Our Sons Need a Sword

"Boys are suffering." -Jordan Peterson

"A harmless man is not a good man. A good man is a very dangerous man who has that under voluntary control." -Jordan Peterson

"The recipe for fun is pretty simple raising boys: add to any activity an element of danger, stir in a little exploration, add a dash of destruction, and you've got yourself a winner." -John Eldridge

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." -Jesus

"Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." -Paul

Boys are in trouble. Like real trouble. Not the kind of trouble that comes with a discipline form that parents have to sign and send back to school. It's the kind of trouble that ruins who they are for a lifetime and spreads to others. A trouble that has the potential to kill them.

Yesterday I read an article that reported that highly successful and gifted boys are killing themselves because the latest app or website leads them to naked images of girls created to trap them financially, socially, and spiritually. We live in a day when people regard knives, chainsaws, and firearms as too dangerous. Instead we offer YouTube, a bag of cookies, and an energy drink. Keep the weapons out of their hands, but allow the smartphone. Satan indeed is a master of disguise.

Last year, for some reason, I said that if I had 10 million dollars I'd try to establish a "school" for boys age 13-18 and promise parents that their son would learn triple what they would in any other school. They would be taught the stories of David and Goliath, Churchill and Hitler, Elijah and Jezebel, Luther and Tetzel, Jesus and Caiphas. Math and Physics would be taught with tape measures and rifle calibers. Life Science would be taught with a knife in hand and either a fish or a deer on the table instead of a worksheet on a desk. Sex education would include terms like "The Rut" or "Walleye Spawn" combined with the miracle of a virgin birth and the stories of sexual abuse from the Old Testament. God's spectacular creation of reproduction can be taught by learning the truth about birds, bees, and flowers. Health can be taught in a kitchen, a garden, and a weight room, not a classroom. Physical education gets to stay in the gym. The Chronicles of Narnia would be required reading. I suspect it would only be a matter of time before the pharmaceuticals were no longer needed. Instructors wouldn't speak much of needing to grow in their "classroom management".

Boys weren't created to sit still. I have told my boys that we aren't going for "Good Boy". That kind of encouragement is for puppies. We're going for "Courageous Warrior." The elimination of recess has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard, and every time I hear boys told to "keep their hands to themself", I kind of cringe. It's how their brains develop, it’s how they learn, and it’s how they develop empathy. It's how they learn to protect and provide for those around them. Don't get me started on how many sexual predators were deprived of healthy play growing up.

I know too many boys that go to youth group to meet girls instead of becoming a man worth dating. I know too many ministry models that put boys around a table to talk about their feelings. I know too many churches who assume the kingdom of darkness loses ground when there is dodgeball or a lock in. Many of the latest praise and worship songs I hear seem a little too soft to inspire these boys to talk smack to a giant, decapitate him, and take his sword.

They carry so much shame. You can see it in their posture, and especially when they choose to wear their hood up or wear a coat indoors. I don't want them to carry the shame. I want them to carry a sword.