Soul Ties?

[mkgal1]

Gotcha .

 

[ValleyGal]

Quote Dave from post 29
"Mud - I hear ya. While a physical covenant of marriage may be broken by a divorce decree, I do not know if that severs the connection we call a "soul-tie" or not."

Yes, it does - at least it did in my case. I was well-connected on a spiritual-soul level with my first husband until the very day the divorce was final. And by then he had been in a sexual relationship with his next wife for more than a year.

 

[LinkH]

It's entirely about manufacturing guilt Guilt is a great motivator - and means for obtaining submission.

The Bible is all full of sins. Supposedly all sin is equal in the eyes of God. Being a douche to your fellow man, being inhospitable, being jealous, etc...all of those are sins equally if not more important than any sexual sin (as they're mentioned far more often)...but yet at least here in America...sexual sin is pretty much what gets people motivated.

The idea of all sins being equal is a 'pop' evangelical idea that doesn't really have support in scripture. Historically, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a pre-Reformation theologian who thought that way. I don't know of Reformers who thought that way either, that all sins were evil. In the Old Testament, it is possible to sin greviously. There were unintentional sins that could be atoned for and 'high handed' sins that could not. Some sins required the death penalty (assuming the proper number of witnesses). Others did not. Roman Catholic theologians for a long time have believed in venial sins. Jesus spoke of all sins being forgiven except speaking against the Holy Ghost, so there is an unforgivable sin. So clearly not all sins are equal.

Why? Because some people aren't really selfish. Some people aren't jealous. Some people do treat their fellow man rightly. What ought be done with them? Surely you can't leave them feeling that they might be doing something right. How could you subjugate them then?

So do you imagine some strict-looking clergymen in a back room somewhere with evil looks on their faces, rubbing their hands together and plotting how to subjugate the people.

But sex...hey...we all want that. So how ought we frame it? Even if a thought passes your head over someone you're not married to - then you're guilty. Gotcha. You've got everyone, in fact.

It is not having a sexual thought that is a sin. Attraction is not a sin. Jesus taught that he that looks at a woman in order to lust after her has committed adultery already in his heart. It's a subtle, common thing for many men to do. But it is also something done intentionally. There is a yielding of the eyes to sin. There is intention. The grammatically appropriate word for 'lust' there shows up in the Greek translation of the Old Testament used back then in the commandment, 'Thou shalt not covet'.

 

[Sabertooth]

Sabertooth? Can you share your information with us (publicly)?

Maybe in the Spirit-Filled/Charismatic forum, where modern-day gifts of the Holy Spirit are considered a given. That point, alone, would arouse too many objections here, and we would never reach the original question. This thread, in that forum, would likely garner more detailed responses than I can offer alone.

(People might still disagree with my conclusions, but I don't want to have to argue the premises for my rationale. It is a Spirit-filled/charismatic concept after all.)

 

[DZoolander]

So do you imagine some strict-looking clergymen in a back room somewhere with evil looks on their faces, rubbing their hands together and plotting how to subjugate the people.

Not so much nowadays, no. But I do believe a large percentage of the tenants of faith were planned/contrived in order to gain the greatest acceptance and subservience in the early days, sure. There's a great deal of salesmanship in any faith. Want to bring in a bunch of Pagans? Adopt their holidays but rename them, so they have something familiar. Heck, look at Martin Luther. He was a master marketer. One of my favorite little tidbits about him was how he didn't like the children around Christmas time awaiting St. Nicholas, so he started promoting the Christkindl.

As good as he was at marketing things though, it never really took off... But, it had the unintended consequence of evolving into Chris Kringle...which of course is now just another alias of Santa. But, not so many people know that. It's just part of today's reality. Something contrived in faith to serve a purpose in faith took on a life of it's own and now runs all well and good without any further effort to promote it.

Do I think that it's likely that other "sins" at some point or other were ranked in terms of their ability to sell to the masses - and those they felt could blanket the most were given greater precedence? Sure. And it worked like a charm. We have neurotic masses running themselves ragged because they fear things like "spilling their seed", that they may have looked the wrong way at a woman, or that they might have heard a song by Prince/Marvin Gaye ("oh I'm so nervous about hearing a song called sexual healing...what kind of demons will that invite into my mind??") All this leads to a contest to see who can be the most sycophantic and servile, out of fear.

...ya know...good believers.

 

[timewerx]

3. Having pre-marital sex or a deep relationship with a woman other than your wife creates a soul tie
4. Soul ties need to be broken or your marriage is doomed

I have similar personal beliefs but I never gave it a proper name.

I though I'm the only person in the world who believed such thing. I independently discovered the phenomena. It is based on my interpretation of the Bible, observing people and a bit of science. My strongest reason to discover it was due to a demonic attack I experienced sometime ago.

However, my beliefs on the subject has significant variation:

"Soul ties" could also happen between people of the same sex even without intimacy. Deep relations are not required to make a "soul tie"

In fact, a soul tie could be established by wearing someone else's clothes, having a crush on someone, coming to contact with someone else's blood, etc.

I simply avoid people I don't wish to have "soul ties" with.

It is not necessary to break "soul ties".... You only break "soul ties" if it happens to be with a person that is evil.

If you need to break one, the most effective is fasting + destroying and throwing away all items related to the person you want to break ties with.


Those are my own beliefs on the subject. I never heard it from anyone, until I saw your thread.

 

[Sabertooth]

I can say this much, it has nothing to do with imposing guilt on anyone, anymore than concluding that "a physical wound is infected" is an imposition of guilt. Whoever would spin this that way is completely missing the point.

Sin produces guilt AND, often, wounds. 1 John 1:9 confession takes care of the guilt, but sometimes we need deliverance to take care of the associated wounds. That is not judgment or condemnation. That is first aid...

 

[DZoolander]

How much guilt do you carry around for the anger you felt at a driver for cutting you off 3 years ago?

 

[Sabertooth]

How much guilt do you carry around for the anger you felt at a driver for cutting you off 3 years ago?

1. Anger is only a sin if it is without cause. See Matthew 5:22
   
2. If yours was sin and you repented, none.*
3. It remains to be seen if there were any spiritual wounds from that event, but most likely not.

*This is only true for born-again Christians. It does not apply to those who are outside of His grace, per John 3:36.

 

[DZoolander]

I'd argue that the only spiritual wounds that are inflicted upon people w/respect to sex - relative to other sins - are ones that people bring upon themselves due to social conditioning. It's only because the church treats sex differently than other sin - and people internalize it differently as a result.

 

[Sabertooth]

I know. That is why I won't make a detailed case here.

 

[mkgal1]

Sin produces guilt AND, often, wounds. 1 John 1:9 confession takes care of the guilt, but sometimes we need deliverance to take care of the associated wounds. That is not judgment or condemnation. That is first aid...

I do agree that things often shouldn't cease to be a focus just because we've confessed (because there are often things that led us to be in that mindset in the first place--and unless there's some self-reflection we can often keep repeating a cycle). So your statement that I bolded is something I can somewhat agree with (I just wouldn't use the word "deliverance").

What I believe is that we're in charge of our own world view and what we allow to influence us (and not that evil spirits are in grabbing a hold of us). I do believe in evil---I do believe in the unseen spiritual realm...but I think a lot of what we contribute to "evil spirits" or "possession" has to do with our own hangups (or untruths we've bought into). I'm sorry if that's too vague to make any sense---I'm trying not to be disrespectful of what others believe.

 

[Sabertooth]

Can we defy infection of a physical wound by sheer willpower, or positive thinking?

 

[Dave-W]

Yes, it does - at least it did in my case.

How do you know that for sure? For probably 90% (or more) of the people who have these things, they are entirely unaware of them. My sister and father-in-law are the rare exceptions.

And for my sis, divorce did NOT sever her awareness of that connection. That took a few years.

 

[LinkH]

I'd argue that the only spiritual wounds that are inflicted upon people w/respect to sex - relative to other sins - are ones that people bring upon themselves due to social conditioning. It's only because the church treats sex differently than other sin - and people internalize it differently as a result.

That defies common sense. Imagine a 17-year-old dates a young man for a few weeks, rather innocent, burgers and ice cream at Dairy Queen, roller skating, and a movie. Now imagine that 17-year-old dates the same young man and does the same thing plus sex on every date.

If he decides to dump her for the homecoming queen, which scenario will devastate her more, the no-sex scenario or the with-sex scenario? I'd venture to guess that in nearly every case, the scenario with sex is going to be more painful and to be more likely to scar her emotionally for life. I'd venture to guess she'd be much more likely to have problems with feeling wanted, to have problems trusting men, or to have problems with sex if she'd slept with him.

Which scenario would you choose, if you had to, for your sister or daughter to go through?

 

[ValleyGal]

How do you know that for sure? For probably 90% (or more) of the people who have these things, they are entirely unaware of them. My sister and father-in-law are the rare exceptions.

And for my sis, divorce did NOT sever her awareness of that connection. That took a few years.

My awareness of the connection has never gone. I will always remember the connections I had with my ex husband, boyfriend, and my pastor and his wife. All of those connections were very strong and unforgettable. I would not want to lose awareness of the connection. But the connection itself was severed. With my ex husband, I could sense the severance, plus I could never "feel" him after that. Where I used to be able to tell that he was in town, I could no more. I stopped having dreams about him, I stopped "just knowing" certain things. With my boyfriend who died, I could feel him leave - with him it was so intense that I could feel him leave. I could feel it in my spirit and it was so intense I could almost feel it in my body. I got the call about 3 minutes later. With my pastor and his wife, it severed mostly when my pastor died, and I could tell in the same sense as with my ex husband - I simply stopped "just knowing" certain things about him and his family. But there were some signs with my pastor's wife, like all through my supporting her through the grief - things I just knew and had to address, but in a different way than before. With her, it ended when I could sense her turn - it was the last time I "just knew" anything at all from her, and when she turned, I closed myself off to her. If you "just know" certain things about someone, it makes sense that you also "just know" when the connection is no more.

The connections were all the same, only with different intensity. Since I was not sexual with three of them, that suggests to me that "soul ties" are not necessarily attached to a sexual relationship, and I know that I know that not every marriage or sexual union produces these connections.

 

[LinkH]

The 'soul ties' thing could be presented as really superstitious or as a common sense kind of thing. Of course, we have a connection on some level with close friends, spouses, etc. But it could also turn into something superstitions, people doing a karate chop and commanding the soul tie to be broken, or burning all their ex's stuff to break their power over them.

 

[LinkH]

My awareness of the connection has never gone. I will always remember the connections I had with my ex husband, boyfriend, and my pastor and his wife. All of those connections were very strong and unforgettable. I would not want to lose awareness of the connection. But the connection itself was severed. With my ex husband, I could sense the severance, plus I could never "feel" him after that. Where I used to be able to tell that he was in town, I could no more. I stopped having dreams about him, I stopped "just knowing" certain things. With my boyfriend who died, I could feel him leave - with him it was so intense that I could feel him leave. I could feel it in my spirit and it was so intense I could almost feel it in my body. I got the call about 3 minutes later. With my pastor and his wife, it severed mostly when my pastor died, and I could tell in the same sense as with my ex husband - I simply stopped "just knowing" certain things about him and his family. But there were some signs with my pastor's wife, like all through my supporting her through the grief - things I just knew and had to address, but in a different way than before. With her, it ended when I could sense her turn - it was the last time I "just knew" anything at all from her, and when she turned, I closed myself off to her. If you "just know" certain things about someone, it makes sense that you also "just know" when the connection is no more.

The connections were all the same, only with different intensity. Since I was not sexual with three of them, that suggests to me that "soul ties" are not necessarily attached to a sexual relationship, and I know that I know that not every marriage or sexual union produces these connections.

With stuff like this, I don't know if it is some kind of connection with the person or just some kind of spiritual sensitivity, or something along the lines of a 'word of knowledge.'

I've been able to sense people's emotions. I have had that experience with my wife on the phone. Also, when I've gotten words of knowledge, knowing things about people, sometimes I have gotten a sense of the emotions they have been dealing. But I have had that happen with someone I didn't really know at all beyond one casual handshake and brief time praying for them.

But then I've had people I felt like I had a connection to and I could sense their emotions and things like you are talking about. But that could also fit in the word of knowledge category as well, IMO.

Some of these things remind me of Watchman Nee's 'Latent Power of the Soul.' He has this idea of 'soul power.' The idea is interesting for thinking about these sorts of things, but he doesn't seem to have much justification for making it all out to be bad, IMO.

 

[Dave-W]

But it could also turn into something superstitions, people doing a karate chop and commanding the soul tie to be broken,

Yeah - some people try to be dramatic. For what ever reason.

 

[ValleyGal]

Can we defy infection of a physical wound by sheer willpower, or positive thinking?

I don't believe a physical joining produces a spiritual connection, but it can. I do know that sex releases oxytocin, the hormone responsible for bonding. But bonding is not spiritual - since it has a physical foundation, it is either physical, or because there is overlap in the mind-body connection, it is emotional. I believe spiritual unions or connections are very far and few between. I also believe that people like to call emotional things "spiritual." I think it makes a big difference for people to understand how mind, body, spirit are integrated.

Jesus demonstrated that yes, you can fight infection with prayer. And positive thinking aids in physical healing.