This verse is talking about believers in Christ through the ages. Some of the last people to accept Christ will be first in the Kingdom, and some of the first people to accept Christ will be last. This is the anti-Lessing’s Ditch verse.
When I was saying men being emotional I mean things like crying or being overly negative on a consistent basis. I also suspect it's quite different psychologically for women to hear about a man crying versus seeing it in person. A man crying rarely, shows he is a real person with emotions, while crying often makes most women think twice about him, that maybe he is weak or a mess.
This is true of everyone, though. If I see a fellow woman crying frequently and spouting negative comments, I’m going to think that she has something psychological going on and that something is wrong in her life. It has nothing to do with male/female.
What you are describing might be sharing passions. Like being at a church with a guy and him being really into the worship service.
Kind of haha. It’s more like when I see what another guy is doing or talking and something clicks emotionally. Chess is probably going to be an overused example pretty soon, but I gave a guy an update on my chess progress and he said “I like hearing this”. My response “I like that you like hearing this.” And I did. But that guy was very clear that he wanted to be no more than friends before that happened, and I agreed that was best, so I put my feelings away.
An unbeliever who was trying to manipulate me told me that he just wanted to touch me (the context was him wanting some kind of emotional impact on me too), and my response was “aww stop”. I shut him down soon thereafter. I think we were sharing a conversation about psychology that was interesting, but it wasn’t worth it. If it had been a believer in Christ who said that, I might have actually offered him a little hug though. I know what it is like to want to touch someone and not get to.
That was an unnerving episode because he kept saying “I like this, I don’t like this, this is against my values, I hate this” and so on, in response to the information I was sharing with him. It’s really sharing any sort of emotion with me and asking me to empathize with your point of view.
Sharing pain and trouble can trigger my compassion too. If you want another example, go over to “29 and never dated” and read my reply to DragonFox. Now obviously I know he’s not into me because he wears his emotions on his sleeve in this forum and spills them to everyone (and also that is against the rules), but it still affects me a little bit. I’m a human being too. I hope he finds his girl. That whole thread is Mr. Fox asking me to empathize with his pain by telling me an emotionally loaded story, or at least how it read to me. Another couple of guys told the story of their pain and that got to me when they did, too, much more severely. I know where all of my weaknesses are lol.
I’m sharing that unbeliever episode because not only does it clarify my point about emotional sharing, but it also might prove insightful about why Christian women might fall for unbelievers. Not that I am inclined that way. Au revoir, unbeliever manipulative rascals! Go find another unbeliever woman to take advantage of and leave pregnant on the side of the road! I want to be married to a good Christian man and raise my intelligent children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord! Away with you!
I read the book
Every Young Woman’s Battle growing up and it said that women are wired for emotional intimacy and that is what we most want. While I definitely can’t speak for all women on the subject, I know that is definitely true for me personally. That’s why I hate emotional manipulators and abusers so much.
