On Every Front: War Against Men
Genesis 32:24-29: And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.
Many in the political realm keep talking about the war against women. While there might be a shimmer of truth in that statement as evidenced by our Presidents refusal to pay the women on his staff the same amount he pays the men on his staff for doing the same work (read about it here).
In my humble opinion, I think men are under attack more than women. Just some simple examples: how many times have you heard men being told to get in touch with their feminine side? Now how many times have you heard a women told to get in touch with their masculine side? Take a random sampling of podcasts from churches around the country on Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day. What you will hear generally speaking is women being praised (which they should be) for their sacrifices as mothers and men being berated for not getting it right.
Not convinced yet? What about sitcoms? Are men valued or portrayed as ignorant and barely better than cavemen? Are you still not with me? How about looking at the dating scene? Why is it in the dating scene that if a guy has sex with a girl he “got lucky” and the girl got what? Our culture has been consistently attacking the nobility, honor, and masculinity of men of all colors, all creeds, and all races and for what reason?
This trend has continued in school as I referred to in A Culture of Fatherlessness. Our school systems have been set up to engage a female based learning audience at the expense of our boys. Women predominately are the teachers and they are the ones recommending that boys be checked for ADHD because they don’t sit still and pay attention in that female based learning environment (hint because they are boys not girls).
Finally look at the devastation that Title IX has had to male sports. Schools have limited budgets as it is and now you force them to either add a sport or take a way a male sport and leaves them no real choice or solution. Sure it is great for female sports (which was needed to be honest), but it has destroyed many of our male sports. This war against men took another step yesterday by eliminating Wrestling from the Olympics.
In the original Olympics there was one race of somewhere between 180-240 Meters. Then in 724 BC they added a 400 meter, and in 720 they added roughly a three mile race. Wrestling along with Boxing and Pankration has been a part of the Olympics since 708 BC and they were the first non-racing events to be added.
With that type of history concerning this sport, I am quite confused by the I.O.C.’s decision, that literally came from nowhere, to eliminate one of the most grueling and physically demanding sports known to mankind. In all my years as a combat athlete and a trainer for the world’s premiere military, I have never seen any individual who possessed the qualities and character necessary to succeed in life more than a wrestler. Their physical strength, mental fortitude, agility, and pure determination make them an asset in anything they put their mind to do.
There is a spiritual aspect to this sport as well. The Bible tells us that wrestling is the only sport God ever participated in. In Genesis 32 God wrestles with Jacob and puts him in a hip lock, causing Jacob to submit (read more here); and missionary to Ecuador, Jim Elliot said it this way, “I wrestle solely for the strength and co-ordination of muscle tone that the body receives while working out, with the ultimate end that of presenting a more useful body as a living sacrifice.” (p.16 Through the Gates of Splendor)
There are so many lessons in life to be learned from this holy sport and it is a shame that the I.O.C made this decision in light of all the “sports” that have no media attention, sponsorships, or to be honest, fans. In the end, looking from the perspective of Title IX I think that this is just another covert plan to continue the feminist agenda that there are no differences between men and women, except their parts, and a more sinister plan to completely destroy the masculine spirit. God help us.
Image: Philippe Magnier (French, 1647-1715); Copy of“Uffizi wrestlers”, stored in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, Italy; current location: Louvre Museum; Source/ Photographer: Jastrow (2007); © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons
