Has God created "the one" for each person to marry from the beginning of time?
- Thread starter Jefferson
- Start date
I don't believe God is in the matchmaking business in this
Dispensation of Grace. We have a free-will to choose who
we'll marry, what job we will take, what car we will drive.
What food we will eat, etc.
Dispensation of Grace. We have a free-will to choose who
we'll marry, what job we will take, what car we will drive.
What food we will eat, etc.
The Calvinists believe that, God choose his elect before the
foundation of the world. Some Calvinists believe that, God
chooses to control everything, including the sins we commit.
When I think of God making our choices for us, I think of
Calvinism. God created Mankind with a free-will choice.
This is what I believe.
foundation of the world. Some Calvinists believe that, God
chooses to control everything, including the sins we commit.
When I think of God making our choices for us, I think of
Calvinism. God created Mankind with a free-will choice.
This is what I believe.
Lon
Well-known member
A wife for Isaac Did God bring me my wife? Yes He did. Why? Because I wasn't getting married any other way. I don't mind disagreement, this is just what worked for me and I was VERY glad to have God choose for me!
We each have our own experience. Some marry their childhood sweetheart. Some come to love much latter in life. Some never marry. Some marry several times with varying degrees of success/satisfaction. Love is a wild flower that blooms when and where it will. No one may command it or buy it. Love brings with it both pain and pleasure to those that find it and those that don't are spared both.
I am reminded of the words of Paul, " I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But ... "
I am reminded of the words of Paul, " I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But ... "
theophilus
Well-known member
I'm hanging with Paul from now on.
There are worse fates. :chuckle:
theophilus
Well-known member
True that!
C. S. Lewis said, "Experience is a brutal teacher. But we learn, my God do we learn."
Pain is the greatest teacher - Chinese proverb
Didn't work out so well for Susan Smith's husband David. I'm sure he though she was the greatest gal in the world, too. Mt 15:19
"Your memory is a monster. It summons with a will of its own. You think you have a memory but it has you." ~ John Irving
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theophilus
Well-known member
So...give it up!
Lon
Well-known member
Was she supposed to be a Christian? Unbelievers will make their own choices. We will follow after our natures. A new creation will find they follow after God. I'd say 50% divorces among Christians, however, means about half of us shouldn't be getting married and probably should stay single. Paul said we weren't sinning if we did/do, but we should really be teaching couples to count the cost and help them understand that God may have eternal purposes for them as single servants of God who have more time and energy to make huge impacts.
(I'm not sure we disagree, just that I was talking about Christians following after Christ, good counter-points however and I knew there would be and don't mind the disagreement)
God gave marriage for the believer and the pagan, as well (Gen. 2:18–24). We preach to the blind (Ac 10:41, 2 Co 4:4).
Marriage is until death (Mk 10:2–9, Mt 19:6, Rom. 7:2, 3). So-called divorce was during the betrothal period if the woman to be unclean (Deut 24:1).
Marriage is to be a type of Christ and his church (Heb 13:4).
“When truth is buried underground it grows, it chokes, it gathers such an explosive force that on the day it bursts out, it blows up everything with it.” ~ Émile Zola
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It seems so in some cases, yet others, not. If finding the one, God intended, as He does with salvation, then there would be no divorce. I have known some who believed the one they loved most married another, following that, they never loved another to the same degree.
If the above was God's plan, we would not have anyone whose beloved married another, leaving then with second choices.
If the above was God's plan, we would not have anyone whose beloved married another, leaving then with second choices.
Lon
Well-known member
I like SD's quote of Ephesians 5. Marriage is a picture of Christ and His church. It would seem that marrying a second choice would be odd to fit that illustration. Matrimony used to be called 'holy' because of it. There is some powerful imagery and direction regarding believers and marriage. I'm appreciating this thread. Some of this reminds me of Mike Mason's book The Mystery of Marriage (preview provided).
Was it ever part of God's perfect plan that a woman be raped? Of course not.
Therefore, the babies conceived in rape were never a part of His plan. Yet most of those babies throughout the centuries grew up to have children themselves. Therefore, there are millions of people alive today who are existing outside of "God's perfect plan" (assuming the Calvinist view that there is such a thing as a "perfect plan").
Therefore, it is not possible for any of those people to marry "the one" or to be "the one" since they were never supposed to exist in the first place.
I understand why women love this romanticized view of marriage. But I'm baffled by why any man would adopt it. What is the #1 complaint that men have about their wives? As far as I can tell it is that their wives expect so much out of them.
Well of course they do!
They've been taught from the time they were 5 years old that God has chosen "the one" for them from the beginning of time! Of course their wives are expecting a lot.
Can you imagine the huge weight of expectations that would be lifted off the shoulders of the average Christian husband the day his wife comes to the biblical conclusion that there is no such thing as "the one"?
Heaven on earth for that man.
Therefore, the babies conceived in rape were never a part of His plan. Yet most of those babies throughout the centuries grew up to have children themselves. Therefore, there are millions of people alive today who are existing outside of "God's perfect plan" (assuming the Calvinist view that there is such a thing as a "perfect plan").
Therefore, it is not possible for any of those people to marry "the one" or to be "the one" since they were never supposed to exist in the first place.
I understand why women love this romanticized view of marriage. But I'm baffled by why any man would adopt it. What is the #1 complaint that men have about their wives? As far as I can tell it is that their wives expect so much out of them.
Well of course they do!
They've been taught from the time they were 5 years old that God has chosen "the one" for them from the beginning of time! Of course their wives are expecting a lot.
Can you imagine the huge weight of expectations that would be lifted off the shoulders of the average Christian husband the day his wife comes to the biblical conclusion that there is no such thing as "the one"?
Heaven on earth for that man.
oatmeal
Well-known member
Did Isaac have any choice in this matter?
Did you have a choice in the matter?
Are there times when God intervenes or rather advises?
Did God give all nine hundred wives to Solomon? or did Solomon violate God's law of one man/one wife?
Was the woman Samson married a godly woman for a godly man?
Are believers supposed to marry unbelievers?
or does God tell us to avoid that?
etc. etc. etc.