Manhood in the News
by on Aug 29th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Well, gentlemen, here are some more articles worth your attention. As always, I send them to you to think about them, wrestle with them, and make your own conclusions about them. I’m not necessarily in agreement with all of them, but they are worth taking and holding against the rubric of Scripture to see what is true.
“Why Aren’t ‘Emerging Adults’ Emerging as Adults?’” by Albert Mohler
It is hard to let time pass without including something from Dr. Al Mohler because he is usually paying close to attention to issues of masculinity and culture. In this article, he interacts with the thoughts of other sociologists on the growing pattern of young men and the seemingly later ages in which they are embracing the responsibilities and opportunities of adulthood.
I’m still working through and chewing on this particular article because though I agree with a large percentage of what Dr. Mohler says, I also wonder if the older generation of Christian leaders is truly sensitive to the nature of life in today’s economy as a person in his twenties. I just completed my twenties last week and can say that it was nothing like my father’s twenties or my grandfather’s twenties. I’m asking the question: to what degree have today’s males failed and to what degree are today’s males being as responsible as they can in a world where jobs are not readily available, the cost of necessities is much higher than thirty years ago, the debt from high college expenses is exponentially greater than thirty years ago, and the idea of renting an apartment would only exacerbate the debt of a young man today? Notice that I have not even added the costs that this younger generation will incur at the hands of today’s big spenders (i.e. insolvent government programs, growing costs of health care, deferred maintenance of our nation’s infrastructure, not-so-rosy look at the future of the market, etc.).
Dr. Mohler is right about many things, but perhaps a bit too simplistic in his fervor for manhood. I think there is an opportunity for Christian leaders to pounce on this gap in research and actually provide training to young men beyond telling them that they’re not where their fathers were thirty years ago.
“The World is Filled with Boys Who Can Shave” by Mark Driscoll
Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hills Church in Seattle, Washington, is well known for his blunt manner of speaking and writing. In this article, which was written for the Washington Post, Pastor Driscoll discusses the same issue as Dr. Mohler does in the previous article: the delayed state of adulthood among males.
He offers a similar conclusion, but concentrates on the creative aspect of males that is inherent to manhood. I am grateful that Pastor Driscoll brings to surface the need for men to actually do something; to create something. I also like how he exposes the consumer market’s strategy to take these young creators and turn them into mere consumers. Manhood is about building people, harvesting the world, and creating things that can be of benefit to mankind.
Like Dr. Mohler’s article, I’m wondering if the caustic tone taken by Driscoll does not take into account the nature of the challenges that face today’s young males. To simply say, “Grow up, get out of the house, and get a job” is a bit simplistic when jobs are scarce and only a fool would leave a financially stable home to establish a financially disastrous home of his own simply to feel like a big kid now. Like I said before, our leaders need to do more research because life is different today than it was thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago. I say this as someone who regularly watches college graduates enter the world around them only to discover that what their parents and pastors taught them is antiquated in design even if their principles are still true.
“Prof Says Boys Raised to Be ‘Too Soft’ Will Be Ineffective Men” by Bob Allen
Dr. Randy Stinson offers his diagnosis of today’s state of young males.
“SLAVE MASTER: How Pornography Drugs & Changes Your Mind” by Donald L. Hilton, Jr., M.D.
I’ll leave a neurosurgeon to describe the details of his own argument, but he makes a compelling case for the natural effect that pornography addiction can have in a man’s mind and life. I send this to you not as one of those scare tactics, but to thoughtfully consider some of the less-considered effects that occur when we decide to feed our minds with pornography. Of course, this does not even include the fact that when we lust, we turn women (or men) into objects for our using.
There’s plenty of reading to do for at least a week. Enjoy!