New research from George Barna shows, “a broad, deep gap in American political beliefs and behavior, rooted not in ideology or partisanship, but in fundamental differences in the worldview of voting-age adults being fueled by a national cultural shift away from the biblical worldview.” Barna believes, based on his research that, “The 2020 election is not about personalities, parties, or even politics. It is an election to determine the dominant worldview in America.

Barna payed particular attention to those he calls “integrated disciples.”  These are persons with a consistent biblical worldview.  The survey indicated that only 6% of those who identified as Christian had a biblical worldview.  These believers tended to hold conservative political views in greater number than adults without a biblical worldview.  

For example, they believe in the definition of marriage as one man and one woman, 95% vs. 34%, and are more deeply committed to practicing their religious faith, 98% to 57%.  These folks are two and a half times more likely to be conservative on social issues 91% vs. 34%.

What I find interesting is Barna’s contention that politics is no longer about party platforms but competing worldviews.  “Over the past 40 years Americans have gradually but consistently abandoned a range of foundational, biblical beliefs in favor of a human-centric, consensual, emotion-driven understanding of and response to the world.  That transition has been highly visible in relation to morality and political preferences.” 

Men, this reminds me of Paul’s warning to Timothy about those with “itching  ears.”  “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” ( II Tim 4:3).  

The “seismic sixties” as Os Guinness calls it, was the decade when the radical ideas first broke through into mainstream American thinking and life.  Guinness notes, “the 60’s sowed the poison seeds that are producing today’s bitter harvest.  The roots of those ideas predate the 60’s, but it was in the 60’s where they became dangerous.”

In the 1973, as a young pastor I read Os Guinness book “The Dust of Death” several times over.  It cemented my thinking to be a “Jesus person” and a pastor of “the Book.”  I never doubted my stance as I lived through those years.  As a feeling, intuitive man, I clung to my testimony of Jesus, wanting to be  credible witness for him with the Lutheran church.  But I needed help thinking my way through the changing times.  I wanted the Bible to form my worldview.

Today, having lived through the 60’s, being ordained in 1970, I am part of that 6% that Barna discovered in his research.  I survived due to the following commitments I made regarding the Word of God. 

First, Scripture is God’s inspired Word and it has the final say when it comes to faith and practice.  I had to settle that in my mind.  Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matt 24:34).   

Second,  I gladly submit my thinking to the authority of God’s Word.  If something is not clearly found in scripture I will raise a big question mark.  

Thirdly, I continue to  need guidance as I journey with Jesus through the changes and chaos that is coming.  “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Ps. 119:108).   

Fourthly, I need help to be an integrated follower of Jesus (in word and deed).  Scripture does that for me if I obey, “But don’t just listen to God’s word.  You must do what it says.” ( James 1:23).   

“The tonic of masculinity” caught my attention while reading an article by Bill Donaghy about  men.   “If we have been steeped in the lies of porn, if we’ve let ourselves be defined by the hashtag “toxic masculinity”, then we have work to do,” declares Donaghy.  He exhorts us to, “go back to the beginning to discover that primordial call to the tonic of masculinity ! (my emphasis) 

The intention of toxic masculinity is to deny and do away with what is the natural strength of men, which is, of course, expressed differently in each man.  While it is true that men need to live in the awareness of how their natural male strength has done great of harm to women since the fall, our task today, as never before is to  walk humbly with our Lord, asking Him for the grace and mercy to rightly exercise our place in the social order as God intended it.  We must not deny who we are.

As C. S. Lewis so famously said, “In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function.  We make men without chest and expect of them virtue and enterprise….we castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” The challenge becomes that of knowing how our strength and passion as men, can be used of God, rather then being misdirected into harmful, and even destructive patterns of behavior.  We have to do this work, without the help of the dominant culture.

To meet this challenge in the gender wars of our time, men need to be able to receive by faith the gift of their God given masculinity ( being a man).  After God made both in his image we read, “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good” (Gen 1:31).  Because of the contemporary narrative, which is highly critical of maleness, men will need help in being affirmed in their masculine roles as being “very good.” 

Pope Benedict XVI gave this wise pastoral advise for men.  “Man comes to the profoundest sense to himself not through what he does but through what he accepts.  He must wait for the gift of love, and love can only be received as a gift……One must wait for it, let it be given to one.  And one cannot become wholly man in any other way than by being loved, by letting oneself be loved….”

These are words of gold, offering tonic for many men living in shame and disillusionment.  Let me brake this statement down.   May these words sink into your soul and help you rise up with new tonic for your masculine soul.

First,  spiritual tonic cannot be applied to the crisis in masculinity by relying on our effort.  Men simply cannot fix their problem. The culture also cries out to men, “fix your problem.”  We can’t do it.  We are part of Adam’s fallen race.  Let this sink in – men need to learn to receive.  It is by the grace of God that we are given to capacity to change.

Second, even more difficult is the necessity of waiting.  God is able to mold and make us into the men we are intended to be.  Let this sink in – it is a process.  I personally know.  God has been reshaping me for over many years.    

Thirdly, always remember that you are his “beloved.”  Let this sink in – it about receiving love.  Like the Pope said, “one cannot become wholly man in any other way than be being loved, by letting oneself be loved….”  There is nothing we can do expect to receive the gift.