I would ask that you read this with an open mind and then please, Please, PLEASE, comment and let me know what you think! I would love to hear all of your thoughts whether you agree or don't agree, I'm interested to hear what you think about this issue :) I am planning on writing some of my own thoughts on this issue in a later post, so look for that in a couple of days!
I can't post the whole article here since it is copyrighted, but I am posting a little excerpt from it to get you interested and then you can go and read the rest here. . .
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By Debbie Maken
"Is singleness really a "gift"?. . .
. . .Contemporary Christian teaching on this subject blurs the line between celibacy and singleness and leaves singles mistakenly believing that the two are the same. God is often painted as capriciously willing singleness for some and not others. Consequently and sadly, many Christian singles resign themselves to this less-than-ideal state. A more thoughtful and critical examination reveals that today's singleness is not some sort of divinely ordained, interminable state for a quarter of the population, but the result of a string of systematic impediments to marriage:
- male-friendly mating structure that is not geared toward marriage, but toward low-commitment, short term, shallow cyclical relationships
- a low view of marriage, with the process to achieve it reflecting its value: the casual nature of dating ultimately reflects the casual nature with which we treat our marriages
- lack of male leadership in the home, with parents bringing up boys to remain boys
- a protracted education system that doesn't really educate
- the removal of shame for indulging in the Indian Summer of one's adolescence or for being a perennial bachelor
- a privatized version of the meaning of marriage
- a diminished expectation of marriage from the divorce culture, and
- a redefinition or a defining downward of healthy biblical adulthood?. . ."
~Jessica Shae
2 comments:
I just discovered your blog through Jasmine's....but it looks like you have plenty of good things to say!
I want to thank you for taking the time to post this article and I must say that it is very good. All though I'm only 18, I have come to repeat what the Church has been feeding me. I do not wish for singleness, but I felt it was my duty to "be content where God has placed me and use these years as the gift that they are". Perhaps, that's not ALL bad, but every time I desire marriage I've found myself telling myself the thoughts I just mentioned. I've been surrounded by it, and I guess I've bought it.
Thanks again!
Hey Shae,
So I read the article and I told you and I would comment, so here it is...
I'll first say that I do agree that singleness is not a "gift" per say; I mean God's "gift" to man in the beginning was a wife; so I think God's plan for almost all is marriage. However, if God has not brought the right man (or woman) into one's life, why should we be sitting around daydreaming about marriage when we could doing things for the Lord? (Read 1 Cor. 7:33-34). Plus if it was God's plan for all to get married, why is there more females in the world than males? If every woman were to get married now, they're wouldn't be enough men to go around! No, the desire to marry should not be snuffed out--nor should the encouragement and training to be a provider or house keeper be extinguished. Anyways, those are my thoughts...and I really could go on and on but I won't. :)
Interesting article...but I don't really get the point she's trying to make, you know as far as the final proposal she is making.
<3 Amanda
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