The world has lost its mind.
You may still be living in a fantasy… or maybe your head is in the
proverbial sand.
But,
The world has definitely lost its mind.
I could monologue about a whole lot of trivia… or a whole lot of
tragedies… or a whole lot of the good that goes unreported by a media machine
that largely gorges itself on everything that is wrong in the world and then
pretends that they do it for our good… instead of the ratings that keep them
swimming in loot.
But, as always, I’ll just focus for this short while on one topic that
seems to be getting an inordinate amount of attention lately.
So, I’ll out with it now:
Toxic Masculinity… oooohh! (cue dark clouds, lightning, thunder and the
gasps of the victimized masses)
Now, please don’t get your chonies all in a wad… at least not yet.
I want to go on before you tune me out.
There is a segment of our society that just can’t seem to deal with
reality anymore. They can’t stomach dialog, nor discussion, nor argument
(productive argument), nor negotiation or compromise. It would seem that the
days of agreeing to disagree and living in peace are no more.
I cannot speak for any one of you and I would not condescend to do so
anyway. I am only speaking for myself. You can hate me or call me names or categorize
me or write me off, but ultimately I don’t care. I’ve made up my mind that
there are some in this world who simply don’t want peace. Some people simply
want to rule the rest of us and would attempt to force us into a space where
tolerance doesn’t exist.
Instead, these people want us to accept whatever their momentary,
relativistic views are. They want us to say that lies are the truth and that
the truth is a pack of lies.
One lie that is now being told to the males of this world… yes, in fact
there are still males out there. And yes we’re males because God made us that
way. We in fact have the… ahem! (cough!) … plumbing that proves it. (Contrary
to those who falsely claim that gender is in the mind, not the body)
This new lie is that we males and the behaviors and idiosyncrasies that
define us as males are somehow messed up and that ultimately we need to be a
whole lot more like females in order to fit.
I would refer to that as emasculation now, wouldn’t you?
Now, before you blow a gasket because this monologue is making you mad,
please read on…
There is something in this fallen world that some of us know as sin.
Yes, sin. According to Jesus, we have all fallen short of God’s expectations of
us (Sin by the way is an ancient archery term that refers to the archer having
missed his/her mark (target)) If you don’t believe in sin, then I hate to be
the bearer of bad news for you but there’s not much hope for you then, because
that leaves you having to define all the evil that people do based on a
completely fluctuating and indefinable behavioral target. If you won’t
acknowledge evil, or sin, then you also cannot identify or accept hope.
Relativism ultimately leads you to anarchy and a world with no hope.
There is only one true lasting and overriding hope that sin may be
overcome and His name is Jesus.
Jesus knew that the heart of humankind could not be trusted. That is
one of the core reasons that he had to die on the cross and take on all of
humankinds sin. The sacrifice for sin had to be made by one who had lived a
sinless life.
All that said, I, like all men am not perfect. I have sinned many times
in my life. And, I have had to go before God and confess those sins and repent
of them. Remember what Jesus said though, that we have all fallen short.
I will not defend the actions of men that have taken advantage of
women. I will not sit here and say that “boys will be boys” and act as if we
should not work to make the world a better, safer place for the women and
girls.
However, I will also not be categorized once again and shoved into a
corner where we men either kowtow to the me too movement as if we are all
guilty, or be forced to sit down and shut up.
Simply put, there have been, are now and will be many great men in this
world. We come in all shapes and sizes. Some of us are average and ordinary.
Some of us join the military and go off to defend those who need defending or
destroy those who are committing all sorts of evil against the weak. Some of us
are first responders, running towards danger or disaster to stand in the gap
for those who need help. Some of us lead honorably from wherever that position
of leadership takes us.
Many, many men are honorable, trustworthy and reliable people that
contribute greatly to our world day after day. And, we men, we men of honor
when confronted with the evils that other men do will (as always) come to the
defense and aid of the females around us when the need arises.
We will not trivialize nor defend the actions of the victimizers that
we have seen very much in the public eye lately in areas such as the
entertainment industry, sports, politics, our places of worship or in our
schools. Many of us already take an active role in ensuring that the other men
around us are called out or corrected when they are behaving badly or defending
those that do.
In conclusion, if the powerful women in this world want to take an
active role in ensuring that the men who behave badly are held accountable,
then I and many other men do support that. However, once again we seem to have
a movement that wants to hold an entire group of individuals somehow
responsible for the actions of a select few. I won’t buy into that and a great
many men that I’ve spoken with do in fact take offense at that. If you alienate
those that you want to help further your cause by insulting them, berating them
(unfairly) and lumping them in with the actual offenders as if all men and all
male behavior was inherently bad, then you have contributed once again to yet
another societal divide in both our country and the world.
God does not categorize sin. He says that it is all worthy of death.
Our only hope is in his ability to transform hearts. If women want the men who
behave badly to change then that change has to occur in the hearts and minds of
those men through a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. If the women who
want this transformation in men to occur would just realize that they need to
enlist the help of the good men around them, then those of us who are being led
by God, would be more apt to listen and more apt to get involved with being
active participants in helping guide the misbehaving men around us into
cleaning up their acts.
Blessed are the peacemakers…
Seize the day and go do your part in transforming the world into a
better place!
Mike <><
