The Obsolete Male

What do we learn from this? The headline: Will science render men unnecessary? It seems that some scientists have made artificial sperm from human bone marrow. There you have it. Never mind that the truth is that they have managed to make "something that resembles an immature sperm cell." Men are unnecessary.

I guess we learn what society in general has come to think of the male gender. We are sperm donors ... nothing more. We are not fathers in the sense of a necessary member of a family structure that offers vital input to his children. We are not husbands, highly recommended, a nearly indispensable part of a "married couple" that form the structure called "parents". We are not protectors of the family, providers for the home, role models for children ... oh, anything of any real necessity at all in the lives of women and children. Gone are the days when people felt badly for women who had to raise children without a husband or for children who were facing the unfortunate trial of being without a father. We are unnecessary. We are simply sperm donors ... and that could change.

In this day of "sexual equality", it's interesting how things have devolved. Put together a mixed gender group of open-minded people and, on the topic of sexual equality, discuss the question, "What do women do better than men?" You'll likely get a reasonable list. They're more nurturing. They're better at multitasking. Men and women alike will contribute suggestions, because we're open-minded and we all know and can freely admit that there are some things that women do better than men. Good! Now ask the reverse. "What do men do better than women?" I suspect that you'll get nothing but awkward silence. There are two reasons. Either the group doesn't recognize anything that men do better or they are unwilling to admit it. It would be incorrect, somehow, to list those things. So much for gender equality.

If men are primarily sperm donors, what else is their contribution to society? Well, as we all know, almost all sexual crimes are committed by men. Oh, sure, there are women committing prostitution, but that is simply due to a male market, isn't it? Rarely do you find a woman pedophile, rapist, or the like. No, no, that's a guy thing. In fact, most violent crimes are committed by males. It's a surprise when you hear that a woman commits a violent crime. That's a guy thing. There is a perception that more men leave their wives than wives who leave their husbands, and that adultery is primarily a male problem. (Seriously, think about it. If a husband commits adultery, he's a "horn dog" or some such. If a woman commits adultery, it was simply because her husband wasn't giving her what she needed, poor thing.) Women don't start wars; men do. It's a guy thing. According to the most common stereotypes, men are active, aggressive, energetic, physical, and risk-taking, while women are sensitive, whiny, social, and striving to please others. Great! In other words, men contribute sperm, crime, and violence to society.

I'm not really surprised at this perception. The women's movement has largely gone unchallenged, mostly because the things they were arguing had merit, even if the core was faulty. So we ignored the core and swallowed the whole apple, not realizing there were worms in it. I am disappointed that Christians have so eagerly devoured this apple. Their view on the subject shouldn't come from the popular world perspective, the women's movement, or even the people around them. It should come from the source book written by the Creator of human beings. Sadly, even among Christians, that perception is being discarded.

What do we learn from the biblical perspective about men? We learn several things that are counter to the popular perceptions of the day. We learn that God takes a decidedly patriarchal view of families. He is always referred to as "the God of your fathers". He always prescribed things in terms of fatherly lines. (See, for instance, Exo. 6:14, Num. 1:2, and Heb. 1:1. It is a very long list. These are merely examples.) holds men responsible for the family's spiritual health (Exo. 20:5; Num. 14:33; Gal. 4:1-2). He commands fathers, "Do not exasperate your children" (Col. 3:21) because He holds fathers responsible for the proper discipline and teaching of children. (Don't misunderstand. That doesn't require that the father perform all the discipline and teaching. It means that he must manage it and is responsible for it.) He holds husbands responsible for wives (1 Cor. 11:3, for instance). While it is certainly a fine thing if a woman provides an income to a family (Prov. 31:16, 24), it is to the husband that the Scriptures say, "If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Tim. 5:8). Instead of being peripheral at best and detrimental at worst to anything having to do with wives, families, and society, the Bible places men at the center.

Men have long failed to meet their responsibilities. That is partly due to their sin nature. That is partly due to societal failures. It is partly due to women who have failed to ask them to meet their responsibilities. But one thing it is not -- it is not because they don't have those responsibilities. And it is not because men are irrelevant and detrimental to society in general and families in particular. God ordained their roles and responsibilities. A failure to meet them does not negate what God says. And a society that has rejected God doesn't get to determine what the people of God think. They may decide that men are peripheral, but let's not let them tell God that He was mistaken, at least in our own thinking. Let's choose instead to stick with a biblical perspective and recognize when the world is feeding us their garbage so we can reject it. There has already been too much eating of bad apples, don't you think?