Worldview: What does it mean to be a man?

Worldview: What does it mean to be a man?

by | Nov 14, 2019 | Culture, Leadership, Philosophy, Wisdom, Worldview

What does it mean to be a man in this cultural moment?

This all boils down to answering the question, “what does it mean to be human?”
This is a worldview question and depending on one’s worldview, will render different answers.

Worldview answers these questions:

  • Metaphysical – what is real?
  • Epistemology – what is true?
  • Origin – where did I come from?
  • Meaning – does life have meaning?
  • Morality – what is right or wrong (good / evil)?
  • Destiny – what happens when I die?
  • Identity – who am I and does my life have purpose?

Every worldview must answer those questions in ways that correspond to reality and have coherence.

A secularist-atheist, Muslim, pantheist, Christian, etc will all answer these questions differently. Worldview drives behavior and how we see ourselves in our place in the world. What I believe about being a man in this cultural moment is shaped by my worldview. In the west, The contours of our body ethic are rooted in a worldview and philosophies emerging from Rome and Greece – that were both reshaped and reformed by Christian worldview.

As the Christian ethic is jettisoned for a more naturalistic / materialistic worldview, we don’t actually move toward something new, we move back to something old – Rome.

Therefore, this shift will change how we define our place and purpose in the world, man and woman.

I believe the definition of a man is rooted in biology, theology and character.

What does it mean to be a man?

He does not give in to passivity
He takes responsibility
He leads sacrificially
He defends the weak
He is a voice for the voiceless and a father to the fatherless.
He is faithful
He loves mercy and does justice
He loves well and leads well.
(Notice none of these attributes have anything to do with a man’s physical strength, violence or abilities).

“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28)

Note: The content above was taken from a reply I wrote to a friend’s post on Facebook. This is an extension of my recent work in the Colson Fellows residency has helped me crystalize and communicate the contours of what shapes our worldview particularly in America today and our definition of man.

Resources:

Read previous post: Martin Luther King Jr.’s challenge to the church today
If you wish to subscribe to this blog, please sign-up here. Every time I post something new, you will receive an email.

Generational dysfunction how we can use stories

Generational dysfunction how we can use stories

by | Aug 21, 2018 | Culture, Philosophy, Worldview

Generational dysfunction begets generational dysfunction, until the cycle is broken.  This is not relatively true it is empirically true across cultures.
Politics and economics are downstream from culture. They are lagging indicators.

To affect culture, people use stories. Some of those stories are true and some are untrue. Stories and narratives tell us what to believe and why.  Finally, stories generate culture at the leading edge of culture.

We must tell true stories to combat lies.

Stories we tell will determine the future of our culture and whether or not the cycle of generational dysfunction continues.

Resource: Nate Wilson – Storytelling and ‘the Aroma of the Gospel’

A message for men that you don’t want to hear

A message for men that you don’t want to hear

by | Mar 1, 2018 | Culture, Education, Encouragement, Fatherhood, Lance's Philosophy, Leadership, Personal Growth, Philosophy, Relationships, Triathlon, Wisdom, Worldview | 3 comments

Note: I’ll be the first to admit my own responsibility for being a part of the problem in the past. I’m lovingly, yet sternly challenging you to read and consider what I am saying.  

Boys are crying out for help!

Over the last 50 years, our moral revolution has attacked the sanctity of human life, destroyed the family and diminished the father’s role in society. So, males are nothing more than animals that have sex at will with whomever they want, pursue immediate gratification and comfort, relish violence and affluence, then move on like a swam of locusts.

Today boys, as young as 8 years old are immersed in pornography, addicted to violent games/movies and have ZERO respect for human life. As a result, girls (and  other boys) are objects for personal gratification. Their parents exist to feed and pamper them.

Our boys need to be rescued from this toxic culture. Men who have abandoned their responsibilities need to repent and be restored.  Admit it, we need to help each other.

No matter how you slice it – Males hold all the cards.

We are paying the price for the “moral revolution“. This revolution is rooted in nothing more than personal immediate gratification (of males – primarily).  It says,

“I want what I want and I want it NOW… And I will use the veil of reproductive rights, feminism, sexual freedom, personal autonomy, marriage, coercion and political volition to achieve my personal gratification – be it comfort, affluence, power or orgasm.”

Our children are paying dearly with their lives. Make no mistake, “if it feels good, do it” culture carries a high cost. 

“A poor sailor blames the wind.”
It is no accident that adult males are molesting minors and demeaning women, abusing children, stealing, doing drugs, lying under oath, murdering, and going to jail at high rates.  We raise our boys according to the rules of the moral revolution.

When boys grow up infused with the ‘values’ of the revolution, then act on those impulses – the moral revolutionaries make an ‘out-cry’ and blame everyone except themselves.  A worldview that blames systems and institutions for society’s problems rejects personal responsibility and accountability. The moral revolutionaries will deny this and shift blame to something else.

 

How about raising boys who know what it means to be authentic men?

A man does not give into passivity, he takes responsibility for his own actions, he practices personal accountability and integrity, he is humble, just, kind, self-disciplined, leads courageously and focuses on a cause greater than himself. A man is the voice for the voiceless, a protector of the weak and a provider.

Stop raising boys and Start raising men!

Stop the cycle of blame. In order to raise men of honor and integrity, we must look ourselves in the mirror and ask how we are going to help raise authentic men. It is a heart issue. Boys are crying out for help. Let’s help them by modeling manhood for them by teaching and challenging them to become the courageous men they are created to be.

Ignore the screaming of the moral revolutionaries – they will never stop screaming. That is what they do – they rage against everything. They will not stop raging until they destroy everything – including themselves.  I’m not sorry for pushing back against the dangerous worldview driving the ‘moral revolution’.  As a matter of fact, I’m going to challenge it with extreme moral force. The moral revolutionaries’ worldview is marked by childish immaturity.

Dave Ramsey once said,

“We all have a red-faced screaming child inside us.  That child’s name is ‘Immaturity’.”

It’s not too late.

Our future depends on our personal accountability today.  

  • How am ‘I’ going to raise my son to be man?
  • How can ‘I’ support the fatherless who have no role model?

 

Read previous post: A post you are too lazy to read on DISCIPLINE
If you wish to subscribe to this blog, please sign-up here. Every time I post something new, you will receive an email.

Unbridled Skepticism: Rebelling against everything

by | Nov 5, 2017 | Personal Growth, Philosophy, Wisdom, Worldview

Unbridled skepticism undermines our thinking.  It is a revolt against knowing.

The belief that nothing can be known for certain has run amuck in modern western culture. People claim they are absolutely certain that nothing can be known for certain.

Therefore, I refer to it as ‘unbridled’.  Why do I say that?

The history of Western thought is for another day.  Sufficed to say, during the Renaissance man made himself the center of all existence, completely autonomous and jettisoned meaning.  This gave rise to humanism – which has no basis for right or wrong.  In the 20th century, Post-modern philosophy claims that there is no objective truth (relativism).

Relativism is the root of unbridled (modern) skepticism.  The presupposition of relativism is that objective truth cannot be known. This presupposition self-refutes because its an objective truth claim. In addition, it rejects any basis for knowing truth.  Therefore, truth is subjective and relative to the individual (arbitrary).  Unbridled skepticism manifests itself in contradiction, hypocrisy and ultimately futility.  It undermines itself.

Conversely, I believe healthy skepticism is essentially a search for truth in the matter of things that matter most. In fact, in Greek, skeptomai means ‘to search, to think about or look for…’ The most important endeavor in life is the search for truth. Without it, existence is meaningless and leads to futility like doubting one’s own existence.

One must test a truth claim by asking two essential questions:

  • Do the facts (claims) correspond to reality?
  • Are the corresponding facts (claims) coherent? Or to put it another way, when you pull all of the corresponding facts together, do they make sense logically?

Unbridled skepticism constantly undermines itself because it’s based in relativism. Therefore, it can’t seek truth as healthy skepticism can because what the ‘unbridled’ skeptic is seeking is amorphous.

An anchor thrown into a cloud will not hold a vessel.

Unbridled skepticism rebels against knowing anything for certain.

I find G.K. Chesterton’s following statement interesting when I observe unbridled skepticism.

“All denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind and the modern skeptic doubts not only the institution he denounces, but the doctrine by which he denounces it.  Thus he writes one book complaining that imperial oppression insults the purity of women, and then writes another book, a novel in which he insults it himself.  As a politician he will cry out that war is a waste of life, and then as a philosopher that all of life is a waste of time.  A Russian pessimist will denounce a policeman for killing a peasant, and then prove by the highest philosophical principles that the peasant ought to have killed himself.  A man denounces marriage as a lie and then denounces aristocratic profligates for treating it as a lie.

The man of this school goes first to a political meeting where he complains that savages are treated as if they were beasts.  Then he takes his hat and umbrella and goes on to a scientific meeting where he proves that they practically are beasts.  In short, the modern revolutionist, being an infinite skeptic, is forever engaged in undermining his own mines.  In his book on politics he attacks men for tramping on morality; in his book on ethics he attacks morality for tramping on men.  Therefore the modern man in revolt becomes practically useless for all purposes of revolt.  By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything.”
– G. K. Chesterton

You may or may not agree, but it is worth considering.

Read previous post: A Man’s Morning Prayer – November 4, 2017 .  If you wish to subscribe to this blog, please sign-up here. Every time I post something new, you will receive an email.

Source of Good

Source of Good

by | Jun 9, 2015 | God, News, Personal Growth, Philosophy, Trending Topics, Uncategorized, Wisdom

Darkness is defined as the “absence of light.” Goodness must have good as it’s source. The ancient Hebrews described this as ‘light’. Evil is the absence of good and described as ‘darkness’.

Evil (darkness) is not something. It is the lack of good (light).

The rightness of the moral law reflects the righteous source of the moral law.

“Righteous are you, O Lord, and right are your rules.” (Ps. 119:137)

An intrinsically good source produces goodness. It is reflective of it’s essence. Where there is no good, evil exists. Where there is no light, darkness exists.

“The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.” (Ps 119:130)

How you ‘feel’ about your situation does not change reality

by | Nov 6, 2014 | Lance's Philosophy, News, Personal Growth, Philosophy, Uncategorized, Wisdom, Worldview

If it is raining outside, how you ‘feel’ about the rain won’t stop it from raining. The reality of the rain cannot be changed by how you feel about it. If you refused to believe that it is raining outside, all you need to do is walk outside and you’ll experience reality in the form of water falling from the sky.
Reality and FeelingsHow you ‘feel’ about your situation does not change the reality of it. When a person denies reality, they deny truth. When they deny truth, failure will be the outcome. Denying reality is the same as intentionally believing a lie. When one makes choices based on lies, reality will be the wall on which one breaks himself.

In the final analysis, failure is the only outcome when decisions are rooted in lies. Emotions don’t always correspond with reality. Emotions are important but not as a primary driver in decision making.