Elder Gerrit Gong's announcement in the April 2021, General Conference that the majority of members worldwide are single, widowed, or divorced was a stunner.

There are lots of implications that can be discussed. However, today I want to focus just on one.

Latter-day Saint men shouldn't be made unmarriageable

Over the years I've heard viewpoints expressed that men are hesitant to marry or even view themselves as marriageable. I want to explore how this relates to Latter-day Saint men.

One of the reasons men have been made unmarriageable is because of the work of feminists and especially radical feminists.

I'm on record for protesting the dangerous implications of this and how it has resulted in men being viewed as completely bereft of needs or even deserving of them.

Women often choose a standard of living as well as a companion when they marry

Throughout our history, when women marry they choose a standard of living as well as a companion. Men have often already chosen a standard of living and are seeking a companion. Herein lies the problem.

How well a man is going to be able to support a woman will inevitably figure into whether or not she wants to marry him. It will affect whether she feels she can accept a proposal. It will even affect if she's even willing to explore the possibility by beginning a relationship.

In a world where people are getting more and more wicked, more and more women are chasing after men with money.

Not all men will make the big money, or even want to. Do women want to marry these men? It's becoming increasingly clear that, for the most part, they don't.

The problem with money

Most men's salaries cover the basic necessities of life - shelter, food, and clothing. Here in the United States, this doesn't seem like enough for most people, especially women.

Men do want to be good providers but the atmosphere is becoming increasingly poisoned by women who want men to be great providers.

What's more, if they aren't, women can be good or even great providers themselves. Have we really thought about what this is doing to men?

If they can provide for themselves the reasoning goes, what do they need a man for?

I'm not against women seeking education and being employed. Good grief, I did it myself. My father died when I was 12 and my mother was left with five small children to provide for. It was a struggle.

I knew I might have to ultimately provide for myself and a family. I planned for it. I was single myself for years.

I lost my husband and sweetheart. Now I have to provide for myself again. It happens. It's necessary.

However, neither women's self-worth nor men's self-worth or marriageability should be determined based on money.

What are acceptable professions for future husbands?

The safest professions to go into are medicine and law. Why? Because they make big money and they come with a sure-fire guarantee of societal respect.

For women, marrying a doctor or a lawyer means they are going to have a secure financial future and respect from just about all quarters. Never mind that these professions, especially law, hemorrhage people who are ultimately unhappy with the profession.

I've heard these men with lucrative, prestigious jobs as being referred to as 8-10's on a 1-10 scale.

Every woman wants 'em.

For all the others on this secular scale, 8 on down, it appears that increasingly fewer women want 'em.

What's happening in the Latter-day Saint world?

Even though these secular societal influences shouldn't infiltrate the Church and its members, they often do.

It isn't hard to see social cliques of women at Church who seem to view themselves as better than the rest of us because they have a really nice house and a husband with a really good job.

These women, whether they realize it or now, act superior to other women, even if they themselves would be totally incapable of caring for themselves, let alone their family if they suddenly lost their husband for whatever reason.

Certainly, our spiritual worth should never be assessed on this sort of scale.

What is it doing to Latter-day Saint men?

What about the men who will never warrant this secular assessment of their secular worth? What if they have no hope of ever approaching a secular 10 or even an 8?

What does this do to men?

What does this do to their marriage prospects?

What does this do to the women who turn their nose up at the men with these lower secular marks who are, nevertheless, quite capable of providing a decent home, a decent living, as well as loving devotion to a worthy spouse?

This is insidious.

This shouldn't be happening

Why are Latter-day Saint women even getting sucked into this secular scale and sizing? Why isn't a man's devotion to the gospel and a strong testimony of Jesus Christ figuring more prominently into their thinking?

We know this SHOULD be the major criteria. Why isn't it the main criteria? If it was/is shouldn't the pool of desirable men for Latter-day Saint women expand rather than contract?

If it really was the major criteria for assessing Latter-day Saint men, wouldn't this put the ability to be highly desirable to women as a companion squarely within the personal ability of any man?

If these spiritual criteria were first and foremost, men wouldn't be subjected to this Satanized secular criterion that so demeans and demotes them.

It also demeans and demotes women, whether they realize it or not.

Latter-day Saint Men Can Always be a "10"

If a man has a testimony and a strong commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, makes and honors covenants, serves in the Church to the best of his ability, and truly seeks to be Christlike, then he is a gem.

He's a 10!


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