ELEV8 Magazine MAR / APRIL 2016 | Page 59

"Love cannot be measured by how long you wait, it's about how well you understand why you are waiting." Ruth Rutherford, a Christian single, who blogs at I Kissed My Date Goodnight shared her opinion on dating and why the Church hasn’t been much help when it comes to addressing these statistics. “There’s an absolute stigma in the Church when it comes to dating. Anyone who says there isn’t is married. The Church preaches at length in both word and deed about marriage, parenting,and children, placing such blessings on a holy pedestal for everyone to strive toward reaching. Singleness, however, isn’t acknowledged with high regard. It’s simply a stage we all have to somehow get through to reach those ever greater milestones. The catch lies in the fact that in order to get from single to married, one must date. Yet the Church, for the most part, diminishes the importance of dating. Apparently if we pray hard enough and believe, our future husbands and wives will just sit next to us on the pew one Sunday morning and the rest will be history. If it were that easy, I’d have a husband, and kids by now! Dating is tough. Being single is tough, too, but it shouldn’t be. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being single, or wrong with someone who isn’t married. The Church, of all places, should accept and engage people across the board — regardless of relationship status. Perhaps then the walls of stigma that separate singles and the rest of the Christians will finally be broken down, allowing for true community to thrive.” Devon Franklin and Meagan Good - Franklin