Matchmaker
Other countries in this world still practice arranged marriages. Do we as Americans see this as a violation of individual freedom? I think that we do. We cannot fathom other people choosing for us a spouse. And yet, we’ve all seen the commercials and online ads for services such as eHarmony, tickle.com and others. Why do we find arranged marriages so abhorrent, but not services that do the same? Why as Americans are we more willing to place our trust in a company, than in our family, as it would have been with arranged marriages. And more importantly, why do we not trust ourselves?
Matchmaking services tout around as fact that true love is hard to find. They come right out in the open and say how hard it is to find another. I have a problem with that right there. How dare they play off of a person’s greatest emotional pains for profit. “Sign up now for your free thirty-seven point personality quiz so that you can find true compatibility”, is a commonly heard theme with these commercials. And they make me sick. Sometimes the greatest bonds are formed from people who are utterly dissimilar. How can they justify what they do? They try to take the scalpel of science and use it to cut out the discomfort in relationships. But without the hardships of any endeavor, the outcome is not the same. We all wish we lived in a world with no pain and where everything was easy. Fact is, we long for such a world because we once had it. We lived in Eden, and we long for return. But now that we are cut off from it, we have to accept our punishment.
It is in the nature of punishment to make better the one being punished. We should accept the pain as part of who we are, and learn from it. This is not to say that we should look for pain or intentionally hurt ourselves (in fact, we should avoid it), but when we are hurt in some way, we should take it as a lesson in life. Yes, certain things in life hurt, and yes, we all wish to remove that element of pain. But without it, we would never learn or get better.
As the world gets farther and farther away from God, other things start to get distant as well. Joy, a part of God’s character cannot be experienced fully outside of God. And so, the world wonders why it is not happy. Kindness, a trait intrinsic to God is seldom seen outside of those who follow Him. And so the world is filled with people who are, “Looking out for number 1!” And love. God is love. Every relationship on earth with love in it is a reflection of God’s character and of His love for us. And yet, because we have moved away from God and feel not loved, we strongly desire the feeling that someone out there loves us. That is the underlying emotion that these matchmaking services play off of, and it is why I am so upset when I see them. It’s manipulative and deceptive. Perhaps not intentionally deceptive, but deceptive still. They claim that true love happens when you meet the right person, and that they can help you find that person, when in reality, it all depends on whom YOU love. And if you don’t love God, you’re going to be looking in all the wrong places.
Matchmaking services tout around as fact that true love is hard to find. They come right out in the open and say how hard it is to find another. I have a problem with that right there. How dare they play off of a person’s greatest emotional pains for profit. “Sign up now for your free thirty-seven point personality quiz so that you can find true compatibility”, is a commonly heard theme with these commercials. And they make me sick. Sometimes the greatest bonds are formed from people who are utterly dissimilar. How can they justify what they do? They try to take the scalpel of science and use it to cut out the discomfort in relationships. But without the hardships of any endeavor, the outcome is not the same. We all wish we lived in a world with no pain and where everything was easy. Fact is, we long for such a world because we once had it. We lived in Eden, and we long for return. But now that we are cut off from it, we have to accept our punishment.
It is in the nature of punishment to make better the one being punished. We should accept the pain as part of who we are, and learn from it. This is not to say that we should look for pain or intentionally hurt ourselves (in fact, we should avoid it), but when we are hurt in some way, we should take it as a lesson in life. Yes, certain things in life hurt, and yes, we all wish to remove that element of pain. But without it, we would never learn or get better.
As the world gets farther and farther away from God, other things start to get distant as well. Joy, a part of God’s character cannot be experienced fully outside of God. And so, the world wonders why it is not happy. Kindness, a trait intrinsic to God is seldom seen outside of those who follow Him. And so the world is filled with people who are, “Looking out for number 1!” And love. God is love. Every relationship on earth with love in it is a reflection of God’s character and of His love for us. And yet, because we have moved away from God and feel not loved, we strongly desire the feeling that someone out there loves us. That is the underlying emotion that these matchmaking services play off of, and it is why I am so upset when I see them. It’s manipulative and deceptive. Perhaps not intentionally deceptive, but deceptive still. They claim that true love happens when you meet the right person, and that they can help you find that person, when in reality, it all depends on whom YOU love. And if you don’t love God, you’re going to be looking in all the wrong places.
1 Comments:
I love your insights into humanity - keep up the great work!
Post a Comment
<< Home