Zebras Aren’t Unicorns

Donal has a post out about not being angry due to realizing truth about women:

Exposure to the “Red Pill” can have a variety of emotional consequences for men- some short term, and some long term. At first it is usually a slew of negative emotions, including but not limited to: anger, sadness, disgust and despair. Pretty much every one of my male readers, with an exception or two, will be familiar with this. For some men those emotions will subside over time, and in time the “Red Pill” can pave the way for positive emotions. Sometimes this is because of the knowledge and understanding acquired. Other times it is because men use that knowledge to try and improve their life somehow. And for others it is simply a process of matured acceptance of the way things are. However, for a not insubstantial number of men there will be some lingering negative emotions. Sometimes the result is truly ugly- I am sure all of us have seen a man who couldn’t handle the truth, and became an emotional wreck as a result. However, not everyone tailspins like that. Sometimes those lingering emotions are flickers most of the time, with the occasional flare-up.

Here’s the rub. If you’re angry at the nature of women, it is because you want to turn women into goddesses rather than women.

Do you get angry at dogs because it is in their nature to bark?

Do you get angry at your dog because he refuses to shit in the toilet?

Or do you accept the nature of dogs, and work and train with a knowledge of that nature?

You are a Christian, after all. You believe that women have a sin nature–as sinful as yours, but different.

A zebra is an interesting and beautiful animal. But you cannot appreciate the true value of a zebra when you are angry at him for having the audacity to not be a unicorn.

(For the spiritually autistic, I am not saying that women’s sin nature is good or desirable. I am stating that is is a part of the human condition, and you can’t wish it away anymore than you can wish a zebra into a unicorn.)

Look, I get it. You were told zebras had wings and shit rainbows so long that it seems outrageous to you that he instead wears a ridiculous striped suit and poops digested grass–but the zebra isn’t the one who gave you the outrageous idea of him. He’s just been standing there eating grass and making manure the whole time you’ve been enamored with your vision of him.

A zebra isn’t a unicorn. He’s dirtier, smellier, and exists in our damned and imperfect world. But a zebra is an interesting animal, and one worth studying, photographing, or hunting in his own right.

In the same way, a woman isn’t a goddess. She’s as feeble, sinful, and human as you are–in fact a little more so (of the first two). But women are still worth getting to know after you’ve disabused yourself of your goddess delusions. They are worth marrying, having sons and daughters with, and guiding in the faith.

They are worth it, not worthy of it.

That’s a vital distinction to make.

No man has ever brought a dog into his house because the dog was worthy of living there. The very idea is laughable. A man brings a dog into his house not because he deems the dog worth it, rather than worthy of it. Worth it for the joy, companionship, and maybe some added security. Yet he knows full well that it is the nature of the dog to chew the piano leg and poop on the carpet.

Again, remember you’re a Christian.

Very God of Very God didn’t become incarnate and die for you because you were worthy. He did it because you were worth it, and if you say that you weren’t worth it, you contradict the decision of value made by the arbiter of all value.

If you can be unworthy, yet worth it; if your dog can be unworthy, yet worth it; don’t you think the same could be true about women?

If you are angry because you can’t find a woman worthy of becoming your wife, you are as ridiculous as the man who is angry that he can’t find a dog worthy of becoming his pet.

When you understand how ridiculous that sounds, you will hold the key to releasing your anger.

The UCC on Sin

Your national church will continue to confront the evils of pride oppression and lust marginalization, wherever they are found. We will continue to fight against greed racism, envy sexism, gluttony heterosexism, wrath ableism, sloth classism, blasphemy xenophobia, and adultery religious intolerance wherever it is found. We will continue to challenge assaults on the divinity of Christ marriage equality, the personhood of the Holy Spirit LGBTQ rights, the doctrine of Original Sin environmental justice, the authority of Scripture economic justice, the Creatorship of God immigration, and salvation healthcare coverage for all who will receive it. We will continue to challenge laws, and political appointments, and to boycott and divest resources from businesses and regions where Christianity and Christian practice are under attack cries for justice go unheard, always holding space at the table for hearts and minds to change. We will continue to stand against sin hate.

(source)

On Weaponry

…Continuing my previous thought:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. —2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (KJV)

He that has an ear to hear, let him hear.

If your weapon of choice cannot divide asunder soul and spirit, how will you win against a spiritual enemy?

Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. —1 Corinthians 2:13-15 (NASB)For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. —Romans 8:5-12 (NASB)

For those slow to hear and slow to understand: Spiritual weapons can be used in the material world. Indeed, as the material is but a shadow of the spiritual, only spiritual weapons will have lasting effect in the material world.

For the childish and the mockers: I am not speaking against owning or using firearms. If you believe I am, you cannot discern spiritual things. Repent, and turn to God, and He will give you the mind of Christ.

Shooting at Scarecrows

It seems, in my observation, that many Christian men are starting to wake up to the fact that they are under attack. As they awaken, they realize this attack is everywhere. Their wives and children are rebellious. Their churches encourage and laud the rebellion in their homes, and attack them for their faith, calling them bigots for opposing the new openly lesbian pastor, and heretics for taking their family out of that toxic environment and into a “hateful, backwards, non-accepting church.”

The government teaches their children to disrespect and disobey them, and so do the expensive private Christian schools. It forbids them from buying and selling if they are true to their Christian beliefs. It offers their wives cash and prizes as the temptation to blow up the marriage.

Realizing this, many Christian men are beginning to try to fight back.

They’re taking their shots as they appear.

Wife is rebellious? Fire a shot back. Kid is rebellious? Fire a shot back. Pastor encourages rebellion? Fire a shot. Christian school is teaching the children that be “accepting” of gays is a Christian value? Fire a shot.

Scarecrows and human shields are being riddled with bullets, while the enemy remains untouched and laughing.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. —Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)

Remember who the enemy is.

Remember that spiritual battles are fought in the spiritual realm.

If you aren’t viewing your enemy as a spiritual force, and fighting in the spiritual plane, you are seeing only a sliver of what is actually occurring.

When you see an attack, look for the spiritual force behind it.

You are a Christian man. You believe in demons and the devil. Take them seriously. Be prepared to cast them out. This is where the battle lies.

The Mormons at My Door

I wonder how many they knocked on before they got a friendly response. Yet they were quite cheerful. And young–I couldn’t help asking. 19, the both of them. One from Utah and one from Idaho, both well over a thousand miles away from home. They both have been doing this a little over a year. But what blew me away is that they are each paying $400 a month to do this. That’s a lot of money for a 19 year-old to come up with–and I imagine their door-to-door obligations don’t leave them much if any time to work for pay.

Recycled Romanism Regurgitated

Cane writes:

Anyways, I’m not convinced that Roman Catholic problems aren’t Protestant problems, or Orthodox problems for that matter. And I am convinced that the more we look outside for the problems (It’s that damned liberalism from Bob that’s infecting all of us!”) that we are missing something we were warned about.

I’ll decline to comment on the Orthodox, because I haven’t observed enough there to speak yet.

What I do know for sure is that is true of the denomination I grew up in.

They stood in opposition to certain Roman Catholic doctrines, but then recreated them in new form.

I may disagree with certain of those original Roman doctrines, but I object further to the recycled, digested and regurgitated versions of them. Here’s a common one: A Protestant church will rail against the idea of the Magisterium, and state that Sola Scriptura is the guide for Christian behavior. When you then ask why their women are not covered, they tell you that the Scripture does not mean what it says, but something else entirely–in fact, the opposite of what it says! The pastor, with his exalted knowledge, knows that the Bible does not there mean what it says, so you ought to listen to him when he explains that that command is cultural.

Often, I find that indictments of Roman Catholicism are doubly indicting of Protestantism, and indictments of Protestantism are doubly indicting of Roman Catholicism. There is a greater spirit at work, and he must be opposed.

Bear Your Own Cross

To those who write of searching for a worthy woman to marry, know that you are engaged in an impossible quest. No woman is worthy of marriage*–and I write this as a happily married man. If you cannot live with an unworthy woman, don’t get married.

Marriage is a type of Christ and the church.

The church has never been, and on this planet never will be, worthy of Christ’s attention, affection, undying love, and sacrifice.

This is a hard saying, but worthy of repetition.

You marry a woman not because she is worthy, but in order to perfect her, and to perfect yourself by Christ working through you. Many men will choose not to shoulder the burden of marriage. Marriage, no matter how enjoyable it may sometime be, is ultimately a burden and a cross.

Marriage may not be your cross, but you have a cross, and you must pick it up to follow Christ.

Do not envy or demean another’s  cross. Rather, bear your own well.


* It is also true that no man is worthy of marriage–and that includes me. If you’re a woman who cannot live with an unworthy man, don’t get married.