There is a tremendous amount of research on the impact of pornography on the mind. “Wired for Intimacy” by Struthers is shocking in the right kind of way. In some ways, young men (primary consumers of porn) need to shock their way out of these destructive habits. But more importantly, they need to find a vision for redeeming the body.

One of the negative theological features of evangelical men is that they lack an understanding of the role of the body. In some ways, they function like Gnostics assuming that their viewing is disconnected from their bodies. In other words, the body serves as a means to fulfill quick episodes of pleasure, but it remains disassociated from the spiritual reality of the body. The Christian tricks himself into believing that his piety is left intact, since after all, only the body was involved. But we are more self-aware today, or at least, pulpits should have made a mockery of this self-deception. The things of the Spirit are never divorced from the things of the body, since the body belongs to the Spirit (I Cor. 6:19).

But in the sea of information out there about porn, I only wish to add one element to the conversation that stems from that wretched curse of Gnosticism. Parents and accountability partners and those who wish to see a culture of integrity among our men need to see that our young men are self-imposed prisoners when it comes to their daily intake of entertainment. They are seduced into thinking that they can keep their bodies uncontaminated while bathing themselves in hours and hours of endless gaming. The ubiquitous YouTube millionaires are all out there recording themselves LIVE playing the game, mastering the game, and adding to their income through sponsors and eager proselytes who would watch them to learn the new secret knowledge.

Now, I am not on a crusade against gaming nor am I making a case against enjoying these things as rewards for hard work. But that is where the problem lies, isn’t it? Research makes it clear that the majority of gamers indulge, rather than moderately enjoy this entertainment ritual. And further, there is even more data to suggest that the majority of these same young men are rarely if ever outside enjoying the sunshine or the manual labor that has created our society. “Yes, but Pastor, this is a techy generation.” Well, that does not change the necessity of hard work; of running, walking, mowing, or just being outside. If such excessive gamers would also show me their profound tendencies to energetic Bible reading and a solid liturgical life, then perhaps I would be tempted to moderate my position, but my time in the pastorate and a student of human actions prove the opposite with profound consistency.

When I was growing up, my parents would tell us to go play and come back when dinner was ready. I don’t remember offering them much grief in this respect. I learned about rocks, trees, and mangoes from playing outside in the northeastern Brazilian heat. There was time for some games, and we treasured that first Nintendo as if we had leaped into the future for an hour. Today, of course, all of these things are mundane; almost a right of passage to fit into our cultural milieu. “Go play” is now synonymous with “Stay in your room, which you have all day, and play that thing until your heart is content.”

It’s my contention that if our children and young adults were to go to bed tired, and at times exhausted, their minds would go through some form of re-wiring that wouldn’t end in a steady diet of pornography. If our young men understood that to labor is to train our bodies for warfare, then that common temptation between 9pm-2am (the most common times for porn consumption) would be diminished significantly.

Of course, there is no sure-proof exercise, but there are sure-proof strategies to reduce the temptations of men. It is common sense that if you live by the screen you will die by the screen. It is also common sense that if you are tired from a day of hard work, your reward is to sleep, not to indulge the flesh.

The Spirit changes hearts and minds; the Spirit leads to repentance; the Spirit re-wires the mind and if we wish to see how much more attuned we would be to work of the Spirit, we would do well to forsake the deeds of the flesh and work hard for our labors are not in vain.

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Young men, you face challenges. That is nothing new. From the beginning of time, men have had battles to fight. Some have cowered in sloth. Some have fought valiantly. Though there are common themes in the war, each generational battle has had its unique variation on the themes. As with previous generations, you are being called to act like men, steeling yourselves for the battles in which God in his providence has placed you.

I have been a young man. Now I am older. I have raised four sons. I was not perfect. I made many mistakes. But I always did what I believed was right with the wisdom I had at the time. I hope you can say the same when you are older. I have been around the block a few times, you might say, and I have learned some wisdom along the way. I’m still learning. This series of letters aims to pass this wisdom on to you so that you will be better men than I am. The focus of these letters is masculinity, what it means to be a man in God’s world.

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We all struggle to find ways to encapsulate our belief systems. Sometimes ideas can be put under one umbrella. But then there are times when we simplify so much that we become embodied slogans ourselves. For instance, I generally tend towards the conservative side of things; the kind that would keep some Republicans awake at night in fear. But when someone–from my side of the aisle–tries to solve political issues by throwing the same phrases at my opponent’s face and expect to do a victory-lap just by stating the phrase repeatedly, I may–and have on occasion–jump to the other side and play the angelic advocate, even if for a few awkward minutes to convey that throwing one phrase around doesn’t end the issue, it proves that more calculated conversations need to happen.

On issues pertaining to race, we all have variations of what we believe our priorities to be. For some, it’s “black lives matter,” entailing that there are certain times in history that particular individuals deserve more attention and concern from the general public. For others, “all lives matter,” proclaiming a general understanding that concern cannot be limited to any particular cause or color. Still, for others more politically attuned to specificity, they say, “All black lives matter,” implying that a particular group ought to pay close attention to particular genocidal tendencies within a group.

In sum, there are particular calls to heed one group’s concern, and then there are general calls to show concern for all, and then there are concerns about particular needs within a particularized community. I suspect such ways of encapsulating concerns are found in every culture, and this season does not terminate the necessity for articulating these things and finding other brief ways of expressing our cherished beliefs. Such phrases need to exist, but not as end in themselves, but as opening statements followed by clarifying statements like what you’d see in a debate format.

The entire process–regardless of the ideologies attached to them–speaks of how perspectival we are as human beings. We err if we make things only general in scope, and when we make things too particular in scope, and when we make things only about particular within particular in scope. The way out of it is more complex in that we are required to take every thought captive (II Cor. 10:5). The Bible can be universal and it can take very specific concerns to heart. There are normative ways of thinking (all lives matter), existential ways of thinking (black lives matter) and situational ways of thinking (all black lives matter). Context and experience can shape all these things in very personal ways conditioned by norms that people embrace.

The question is not, “pick one?!” The question is how can we accurately embody an ethic that does justice to all three perspectives without being condescending to one way of thinking or without acting as if our only choice is to be generalists or particularists. We should do the hard work of embracing all three perspectives without attempting to marginalize one over the other and without attempting to offer quick solutions in exclusion of the others.

I grant that for some I am adding more complexity to the ideological fire, but in my mind, I am calling for accepting a multi-perspectival approach to these and other concerns that allow us to speak holistically about all angles and, in my estimation, largely improves the quality of discourse.

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When the Church finds herself in deepest need, it is not “identity politics” movements that will save her, it’s an identity with a political ruler that will. Only a Tribe that encompasses all earthly tribes can take needy people and supply her needs, whether emotional or financial. Only the Church with joint arms with her Ruler, Jesus, can find any hope.

If we tribalize our wants and believe that only our particular identities can provide refuge from our deepest longings, we will be left prodigal. We will quickly realize that our trust in groups and movements of ideas are only loyal insofar as we abide by their strict regulations. Identity politics is not an invitation to the weary and heavy laden, it’s an invitation for more weariness and heaviness. If our identities are not in Messiah Jesus, we are left with a twisted understanding of humanity.

The logic of identity politics is that your beliefs cannot be invalidated because your identity cannot be invalidated. The rhetoric goes that whatever I have to say you must listen to because of who I am and the color of my skin, and therefore no one should dare oppose my ideology. This form of tyranny built vicious movements throughout history that ended up oppressing others.

No one’s identity should go unchallenged; no one’s rationales should go unchallenged whether you grew up in the fenced-in suburb community, or ghetto or the slums of Guatemala, or Vietnamese villages. Our identities or experiences do not form the last word; they are one word in the conversation, but they do not exhaust the normativity of human experience.

Only Jesus has the last word! Only our identities wrapped up in Him give us any authority to speak into someone’s life and the closer we are to Him the more we will find relief from our own tribal identities and the more will we find rest in Him.

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