[Oyk]

Sorry, I ain't a monkish man and therefore I am at a loss to explain why monks and nuns can be "complete" without a soul mate, if that's what you mean. By soul mate I mean a husband or a wife. Maybe they feel or are actually "complete" after taking vows of chastity and poverty and after renouncing the material world in favour of inner peace and calm. Good for them, I do not frown upon their monkish way of life, and I wish them well. Perhaps you can offer a better explanation.

For me, taking a vow of celibacy is a fate worse then death. The simple reason is, I can't live without a woman and sex. Thus, exchanging wedding vows is terribly important to me. Speaking only for myself, I believe in the institution of marriage. Shortly after God created Adam, He said it wasn't good for a man to be alone. He then created Eve, using a rib from Adam, to be his companion, and told them to go forth and multiply.

I've found that doing God's will has brought big dividend in terms of happiness in marriage. I have enjoyed many years of marital bliss and family life. My wife and I are perfect soul mates. Human beings, birds, fish, reptiles, mammals, insects have a natural instinct to procreate. Birds do marry, but they do not have the elaborate ceremony that we do. Since men and women are made for each other, why don't we complete the sentence and say they should be joined together in holy matrimony?

From biblical times since Genesis to today, Man has/had a heavy burden.  Adam's Job Description ain't easy but he was given an IQ that had declined over the years...for some a lot, and for others less, but I guess it was pretty high, perhaps higher than Einstein and Newton combined, to be given the enormous tasks that God gave to him.

Eve was created to be a helper.  She was not told to do waht Adam was.  She was just a helper. But todya's Eves want to do today's Adams' jobs and that is causing a lot of problems for the institution of marriage if it even gets there. Many remain outside that institution ie are single.

And Eve was intended to be a companion that cows, goats, elephants...could not.

Women weren't mentioned a lot in the Bible but whenever and wherever they were, it had to do with obedience, disobedience, death, and redemption.

1.  Eve was the first woman and was given to Adam for his wife.  Disobedience and the Fall.

2.  Mary the woman chosen to give birth to Jesus.  Obedience and redemption.

3.  King David.  Sent his general to the frontline to be killed in battle in order to marry his widow.  Disobedience.  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife!

The Apostle Paul understood men and women, the need for companionship and sex just as they were created.  However, he also said that if you can, it is good to be celibate ie single, so that you can devote all your time to God.  You don't need to think about coming home, not too late, because a wife needs you and is waiting, and so also the chewren.  You have all the time to serve God.

What went really wrong then and now is same-sex marriage, and even without the "marriage", same-sex sex is an abomination to God. All Christians who have read the Bible for some time would know about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

We see lots of those in lvlrsSTI's SgTak between his user ids viz. Observer and Killjoy, but for some reason which would embarrass him, he decided to type Oyk and SimTan on his peektures but we know he is acting out his desires with our user names.