The effeminacy of silence. American history demonstrates that American society has always approximated the overall tone of the Christianity generally practiced at the time. The effeminacy of silence, therefore, only mirrors that of the current milquetoast Christianity, one exacerbated by the female block’s ability to significantly neuter the male block. I have pointed out to numerous Christian acquaintances over the years how the Church should be livid over the indifference to fornication, divorce, “mutual submission,” etc., only to be met with indifference, even hostility. I truly believe the best strategy at this point is asking God to provide 300 Gideonite men to correct our course.
Tom
Tom, thanks.
Great observation. A couple questions.
I know it is directed more to pastors and teachers. Do you have any suggestions or guidelines as to how the flock should engage? Particularly in terms of raising and/or responding to these issues on social media.
I don’t doubt your characterization of “. . .drag queens grooming the little kids, and the lesbian librarians who set it all up . . .” But I am curious whether you have any references or experiential knowledge (yours or other) regarding either the “lesbian librarians” or the “setting it up.” Or is it a stereotype of the “not-for-nothing-is-it-a-stereotype” kind? Again, I don’t doubt it. With my limited experience, I have seen no contradictions, but if I were to post this, I can be sure of some blow back. I’d want to point to something if I did share it.David
David, here is enough indication to me that a deliberate play is being run.
Love the blog Doug! I am still kicking myself that I missed you when you were in Ontario. Keep up the great work! We are praying for you up here in Canada!
Wes
Wes, thank you.
Well, Doug, you’ve done it again. As I read this post I found myself pulling out a sword and running to the middle of town yelling, “”Who’s with me!!!” Only to find myself standing and yelling in the middle of town without any one around. And that seems to be part of the problem. Not only are guys unwilling to fight, they won’t even show up for the fight. I’ve always wondered what David and his mighty men would have actively looked like during such troubling times we live in. It would be fun to imagine their presence in a library during a drag queen fest. I doubt any books would end up being read.
As always, thank you for manly, godly, unashamedly Christian thinking.Robert
Robert, thanks much
Re: The Effeminacy of Silence. My first read of yours so moved me I’d like to know if you can adopt me? Or at least can I send you money?
Allen Whitt
President
Family Policy Council of West Virginia
Allen, funny. Currently the only way to send money is to buy a dollar book from the Mablog store. Feel free to have at it!
Re: The Effeminacy of Silence
Your third paragraph from the end references how none of this fits anyone’s eschatology. The Church at Laodicea seems an appropriate picture of our apostate times.George
George, I can meet you part way. Our current woes cannot be accounted for by any eschatology that doesn’t budget for periods of great declension.
I thought you were going to go in a slightly different direction in your Effeminacy of Silence post, but since you didn’t, I’m thought I would.
I think you left out a fourth party in the drag queen story hour events: the moms–and they are almost always moms—happily lining up to take their kids to the event, and then when it’s over posting the pictures on Facebook to show all of their friends who much more progressive and cool they are than the other middle-class suburban moms. Every time you hear a story about transgender kids, or drag queen story hours, or child drag queens, it is the mother front and center. If the father factors into the story at all, it’s nearly always as a reluctant tagalong.
Why? The first people men need to fight (and I of course do not mean physically!) in many cases are their own wives. I think too many men have basically ceded all decision-making around children to their wives, to the point where they don’t even know how to respond when the mother says their son has declared he’s their daughter so they have a girl now or announces she is taking the kids to roll around on the floor with a drag queen at the library on Friday. I don’t believe for a moment that most of these men like or believe in what is going on, but even within their own homes and with their own children men are too often not putting up a fight.Lori
Lori, thank you. Yes, I think this is part of the equation.
I continue to enjoy your writing and appreciate the stands you take for Christ and for sanity in this world that seems to be relentless in rushing toward the edge of the cliff. I particularly want to compliment you on your ability to force readers to look up definitions, not the least of which is illustrated by your coining of the term “egalihomo.” While I was pretty sure it was a new invention (the word, not the concept) I had to do a search to be sure. Bravo.
Soylentg
Soylentg, thanks.
Right now, I am not in a position to speak with my name attached, albeit not for fears from Big Eva (poor lass with her weight problem and all). Anyway (and not without some awareness of the irony involved), I wanted to say that I noticed a slight typo in your writing:
This sentence: “Imagine a fellow who has been a senior statesman in the evangelical movement.”
Corrected (apply your own lexical accoutrements as desired): “Imagine you are talking to R. Albert Mohler, Jr., Ph.D., the leader of SBTS, who recently un-signed the Manhattan Declaration and removed it from his own website in a display of the courage of Sir Robin.”
Of course, the parts after “who recently” are subject to your own desires, etc. For what it’s worth, there may be valid reasons for un-signing something, but unless I’ve seen something recently, I cannot imagine positive reasons for him doing so given our current context without involving unicorns or copious amounts of high-test ethyl hydrate.W
W, quick question—I hadn’t heard anything about the Manhattan Declaration. Did you mean the Nashville Statement? And are you saying Mohler “unsigned” that?
Some unsolicited feedback. I have noticed a growing number of sub-30 year old readers of your blog popping up in my EPC circles. Lots, actually. They read you for many reasons, but things like egalihomo rank fairly high. Your book Future Men helps a lot, too. I tell you this, firstly, to let you know that your growing circle of “irrelevance” has taken on generational dimensions, but also to ask you a favor. I know your main audience for these posts is directed at the leaders of the PCA and the SBC, but you are assuming too much of your lesser read audience. Things like Revoice, Big Eva, and November are pretty serious inside baseball, and while us regular readers might be familiar with them, the plethora of new eyeballs or once-a-week readers aren’t. Just putting this on your radar as you write, so your calls to fight aren’t drowned in esoteric allusions.
BJ
BJ, thank you. Good to know.
Man-O-Man-O-MAN!! What else can one say? I have watched my husband stand up to the wusses many times (with me proudly at his side) and seen God use him in mighty ways. It is NOT easy but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Melody
Melody, way to be grateful for the right kind of thing.
Restrict the term guys to teenagers. If they are supposed to be men, call them men. Calling a man a guy promotes juvenilism.
Don’t use newfangled words like “man”. Stick to the old words like “wer”.
The world would be a better place if the mythical humanoid sea creature was called a ‘mer-wer’.
Some guys have to complain about everything.
Some men have a point.
There’s a point to be made, but I don’t think this particular way of making it stacks up as linguistically sound. That said, I was really just making a joke.
As a linguist, I’ll allow it
Must be a US thing. We’d use guys to refer to a bunch of old codgers. Or even to a group of men and women (until the feminists cotton on).
Stop calling men guys. Restrict that term to teenagers. The word guy implies immaturity, not adult masculinity.
Can you give a citation for this? It does not match either my own experience or any of the dictionaries I’ve consulted.
A citation? Seriously?
If someone asserts something that is neither self-evident nor common knowledge, and then demands a course of action based on that assertion being factual, yes, another person asking for a citation is probably serious about that.
Well, I doubt there is a citation for “The word guy implies immaturity, not adult masculinity.”….which lack does nothing whatsoever to invalidate the assertion. Since the use of “guys”, to address men, especially from pulpits, has struck me as a diminution of men, pretty much the same way it has Robert, feel free to cite me, if you want a citation.
The problem is that the word has a long history of NOT being used that way. Now it is being used that way, sometimes. But that’s because there’s a pre-existing desire on the part of some to speak of men in less than serious ways. It’s not the word that’s doing it, and fixing the word won’t fix it. The problem isn’t the connotation the word has, the problem is the connotation that some people have of the idea of “men,” and the word just follows that. If we stop using words because they’re used to convey the connotation that… Read more »
But I don’t care what the feminists mean by anything. I do care what fellow Christians mean, and what the way they talk indicates about the way they think.
There absolutely are plenty of sources that will tell you how words are used and their implications in their usage. One very common one is the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which will give you the history of where the word came from, and it’s various uses throughout its history. The bigger issue is that without a source you’re left with nothing more and an impression. Devoid of a greater documentable context, what you and Robert are saying are that the word gives you feelings. But that isn’t very persuasive. nathan and Jane are asking for you to do more than… Read more »
I’m left with nothing less than an impression based on the experience of hearing the word used in various contexts. Note that my impression is obviously is shared by at least one other person, with whom I’ve never discussed any impression. The answer to “Who says that?” is “I says that”. You could ask why, if you want to know, but it is silly to ask for a citation if you already know we are not talking about dictionary definitions.
So it’s just your feelings we’re talking about. Not very persuasive.
No, not just that. Also my observation and reasoning, and apparently not mine alone. Since I’ve already explained, the silly part is expecting a citation, and supposing a point can only have merit if it backed by a citation – perhaps it is only your feelings that cause your out of hand rejection of the point?
If a word’s connotations aren’t well-agreed upon by all parties in a conversation, and no one can offer a detailed and coherent rationale for giving it an apparently new connotation, then yes, dictionary citations or the like are really the only fallback. The plural of anecdote is not data; dictionary editors are competent to gather, collate, and verify linguistic observations and update dictionary entries accordingly, but a sample size of two, up against a sample size of fully three who see no such pattern, leaves no particular ground for conclusions. Perhaps you are aware of some other source, not as… Read more »
Stop calling men guys. The term guy discourages maturity. Three teenage boys can be guys. Three twenty year old men shouldn’t be.
Question for the peanut gallery.
After I posted my comment, one guy asked me what I thought the average age of the readership of this blog was. I said it was likely 50 or 55, because he has lots of pastors reading him, but is probably going down. I’m 38 and have been reading him for years.
I am curious what you all think.
I am also 38, and also have been reading for a couple of years now
That makes me the average of the average. But I started reading it in my 30s. In fact, based on the date of the first post…when I was 38.
I think I am about a year older than our esteemed host. I am four years younger than the first of the boomers, whom everyone seems to be criticizing nowadays. On the far right, they call us hippie degenerates who inherited perfection but threw it away in our relentless pursuit of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. On the far left, they call us racist/fascist monsters of selfishness whose stubborn refusal to die is blocking a new Utopia. It is all very sad. When I live in my cardboard box at the freeway exit, I hope you will remember that… Read more »
I have been reading Doug for a long long time (2005 or so, I remember the bad old days beforr he migrated the site), and commenting for about 5 years. I’m just a little younger than you now BJ. From my group the faithful readers are my age and older – most later 40s through early 60s.
I’m oddly disappointed that you’re not more elderly, Demo. I had imagined you to have a long grey beard. But it’s less discombobulating than discovering Katecho is not, in fact, a Ms Kate Cho.
My birthday is next month. I’ll finally be playing with a full deck. Been reading since day one, when I was a mere thirty-six. 👶👧👩👵💀
A little premature, but happy birthday, and best wishes on achieving a full deck.
Thank you, sir. Now out with it: how old are YOU? 😉
36 yo here. I think I’ve been reading about 5 years. I don’t recall what pointed me to blog, but it may have been the title. I like good titles and for someone who grew up reading Hal Lindsey and didn’t think 2019 would be “a thing,” Blog and Mablog is perfect.
I have to confess that replying to my own comment feels weird, but I think I may have missed the mark on the average age.
Apparently Doug has some appeal to the young’uns, er, youngerish’uns. Let’s be realistic here.
If it helps toward your average estimate, I add some weight at the olderish end. A little older than your estimate. I’ve been around here, I don’t know, 5 years or so.
Appears that Mohler removed reference to the Manhattan Declaration from his website and TGC. He was receiving pressure from some who thought it was compromising the gospel to sign such an ecumenical statement, and other peers at the time (MacArthur, Sproul) did not sign for those reasons. Does not appear to be a move to shy away from the general thrust and meaning of the statement.
Well I suppose if the apostle Paul did not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man, then a man who is effeminate would, by definition, decide it is right to keep silent!
Could you write an article on how our wives should deal with situations where men who wear dresses using the ladies restroom in public buildings? This has happened multiple times to my wife with our young daughters present and she has been so shocked she didn’t know how to respond. Every time this happened I was at work. Otherwise there may have already been a national headline.
Hi John, this has happened to me quite a few times, including times when I had a young daughter with me, and I don’t think there is anything one can do. If you live in a jurisdiction where transgenders must use the bathroom that corresponds with their birth sex, your wife could gather up the children, leave, and notify security. But I am not sure that she would find them very responsive. In a jurisdiction like mine, it is legal for people to use the public bathroom of their choice, and someone who objects to that couldn’t expect to find… Read more »
Thanks for the reply Jill. We really can’t think of any other response either.
I don’t like the new layout, if anyone is interested in my opinion.
At least bring back the comment count. How the heck else are we supposed to know if it’s worth clicking and scrolling through the comment thread again? Ugh! 😣
Yes, that’s my chief gripe, too. Secondarily, it just isn’t visually interesting anymore. It’s just a wall of somewhat broken up text.
Hi Jane & Kyriosity – the comment count is back now. Jane, when you say “wall of text” are you talking about the actual blog post above the comments?
In the next few weeks, the plan is to redesign the look of the individual blogs and the homepage. Keep an eye out- would love your feedback as we keep making changes.
Yes, the blog post. I don’t like that the post titles are no longer very large and distinct from the content of the posts, for example. It doesn’t look like a blog, more like a long document with subtitles.
Thanks for the feedback Jane – certainly more to come!
How are we supposed to downvote Jonathan with this new layout? Asking for a friend.
Worse, how are we supposed to upvote Katecho? 🤔
Can’t edit comments, either. I get that comments aren’t what they used to be around here, but this update pretty much feels like it hates us. CTRL+Z this whole change, please!
And no text formatting. 👎
The old commenting system is working again. Thank you, everyone, for your patience as we get the new site buttoned down. This minor “site refresh” is the first of many planned updates coming down the pipe. Please don’t hesitate to provide feedback on any missing features or issues with the website.
Yay! OK, you’re forgiven. I hope we are, too, for the whining. 😉 And thanks. 😁
Full pardon Kyriosity :)
But we still need the comment count back on the main page…
Ah, and you’ve got comments on everywhere rather than the usual send-a -letter link.
Hi Kyriosity, can you clarify what you mean by “you’ve got comments on everywhere”? Commenting is either turned off or on per blog post.
People were commenting on the Orc post. I haven’t looked at it yet this morning to see if comments were still on there. And perhaps that was the only place they were on, and I extrapolated from too small a data set. #badscience 😉
Gotcha, that post may just have commenting turned on by accident. I’ll leave that to Doug :)
It looks like the search function is fixed! Kudos and thanks on that!
And the comment count is back and all’s right with the world. 😊
Joe, it doesn’t look like the commenting system is quite working. A few of the comments are disappearing.
hmmm… I haven’t heard of anyone else having this issue. Are you able to reproduce the issue?
I just reproduced the issue. See comment #225284.
Seems HTML tags might have something to do with disappearing comments.
EDIT: Apparently only some HTML tags.
EDIT x2: Let’s try adding a link.