Why I’m Leaving Guyland - Dr. Paul J. Dean
Today's guys are perhaps the first downwardly mobile—and endlessly adolescent—generation of men in U.S. history. They're also among the most distraught—men between the ages of 16 and 26 have the highest suicide rate for any group except men above 70—and socially isolated, despite their image as a band of backslapping buddies. According to the General Social Survey, a highly regarded decades long University of Chicago project to map changes in American culture, twenty something guys are bowling alone when compared with the rest of society. They are less likely to read a newspaper, attend church, vote for president or believe that people are basically trustworthy, helpful and fair. Meanwhile, saddled with an average of $20,000 in student debt and reared with a sense of entitlement that stops them from taking any old job, the percentage of 26-year-olds living with their parents has nearly doubled since 1970, from 11 to 20 percent, according to economist Bob Schoeni's research with the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan.
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That a decade-long odyssey of debauchery prior to entrance into the responsibilities of adulthood is the new normal for American males is not surprising in a culture that has cast off truth. When truth goes, responsibility, commitment, and morality go as well. These dynamics make no sense on a relativistic worldview.
On such a worldview marriage means nothing and the worship of self is glorified. The family man who is fulfilled cannot be touted lest the religion of self be undermined. The said reality is that statistically, such a self-centered and debauched lifestyle leads to nothing but spiritual, emotional, and even physical misery. As R.G. Lee once said in his famous sermon, “Pay-Day Some-Day,” “the devil pays off in counterfeit bills.”
Part of the message of the church must be the glorious nature of marriage both in theological and practical terms. That message will be heard when Christians understand the ultimate purpose of marriage as an arena for God’s glory and propagate that purpose through word and display. Christian couples find themselves in a context that is far more fulfilling than Guyland. May we live accordingly.
Today's guys are perhaps the first downwardly mobile—and endlessly adolescent—generation of men in U.S. history. They're also among the most distraught—men between the ages of 16 and 26 have the highest suicide rate for any group except men above 70—and socially isolated, despite their image as a band of backslapping buddies. According to the General Social Survey, a highly regarded decades long University of Chicago project to map changes in American culture, twenty something guys are bowling alone when compared with the rest of society. They are less likely to read a newspaper, attend church, vote for president or believe that people are basically trustworthy, helpful and fair. Meanwhile, saddled with an average of $20,000 in student debt and reared with a sense of entitlement that stops them from taking any old job, the percentage of 26-year-olds living with their parents has nearly doubled since 1970, from 11 to 20 percent, according to economist Bob Schoeni's research with the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan.
read entire article
That a decade-long odyssey of debauchery prior to entrance into the responsibilities of adulthood is the new normal for American males is not surprising in a culture that has cast off truth. When truth goes, responsibility, commitment, and morality go as well. These dynamics make no sense on a relativistic worldview.
On such a worldview marriage means nothing and the worship of self is glorified. The family man who is fulfilled cannot be touted lest the religion of self be undermined. The said reality is that statistically, such a self-centered and debauched lifestyle leads to nothing but spiritual, emotional, and even physical misery. As R.G. Lee once said in his famous sermon, “Pay-Day Some-Day,” “the devil pays off in counterfeit bills.”
Part of the message of the church must be the glorious nature of marriage both in theological and practical terms. That message will be heard when Christians understand the ultimate purpose of marriage as an arena for God’s glory and propagate that purpose through word and display. Christian couples find themselves in a context that is far more fulfilling than Guyland. May we live accordingly.
posted by IABC | 7:36 PM
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