Dale Partridge is a 38 year old married man with children who is for often very concerned with what women are wearing, when they’re getting married, and who they’re sleeping with. Seems a little suspicious if ya ask me but I digress. Roughly 50% of pastors are addicted to porn, so it’s not surprising many of them project their own issues with lust and lack of self-control on the women they view as temptations (aka young single women).

But is singleness actually rampant in today’s culture?

Maybe.

According to census.gov over 46.4% of adults are single, which includes those who are divorced, never married, and widowed. The definition of rampant is, “marked by a menacing wildness, extravagance, or absence of restraint,” or “profusely widespread.” To me profusely widespread would be like the majority, so like 70% or so. Furthermore, the word rampant has a slightly negative connotation but is this negative view of singleness Biblically accurate?

1 Corinthians 7: 8-9 says, “[t]o the unmarried and the widows, I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.” Being single is not a bad thing, per the Bible. Jesus remained single His entire earthly life, so if there were something inherently sinful in delaying, or refusing to get married Jesus could not have died for our sins, because He wouldn’t have lived a sinless life. So already Dale has strayed from the Bible with whatever he’s trying to insinuate here. Obviously, it’s good to get married (Proverbs 18:22), but neither of these states of being negate someone from being able to serve God in whatever capacity He has called them too, nor is one better than the other (well, Paul would argue singleness is better).

It’s rather telling Dale’s next slide focuses on women and not men, and features a book written by a man Rev. J. H. Worcester. Again, why is Dale so concerned with the lives of young women in between high school and college? Something smells afoul here. Dale postures singleness as the fault of women as if the reason men are not marrying is because women are going to college, starting careers, and whatnot.

However, feminism hasn’t taken anything from women and equity is a Biblical principal. Simply by reading the Old Testament we see how often God was angry about the exploitation of others, or injustice. Furthermore, plenty of women are still having children. What feminism has given women is the choice in when they marry, who they marry, when they have kids, how many kids they have, and whether or not they marry at all. Same choices men have had for centuries.

Furthermore, women are not secondary to men. In Genesis the Bible says God made them male and female in his image. It doesn’t say God made males in His image and then a couple of chapters later is like, “oh yeah and He made females but like not in His image.” Right away the Bible establishes that both men and women are equal in value. Women are not some afterthought to God’s Creation, but an integral part of who He is just as men are. Women, just like men, should have the right to choose who to marry and why, and not be pressured to marry, or remain married, out of economic necessity or lack of independence. Why men like Dale view that as a bad thing is utterly baffling.

Lastly, men like Dale seem oblivious as to why feminism arose. For as much as conservatives harp on about natural roles, women fought very hard against those roles to gain economic independence so they could even choose to not marry at all. To date, I have only ever heard a single sermon talking about the reason why feminism rose: because men were not acting in their God-given roles as protectors, providers, etc. of their families but instead abused, exploited, and oppressed women forcing them to stand up for themselves in the form of feminism.

Certainly something can be said about modern day feminism in the West and it’s current woes, but making sweeping statements that feminism is preventing women from being mothers is silly. Women simply have choices now and many are choosing to delay marriage or not to marry at all (just as many dudes are choosing not to either). This isn’t a bad thing, rather our society in general is so hyper sexualized that obtaining sex becomes a top priority, thus marriage is put on a pedestal and those who aren’t married, or in a steady relationship, are looked down upon by those like Dale.

Dale subtlety pushing this narrative that a woman’s highest calling is raising children is wrong. In Christ, there is neither male nor female. Our highest calling as Christians is the spread the gospel. Can this happen through having kids? Sure. But framing singleness as an unfinished state of perpetually waiting for marriage, rather than a fully whole state in which one can pursue a myriad of other joys (career, travelling, hobbies, etc.) and serving God free from worldly matters is simply not Biblical. The Bible calls marriage as a worldly matter that ties humans down to worldly things (1 Corinthians 7:24-35). Our highest calling is to serve God, not our husbands or wives.

As usual, I entreat any Christians with the misfortune of stumbling upon my blog to read the Bible and stop listening to folks like Dale Partridge. Those like Dale are spreading falsehoods rooted in culture rather than Christ. That isn’t to say Christian leaders should be perfect. However,the Bible says those who teach will be held to higher standards than those who do not teach, and we should not allow Christians to go unchecked in promoting their own ideologies when those ideologies go directly against what the Bible actually says.

It’s not a sin to be single. Regardless of our relationship status as Christians we can all focus on serving God, preaching the gospel, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.