biblical characters waited on "God's timing and arrangement" to get married?
Well, I guess Adam and Eve.
Abraham and Sarah? The Bible doesn't say anything about God arranging their union.
Isaac and Rebekah? Abraham told his servant to find a wife for Isaac among the Abraham's family rather than the Canaanites. This servant also prays for a sign to identify the one that God "appointed." Of course, this doesn't mean God will work the same miracle for us. Yes, God blessed Isaac with a wife. Doesn't mean he'll work this miracle for a Christian in the modern age. Isaac and Rebekah were also blessed with children, for instance. That doesn't mean God will bless every married Christian couple today with children, does it?
Besides, God’s plan for Abraham’s family, the "Abrahamic Covenant" we see in Genesis 12, was to make Israel a great nation, give them the land of Canaan as a home, and use that nation to bring a special blessing to every family on Earth. God would use this lineage to save and bless every other nation. of course, Christians today are under a new covenant. Through this new covenant, God forgives our sins and brings us into fellowship with Him. But nowhere does this new covenant promise us marriage. Nor, for that matter, does this new covenant require us to stay single.
The Bible doesn't say anything to the modern Christian about waiting on "God's timing and arrangement" to get married. In 1 Corinthians 7:39, Paul even says a Christian widow who wants to re-marry can marry whoever she wants, as long as he's a Christian.
Well, yes, I agree. But that advice is different advice than "Don't bother getting married at all." Which is the course of action that you seem to personally prefer. And the course of action that you seem to think every Christian today should follow.
Stop being double minded and start being singleminded (about God)
It really does not matter if you marry or not marry, your salvation does not depend on it. Yes a husband or a wife can bless their unbelieving spouse but they need to make that choice whether to believe or not by themselves.
If you manage to find someone who believes the same as you do, great! but if not, you do the best you can to live with them and keep the peace...if they want to leave they can. We are not called to bondage. We are free to believe (or not) and we are also free to not marry if we decide we're ok on our own, though we believers are never truly alone because we KNOW God is there.
We don't need to keep debating this all the time. Just respect people's beliefs and wishes, and desire (or not) for a mate.
It really does not matter if you marry or not marry, your salvation does not depend on it. Yes a husband or a wife can bless their unbelieving spouse but they need to make that choice whether to believe or not by themselves.
If you manage to find someone who believes the same as you do, great! but if not, you do the best you can to live with them and keep the peace...if they want to leave they can. We are not called to bondage. We are free to believe (or not) and we are also free to not marry if we decide we're ok on our own, though we believers are never truly alone because we KNOW God is there.
We don't need to keep debating this all the time. Just respect people's beliefs and wishes, and desire (or not) for a mate.
Yes, what's the reason that they so actively searching, praying, arrange marriage for Issac? And why Issac actively preparing tent
for future wife? Also the culture back then it is totally trend for arrange marriage. The son trusted and obeyed parents. The parents search for the best for their son.
Could it because Godly marriage
is a wonderful thing ? A blessing from God? Worth pursuing with a whole family effort? If someone hates marriage so much, please by all means tell everyone else around not to arrange for him/ her. I am sure God honors that desire too.
Hopefully as adults, no one is forcing anyone else into marriage.
When hanna was barren, she actively prayed to God to have children. We are allowed to pray, to search, as long as within God's guidance.
In the meantime, be content for what God put in our plate today.
Searching , fellowshiping among singles is honoring God also. We do our best in this process to be pure and holy, it is a wonderful journey.
In the meantime, be content for what God put in our plate today.
Searching , fellowshiping among singles is honoring God also. We do our best in this process to be pure and holy, it is a wonderful journey.
In Abraham's situation, you can go find a Canaanite woman if you want. Abraham's servant prayed, God sent Rebecca to him, he didn't go to Laban and ask for his daughter's hand for marriage.
Then as I said repeatedly, marriage is a worldly affair, it varies from culture to culture and era to era.
Thanks, I'm not a widow, nor do I know any widow.
Then go find a modern day equivalent of a Canaanite woman if you're ashamed of singlehood.
Look, this may sound insane to you, but a normal person, at least normal in my culture, usually meets a potential partner first, and then think about the prospect of marrying and having kid with that person; you don't decide that you're gonna marry and have kids, then go search for the most gullible, compliant person to accomplish your own agenda.Yes, what's the reason that they so actively searching, praying, arrange marriage for Issac? And why Issac actively preparing tent
Also the culture back then it is totally trend for arrange marriage. The son trusted and obeyed parents. The parents search for the best for their son.
Could it because Godly marriage
If someone hates marriage so much, please by all means tell everyone else around not to arrange for him/ her. I am sure God honors that desire too.
Hopefully as adults, no one is forcing anyone else into marriage.
I've said this over and over again, that a marriage is only as godly as the couple, it's a blessing if they're godly, it's a curse if they're UNgodly. I don't hate marriage, I hate the IDOLATRY of marriage, the second mentality of seeking marriage just for the sake of marriage as a status of your superiorty and piety. If there's no such available godly partner, or there are but they're not interested in you, then just let it go.
BTW, last time I check, at least according to Gen. 24 account, a partner is a human being with free will and human agency, both Abraham and his butler fully respect that. They understand what neither you nor Rod nor churchgoer nor others does, that it's first God's choice, then that partner's choice, then perhaps your parents' or matchmaker or other stakeholders' choice, it's not something you get to choose or decide for your liking alone, the world doesn't revovle around you. If a partner is nothing but like taters to you and you think you can just cultivate them into a full harvest, go ahead.
The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?” (Gen. 24:5)
if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.”(Gen. 24:9)
It's not purely a worldly affair. Even in Paradise, when the world was perfect, God made a partner for Adam. The best marriage is between two believers (2 Corinthians 6:14) who can produce godly offspring (Malachi 2:13–15). I wouldn't say it's a purely worldly invention or something God doesn't care about at all. The Bible even says a godly marriage between Christians can protect you from worldly threats like sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 7:2) God created marriage for our own good. (Proverbs 18:22). And, of course, it provides a picture of the church's relationship with Jesus.
My point was that we have the freedom to choose a spouse, as long as they're a Christian. We have the freedom to approach people, and they have the freedom to accept or reject us. And vice versa. The Bible doesn't teach us anything about "soulmates" or "The One."
Huh? The desire for marriage, and taking action to get married, and marrying another Christian, is fine. It's not the equivalent of marrying a "Canaanite woman." That desire is normal for lots of people. It's not automatically related to "shame." Of course, if you, personally, have no desire for marriage, you don't have to get married. But not everyone's like that. That's fine. Both Jesus and Paul acknowledged that.
I hear the Shulamites can be pretty hot...
"Girl, your nose is totally looking like the big tower of Lebanon pointing at Damascus!"
Yet in this relationship there's no intimacy in this relationship, it has resulted in some troublesome statements like "I had sex with Jesus in a vision." Plus, there'll be no marriage in resurrection, Lord Jesus explicitly stated. So perhaps it's not the same kind of picture.
And my point was that it's up to God on whether there is a "they", whether they're really Christian, whether they're available and whether they're interested in you.
No desire for marraige with an imaginary perfect Christian, so thanks for posting. Have a good day.
The weather is hot enough these days, I've been scorched under the heat dome, I'd rather prefer something cool.I hear the Shulamites can be pretty hot...