2nd December 2022
The root cause of Domestic Abuse is summarised in Genesis 3:16. As a result of sin entering the world, man would “rule over” woman.
Sadly, some Christians seem to interpret this text as a command from God, they fail to recognise that God is lamenting the consequences of sin and seem to think it is God’s desire that men should exert power and control. In the same passage God says that we will also have pain giving birth and will have to toil the land in order to work. These same Christians who believe it’s God’s will that men “rule over” women don’t seem to have any issue with humanity working to decrease labour pains and back breaking working practices though.
Men’s lust for power is a result of sin entering the world. It is not God’s design and it is not how we as Christians should be living. It is broken-ness. The fall caused masculinity to break, man would believe that in order to be a “real man” he would have to exercise dominance, would have to hold authority and be in control. The secular world calls this “Toxic Masculinity.” It seems a lot of Christian men find the phrase Toxic Masculinity offensive. Yet really it describes nothing new, it describes nothing that the book of Genesis didn’t tell us about 4000 years ago.
We see it everywhere, from Donald Trump saying “grab her by the pussy,” Boris Johnson saying “pat her on the bottom and send her on her way” to Will Smith using an act of violence against another man as some pathetic gesture of love for his wife, who he believes he needs to “protect” because he is a “real man. We see it in the Church when pastors like Mark Driscoll refer to women as “homes for penises” when theologians twist the bible to defend “male headship” and when all the guys socials involve macho events like beer and barbecue or shooting things while the women get afternoon tea and craft clubs. Male broken-ness is why 95% of the prison population is male, it’s why 5000 men a year die by suicide and it’s why a woman is killed by a man every four days in the UK. Male broken-ness tells men that they are only real men if they are in charge, in control, don’t express emotions, don’t give way, always lead, always fight and always win. It hurts men and it hurts women and it’s not what God wants for us.
Jesus said “I came that they might have life and life in all it’s fullness.” Men, God not only wants better for the women in your life, he wants better for you than this. Sin deprives us all, we need you to fix the broken, toxic masculinity that pervades so much of society, and you need it fixed too.
16days #16daysofactivism #orangetheworld
