A young lady who is a missionary with CTEN (Commission to Every Nation) wrote a very good take on being single in today’s world on her blog. You can see it here: 24 Things to Do Instead of Getting Married Before You’re 24, a response. It is a response to this article titled, “23 Things To Do Instead of Getting Engaged Before You’re 23. It’s a good response. I recommend you read it. She came up with her own list of 24 things to do instead of getting married before you’re 24. It’s a good list.
Her response is well written, a takeoff or application of Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount, “But above all pursues His Kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33. Nevertheless I did pick up on two things that merited attention: 1. the societal pressure to get married and 2. Her commitment to read least 3 New York Times articles per week.
About the pressure to get married she says, “I think this author has a point that some people get married because it’s the thing to do, societal expectations, or whatever crazy reason:
It is a way for young people to hide behind a significant other instead of dealing with life’s highs and lows on their own. It’s a safety blanket. It’s an admission that the world is just too big and scary to deal with it on your own; thus, you now have someone that is legally obligated to support you till one of you dies or files for divorce. (quoting the article, “23 Things To Do Instead of Getting Engaged Before You’re 23.)
Marriage is only a societal norm because it is part of the creation. To say otherwise puts an evolutionary interpretation of marriage over the authority of Scripture. God made us to be married, that is the majority of us – Gen 1:28; 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6; 1 Corinthians 7; Hebrews 13:4. That said, in our Corinthian culture these days being single has it’s pros. Certainly don’t be in a hurry or as you said, make an idol of being married but do look at it from a Biblical perspective that the desire to be married and have children is from God, not society.
Spoken from the perspective of going on 44 years of marriage, wanting to be married and have a family is a noble desire. The answer is not to try to kill the desire. That’s another religion, not Christianity. Try Hinduism or Buddhism.
As for reading the New York Times, if it were me I’d look for someplace else to get my news. It is the anti-Christ in print. That’s hyperbolic but nevertheless true. There is no such thing as neutral reporting, it’s a myth. All facts are interpreted and our depravity affects how those facts are interpreted. At least read another point of view.
There are lots of options to at least get some balance. I go to http://americanvision.org/, http://townhall.com/ and http://teapartyeconomist.com/ for a more conservative viewpoint. American Vision and the Teaparty Economist are Christian Reformed. The Teaparty Economist is a bit curmudgeonly but you never miss the author’s point. Give it a try. It’s worth it.
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