some free advice that can help you have success on this site:
do not pursue - in the Bible, you may not easily find a person who pursued (or dated) to find a spouse (so if most Biblical characters never pursued anyone for marriage, why should you?)
choose your friends wisely - 1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." If people observed you to associate with bad company, they are likely to dismiss you as a potential mate, or people are likely to not want to introduce you to their single Christian friends
"so if most Biblical characters never pursued anyone for marriage,...."
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not so fast! I fear you may be greatly misunderstanding Scripture. One of the very first instructions in Torah is; 'be fruitful and multiply'. Jacob for example worked for seven years and then another seven to marry the woman he wanted. What about Ruth and Boaz??? Remember most marriages back then were arranged. There is even debate on if Y'shua was married (probably more than you can process on face value without studying it out for yourself). I'm sorry, you are just plain mistaken on this. However I would never deny God giving you similar specific instructions, but it is not generally exemplified in Scripture unless you look exclusively at Paul's letters. My two cents: "You can't steer a parked car".
"so if most Biblical characters never pursued anyone for marriage, why should you?"
notice the word "most" and not "all"
Jacob's case is a good topic (have you seen any commandment to follow his example in pursuing a wife?)
-also, its interesting that Jacob did not even vet (or at least look at ) the woman he was about to get intimate with, it woulda saved him a lot of trouble
not sure if Boaz pursued after Ruth, it seems more like Ruth pursuing after Boaz (maybe someone else can tackle that other statement)
again, this is free advice only for those wise enough to understand (if you are successful in your dating life, you probably wont even be reading this) but here are some more success stories from the Bible:
adam - did not pursue, God provided adam a wife
joseph - did not pursue women, and eventually, pharaoh provided joseph a wife
@savedbygrace, your examples are somewhat humorous. Your advice is given to people with choices. Adam obviously didn't have a choice in the matter. Given the cultural implications neither did Joseph. I reiterate; I would never deny the possibility of God giving this advice to certain individuals, however this advice is not generally exemplified in Scripture outside Paul's letters. The best advice is to actively pursue prayer for a mate before all else. Prayer before acting IS generally exemplified throughout Scripture.
"best advice is to actively pursue (God first, then) prayer for a mate before all else"---agreed, that's why this post was created in the first place--to discourage "pursuing" because imo and tons of experience, pursuing is a time waster
heres the testimony: most of my adult life I never pursued women---why---because ive learned the game early on in high school (grew up pagan/street smarts) so most of my adult life, women pursued me--because I knew whats up early on
when I became a Christian, I sadly had to reject many Christian women who pursued me--it made me sad how many Christian singles nowadays seem so desperate
its sad that Christian singles spend so much money (and emotional baggage) on dating and pursuing that "right one" when the wiser thing to do is "TRUST IN GOD" and lots of prayer of course
there are also other social intelligent things that one can learn to become the person to be pursued (but im not gonna give that info for free.....anymore...lesson learned from this forum)
so it is very saddening to see even older adults in this site still using the same dating game tactics (that was common in high school) and to see those same older adults still single and remain on this site (it really is sad)
but that's what happens when people don't humble themselves to even "listen" to counsel
so my apologies for wasting your time---I will not get into a circular argument here-- "to each his own"
and I will not waste anymore precious time in this particular post, im not even getting paid for this---instead I will just share wisdom carefully with those wise enough to listen
and for the record, ive already been successful on this site, I was just hoping to vet some potential people for my many many Christian single friends
so if you have been reading this post and you are actually humble enough to listen to counsel, feel free to msg me
@Gracesaves, looks like we found some common ground after all - kudos to you. However allow me to add, I needed to overlook a bit condescending attitude towards me towards the end of your post. You're forgiven.
Id agree but with a different phrasing, pursue but don't run a race or make it an actual hunt. The moment you sense the other one wants you to perform tricks like a dog being trained or just likes the attention of someone vying for his/her attention.... leave the idiot to the stupid games alone.
