It’s well accepted that there are more female Chrstians than male Christians. Certainly in many churches this is true (not ours, incidentally - it’s about 50/50), but is it true generally? Will there be more females in the body of Christ for eternity?
And if so, what are the practical outcomes in this life? Does that mean that many Christian women will have to marry non-Christian men because there are not enough around? Or will there always be a lot of single women?
If not, where are all the men going to come from? Perhaps China and other countries with their horrendous gender imbalance.
I’m not sure I understand the question. Are you asking about marriage and singleness in eternity? Jesus teaches that there will be no marriage in eternity.
For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
— Matthew 22:30
Since there will be no marriage, gender disparity won’t be an issue, even assuming that there will be a gender disparity.
No, I mean, if it is God’s will that the Body of Christ is majority female in eternity, what does that mean now? We should expect that to be reflected now, and what does that mean for Christian women who want to marry, but have no suitable Christian men to marry (for example)?
… what does that mean for Christian women who want to marry, but have no suitable Christian men to marry (for example)?
This question has needed asking for a while. Two thoughts:
Our evangelism with adult women, single or married, works much better than our evangelism with adult men, single or married. Hence: fix our men’s evangelism to get the numbers more balanced. This is something Promise Keepers took quite seriously (that is, men’s evangelism). So did Mark Driscoll.
What is obvious if one has had any time around the singles community, is the preponderance of quite capable women … and for the number of men who could do with assistance to get them ‘match-fit’. That would attend to some of the issue.
Historically, I don’t know if the numbers of single (never-married) Christians is growing over time, any thoughts here?
Maybe also more little ones than adults? “But Jesus said, ‘Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” (Matthew 15:14). On women, one of my most-loved quotes is this word from Erasmus at the end of his “In Praise of Folly”:
all Christian religion seems to have a kind of alliance with folly and in no respect to have any accord with wisdom. Of which if you expect proofs, consider first that boys, old men, women, and fools are more delighted with religious and sacred things than others, and to that purpose are ever next the altars
The Lord has not revealed what the ratio of the sexes will be in heaven, so it must be one of the secret things that belong to God. But He has given this instruction through the Apostle Paul:
Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach; - 1 Tim. 5:14
Since God instructs the younger women to get married, we should have a disposition of trust that God will provide for what He commands.
If I were going to worry, it would not be about there being physically enough males, but about the character of those men. May the Lord raise up faithful men, and grant them women who will be helpers suitable for them!
No doubt those who are wealthy and influential in this life will be underrepresented in the life to come, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more children and women as well…
But here is something else I’ve noticed… in my personal experience, the churches with the most solid doctrine and worship are also the most gender balanced, and if anything, have more men than women. The churches with more women than men have deficient doctrine and worship. This raises the possibility in my mind that many of the women in churches with imbalanced ratios may not actually have genuine faith and that the sex ratio in the invisible church may not be as imbalanced as it appears in the nominal visible church.
