October 13, 2018
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Not Enough
This editorial by a retired feminist professor, is very interesting. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/10/12/thanks-not-raping-us-all-you-good-men-its-not-enough/
She talks about her frustration (which boils up into rage and screaming anger) about the fact that "good men" merely "pathetic[ally]" "impotent[ly]" "listen" to women talk about the problems and abuses and injustices they face, rather than...
...than what, exactly? Rather than putting a permanent worldwide end to all abuses?
She says men must "change themselves and their sons." Is it really possible to change one's sons? What about all the fatherless boys... who will change them?
She says men must "attack the mean-spirited, teasing, punching thing that passes for male culture". Is that really what we need? More "attacking"? More judgmentalism and outrage? More "gender war"? (her term) Is she saying that men should act more like women? Will that solve our world's problems?
At one level, this woman is confusing the aspects that are good and beautiful about male culture, with those aspects that are corrupt and evil. But there is something deeper here.
Really, what this woman is crying out for is an end to the brokenness of sinfulness in the world. Although she would probably not phrase it this way, she is bemoaning the fact that (as the Bible teaches) our world is "enslaved to sin" instead of filled with love.
Her article is refreshing in its moral fervor. Rather than adopt a naturalistic, Darwinian, relativist, approach to injustice and say that "put-downs... catcalls... barked orders... sexual abuse" are simply Darwinian adaptions of the fittest animals surviving or simply bags of chemicals interacting with each other via neural impulses, she writes with outrage, saying that these things are objectively morally wrong (i.e. not just wrong for her, but wrong for everyone).
She had yelled at her husband, "Don’t you dare sit there and sympathetically promise to change. Don’t say you will stop yourself before you blurt out some impatient, annoyed, controlling remark. No, I said, you can’t change. You are unable to change. You don’t have the skills and you won’t do it."
Temporarily ignoring the judgmentalism and microagressions of her statement ( https://www.dailywire.com/…/may-be-looniest-anti-male-op-ed…), she is actually more right than she knows (in one particular way).
None of us can truly "fix ourselves" from the brokenness of sin. We are unable. We don't have the skills. In some areas of our lives, we often don't even want to try. And this applies to both women and men.
As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote:
"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"The world needs a Hero, to set things right... not merely on the level of politics and government, but on the level of individuals hearts/souls.
The Bible tells us that this Hero/Messiah has come once to make preparations, and is coming back again in power to bring a complete end to evil. The Hero/King's name is Jesus.
He has established the beachhead of His kingdom, and His ultimate victory is sure. The lion will lay down with the lamb, all tears will be wiped away, and "they will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain". Abuses and oppression will someday be so far in the past that they will be forgotten.
But what about us and our sinfulness, and the "line" that runs through our hearts? Will God crush us too, when He brings the final perfect justice?
Good news - no, God so loved us that He volunteered to take our punishment... He was crushed in the judgment for our sins.... for all of us who believe in Jesus and are thus united with Him. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-will-conquer-all-your-sins
For more information, read John, Revelation, or the entire New Testament, or even entire Bible, or contact me for more specific questions or reading suggestions. https://www.biblegateway.com/
As the feminist author wrote, "It's not enough." Something more is required. As it turns out, Jesus has done, is doing, and will finish that world-restoration which we (neither men nor women) could accomplish!
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