Why Un-married / Single Christians Should Be Concerned about the Gender Role Controversy (i.e., Male Headship, Female Submission, Should Women Be Allowed to Lead/Teach Men, etc)
I don’t want to spend much time on this, but Christian groups, especially the more fringe ones, that believe in and teach sexism (i.e., biblical gender complimentariansim / traditional gender roles/ male headship), teach (to summarize Jocelyn Andersen), that men reflect the “male” side of God and women reflect the “female” side of God.
Further, (they teach, again summarizing Jocelyn Andersen), is that it takes one man and one woman together (meaning married, I assume) to fully reflect God’s image.
The outworking of this is that if you are un-married, you are not a “whole” person, and you are not reflecting God. This applies to un-married men, too, not just un-married females.
You can watch the speech she gives (Link): here. I don’t recall which exact video it is. Or, try (Link): this link (to specific video).
In another video in that channel, another woman (Cynthia Kunsman) gave a lecture covering beliefs of Quiverfull-type groups (a.k.a. “Christian fertility cults” – some of their beliefs are making their way into more mainstream Christian churches and groups, such as the Southern Baptists, and are taught or endorsed, at least in part, by Christian personalities such Pat Robertson on his “700 Club” show), and she said that in these groups, marriage is said to be “normative,” which is considered good.
Singlehood is, I take it, considered by these fringe Christian groups to be non- or un- normative -and hence wrong or bad in some fashion, or not considered to be God’s design for men or for women. I believe you can watch her video (Link): here.
Al Mohler, leader of the SBC, and Debbie Maken (Christian author) have said that being single is a sin.
But you also have these other, fringe groups saying the same thing, and going further, by saying that non-married people do not fully reflect God.
I guess in order for these sexist swine to keep women down, they have to put themselves in a one-up position – they need a wife and kids to rule over and exert their authority over. This is why these “women should submit” teachings impact men too, not just women. That is, un-married Christian men are told if they want to be fully in God’s image, they need to marry and pro-create pronto, so they can be in authority over someone.
If you are a male Christian, and you are single, you don’t matter, you are not fully made in the image of God, or don’t completely reflect God’s image, according to these Christian fertility groups and some of the regular conservative Christian entities and churches.
Also, the women presenters in other videos in that channel point out other ways “male headship/ women submission” teachings negatively influence males.
There are some men who do not view family in terms of a hierarchy and view their wives as equals, but they get bullied and shamed by macho, sexist brute pastors who tell them, “to be a real man, to be a real Christian, you have to rule over your wife,” etc.
I refer you to the videos on (Link): this page for more.
Even if you are a Christian male, and you are single, and you consider yourself a supporter of “male headship / I permit not a woman to teach” rhetoric, be aware that much of the same arguments used to keep women down in marriages and in churches is also the same arguments and rationale to discount you, an un-married man, personally.
These pastors teaching this male headship concept don’t believe that un-married men are fully in the image of God, or that they are equal in authority or importance to married men, especially married men who have children.
So, in some weird-o branches of Christianity, un-married men, and un-married women, are not quite fully human, are not equally created in the image of God (as compared to married Christians, who are thought of being 100% a reflection of God), and are not of any worth.
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Related material on other sites:
(Link): Driscoll: Single men “cannot fully reflect God”
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Related posts this blog:
(Link): There Are No “Biblical Men” by B. Robertson
(Link): The Masculinity Myth: The Real Reason Men Don’t Go to Church by the Evangelical Pulpit
Christian Pundit 
Christrian Pundit – Thanks for the encouragement. I likewise consider you 100% fully human, created in the image of God.