Soul Mates

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Im a widower and I say yes without a doubt.

I think some souls are meant for eachother. Some people marry for the wrong reasons, lust, children, money, social status, protection, cooking and disreguard Gods hand. So it really doesnt matter to there core if their mate dies, yes they cry but at the loss of its service. Two years later they can find a replacement. They can “move on” as so many people say. Those who married because of finding there soulmate rarelly ever marry again and if they do its usually for services provided. Yet its never the same for them. The other does not understand you and can never understand you. A soulmate knows what the simplest sign means and can respond to it.

I for one feel Im still married, Im just a way for a short time and then we will be back together before God. The others will be alone before him, infinately content yet not quite complete.
I said “yes” also. Very soon after meeting my husband, I remember telling my sister, “I think this is the man God has for me.” My husband and I have talked about it, and we both feel that God intended us for each other. We have been married for 24 years and it has been awesome. Today is my birthday and my dear husband gave me a card so beautiful that it made me cry!
 
I voted “yes”, but after reading how other interpret the term “soul mate” I guess I understand both sides… it depends on interpretation.

I fully believe in our unique and individual FREE WILL, so I wasn’t considering violating that when voting “yes”…

I personally hear the term “soul mate” and immediately think “the one who God has planned for me”.
I don’t view the term as “this is the one person in my life who would complete me and make me happy”… only God can do that.
But if we try to align or will with His, then yes, I believe that God has a particular mate (if that person were called to marriage) in mind.

And regarding widows/widowers… remember the marriage vows are “until death”… right? God can still have a plan for us beyond the death of our spouse.
 
I didn’t vote because I’m not sure. I think both sides have very valid points. The only thing that tilts me slightly toward the “yes” answer is children. I believe that God intends each person who is born; if so, wouldn’t He be involved in putting the parents together so that His plan of creating those children as they are as a result of their parents’ combined genes? Could I say that in any more convoluted way?😛
 
It seems people only see soulmates as romantic partners, or a spouse. Actually, a soulmate is not limited to a partner in life. Strictly speaking, a soulmate is one who is very close to you in all things; in Hindu and Buddhism, this means that the soulmate is your companion with you from previous lifetimes, and has a karmic relationship with you. So a soulmate isn’t just a romantic partner, but could be your mom, dad, brother, sister–or it could be someone you have not yet met. A soulmate need not be someone from an opposite gender as well, since he could be your bestfriend. It is also possible that you might not meet your soulmate in this lifetime. Of course, like I said, our view of a soulmate is borrowed from Hindu and Buddhism, though greatly modified to only mean a romantic partner.
 
Sometimes people get the soulmate thing but don’t feel very romantic about each other.
 
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chevalier:
I think you’ve answered your question.
I’m glad you agree with me then.:tiphat:
Eeek. Come on. Sorry, but you’ve been listening to feminists too much. A man is no worse than a woman and if you mean man as both genders, then still, evil is not our default state.
No, I do not listen to feminists. I can see how I came off too exaggeratedly, but I was referring to the flesh and carnality.
The next thing you’re going to say is that the only way to do something good or right is for God to take direct control over your body. We have free will. We’re vulnerable to temptation and prone to sin. But we’re God’s children at the same time and made in His image.
Yes we are prone to sin, but I think it’s reasonable to say that choosing the person God intends for you is realistic.
God has the power to do anything, but this doesn’t mean that He goes on to trample our free wills. He wouldn’t have created us first of all, if He had wanted just that.
But that also doesn’t mean that fulfilling God’s desires for lives has to be like treading a tight rope, ready to fall any second. God isn’t so indifferent as to not guide those who seek after Him. If God has certain intentions for your life, He has to present you with the knowledge and information to to be able to fulfill those intentions.
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Liberanosamalo:
I think that the notion that only those who are perfectly in tune with God’s will deserve a soul mate to be elitist and uncharitable.
Okay, I shouldn’t have said “perfect”. But marriage is a huge deal. And you are sapping the charity of God by thinking it is such a struggle to receive the mate God wants for you. You are to become one flesh with this person, that is a huge deal, God is ready and willing to guide us if we are patient.
Am I in a category of people who do not merit sublime happiness?
Absolutely not, If meeting your soul mate was open to a select few, then first of all, It wouldn’t make those who receive their mate, as happy, and second of all, it’d prove it isn’t true. Unfortunately, it just so happens to be that few meet, or will meet this person.
It puts way too much pressure on a mere mortal to satisfy the deepest longings of our heart that only God can fill. Our spouse is to help us get to heaven. They are not supposed to be our heaven.
What pressure is there when you have a resting faith in your God? Also, we are to experience God’s love together with our mate, and look forward to heaven together with our mate.
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Milliardo:
Of course, like I said, our view of a soulmate is borrowed from Hindu and Buddhism, though greatly modified to only mean a romantic partner.
This idea of a soul mate isn’t some manufactured speculation or hypothesis, it is a deep, untaught, desire. Love doesn’t need to be taught.

God created for Adam, Eve, who is from his flesh and therefore must become one flesh with him.

This desire is a remnant of that perfect Eden that once was, because we have the same human architecture as did Adam and Eve when they were in perfect harmony with God before the fall. The fruits of this desire are doomed to turn to ashes when left to the responsibility of human effort but not, when as an act of our will, we hand over this desire to our God.
 
This idea of a soul mate isn’t some manufactured speculation or hypothesis, it is a deep, untaught, desire. Love doesn’t need to be taught.
It’s plainly and simply a borrowed idea from Hinduism and Buddhism, then altered to mean a mate for romance and companionship. Originally it isn’t though, as a soulmate is a karmic partner that one goes through with in the various incarnations one gores through. This karmic bond makes them soul partners, and one’s soulmate isn’t necessarily someone from an opposite gender, nor does it need romance. Somehow Western culture borrowed this term from both religions, altered its meaning to make it fit its own culture, since reincarnation and karma are mostly alien from Western culture.
 
I’m glad you agree with me then.:tiphat:
Not necessarily. It’s just besides question. What can a work of fiction prove anyway.
No, I do not listen to feminists. I can see how I came off too exaggeratedly, but I was referring to the flesh and carnality.
Well, yeah, the original sin. Sure, we do have concupiscence and whatnot, but it doesn’t mean we’re debauched and sport animalistic levels of sex-drive as a rule. The times we’re having aren’t great, but there are some decent folks out there. 😉
Yes we are prone to sin, but I think it’s reasonable to say that choosing the person God intends for you is realistic.
And are we somehow the oracles of God’s will? And what gives the idea that God specifically intended specifically us to marry specifically that person? There’s a lot of talking about the vocation of marriage, but I doubt there’s any, “you will go and marry Miss X,” the way one’s called to priesthood. I wonder if a lot of it is not just common parlance modelled after vocation to priesthood.
Okay, I shouldn’t have said “perfect”. But marriage is a huge deal. And you are sapping the charity of God by thinking it is such a struggle to receive the mate God wants for you.
I don’t at all. God would certainly pick me a girl better than I could on my own, if that’s what you mean. 😃
Absolutely not, If meeting your soul mate was open to a select few, then first of all, It wouldn’t make those who receive their mate, as happy, and second of all, it’d prove it isn’t true. Unfortunately, it just so happens to be that few meet, or will meet this person.
Sorry, I think you’re denying yourself within the paragraph above. If God wanted everyone marrying to marry a person intended by Him, wouldn’t He guide people? This is what you said before. Now you’re saying people don’t meet their intended spouses at all, most of the time. This looks more like the secular soulmate theory.
What pressure is there when you have a resting faith in your God?
If few people even meet their intended spouses, then there is inevitably pressure.
Also, we are to experience God’s love together with our mate, and look forward to heaven together with our mate.
Neither proves nor disproves the soulmate theory. 😉
This idea of a soul mate isn’t some manufactured speculation or hypothesis, it is a deep, untaught, desire.
It’s a desire for love to one person, as we are monogamous.
Love doesn’t need to be taught.
Neither proves nor disproves the soulmate theory. Love may well be instinctive still with careful choice rather than specific destiny.
God created for Adam, Eve, who is from his flesh and therefore must become one flesh with him.
Oh yes, but she was the first woman and he was the only man.
This desire is a remnant of that perfect Eden that once was, because we have the same human architecture as did Adam and Eve when they were in perfect harmony with God before the fall.
Doesn’t prove anything.
The fruits of this desire are doomed to turn to ashes when left to the responsibility of human effort but not, when as an act of our will, we hand over this desire to our God.
Again engages God in a romantic concept likely originated in literature. 😉
 
If this is true, then where’s mine? Some of us were “forgotten.”

I vote “no.”
I believe it to be true in many ways, although I believe there are several persons meant for each other and depending upon our own choices we make thru our lives will decide which we are to be with,

This comes after meeting the person I know I am supposed to be with at age 38 and a failed marriage, it turned out that after all that time and a move of 250 miles from where I grew up I met this gal online living in a city about 50 miles from where i was living ( still 250 miles away from where i grew up) anyways she grew up 4 streets from me her brother and my brother were friends yet we haddnt met till a little over 2 years ago, there are tons of other factors involved in our meeting, that are just too unnatural to not have been guided by the hand of God…

This same situation is also what turned me around in life and got me on the right path
 
I don’t believe that we have soul-mates, I do believe that we can find someone who we can open our souls to. When we are unafraid to share everything, good and bad, about us without feeling like we’re exposed, we’re at that place. When we are not afraid of being judged by our moods and emotions, we’re at that place. When we care more for the other person than for ourselves, and know that is returned, we’re at that place.

It’s a state of being that you can enter or exit depending on your relationship. It is a paradise on earth to possesses and a sorrow beyond words to lose.
 
I think there is an infinite possibilty for soul mates and romantic partners - if parties involved are truly living the Christian lifestyle. Aren’t we called to love thy neighbor, and treat them with respect?
 
Umm. Well. Now. What if we embrace the sacrament of marriage fully? Shouldn’t that give more than any soulmate theory? I’m looking forward to that part, which is why I’m looking for a Catholic woman who sees marriage the Catholic way. 🙂

I also have the very personal view that, after all, if the grace God gives through marriage, is infinite, why not cling to it?
 
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Milliardo:
It’s plainly and simply a borrowed idea from Hinduism and Buddhism, then altered to mean a mate for romance and companionship.
There are people who haven’t heard of Buddhism or Hinduism or the term soul mate, who wonder if there is one ‘prince’ for them, very young girls for instance.

And where did the Buddhists and the Hindus borrow the idea from? They knew it innately just as anyone would. The idea is as old as love itself.

Otherwise if we are only talking terminology, it is irrelevant, the poll question says it as plainly as possible.
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chevalier:
Not necessarily. It’s just besides question. What can a work of fiction prove anyway.
You just seemed to appreciate the goodness of the scenario the movie depicted, so I used that to infer what you think about a soul mate.
I wonder if a lot of it is not just common parlance modelled after vocation to priesthood.
Marriage came before the priesthood, priesthood came after the fall. And arguably, stopped being necessary after the crucifixion.
If God wanted everyone marrying to marry a person intended by Him, wouldn’t He guide people?
God intends everyone to come to the knowledge of His son’s death and be born again too, and he does guide people, and they reject. And if few people meet their real mates, then that just shows how few people care to believe how good God really is, and how good God wants to be to His followers.
Neither proves nor disproves the soulmate theory.
I was hoping I could enlighten your very moderate and satisfactory view of marriage. It does in fact imply that there can be one specific person, you just don’t want to believe.
t’s a desire for love to one person, as we are monogamous.
Yes, we are monogamous, just as Jesus was monogamous in spirit, having only one bride as his church. Ah but what other planet is there? Is that only because we are one civilization you ask? We don’t need to worry about that…
Oh yes, but she was the first woman and he was the only man.
That is how deeply embedded the idea one intended person is in this mystery that is life. That is just how pure, simple and obvious it is. God wouldn’t want it any other way. There was no room to think otherwise because that was the time where God’s original intent was the order of things.
Doesn’t prove anything.
…or it could prove our desire for one person has merit.
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ComputerGeek25:
Aren’t we called to love thy neighbor, and treat them with respect?
But we are to become one flesh with our wives and love her as Christ loves the church. A spouse is a friend and more.
 
There are people who haven’t heard of Buddhism or Hinduism or the term soul mate, who wonder if there is one ‘prince’ for them, very young girls for instance.
Yes, I understand that; my point is that the idea is not from Western culture or even from Christianity, but is borrowed from Hindu and Buddhism, watered down to mean romantic companionship. This idea is fairly recent with other New Age ideas that crossed over from other religions.
And where did the Buddhists and the Hindus borrow the idea from? They knew it innately just as anyone would. The idea is as old as love itself.
Actually, no. The idea of soulmate is linked with reincarnation and karma; unless you believe in reincarnation and think that you have a karmic partner, then the idea of a soulmate would be at best limited to having a life partner, which is very different from the original idea of what a soulmate is. Is it an innate idea? That would be another topic, as then we’ll have to go into what one believes the afterlife to be, or indeed if there is even reincarnation in the first place.
 
I for one feel Im still married, Im just a way for a short time and then we will be back together before God. The others will be alone before him, infinately content yet not quite complete.
Polaris, that’s so beautiful! What a tribute to your wife to say that she was the only person you would ever want to be with, and that you’ll be reunited soon (well, maybe long in human years, but only a day in God’s time). I can only hope that I am as blessed to have such a marriage that you had (and still have) with your wife. God bless you!
 
We teach our kids that there isn’t a ‘prince charming’ or ‘special princess’ they are supposed to marry.

Not only, as someone said, does it reek of predestination, it makes dating a contest to find that one person.

I think there are several people you could marry and be happy with and have a good marriage. The grace that comes with the sacrament makes that possible.

Since finding the ‘right’ person is the biggest component of a successful marriage, you can’t downplay that part of it. But there is more than one person in the world you could marry.
 
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Milliardo:
Yes, I understand that; my point is that the idea is not from Western culture or even from Christianity, but is borrowed from Hindu and Buddhism
So where did that young girl get the idea from?
This idea is fairly recent with other New Age ideas that crossed over from other religions.
What about Tristan and Isolde, and Romeo and Juliet? The term soul mate wasn’t used, but the concept of one true love existed in medieval Europe.

But logically speaking, the idea of soul mate it linked with monogamy itself. If you believe we can marry one woman and love her our whole life, then the idea that only one person is meant for you to begin with, is not far off. Any person who is in love, loves to feel that they are the only one (that relationship will be tested with time), and any couple who is together knowing full well that they could be with anyone else, isn’t in it for the love, and whatever romance they delude themselves into thinking they are participating in, is no more than a primitive biological urge. You might as well kill off any idea that romance is Christian either.

You can’t entertain any notion of existence without having a pre-occupation with your own self (this doesn’t interfere with unselfish acts of love to your neighbour), so if we are called to become one flesh with another person, their idea of existence circulates within themselves and only themselves. No one else can exist to them. Thats how any woman loves to feel (and therefore any man), and thats how a man loves to make his wife feel.
Is it an innate idea? That would be another topic, as then we’ll have to go into what one believes the afterlife to be, or indeed if there is even reincarnation in the first place.
All that one needs to know about the afterlife is that we will know eachother in heaven, which takes no effort to believe.
There is no need for another topic.
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PaulinVA:
Not only, as someone said, does it reek of predestination, it makes dating a contest to find that one person.
Dating is obsolete to someone who has faith in their God. Dating is a secular idea, it is what someone with no heavenly resources resorts to. God also gives clear guidance, and doesn’t send ‘test drives’.
Dating more and more people will only make it harder to believe one ideal person exists, how can the multitude compare with the one?
 
Michal, your theories sound lovely before you take them out of the box and use them.

In the real world, people aren’t always what they seem at first. Sometimes it takes a while of going out with someone before you realize they are not and can never be your soulmate. Then where are you left with your anti-dating rules? Marry that person anyway and force that square peg into the round hole? Or go date someone else and hope the next person is who they claim they are.

Yes we are meant to marry one person and love them our whole life. But that does not mean there is only one person in our life. It only means we can only have one at a time. I have known widows who married again and were equally happy. Are you saying there are Soulmates and Soulmate Lite?

Your whole theory is also dangerously bound up with feelings and emotions. Those are a very flimsy base to try to make any foundation on. Doesn’t ever newly engaged couple feel they have found their soulmate? Sometimes reality has a way of interjecting itself.

The idea of a soulmate can only be found in retrospect. One that has endured the test of time. You can’t plan your life on something that is only seen through 20/20 hindsight. Having been through the divorce mill with someone whom I really felt was sent after years of prayer and whom I felt was my soulmate, you can never tell me that one can ever know their soulmate before they stand the test of time. Because then all you have is someone you thought was your soulmate and you are left with the reality that your soulmate is defective. Somehow that person God planned just for you was not as good as the wonderful ones everyone else got.

Not a very nice theory.
Dating is obsolete to someone who has faith in their God. Dating is a secular idea, it is what someone with no heavenly resources resorts to. God also gives clear guidance, and doesn’t send ‘test drives’.
Dating more and more people will only make it harder to believe one ideal person exists, how can the multitude compare with the one?
I suspect you are young, or you haven’t been involved with many people. Dating has NOTHING to do with faith in God. It has to do with the idea that Satan is the author of lies. And unless you have ever encountered someone who gave off a good appearance for a while but was totally different beneath the glossy surface, don’t lecture anyone about faith in God. I trust God. Everyone else must submit a background check.

God gave us common sense and eyes and ears and He meant us to use it. Your idea of a soulmate might hold water if they are indeed sent amidst heavenly trumpets, fairy dust and a trail of flowers and God’s booming voice telling us from the Heavens “Behold your soulmate.” For most of us, this isn’t the way life works. If that’s how your life works, you are most fortunate, but you are in a distinct minority.

Romance tales and myths are nice. But they’re stories. Real life is more complicated.
 
So where did that young girl get the idea from?
From people around her, who got the idea from other people as well, etc. Like I said, these people have bought into an idea that’s not been in Christianity or Western culture until New Age ideas came in.
What about Tristan and Isolde, and Romeo and Juliet? The term soul mate wasn’t used, but the concept of one true love existed in medieval Europe.
I’m not talking of one true love, I’m talking about the concept of soulmate and how it has been degraded to mean one true love, when that concept was never intended to solely mean one’s true love. It has a much wider meaning, and not restricted to love.
But logically speaking, the idea of soul mate it linked with monogamy itself.
No; like I said, you’re confusing soulmate to mean only one true love; this is not how the idea is originally thought. What many think a soulmate to be is a watered down version of what Hindus and Buddhists originally believed in. It was made to fit Western culture, since most Westerners do not believe in reincarnation and karmic partners.
All that one needs to know about the afterlife is that we will know eachother in heaven, which takes no effort to believe.
There is no need for another topic.
Ah, that is oversimplifying things. Actually, discussions about the afterlife is much more complicated than that, as we will have to go into different belief systems. Like I said though, this is not the thread for it, as it will totally hijack the thread.
 
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