New Life Fellowship Pastor Rich Villodas pointed out that "Jesus Christ was single" in an effort to comfort singles on Valentine's Day.
ChurchLeaders reported that Villodas tweeted the need to have a good "theology of singleness" that becomes prevalent whenever Valentine's Day is celebrated. The remarks come in the face of many singles experiencing a difficult time whenever the "notoriously fraught holiday" comes each year.
"Valentine's Day is always a good day to examine our often deficient theology of singleness. Jesus was single and lived the fullest human life imaginable," Villodas said.
Many resonated with Villodas' statement and retweeted it with their own sentiments on being single. One of them was photographer Scott Hunt who stressed the pastor's sentiments would have come handy if he discovered it earlier in his life.
"Being single until called into marriage at 37, there were many, many Valentine's Days I would've benefited deeply from this message. Marriage is a dim picture of the incredible, vibrant, glorious love story all of us are welcomed into for all the ages to come in Christ Jesus," Hunt said.
On the other hand, a Twitter user who uses the handle "Observivore" disagreed with Villodas and elaborated how wrong his statements were. Observivore, who describes himself as a person "passionate about the church, theology, and current events," cited how lonely and suffering-filled Jesus' life was, which was contrary to what Villodas raised as "the fullest life imaginable."
"So. I really don't want to be a hater. I find most of his quotes insightful but I see this pop up every year around v day and m circulate among many in my circles and it's just one of my least favorite quick takes on singleness. As someone super single til their mid 30s, I still feel passionate about advocating for good care for singles, maybe even more so now that I'm married," Observivore said.
"So here's my beef: I would never want to say Jesus's life wasn't full. He was the Son of God after all. He had a community around him that today's church would greatly benefit from modeling, for singles and everyone. But saying Jesus had 'the fullest life imaginable' as a comfort for singles on a romantic holiday? From where I sit, Jesus' life was marked by extreme loneliness," he added.
Observivore cited in a series of tweets that the Bible detailed how Jesus "was mocked, scorned, despised, rejected," as well as, "tortured crucified and died at only age 33." He highlighted that Villodas' statements "miss the mark" out of his desire "to comfort singles on Valentine's." He underscored that it is wrong to say that Jesus, "the Man of Sorrows as an example of a flourishing single life."
The deficiency in the theology of singleness brings to the fore the need for churches and Christians, in general, to be more sensitive and compassionate towards people who are single, especially during Sundays and holidays.
A matter that The Navigator's iEdge Program Director Laurence Koo raised during an interview with Church Leaders last June 2021. Koo, who was raised in Netherlands, found it difficult being single in the United States. He disclosed from his experience that families and married people often to do not invite single people to their homes.
"Married people and single people-there's kind of like this enormous wall that's invisible, but very tangible...There was much more of a mutuality [in the Netherlands], and here it's so separated. And I found it really sad, honestly,"Koo said.
"Both marriage and singleness can represent Christ and his bride to the fullest," Koo continued.
"The challenge is, how can we be a healthy body of Christ that has intimate relationships with each other because that's where we're going anyways. Because marriage will be over," Koo explained.
"Every one of us in heaven will have this deep, intimate relationship with each other...So as we mature and let the Holy Spirit transform our lives, can we have part of that kingdom already here on earth? Because we so need it," he stressed.
