The Bible on romantic love

God saw that Adam was lonely, so He created for him a companion. That seems about it as far as I can see.

In life humankind expends so much time and energy seeking romantic love, so much grief in bereavement when a spouse dies.

Yet it looks to me that we are not given anything more than practical advice in the Bible - mainly about the hierarchy and responsibilities in a Christian home of husband, wife, children.

So, it appears God should be the only one who fulfills us? He alone can truly satisfy our needs and only to Him should we look , not to any human being? It could be this is where so much unhappiness originates, when we put our faith, hope and heart onto a mere fellow mortal.

There is truth in what you said, but I would suggest to you that we get a pretty good glimpse of romantic love in the Song of Solomon.

God should come before all things but in those things He created us in His image which means we also have the capacity to love.

He created man a helper and gave them the command to be fruitful and multiply. There comes the command of family.

There is great fulfillment in living God's design for family.

We desire romantic love due to God's design for humans to bond beyond the scope of animal instincts. We understand morality and the difference between love or abuse.

A marriage by God's design will see romantic love as designed. We are designed this way for bonding and survival.

Without morality or ability to do good, we would see the full carnal nature where barbarism would hold woman as property.

To live righteously, romantic love is the opposite of carnal love. Carnal love takes while romantic love sacrifices. One see women as objects while the other as something valuable worth defending and cherishing.

Song of Solomon

I've never read that. Suppose I ought to.

There is song of Solomon. I always loved that book for that reason.

I'm not sure bc God created the family to be similar or a metaphor for his kingdom. I guess deep down it's simply a place holder for God's place.

I think it's unfair to say this is where unhappiness comes in. Even with God here life can be very tough. I will say I notice right away when people are pregnant after years of infertility. Idk if I recognize the look having gone through it myself. But otherwise I just notice their "happiness." But we're suppose to have "joy" even in the valley right? To me its more of a fake it until you make it type of deal. It doesn't fool me, but I understand why people are unhappy at times.

Yet at the same time there is a type of joy with God and at times its greater than our man made joy. Strange world.

when 2 Christians get married they BOTH fulfill each others needs. remember what God said; "i will make him a HELPER". being married is a constant daily effort to put your spouse 1st. when each other knows that's being done, there's your fulfillment!

Ultimately, yes. Only God is with us in our thoughts. Another person cannot really get into our minds or hearts. We are each our own soul that another person cannot infiltrate. However, it is also important to have human companionship, and most people regard romantic love via spouse as the highest form of human companionship because the bond is supposed to be lifelong and intimate.

Mary i'm glad to see a topic from you which is not related to human suffering.
Thank you and God bless you.

Love is rare in this world. You don't find it everyday. It is a gift from God when you find someone who loves you. The Bible is full of love stories. There's the story of Esther where she changes the heart of a King to show favour on her people. There's the story of Ruth who goes with her mother in law even though she has no obligation to do so and marries Boaz... it is from this lineage that Jesus is born. Jacob working for 14 years so that he could marry Rachel. It is full of romance. When you find a spouse who would live for you and some of your love, the I think you are blessed. I would not know anything about love because I've never loved anyone enough to say it. At least not yet. The times I did say it, it didn't work out. So... no. Love is very possible. You have to love more I guess. Doesn't matter if you don't get back. If you get love in return, you're lucky.