On topic: . . .@ believers, I'm still eager to hear from those who have a sustaining relationship with God. When one inspects and considers the components invloved in a spirtual relationship with God such as commitment, love etc,  one will perceive that similar attributes are also present between Man and wife. Does the spiritual tie you have with God effect, strengthen and enable the way you manifest your love in your matrimony/union due to excercising those cornerstone ingredients in your spirtual life? Or perhaps did your spiritual life prepare you for married life? Does your faith enable you to manifest love in a wholesome way as there is a spiritual factor here?
If you had lacked God in your life do you believe that the love you would have reflected would exist on a different dimension towards your loved one. .?

emofine:

On topic: . . .@ believers, I'm still eager to hear from those who have a sustaining relationship with God. When one inspects and considers the components invloved in a spirtual relationship with God such as commitment, love etc,  one will perceive that similar attributes are also present between Man and wife. Does the spiritual tie you have with God effect, strengthen and enable the way you manifest your love in your matrimony/union due to excercising those cornerstone ingredients in your spirtual life? Or perhaps did your spiritual life prepare you for married life? Does your faith enable you to manifest love in a wholesome way as there is a spiritual factor here?
If you had lacked God in your life do you believe that the love you would have reflected would exist on a different dimension towards your loved one. .?

OP this is what I believe.

Marriages or relationships are not spiritual. The reason we say they are is cz 2 spiritual beings who believe in God and allow Him to guide their day to day living come together in a union called marriage. They purpose to be guided by the principles outlined in the word of God.
Anybody can marry including a pagan.We call that a marriage as well. And who said there will be marriages in heaven?
The place is only for spiritual stuff and not physical stuff like marriage.

Now we need to differentiate btw the 2 kinds of love Agape and[b] Ero[/b]s
The love you have for God (agape)helps you connect with him spiritually and helps you develop a christian character which should in turn help you in making decisions pertaining to relationships. The word becomes your guide.
See,things of God are about peace love patience endurance etc and all those are fruits which anybody professing christianity must posess.
It however takes real life challenges to cultivate these qualities as they don't just drop like manna when you pray.

When it comes to human relationships we apply eros love. I cannot claim to love my partner the way I love God No.Theres a big difference.
I must love my partner romantically. Now that 'eros' love knows no religion or boundary.Its felt by everybody and anybody can be romantic.
The guiding principles for eros love apply to both believers and non believers.
I am talking about mutual attraction,the loveydovey feelings,and what it takes to sexually or romantically sustain such a relationship.

If I profess agape love and I don't know how to express the eros,then my relationship will go down the drainage.
But you can lack agape love and be able to express the eros and build a very stable and longlasting relationship.

Why is that so? because human relationships are just that human. Not really spiritual.
How you sustain them will depend on what you believe works. Bottom line is 'they can be sustained regardless of faith or religion.

[b]Divorce rates among religious/non-religious groups in USA (Culled from US Population Statistics, 2010)


Religion                                                            % have been divorced

Jews                                                                             30%

Born-again Christians                                                  27%

Other Christians                                                          24%

[size=13pt]Atheists[/size], Agnostics                                                 [size=13pt] 21%[/size]



A simple tabular statistic speaks louder than 1000 words, need I say more?! . This leads us to two main conclusions; We might as well conclude from this statistics that if indeed a concept of love exists, then Atheists will make the best lovers and husbands/wives, while Christians will make the worst husbands/wives. Secondly, in summary, if indeed there is some form of correlation between love and faith, the above statistics clearly show that such a correlation is NEGATIVE i.e. the more faith one/more parties in a relationship profess, the worse their relationship will be, and vice versa. This conclusion is in harmony with that of other notable scientists who have examined this issue. STATS DON'T LIE!!![/b]

only thing surprising there is the high rate of divorce for atheists.

i thought it was lower but guess i was wrong.

claremont:

Divorce rates among religious/non-religious groups in USA (Culled from US Population Statistics, 2010)


Religion                                                            % have been divorced

Jews                                                                             30%

Born-again Christians                                                  27%

Other Christians                                                          24%

[size=13pt]Atheists[/size], Agnostics                                                 [size=13pt] 21%[/size]

A simple tabular statistic speaks louder than 1000 words, need I say more?!

That confirms my post above. Religion or faith is no guarantee for happy relationship.It helps in making choices.
You need to work hard and make it work not leave it to God and sit back with folded arms cz that's being silly.

tpia@:

only thing surprising there is the high rate of divorce for atheists.

i thought it was lower but guess i was wrong.

It may be high, but you will agree with me that it is still considerably lower than that of the religious adherents!

pendo89:

OP this is what I believe.

Marriages or relationships are not spiritual. The reason we say they are is cz 2 spiritual beings who believe in God and allow Him to guide their day to day living come together in a union called marriage.

Okay I think your conflating certain issues or perhaps just misinterpreted what I was trying to convey.

I definitely know that marriages and relationships are not spiritual - I believe I have tried to distinguished between the constituent of a Spiritual relationship (an individual committed to God) and a Physical relationship (Man and Wife) multiple times.
My question was not trying to decorate marriage as a Spiritual union but whether those with a Spiritual life (relationship with God) and possessing a life partner recognized similar attributes in both their physical and spiritual relationship and whether the similar components that sustain both their Physical and Spiritual relationship facilitated both unions (Physical and Spiritual) or if they were indeed interdependent.

The original question was not even intended to compare divorce rates with atheists etc but to enquire if having a Spiritual relationship with a higher Being makes it easier for a devout muslim/christian etc in their own marriage as there are similar attributes within both Physical and Spiritual relationships. . .

They purpose to be guided by the principles outlined in the word of God.

Exactly.

Anybody can marry including a pagan.We call that a marriage as well. And who said there will be marriages in heaven?
The place is only for spiritual stuff and not physical stuff like marriage.

. . erm I know pagans do marry, and this topic is directed to them as well because I am enquiring of those who have an active Spirtual life (whether Buddhism/ Islam/ Christianity etc) to see if having established a commitment with a higher being will facilitate their own relationship with their partners as there are attributes that transcends both unions.

I used the Bible to support my points many times because I am more familiar with that scripture than the Quaran for example. So really I did not intend to make Christianity the central faith - it was just easier for me to employ examples from the Bible.

Now we need to differentiate btw the 2 kinds of love Agape and[b] Ero[/b]s
The love you have for God (agape)helps you connect with him spiritually and helps you develop a christian character which should in turn help you in making decisions pertaining to relationships. The word becomes your guide.
See,things of God are about peace love patience endurance etc and all those are fruits which anybody professing christianity must posess.
It however takes real life challenges to cultivate these qualities as they don't just drop like manna when you pray.

lol @ bolded. . . *nods head in agreement*

When it comes to human relationships we apply eros love. I cannot claim to love my partner the way I love God No.

Precisely - I absolutely agree. That love is certainly different. I wanted to make a comparison with two different types of relationships which cross over similar attributes. . that's where the juxtapostion of a Spiritual relationship with God and a Physical relationship with Man/Lady came into play and hence the comparison between love and faith.

Theres a big difference.
I must love my partner romantically. Now that 'eros' love knows no religion or boundary.Its felt by everybody and anybody can be romantic.
The guiding principles for eros love apply to both believers and non believers.
I am talking about mutual attraction,the loveydovey feelings,and what it takes to sexually or romantically sustain such a relationship.

*stores this information in my memory bank*

If I profess agape love and I don't know how to express the eros,then my relationship will go down the drainage.
But you can lack agape love and be able to express the eros and build a very stable and longlasting relationship.

Why is that so? because human relationships are just that human. Not really spiritual.
How you sustain them will depend on what you believe works. Bottom line is 'they can be sustained regardless of faith or religion.

Thank you for your very coherent post. I perceive things differently now and have gained a lot