Welcome to my weekly digest for January 13, 2023. For new subscribers, this contains a roundup of my recent writings and podcasts, as well as links to the best articles from around the web this week. You can control what emails you get from me by
I think the pandemic helped prune our churches of those just attending for appearances and other less noble reasons. I think it helped us become firmly seated in the 3rd phase of the decline where having a religious affiliation is detrimental to your standing in society. This is a good thing. Now to get churches to stop live streaming the services! Sure use Zoom for your true shut ins (have a team that goes to their houses to be with them as well) but eliminate one "excuse" for folks to abstain from actually attending a worship service.
We men need to disciple other men in these things. While I don't have a problem in washing dishes - I have done so for years - (which is primarily loading the dishwasher) I did not do it because my wife demanded, asked for it or my pastor recommended it - I did because it is a mindless activity which I enjoyed after a day of work - I did not have to think. Maybe that's why a lot of women find it such a problem. I found/find it relaxing.
But one of my pet peeves that is part of the emasculation of men is the idea of a "man cave". Since when do men have caves? It connotes the idea of men as cavemen who need a primitive space away from their families. The idea that a "man's home is his castle" is what I live by. All of my home is my realm that I share with my queen (my wife) and my princess (my daughter). When I hear other men or their wives talking about their mancaves I go into my mini-tirade.
"Note here again the widely observed finding that the more education someone has, the more likely he is to attend religious services. That’s not the image our society conveys about religion."
That stat also stood out to me. Maybe I'm behind the 8-ball here, but I recently decided that my family needs to refrain from all commerce on Sundays. Like many evangelicals, I've generally been surrounded by a more antinomian view of the Sabbath and have largely had to navigate these ideas myself, for my family's sake.
I'd been thinking about this for a while for a number of reasons, but I recently saw an old friend whose career went sideways and is stuck often working Sundays. And I can see how hard this makes it to get back into the church habit, as he would sort of like to do. Even on Sundays he doesn't have to get to work until noon or so, I think it becomes harder to find the motivation. I can also see how never being assured of a particular day of the week off is just a burden in one's life.
Of course, I don't think this is all that's going on with that statistic about education and church attendance, but I do think it's one thing. The Blue Laws did indeed serve a spiritual purpose, in addition to being an act of basic decency for the working man. The good news is that even a minority within a community that refrains from commerce on Sunday can still make a marginal difference. Perhaps one less restaurant decides to hold Sunday brunch, or one less cashier is kept on staff.
"Pop's heroes dismantle their masculinity" -- I am honestly surprised that this is a winning strategy in the marketplace for them. Maybe girl fans just like their male idols to seem less manly/threatening? I can't imagine boys being into this. From Elvis to the Doors to Guns n' Roses, pop heroes traditionally had some balance of masculine and feminine elements in their personality.
As an impressionable youth I used to read Details and GQ before realizing later that they were basically made by and for gay men. But in those days they felt obliged to at least simulate masculinity along the lines of Paul Newman or George Clooney. Now when I see a magazine cover with Pharrell in a dress, or a transgender model on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, I find it hard to believe any number of people actually like this or want to buy it.
I think the pandemic helped prune our churches of those just attending for appearances and other less noble reasons. I think it helped us become firmly seated in the 3rd phase of the decline where having a religious affiliation is detrimental to your standing in society. This is a good thing. Now to get churches to stop live streaming the services! Sure use Zoom for your true shut ins (have a team that goes to their houses to be with them as well) but eliminate one "excuse" for folks to abstain from actually attending a worship service.
We men need to disciple other men in these things. While I don't have a problem in washing dishes - I have done so for years - (which is primarily loading the dishwasher) I did not do it because my wife demanded, asked for it or my pastor recommended it - I did because it is a mindless activity which I enjoyed after a day of work - I did not have to think. Maybe that's why a lot of women find it such a problem. I found/find it relaxing.
But one of my pet peeves that is part of the emasculation of men is the idea of a "man cave". Since when do men have caves? It connotes the idea of men as cavemen who need a primitive space away from their families. The idea that a "man's home is his castle" is what I live by. All of my home is my realm that I share with my queen (my wife) and my princess (my daughter). When I hear other men or their wives talking about their mancaves I go into my mini-tirade.
"Note here again the widely observed finding that the more education someone has, the more likely he is to attend religious services. That’s not the image our society conveys about religion."
That stat also stood out to me. Maybe I'm behind the 8-ball here, but I recently decided that my family needs to refrain from all commerce on Sundays. Like many evangelicals, I've generally been surrounded by a more antinomian view of the Sabbath and have largely had to navigate these ideas myself, for my family's sake.
I'd been thinking about this for a while for a number of reasons, but I recently saw an old friend whose career went sideways and is stuck often working Sundays. And I can see how hard this makes it to get back into the church habit, as he would sort of like to do. Even on Sundays he doesn't have to get to work until noon or so, I think it becomes harder to find the motivation. I can also see how never being assured of a particular day of the week off is just a burden in one's life.
Of course, I don't think this is all that's going on with that statistic about education and church attendance, but I do think it's one thing. The Blue Laws did indeed serve a spiritual purpose, in addition to being an act of basic decency for the working man. The good news is that even a minority within a community that refrains from commerce on Sunday can still make a marginal difference. Perhaps one less restaurant decides to hold Sunday brunch, or one less cashier is kept on staff.
"Pop's heroes dismantle their masculinity" -- I am honestly surprised that this is a winning strategy in the marketplace for them. Maybe girl fans just like their male idols to seem less manly/threatening? I can't imagine boys being into this. From Elvis to the Doors to Guns n' Roses, pop heroes traditionally had some balance of masculine and feminine elements in their personality.
As an impressionable youth I used to read Details and GQ before realizing later that they were basically made by and for gay men. But in those days they felt obliged to at least simulate masculinity along the lines of Paul Newman or George Clooney. Now when I see a magazine cover with Pharrell in a dress, or a transgender model on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, I find it hard to believe any number of people actually like this or want to buy it.
All of these globalist depopulation freaks really just hate humanity.