Things that make me smile.

Mike's (Sopespian) perpetual sarcasm. I do like having somebody on the forums that I can be sarcastic with and they don't get offended. You know.

And to be more serious: my niece makes me smile. Every time I'm around her, I just can't help but smile and laugh with her. She's got me wrapped around her finger.
 
PotW - The verse shocked me as much as a slap in the face would. If you witnessed the weekend that I had, you'd understand. Jeremy's mere existence in this world makes me have hope in a God. As someone who has fought any sort of deity, this slight change of mind is very significant.

Soul-mates. I believe.
 
I guess I'm missing part of the story here - not that I need the whole thing. The specifics of what St. Paul was addressing was situations where one member of a married couple converts to Christianity but the other doesn't. In that case, you don't have a sacramental marriage at all (i.e. no covenant). Thus the indissolubility of marriage that Jesus mentions doesn't apply, because there never was a covenant marriage.

It doesn't say the unbelieving spouse must leave, it says they can.

Besides, this doesn't even apply to you unless you're married.
 
Point in case being that I sorted the quote out another way.

I see the reason the religious could stay with their nonreligious spouse, is because there is a chance that the nonbeliever would seek God through their spouse who believes. "For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband."

Any relationship where there is a difference between belief systems tends to fail because the foundations of each individual cracks under the weight of being a couple. This was a huge concern once Jeremy and I had become friends, and it's one of the reasons we waited so long before we started dating.

In my own way, I am finding God through Jeremy just as the nonreligious in the text could be sanctified through their spouse. I'm applying the verse to my own life, just not verbatim-literal. More metaphorically.
 
You are perceiving the situation very clearly. I rejoice that you have such a rich relationship with Jeremy. May it bring you great joy, and ever closer to the truth.

Most Christians understand the 1 Corinthians passage as being related to the covenant bond of marriage. Our modern culture has almost completely lost the understanding of what a covenant is, but other times and places understood it more clearly. A covenant was a permanent bond that united two individuals and through them different tribes. It was sealed by the exchange of "bloods" (understood by the ancients to be any bodily fluid), which united the parties. You see this in such ceremonies as blood brotherhood - the slicing of the palm and shaking hands - which Americans associate with native Americans but actually has much broader cultural basis. (Curiously, a remnant remains in the "spitshake" still found in some places.)

Anyway, Christians understand marriage to be a covenant, but within the context of their covenant with God in Christ. Being Christian does not mean simply assenting to a set of intellectual propositions; it means dying with Christ and being raised to new life. As such, the (spiritually) living can only covenant with other living beings - they cannot enter into covenant with those who are not living. Of course, our particular situation on this earth may mean that one party of a marriage becomes living, leaving the question about what to do about the other, but St. Paul addresses that.

btw, Anaïs, have you ever read A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken? He was a student of C.S. Lewis'. I think you would get a lot out of it - it's a tremendous story.

Anaïs Nin said:
Point in case being that I sorted the quote out another way.

I see the reason the religious could stay with their nonreligious spouse, is because there is a chance that the nonbeliever would seek God through their spouse who believes. "For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband."

Any relationship where there is a difference between belief systems tends to fail because the foundations of each individual cracks under the weight of being a couple. This was a huge concern once Jeremy and I had become friends, and it's one of the reasons we waited so long before we started dating.

In my own way, I am finding God through Jeremy just as the nonreligious in the text could be sanctified through their spouse. I'm applying the verse to my own life, just not verbatim-literal. More metaphorically.
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Reading makes me smile. So does Kristen Stewart/Bella Swan, even though she's not a thing. She is a beautiful and amazingly talented woman.
 
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Anaïs Nin said:
My stuffed animals. I don't care how old I am they will always brighten my day.
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I agree!:D


My strange little Christmas tree makes me smile. Its actually the top of our old big fake Christmas tree that I got when we threw the rest of the tree away. Its in a rather precarious position and is supported by a cardboard box, several dictionaries, paper and index cards. Its current decorations are two ornaments and tons of curly wood shavings my grandparents gave me.:D
 
Finally being done with an exam. I'm officially finished with two out of my six classes for this semester. One-third!!!! haha. Thank goodness. Now just four more spread out from Tuesday to Thursday.
 
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