Letters to Gladden the Heart of Man

You’ve got to know some good dad jokes. Any favorites you could share?

Aidan

Most people don’t know why we have a legal difference between 18-21. This is tied into WW2. When WW2 started, the legal age for a man was 21, total. A young man could not legally leave home until he was 21. He was legally a minor. The legal age for a woman was 18. America needed troops, so President Roosevelt got Congress to use the woman’s legal age of 18, as a base for conscription. After the war the 18 age of conscription continued. When the 26th Amendment was passed, all states adjusted their age of consent laws to 18. This meant no more foster care until 21. You were on your own at 18. In the 80’s, President Reagan got Congress to pass a law requiring all states to make the drinking age 21. In President Trump’s first term, Congress passed a law doing the same for tobacco. The 21-drinking age created a serious hardship for me, personally when I was 20. I was living in Reno and was unable to find full-time work, because most entry level jobs required one to be 21. I could have gone homeless over this and I know that this is a continuing problem for foster kids who are aging out of foster care. No one who works at a convenience store is under 21, because of alcohol sales. There are many jobs that could be done by desperate people who aren’t 21. We are living in a society that creates a second-class citizenship for 18-20 olds which most older adults are self-righteous about. Twenty-one is not biblical. The legal age of accountability in all of the Old Testament is twenty. If twenty is what Scripture requires, then explain why allowing teenagers into the services isn’t one of our culture’s largest sins? Lord, protect us from our virtues.

Zeph

When one begins to “see what the reconstructionists are saying”. . . where could they find some good critiques, do’s/dont’s, why’s/why not’s . . . y you or others. Thanks

Logan

I’ve read your book Ploductivity multiple times (it’s a favourite of mine). In the Master Key Chapter, you refer to imitation as one of the steps to mastery. Do you have any resources that allow us to do imitation in a step by strep manner?

Kurosaki

My dream in life was and has always been to be a wife and mother. Now, I have been for almost 12 years, and it’s been trouble all the way down. My husband has had an on and off drinking problem. He is very harsh and crass and unkind when he feels disrespected in any way. I have recently been trying to focus on submission, but now we’re in even more of a mess. We are at a church that has very troublesome theology, I can’t trust the leaders to guide me, and without my “headship,” no progress is made spiritually or relationally in my home. My husband comes home from work only to lay right down while I scurry about doing all the necessary things and managing the gaggle of kids. This is also after I’ve also been working a job all day, one which I don’t like but he wants me to have. I (gently) sat him down and let him know this is hurtful and I feel very lonely, and he got hot under the collar. We fought, I got more sarcastic than I ought, and he cussed me out.
What is a girl to do with a domineering husband when she wants to be a godly wife? When there is no good church support for her? I pray for freedom from resentment and I pray for gentleness every single day, but it has challenged every muscle in my body not to fly off the handle. I always get to the point where just yelling curse words at me and being lazy don’t add up to justifications for divorce, but it is a very difficult life and I can’t understand how I shall then live.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sleepless

Regarding this quote from you – agreed, it’s an important distinction!
I always like to say that I am not laughing at you; I’m laughing *with* you …
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“All of this is one of the reasons why more than a few readers constantly assume that I am always making fun of them. This is because they belong to a different tradition, that, say, of stuffing all the shirts, and they have trouble distinguishing a man who is making fun from a man who is just having fun.” (No Such Thing as Bad Words, p. 57).

Greg

I listened to an interview with you and a short haired woman, but I can’t recall the exact interview.
The interview was excellent. I want to make a couple of suggestions for future Internet interviews.
You did a good job of explaining the importance of the wife submitting to her husband.
You did not mention the importance of the husband sacrificing his own life for his wife. A woman interviewer would be impressed that you would be willing to sacrifice your life for her if she were your wife and that her interest would always be included in your decision-making process.
I recommend including in future interviews Proverbs 31, which describes a powerful, competent woman. The husband making decisions for the family does not preclude rigorous discussion before a decision is made.
Again, my ideas would show the beauty of submission and strong leadership in a marriage to a secular person.
Thank you for being an outspoken man of God. Steve

Steve

At night time I usually sit down with a drink, normally bourbon and soda. I don’t have a lot, and I’m not drinking to get getting drunk, just to relax before bed. It is always after I have finished everything needing to be done for the day. However, I grew up in an evangelical culture where alcohol was just completely off limits; it was a sin, ful stop. This stigma has stayed with me and no matter what I do I cannot remove idea from my mind.
So, I writing to ask how I should think and feel about this, and to ask if it is wrong have a drink every night?

BR

In January you posted “The Mess That Is Candace.” In April you followed with a plodcast about “Mean Girls and False Teachers,” describing the Candace Owen debacle (or the debacle that is Candace Owen). You concluded by stating: “Everything about it is wrong with a capital W. And the only thing that was astonishing to me, it has been astonishing to me, is why Turning Point hasn’t filed a defamation suit earlier. I think it’s just a matter of time.”
I was surprised to hear you seemingly speak in support of a lawsuit between a Christian organization and a professing Christian. You’ve preached and written about God’s prohibition of lawsuits amongst believers based on I Corinthians 6. Why make an exception in this instance?

Michelle

I am a European—not American—Christian concerned about what I believe a profound spiritual aberration in the Trump administration , even before Trump depicted himself as Jesus .
I had written some thoughts on Trump and Babylonian Mythology . . .
The American Theologian Walter Wink wrote a fascinating book (Engaging the Powers—1992; do you know it?), which highlights how Babylonian mythology teaches that the cosmos is founded on violence: creation results from the slaying of a god, and humans—born from that violence—must impose order on chaos by force. Wink calls this the “myth of redemptive violence,”
Wink contrasts this mythology with the biblical view and with the nonviolent message of Jesus.
Engaging the Powers shows how the violent Babylonian Mythology is the total opposite to the non-violent message of Jesus: “Jesus taught the love of enemies, but Babylonian religion taught their extinction.”
Wink further contends that motifs from Babylonian mythology have been reworked into modern cultural and political forms—through literature, film (Hollywood movies), martial hero narratives, cartoons and other media. (see his book for pages of examples!)
Imho the Trump administration follows Babylonian religion rather than Christianity:
Recently Stephen Miller stated, “we live in a world—in the real world—that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world.”
Trump’s inauguration speech ( January 2025) included language promising that
national power would “stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable,” a formulation that frames power as the means to end chaos.
As you know the Bible has very stern warnings about being part of “system Babylon”:
Both the Old and New Testaments contain sustained critique of Babylon as a religious, political and economic power marked by violence, pride, and wealth accumulated through unjust trade and exploitation. (you are familiar with for example Daniel 4, but also Revelation 17-18) and prophecy its sudden collapse
“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great . . . in one hour her doom has come!”
So, if Biblical Prophecy is to be believed, rather than “making America great again” Trump—by following Babylon—might (unintentionally) contribute to America’s decline and potentially sudden collapse.
Given the biblical critique of Babylon—pride, unjust enrichment, and violent domination—American Christians in general and certain American Christian leaders in particular should exercise discernment. They should avoid uncritical blessing of a political movement based on a (false) religious ideology that seem to sacralize force or wealth, and instead call the nation toward Christian principles of repentance, humility, justice, mercy, and nonviolent witness.
Because, whatever the church blesses—be it “good” or “bad”—will thrive and gain strength.

Anon

I just watched your video “The Central Divide Between Christians and Jews” and it reminded me why I love your letter series so much.
I’ve been following your ministry for several years now. Your teaching has greatly helped me in shaping my worldview and leading my family.
I know you’re a very busy man with a heavy load, so I completely understand if this doesn’t make the cut.
My sister-in-law grew up in a legalistic, hypocritical church. She’s now an atheist who simply says “I just believe in science” whenever Christianity comes up. She rejects the resurrection, miracles, and the reliability of the Bible.
I’d love to see you write one of your open letters to a fictional “Sarah” who uses “science” as her main objection to Christianity.
Thank you for considering it.
In Christ,

Nathan

How should a believing wife view and respond to her believing husband’s small but daily use of marijuana? When this question was brought before the elders by the wife, she was told it was concerning (for health reasons) but not sinful and would not be directly addressed (as if it were similar to moderate daily drinking not leading to drunkness)
How should a believing wife discipline her children when her believing husband does not discipline the children with spanking? Ought the wife still spank when she has the charge of the children? How does this reconcile with her call to submit to his leadership? What would be the fruit in the life of the children if the mother spanks when they are in her charge though the father does not when he is in charge?

RO

I live in smalltown NE Alabama. Our area is currently in an uproar over the emergence of two mosques. As we watch what’s happening all over the UK and Europe, residents are obviously concerened. Some suppress objections saying the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but I don’t think the Constitution is a suicide pact. How can we combat the spread of an un-Constitutional seditious worldview and avoid this conundrum?

Bill

I used to be persuaded by the logic I’ve heard from some that God must give a person faith b/c if a person believes of his own volition, then the act of believing would be a work. I’m not disputing that God grants faith, but based on Ro 4:4-5, “…but to the one who does not work but believes…” I don’t think this is a good argument anymore. I’m trying to submit what I think is logical to what the Bible says is true. Am I missing something?

Tyler

Well done on “Secularism As Protestant Heresy “. While I know that you have visited this topic often this merits your staying awhile this time even when you will be urged to move on. Secularism is a term nearly synonymous with pragmatism and pragmatism has its contemporary roots in Kant who had his roots in unbelief in the True and Living God who reveals Himself whose arm is not short that he is kept from the “phenomenal “ by the declaration of those under the banner of “a god is a good idea…..useful….you know”. These people would have us believe that the “ effectiveness “of a thing is the important part, substance is unknowable,”so rally under that of the One True and Living God and His Christ if you like but your not helping our cause here”…..And we Christians have “seen” the “reasonableness”of this to our confusion of face and shame.

Matt