This started off really strong, exploring the Jewish view of singleness and marriage, and how Jesus transformed the traditional view, showing that the Church family comes before the earthly one, and that it grows spiritually rather than biologically.

Then he brings up God's will in marital status, and he does acknowledge multiple viewpoints here, but he doesn't really have enough space to do this discussion justice, which is understandable. However, I wasn't satisfied with where he himself ended up on the spectrum.

He states, "We must not assume that God is to blame for our singleness any more than he is at fault for all the woes of the world." (p 76) But this implies that singleness is something bad, which he's claimed elsewhere in the book isn't true. And if both singleness and marriage are good gifts from God, equal but different, and if James is correct when he states that "all good things come down from the Father of lights" (aka God), then, yes, God is responsible for our singleness, but that's not a bad thing.

He also quotes someone who says that, "Marriage is not demanded of anyone; neither is abstention from marriage, even for the sake of the kingdom of God." Again, I disagree. I wholeheartedly believe that the Holy Spirit lives and moves in Christians, and that He reveals to us, through His Spirit, a more specific will for our lives than what the Bible contains. This will never contradict the Bible, but very well may convince a person that God wants them to be single or married, specifically. It's not "demanded" in the sense that we don't have free will, but obedience never is. That doesn't mean we always do whatever we want without consequences.

I was also frustrated with his thoughts on singles having more time or opportunities to serve than marrieds. I felt that he kept contradicting himself in different chapters.

He seems to misinterpret a couple of verses simply by misunderstanding the correct definition of certain English words, or how they were used.

He quotes the Message a few times like it's a translation instead of a paraphrase, one of my pet peeves.

He assumes all singles are college graduates.

He reveals spoilers for multiple books.

Overall, I was disappointed with this. There's definitely some good here, but it's mixed in so completely with the bad that it seems cancelled out. ( )