Thank you for your helpful and thoughtful reply. It uncovers a corollary church-problem: this doctrine of ‘preparing’ endlessly, and never being ‘ready’ to actually go do the thing. Churches love to say they are “equipping” people. But they love to repeat how much people “need” “preparing” and ‘equipping’ and ‘education’ and so while doing that they are to “wait on the Lord”. And so you have all these women who are “equipping” themselves, and each day their own-view of their own spiritually-superior-status just rises and rises, because now they are REALLY “equipped”, right? And so the expectation of the “God’s Best” husband just keeps rising as well... after all HE should be “equipping himself” as much as she-has “equipped” herself at BIble study and...and...and...
Both of you, excellent posts. (( applause ))
Please bear in mind, there is a distaff version of what you both just said. Plenty of young women who are devoted to Christ and ready for marriage are out there but somehow the young Christian men don’t see them as “good enough.”