One of these days I was in conversation with a single young lady who was passionate in her zeal in following Christ. When the conversation turned on the subject of dating relationships she said something on these terms: “It’s really easy to forget about the dating scene when you do everything to please Christ and He is your highest priority.”
This sentiment was admirable of itself but something sounded fishy to me, so I inquired further:
“Wait; so, can you say that Christ something like your husband?”
“Yes”, she said. “We talked about it on the women’s meeting of our [Reformed] church.”
And then some bells rang in my head.
Christ as your husband. This is exactly what cloistered nuns are told to in order to handle their emotions and impulses and direct them towards Christ, or so they say. And it dawned on me: this is the meal our Reformed young ladies are feeding from. This lady of my acquaintance firmly believed this hogwash as if it were the utmost principle of sound doctrine and morals.
There you have it. Our young ladies, so full of zeal, hopes, and dreams, were conditioned as if they were nuns. What is going on in our churches that we have to resort to this thoroughly unbiblical baloney to get our young people to obey Christian morals? And then we wonder when our young people get married and have all sorts of issues in their intimacy. We can do better than that, certainly.
And I don’t have any quibble against monasticism or nuns. But it should be plain and evident that monasticism and lifelong celibacy are not for everyone, and the presuppositions of monasticism should not be taught as a good universal rule for Christians.
Young single ladies who love Christ, keep this in your mind: Christ is not your husband. Christ is your Lord. You don’t owe Him marital love. You owe Christ obedience, worship and service. In any case, Christ is our Brother (Hebrews 2:11-18). But most definitely not your husband. Christ is the husband, but of the Church (Ephesians 5:25, among others).
No wonder there are countless worship songs that sound too much like erotic love songs. No wonder why so many males find church services repellent (not that we should begin to cater to their tastes, but you get my drift).
We really need to change our ways. Or, we are going to raise a mixed generation: half prudes, half hypocrytes. May the Lord deliver us from this awful future.