Christians Should Not Marry

 October 13th, 2018  Ibn Anwar

Be like Christ and End Marriage: To Follow Jesus Means to End Christianity

by Ibn Anwar

The great irony of the Christian reality is that it continues to exist as the largest religious group on earth solely because its adherents refuse to exemplify their lord and savior Jesus, whom they claim to love ever so much. The existential problem of Christianity is that Jesus’ example guarantees the end of Christianity. Granted that Jesus permitted marriage, but nowhere can a Christian show that he celebrated the institution or dubbed it praiseworthy nor did he encourage it. Catholic priests have got it right in their priestly calling when they make a vow of celibacy as that mirrors the life of Jesus as seen in the Bible. Neither did Jesus have any romantic relationship of any kind nor did he ever get married. Why are Christians hesitant to follow Jesus in this when Jesus declared, ” “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) As Muslims, we should encourage Christians to follow Jesus (and if possible, encourage them to follow their Jesus to the letter). If Christians are true to their claim that there is no greater example than Jesus, then they, like Jesus, would choose to end marriages and become celibate. We must remind Christians of the hypocrisy of calling themselves ‘little Christs’ (i,e, Christians) when they are not prepared to be like Christ–to be unmarried. They should follow Jesus’ example and restrain from marriage and within a generation or two, Christianity will cease to exist. As a matter of fact, Jesus not only discouraged marriage, he said that marriage is a barrier to the resurrection and in order to be saved and be part of the “age to come,” followers of Jesus should not get married:

“Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage,” (Luke 20:34-35)

Marriage is against the example of Jesus and if the above verse is true, then Christians are choosing to lose out in the coming kingdom because to be married, in Jesus’ words, is to be unworthy. When will Christians actually follow Jesus and when will they listen to his words? Why do they choose to be unworthy of salvation and desire what Jesus did not desire? They ought to be encouraged to be more like Christ and end Christianity by ending marriage. But to ensure the survival of Christianity, Christians must knowingly and actively choose to disregard and reject not only Jesus’ personal example but also his words and teachings that clearly, to say the least, frown on marriage. But to reject or disregard the example of Jesus and his exhortations means to be unChristian and how can a self-proclaimed Christian exude non-Christian behaviour yet continue to be Christian? Marriage is the ultimate Sophie’s Choice for the Christian believer. If they wish to sustain Christianity, they must reject Jesus, but if they want to follow Jesus, then they must work against the survival of Christianity. There is no way out.