As the Angels in Heaven: A Theological Reflection on the Plight of Bruce Jenner

Long after his sordid story broke, we are still talking about Bruce Jenner.  His sad state fascinates us and brings many of our societal failures and follies to the surface.  Chief among them is our destructive devotion to the ultimacy of personal choice.  Devotion that borders on idolatry.

In this man's fractured life, we see the folly of making the subjective will ultimate. 

When a full-grown man says something like, "as far back as i can remember, i have felt like and identified as a woman," and we are unable to respond with anything but, "well, then you must really be a woman," we are in deep trouble.

Certain fundamental things precede memory.  Certain truths are objectively true about us - whether we prefer and identify with them or not.  Several of these objective truths of reality come by way of the body we're given. We receive our bodies, and therefore our genders, long before we possess anything like memory or feeling or a sense of identity or even any self awareness at all.
You show up at conception and there it is - already right there in your DNA from the first second of your life.  And centuries after you die, if archaeologists happen to dig up your bones, one of the first things they will determine by the most basic testing is whether you were male or female.

When we hear ourselves asking questions like - "Can you imagine being trapped in a body you don't belong in?" ... as if you could be switched at birth into a foreign body by accident or trickery... as if - because of its gender - your body were something you could be "trapped inside of" like an elevator in a blackout.

Golden Career Advice from an "Expert" that Applies to the Church [& why YOU are in Charge of How You Feel!]

QUESTION:

Hey Mike! I’ve spent this last year trying to figure out the right career for myself and I still can’t figure out what to do. I have always been a hands on kind of guy and a go-getter. I could never be an office worker. ...I like trying pretty much everything, but get bored very easily. I want a career that will always keep me happy, but can allow me to have a family and get some time to travel.... Thank you!

- Parker Hall

MIKE’S ANSWER:

Hi Parker,

My first thought is that you should learn to weld and move to North Dakota. The opportunities are enormous, and as a “hands-on go-getter,” you’re qualified for the work. But after reading your post a second time, it occurs to me that your qualifications are not the reason you can’t find the career you want.

...

Consider your own words. You don’t want a career – you want the “right” career. You need “excitement” and “adventure,” but not at the expense of stability. You want lots of “change” and the “freedom to travel,” but you need the certainty of “steady pay.” You talk about being “easily bored” as though boredom is out of your control. It isn’t. Boredom is a choice. Like tardiness. Or interrupting. It’s one thing to “love the outdoors,” but you take it a step further. You vow to “never” take an office job. You talk about the needs of your family, even though that family doesn’t exist. And finally, you say the career you describe must “always” make you “happy.”

Book List [what I've been reading lately] ... 4 biographies

Since It's been ages since I've posted one of these ... I did recently just finish this latest set of 4.
You are what your mind eats ...

The Supreme Court and Mollycoddles in this Hour of Trial

"Weasel words from mollycoddles will never do when the day demands prophetic clarity from great hearts. Manly men must emerge for this hour of trial." 

- Theodore Roosevelt

Book List [what I've been reading/listening to lately]...

You are what your mind eats ...

Put "God" at the head of the list and you're practically quoting Qoheleth

"The 4 best words in the English language are love, wife, home, and work.  The fifth one is friend."

-Stephen Ambrose, Comrades

What ever happened to Promise Keepers?

"Men relate shoulder-to-shoulder with a common quest/vision/passion/etc.  Women sit face-to-face [romantically relating].  Try to make relationships happen to men when the relationship is the end and it is not going to last.  It's just not going to last.  There needs to be principles/Scriptures/a mission/a project/something there.  Because they bond deeply when they have a common passion.  I think forcing the relational thing as a constant getting together to talk about your relationship will abort eventually."

-John Piper

Book List [What I've been reading lately]...

You are what your mind eats ...

Fathers, Do Not Provoke Your Children to Wrath ...

"Col 3.21 says: 'Fathers, do not exasperate your children that they may not lose heart.' What is it that we can do to make sure that our children do not become angry and lose heart?  On the other hand, what is the mistake that we make that provokes our children to wrath and causes them to lose heart?
Well, it's neither being too harsh or being too lax.  In the Bible, what will cause children to lose heart is when they see that the father is not interested in them.  If you do not have constant interaction with your children, your children will perceive that you're not interested in them.
Children want to please their fathers.  They want to please mothers too, but particularly they want to please their fathers.  And if you fathers do not show interest in your children, then they will lose heart and they won't care about what you say.  In fact, there will be a lot of anger inside...
Having quality time with children is the key.  Involvement is the key, both involved in discipline and involved in the positive side: reading to them, praying with them, doing things with them that count as much as you can.  None of us do this perfectly, but involvement covers all kinds of errors.  We make all kinds of mistakes in raising our kids, but those things are almost entirely covered up if we really have involvement with our kids in quality time - real wrestling with them.  Problems almost always boil down to either leaving it all to mom or letting the kids run wild... Fathers are the key...  Be involved with them as God is involved with His children."

- James B Jordan, Lectures on Ephesians 6

Here is Carl Honore: In Praise of Slowness

[for the record, I believe what God has taught us, that time is linear - not simply cyclical - but Honore's thesis stands because the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, and we are blessed when we slow down at the right moments.]  

Book List [what I've been reading lately]...

You are what your mind eats ...

The Pressing Duty of our Time

"To establish the fact of decadence is the pressing duty of our time."

- Richard Weaver

Happy Birthday, Edgar!

He was to poetry what Norman Rockwell was to painting.  Never accused of being too edgy or avant guarde, he was a poet for the man on the street, and a Christian deep down and all the way through.  If you have never read the poems of Edgar Guest, let today, his 131st birthday, be the day you begin.  They will warm your soul and help you along in the right direction.


Lord, Make A Regular Man Out Of Me
Edgar Guest

This I would like to be- braver and bolder, 
Just a bit wiser because I am older, 
Just a bit kinder to those I may meet, 
Just a bit manlier taking defeat; 
This for the New Year my wish and my plea- 
Lord, make a regular man out of me. 

This I would like to be- just a bit finer, 
More of a smiler and less of a whiner, 
Just a bit quicker to stretch out my hand 
Helping another who's struggling to stand, 
This is my prayer for the New Year to be, 
Lord, make a regular man out of me.  

Book List [what I've been reading and listening to lately] ...

Book List [what i've been reading and listening to lately ...]

You are what your mind eats ...

Susman and Myers on Personality and Culture

In the 19th century, character was key, but other key words related to the concept of character: citizenship, duty, democracy, work, building, golden deeds, outdoor life, conquest, honor, reputation, morals, manners, integrity, … and above all: manhood, virility.

Early 20th century, accompanying material change, we move from a production-oriented society to a consumption-oriented society, and character disappears and what becomes key is personality: personality used to mean the qualities that were universally shared by all persons – the things we had in common. Personality was then changed to describe the attributes or qualities that make you unique. So the advice is on how to build this sort of personality or image. Here are the new key words from advice manuals: fascinating, stunning, attractive, magnetic, glowing, masterful, creative, dominant, forceful. [these words were almost never used to described character – character is either good or bad, not glowing. The quality of being ‘Somebody’ is emphasized. We live constantly in a crowd [basically strangers who will never have time to know your character], how can we distinguish ourselves from others in the crowd? ‘Crowd’ is the most commonly used word. The new personality literature stressed items that could be best developed in leisure time and that represented in themselves an emphasis on consumption. The social role demanded of all in the new culture of personality was that of a performer. Every American was to become a performing self.

"Personality and the Making of Twentieth-Century Culture."

- Warren Susman

The Act of Cowardice

"By cowardice I do not mean fear. Cowardice is a label we reserve for something a man does. What passes through his mind is his own affair."

- Lord Moran, The Anatomy of Courage

The Death of Pretty ...

by Pat Archbold
[abridged]

Pretty is dying.

People will define pretty differently. For the purposes of this piece, I define pretty as a mutually enriching balanced combination of beauty and projected innocence.

Young women today do not seem to aspire to pretty, they prefer to be regarded as hot. Hotness is something altogether different.

Pretty inspires men’s nobler instincts to protect and defend. Pretty is cherished. Hotness, on the other hand, is a commodity. Its value is temporary and must be used. It is a consumable. A consumable that consumes as it is consumed but brings no warmth.

Most girls don’t want to be pretty anymore even if they understand what it is. It is ironic that 40 years of women’s liberation has succeeded only in turning women into a commodity. Something to be used up and thrown out.

Of course men play a role in this as well … But here is the real truth. Most men prefer pretty over hot.

Our problem is that society doesn’t value innocence anymore, real or imagined. Nobody aspires to innocence anymore. Nobody wants to be thought of as innocent, the good girl. They want to be hot, not pretty.

Girls, please, bring back the pretty.

What makes a Southern Gentleman?

I recently found a neat little company that I commend to you.  It's called The Forgetful Gentleman.  Below is an example of what you might find on their blog:

Forgetful Gentleman interviewed the ultimate Southern Gentleman himself, Jeremy Blume, Principal at Bearings, a Southern lifestyle guide for men:

Why is the idea of a gentleman so prominent in the South?

Manliness and manners have always been important attributes in the South. We celebrate the man that hunts, works with his hands and has a backbone. Yet we are also a culture that prides itself on proper conduct and hospitality. The combination of those two characteristics is part of the fabric of a Southern gentleman.

What ideals, virtues and morals are integral to a southern gentleman?

A Southern gentleman should embody integrity, character, chivalry, hospitality and humility. His confidence in who he is as a man garners respect, but it’s also his humility that sets him apart. He has a healthy appreciation of the past, while at the same time a forward thinker.

What distinguishes a Southern gentleman in the following areas?

Eyes NOT Full of Adultery

Peter Leithart comments on the Song of Songs:
"the bride’s eros is aroused not by the lover in isolation but by the lover-in-society. What makes him lovable, desirable is not only his physical and sensual attractions but the honor bestowed upon him by others."


Such a view of attraction and arousal, actually gives chastity/modesty an appeal.

Too often, a man is lured into bedding [or lusting after] a woman that he and everyone else in town knows is a whore [think of that scene from A River Runs Through It]. The fact that she has given herself so freely and desperately to every other guy around seriously takes away from the significance of having her – she is a whore in everyone’s eyes – a woman of low esteem. That thought is a bit of a … well, downer.

For a young man to learn this view of women is a HUGE step in his sanctification. I’ve heard older, Godlier men explain their victory over the temptations of lust after gaining this mindset/heart. Learning to see a whore as ugly and her enticements as poison – regardless of her physical appearance, how many albums she's sold, centerfolds she's filled, or Oscars she's won – is an important thing to strive for.  May God bless us and our sons as we cultivate the ability to see the daughters of men through His eyes.

[print of Dorian Gray from Alcorn Studios]

Batman Vs. Santa

The crying need of our day is for Heroes. Our sons need heroes – real heroes. With that in mind, we have been trying to wean them off of the caped/masked/animal-kingdom-themed variety and inspire them by saturation with real hero stories. What could be more important than this?


Lately, we’ve been reading about Nicholas of Myra aka Saint Nicholas. And at this point in the reading, I’m struck by all the similarities that exist between Bruce Wayne and Nicholas of Myra. So here is a brief – if timely – meditation because this time of year the air is rank with thick materialism [quick, grab a breathing regulator from my bat belt, Robin!]

Both lost parents at young age and as a result vowed to devote their lives to good …

Both battled the forces of evil [Nicholas purportedly had to be restrained at the council of Nicaea after literally slapping Arius in the face … I love it!] …

Both spent their lives helping the victimized and helpless …