gracEmail
Edward Fudge

SOUL-MATES

A gracEmail reader writes that she and her husband are divorcing because they have nothing in common anymore. Meanwhile, she has found a fabulous male friend who so resonates with her that she wonders if they might be "soul-mates" -- souls created to find each other and to be together. Finally, she asks, can she be forgiven if she marries this friend some day after her divorce is final?

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I am afraid that the "soul-mate" notion is a romantic invention which makes for sweet stories and sentimental movies but lacks any scriptural basis. The idea of eternal souls being placed in bodies to make human beings came from pagan Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Plato. In the biblical account of Adam's creation, God forms a clay body from earthly elements then animates it with "breath of life" (spirit or "living breath") and Adam becomes a "living soul" ("living being"). Using this biblical terminology, you do not "have" a soul. Rather, as a whole living person, you "are" a soul (Gen. 2:7).

It is certainly true that some people seem to "match" each other while others do not. However, much of that is the result of factors which can be known before marriage and which courtship is intended to discover. Do the people both love God? Do they both want to serve him as their first priority? Do they like the same things in daily life? Are they friends, who enjoy each other's company? Do they appreciate and respect one other -- wholly apart from romance or sexual interest? All that can usually be known before marrying if people are asking the right questions.

The Bible says that God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16). So do almost all those involved in it, when they see the harm it causes and the hurt to everyone involved. It is always a sign of human failure and brokenness and sin, even when it seems the lesser of two evils. But the other side of the coin is that God can forgive our sins and failings and that he does so when we genuinely repent and claim his forgiveness. Hopefully, we learn from our experience and we do not have to repeat it. God often makes something good out of a bad situation. He is rightly famous for that!

For more on divorce and remarriage, click here.