Single Men's Take on Marriage in Our Modern World

I think you kind of missed the point of the parable. See Jews already knew they were supposed to be neighborly to their fellow Jews, that was very explicit in the law. The expert lawyer, the Bible says wanted to justify himself (probably because he hadn't done that) and was hoping Jesus would make the law easier. Instead Jesus parable basically said, your neighbor isn't just your fellow Jew, but also those Samaritans you despise. It makes the circle of neighbors far wider and something that crosses natural inclinations and boundaries rather than letting you keep whittling your world of neighbors down to the handful of people you really like and get along with.

You took the message of the Good Samaritan, who helped a man who had never helped him first, as meaning the only people you should love are those who've helped you in the past? Poppycock. This explains a LOT to me about you.

Well was unaware you didnt like me. But i guess that explains your responses to me in Forum and in CC when you were there. But that ok. I cant make people like me .


I will again explain how my logic works.


Jesus said love your neighbour
The pharisee asked who is my neighbour
JEsus tells the parable.
He then asks from that tale who is the neighbour
The pharisee explains the samaritan is.

Therefore one leads to the other . i see no other way of reading the logic in it.

so based on scripture who are we to love? our neighbour. Who is our neighbour? The one who helps us not the ones we expected to help us. but the ones who actually do.

But it is obvious finally to me i not wanted here.

So i will take a break from Forums and maybe from CC online chat

Enjoy , you all won ... well done

LOL Wow! I never said I disliked you. What I said was this tells me a lot about you. *rolling eyes*. Leave if you feel led to do so (as I have told you other times when you've said you are leaving because someone was bluntly honest with you), but don't do with a poor me, no one likes me, I'm going to garden to eat worms attitude. Not everyone will like you, and of those who do, none will agree with you 100%. So if your thinking is that anyone who likes you has to agree with you, then you will never find someone to like you.

But let me ask you this....if our neighbor is only those who help us, and Christ is our example, then why do you suppose he died for everyone, and not just those who helped Him? For that matter, if Christ is our example, then why would He have reached out to any of us, knowing many won't hear Him, all have hurt Him in the past, and none can do anything for Him that He can't do for Himself (He is God after all)? I don't need the answer, to me it's rhetorical, but I think you might.

The lawyer didn't answer as "the Samaritan". The man robbed and harmed in the parable was obviously a Jew. He traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho (a road notorious for dangerous travel. It was called the "Way of Blood'). He was confronted by two Jews who
passed by without helping him. Then the Samaritan came along and helped. But then after Jesus told the lawyer the parable He asked the same question the lawyer asked Him. He asked "who seemed to be the neighbor of those three?". I think the lawyer answered something profound. He answered by saying "He who showed mercy on him".

Christ said "Go and do likewise" because the lawyer could have called the man "the Samaritan but he didn't. He could've called him a black man, or a white man in today's terms or a Jehovah Witness or any term where trust and love is limited, but it was the one who showed mercy. That was in direct correlation to the "Great Commandment" and, thus, the correct answer.

Mercy - or Grace - is the cornerstone of Christianity and the supreme gift of God! Should we show mercy only to those who show mercy to us?

This cracked me up. Not sure where you got this "eat worms" thing, but it had to be from my Dad. It got to be where I hated that expression . I'd do or say something he didn't care for it would be "well why don't you just go on out to the garden and eat worms". I'm laughing now but I was humiliated ever time he said it. I always wanted to say "well, I just might! Beats the food you cook." never had the nerve tho.....

Oh, I know. You hear people talk about 'female intuition' a lot. You don't hear them talk about 'male intuition' at all. Thankfully, I tend to come to my conclusions by doing the work of thinking and reasoning instead of letting everyone else tell me what to think, believe, and feel.

If God had given women more intuition than He gave men, that would mean that God [secretly] wanted life on earth to be hell with women constantly deceiving men into relationships and men constantly choosing the wrong women. This just doesn't add up. At all.

Looking at it logically-- rather than emotionally which is how nearly everyone seems to look at it now-- if God made men to lead women and children and others, then He must of necessity give men the tools they need to lead. One of those tools is discernment or wisdom or intuition. In 1Kings 3, God told Solomon He would give him whatever he asked for. Instead of asking for riches, fame, and prestige, Solomon said, "Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern Your people well and know the difference between good and evil." Solomon wanted wisdom/intuition to know how to lead. Leaders need a greater dose of intuition than their followers do, therefore, God gave men more intuition than He gave women.

Now, I won't get into (at least not right now) the evidence this is true or why men rarely pay attention to their intuition. I will say that my intuition works just fine, as all men's does, and that I listen to it as most men don't. I have never met or dated a woman and not didn't know what she wanted, expected, desired, etc., while talking to her and sometimes even before talking to her. A man's intuition (not his instinct, mind you), in my experience, is at its highest when he is dealing with or relating to two things in life: God first (without intuition, you won't be able to connect with God), and women second (primarily when his relationship with or interest in her is a romantic one). God knew that it is incredibly important for a man to choose the right woman; therefore, naturally, God gave men greater intuition than women because men are the ones who must a.) lead well and who must b.) choose the right wives who won't bring them down but will be "helpers of their joy". This setup is not necessrily sense that is common, but it is reasonable, practical, pragmatic, and compassionate and therefore sensible.

Lynx (and whoever else is involved in this conversation about neighbors and the good Samaritan), that parable-- like basically everything else Jesus said-- is multi-faceted, so you should approach it with humility and an attitude of "I know this thing here about this parable, but is there more to know" rather than a prideful attitude of "I already know what/everything this parable means, so there's nothing more to learn."

When the OT commanded God's people to love their neighbors, it didn't explain who one's neighbor was. That's why that expert in the law was justified to ask Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" At this, Jesus then told the parable. The Israelis could've interpreted 'neighbor' either as their fellow Jews or as Gentiles around them. Today, we would interpret it as the people living closest to us. But then how close to us does a person have to live to qualify as our neighbor? Jesus's premise was love, not neighborliness. His parable was simple yet intelligent beyond human wisdom.

Jesus's parable showed that anyone within your immediate realm of influence or your geographical location is in fact your neighbor. I.E. everyone is in need of love. The entire premise of the parable isn't who a neighbor is-- the Samaritan or the beaten Jewish man. Since two Jewish men who knew better-- the priest (pastor) and Levite (worship leader)-- had not helped their fellow Jew, Jesus opened the floor for His listeners to think outside the box. On this point, you are both right in different ways: the Samaritan was a neighbor to the beaten man (by virtue of practical acts of love), and the beaten man was a neighbor to the Samaritan (by virtue of being a human being in the Samaritan's realm of influence or geographical location).

In the OT, everything was about quantity: wash your hands, observe the Sabbath on this day, go to synagogue, fast, etc. With the advent and ascent of Jesus, everything is now about quality. The parable of the good Samaritan is about 'neighbors' when you look at it through the eyes of the Law (which was how Jesus's hearers were looking at it); but when looking through the eyes of Grace or the New Covenant, the same parable is at its core or center about the fact that all human beings are worthy of practical love from each other since God valued all human beings enough to show them practical love by sending His Son. So, whether one waits for someone to help them or not, the person who needs help is a neighbor (even if no one helps them), and the person who helps them is the neighbor that God wants all humans-- firstly christians-- to model and be.

Well said. Hopefully, you have a few good male role models in your life-- at least your dad if he's a good one-- who can help you navigate marriage and relationships.

The stats I trust most are the ones the Bible supports, the ones seen across the board in human nature, the ones I experience, and the ones others experience from generation to generation. If I stood around waiting for stats, I would've made many unwise decisions throughout my life.

While we're talking about 'stats', these two links share the type of stats I rely on more than I rely on modern stats that anyone could have done imperfectly or anyone could have been paid to do:

1.) Multigenerational Legacies: https://www.ywam-fmi.org/news/multigenerational-legacies-the-story-of-jonathan-edwards/.

2.) The Jukes Family: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jukes_family.

Don't presume to know or negatively judge people's hearts on my thread. That is a way of intimidating and controlling people. I know a lot of negative things about a lot of people (and about people in general since we all have a carnal nature), but I don't unnecessarily tell them in a way that will silence them or cause them uncertainty, shame, guilt, or fear and puts them in a position where I can manipulate or control them. Don't do that on this or any of my other threads.

Yes... I am aware of this.

Apparently Robertt was not aware of it. I was trying to explain it to him.

My post that you quoted was where I gave up and basically said, "Whatever. Have fun only loving the people who have been nice to you."

I know all that you have said, but explaining it to someone who doesn't want to reach out to people is, I have found out, a lost cause.

You know how you're always complaining about how life in general sucks and you're so lonely and miserable?

Ever wonder why?

Ever thought about reaching out to people BEFORE they reach out to you?

All I know for sure is I'm loving life and you're miserable, and I reach out to everyone while you don't.

Yeah, sometimes I get my hand bit. Then I stop reaching out to that person. But I keep reaching out to other people. And getting bit once in a while is a lot better than just sitting on my butt waiting for other people to reach out to me.

Yeah, you're gonna hate that I said that, and you're gonna go off on another "poor pitiful me" rant. But it had to be said. If you'd get up and start trying to be friendly you'd have a lot more friends.

Don't believe me? Try it and see.