Saturday, November 28, 2020

the year in books [XXII]



This latest fiction gauntlet includes a number of Stephen King books: The Cycle of the Werewolf, Firestarter, and The Dark Half. I've always been a fan of King and am reading through his books in chronological order. I must admit, however, that I found The Cycle of the Werewolf a bit dull at times. Simone St. James' The Sun Down Motel was a decent horror thriller, but Daniel Wilson's The Andromeda Evolution and Scott Sigler's Infected were let-downs. I may need to add some Simone St. James to next year's reading queue. 

Saturday, November 07, 2020

striving against effeminacy

Michael Spangler released a twelve-point 'primer' on how men can strive against effeminacy. It's worth a read:

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Effeminacy is a soul-destroying sin that bars men from the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9). We should fear even the slightest whiff of it. So I call men to mortify these all-too-common ways of being less than manly:

1. Letting your wife or other women rule your home, your church, your wardrobe, your grooming, your career, your life.

2. Not speaking plainly of the besetting sins of women, both in public and privately to sinning women, calling out their worry, complaining, promiscuity, excessive softness.

3. Decrying or avoiding hard necessities of life, like working for money, owning guns, killing animals for food, going to war, confronting sin.

4. Clothes that are too tight, too loose, too colorful, too eye-catching, too trendy, too casual, too formal.

5. A soft, breathy, or overly sweet tone of voice. This is a besetting sin of preachers.

6. Avoiding clear thinking and direct, simple speech, whether under color of “down-home” ignorance or “intellectual” sophistication.

7. Cheap sexual delight without commitment, through pornography, masturbation, fornication, fantasizing, or even birth control.

8. Not hating from the bottom of your soul the wretched, vile crime of sodomy, and expressing open opposition to it.

9. Shunning the company of manly men, or expressing shame at those who live with an aggressive zeal or holy ambition.

10. Living without emotional self-control, being enslaved by anger or lust, or constantly swinging between despair and giddiness. 

11. Not spanking your children, hard, when their sin calls for it, or failing to confront or warn them from their sins in other wholesome ways.

12. Thinking manly love is exemplified in doing dishes. Or being offended when other men, busier than you are with their callings, simply leave women’s work to women.

 

where we're headed

Over the last several years, we've undergone a shift in how we operate as a family. We're coming to what we hope is a better underst...