TheSubtleDoctor (post: 1471392) wrote:Ladies, ladies, why do this all on your own when you can let Gaiking be the guardian of your heart?
Boys, I dare you to try something.
I didn't intend to make light of the thread. I just wanted to make people smile.Midori (post: 1471425) wrote:Um, guys...if you want to spam enormous images, go to goof-off.
That's fine, but I wanted to make sure an otherwise serious thread didn't get too sidetracked into an image back-and-forth. Also, at the time of my post, Yamamaya had a much huger image in his post.TheSubtleDoctor (post: 1471451) wrote:I didn't intend to make light of the thread. I just wanted to make people smile.
Solid Ronin (post: 1471454) wrote:Never did I think I could find such generic advise on any topic on the internet, Thank you CAA!
Solid Ronin (post: 1471454) wrote:Never did I think I could find such generic advise on any topic on the internet, Thank you CAA!
Atria35 (post: 1471457) wrote:Did you even read the opening post?
Yuki-Anne (post: 1471241) wrote:I read somewhere that girls who grew up with older brothers tend to smile a lot more and find it easier to talk to the opposite sex. I've been noticing that about myself. I smile a lot when I talk to guys, and I generally prefer to make new male friends, because that's who I'm more comfortable talking to. So I can definitely see how I would be perceived as a flirt.
Hats wrote:"Frodo! Cast off your [s]sins[/s] into the fire!"
Yuki-Anne (post: 1471493) wrote:Oh my gosh. I have so much to say about parents who make their children think the opposite sex is out to get them and is not to be trusted.
shooraijin (post: 1471213) wrote:I get labeled as a flirt a lot.
I'm just saying.
denimwriter (post: 1471812) wrote:Sometimes it can just be the simple fact of not falling in love with the one you're not meant to be with. You can easily give your heart away without losing virginity....
Yuki-Anne (post: 1471176) wrote:Backstory: There are lots of single Christians volunteering and working at CRASH headquarters.
Yesterday, I worked with one of them for only the third time in my life. We talked a bit. He doesn't speak English at all, so our conversations were limited. He taught me some Japanese. Fun times.
He is undeniably good-looking. This is a key point, I believe.
At the end of the day, two friends of mine who are also single and don't really talk to him at all started telling me vague things like, "Guard your heart!" and "Some people look great on the outside, they look like they're passionate about God, but you can tell from their fruit that they're immature."
They were very vague about everything. I asked them what the crap they were talking about, and from what I could gather, it was little more than "He's a flirt." I was irritated. First off, they don't appear to actually know the guy, really, and second, this is all assuming that I'll instantly fall for any good-looking guy, regardless of whether we can even have a fluid conversation.
I've noticed that good-looking guys who talk to a lot of girls (and vice versa) get labeled as flirts a lot, regardless of their intentions.
Anyway, all this comes back around to my reason for making this thread: I was thinking that "Guard your heart!" is both a very dramatic and very vague admonition, so I looked it up. It's Proverbs 4:23: "Above all, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."
And then I looked at the whole chapter, and it was all about being wise and not letting yourself fall into evil behavior, but keeping wisdom and instruction in your heart.
Nothing whatsoever to do with romance.
I think this is a verse Christian culture has hijacked and turned into this weird, "Hey, little single Christian girl. You're a harmless little lamb, and men are like wolves who want to eat you up. If they aren't just like your daddy, with all his wisdom and maturity that he has gathered from being years and years older than you, they aren't worth your time. Guard your heart!
"PS it's totally okay for you to gossip about cute Christian guys. For your sister's sake."
I'm going to submit that it's impossible to give your heart away, for several reasons:
1. Literally, you would die.
2. Figuratively, the implication of the statement is that you are giving someone something that cannot be restored. That's simply not true.
Yuki-Anne (post: 1471873) wrote:#1. What does "falling in love" entail, exactly? How about "give your heart away"? What does that even mean? Is there some concrete line between, "Interested in pursuing further romantic attachment" and "fallen in love, gave my heart away"?
#2. How exactly am I supposed to know who I'm "meant to be with"? What manner of sign should I wait to receive from God before I know?
#3. At what point, then, is it okay to "fall in love"? Do you have to wait until you've said "I do" to "fall in love"?
#4. What if I "gave my heart away" to someone and then discovered I wasn't "meant to be with" him? Did I sin? Am I somehow a lesser person because I didn't "guard my heart"? How was I supposed to know I wasn't "meant to be with" him, when I prayed and all the signs I got were "go for it!"
I'm going to submit that it's impossible to give your heart away, for several reasons:
1. Literally, you would die.
2. Figuratively, the implication of the statement is that you are giving someone something that cannot be restored. That's simply not true.
I can love someone and experience the pain of that relationship falling apart without having lost a piece of myself. Does heartbreak hurt? Yes. Yes it does. Very much. I "fell in love" with someone I wasn't "meant to be with" and "gave my heart" to that person. And you know what? He broke my heart. And you know what else? I wouldn't change that experience for anything, because I became a better person through it. I am whole. There isn't some small piece of my heart that he still has. I learned a lot about myself, a lot about men, and a lot about love, and loving a man I didn't end up married to doesn't make me somehow a lesser person.
The idea that it's somehow better to only fall in love with one person (the person you were "meant to be with"), and until you find that person, you need to keep your heart protected and locked away, is really naive, if you ask me. I cringe at the phrase "meant to be" because the fact is that sometimes you pray really hard and do everything in your power to make sure it's God's will, and you still end up getting knocked on your hinder. Are breakups a consequence of not listening to God? Or is it just that sometimes bad things happen to you no matter how devotedly you follow God?
I'm gonna go with option 2, because the simple fact is that the woman who dated only one man and ended up married to him is not by default more godly or wise than the woman who experienced a harsh breakup. To imply that a girl (or guy) who's experienced a breakup (especially from someone who for all appearances was who she was "meant to be with") should have waited to fall in love until she was sure is just kicking her while she's down. Because ultimately, people are people, and they aren't perfect, and sometimes they break your heart, "meant to be" or not.
denimwriter (post: 1471926) wrote:Answers to your numbers:
1. I was in a relationship with someone when I was 18. I never had sex with him. we never kissed. but we did hold hands and such.... During the whole time we were together, something didn't seem right. A friend at church quoted something from a book she read, "A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that man has search God's heart for it." (from the book Captivating, by John & Stasi Eldredge) I prayed about it. God was literally telling me that it wasn't meant to be. From that point I just got deeper in my relationship with Christ and fell so much in love with Him that no one else mattered. Though I never gave my virginity up, There were still pieces of my heart I couldn't get back.
2. Trusting God. There is the person you are meant to be with. I have friends who waited for the exact person and friends who didn't. Another personal note, when I was 21, I met the man that I am meant to be with. There is something that happens that you just know. God said, "Here he is."
3. No you don't have to wait until you say I Do to fall in love. It's just less of a heartbreak to not even think about it until you're ready. (being ready is between you and God.)
4. No you didn't sin if you fell in love with someone who is not the right one God made for you. (Unless you already know God is telling you not to then, that is disobedience... and yes there is His grace and mercy and restoration if/when we mess up.) If God told you go for it, then that was Him telling you.
I get labeled as a flirt a lot.
I'm just saying.
.....so do I >_>
denimwriter (post: 1471926) wrote:1. I was in a relationship with someone when I was 18. I never had sex with him. we never kissed. but we did hold hands and such.... During the whole time we were together, something didn't seem right. A friend at church quoted something from a book she read, "A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that man has search God's heart for it." (from the book Captivating, by John & Stasi Eldredge) I prayed about it. God was literally telling me that it wasn't meant to be. From that point I just got deeper in my relationship with Christ and fell so much in love with Him that no one else mattered. Though I never gave my virginity up, There were still pieces of my heart I couldn't get back.
Atria35 (post: 1471951) wrote:I just don't think this is possible. No person only has X-amount of love to give. Yes, your heart may hurt for a long time after, but you always have more love. Love is infinite and cannot be measured.
I know where you're coming from, I was in a similar situation when I was 16, and I still hurt from it. But I have more love. If I were to fall deeply in love again, and my heart were broken, I would still have the ability to fall in love again, just as deeply.
Yamamaya (post: 1472011) wrote:Indeed. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful about what relationships we end up in. If you get into a shaky relationship that you have a feeling is going to end in heartache, it's probably best not to get into the relationship.
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