Other posts related to books

In Defense of Men: Tim Challies and Richard Phillips Not Included

Lincoln Adams | March 1, 2010 @ 4:06 pm

There’s no love lost between me and mainstream Christian writers, especially those whose shoddily written books sell a bazoolion copies simply because their audience are complete morons who just vacu-suck in everything their pastor spoonfeeds them without an individual thought of their own.

But every now and then somebody comes along and says or writes something that just begs for a smackdown by yours truly.  Case in point, a relatively obscure blogger named Tim Challies quotes from a book written by an even more obscure Christian author:

“One of the biggest problems in the church today is the failure of young adult men to value and pursue marriage.”

Apparently the quote is lifted from Phillips’s book, “The Masculine Mandate: God’s Calling to Men,” which is yet another book that purports to tell men how they’re supposed to behave and act using disjointed scriptural references and quotes from pop culture TV shows like Seinfeld.  Or was that “Wild at Heart?”

Challies’ endorsement of this quote would typify the behavior that one finds in the modern metrosexual male.  Like clones of Max Lucado, Challies and Phillips seem to me to be the kind of feminized men who write in pink notebooks and breastfeed their own children.  The perpetually and nauseatingly effeminate manner in which they criticize men for every evil in the world demonstrates that “regeneration” apparently did nothing to divorce their attitude towards men from how the rest of the world perceives us.  Which is, as amphibian bio-waste that needs to be neutralized from existence.

Tim Challies’s quote from Rich Phillips is ironic considering the misogynist overtones of Scripture (not that the verses are in fact misogynistic, it just appears that way) especially in Ecclesiastes.  We are told that for every thousand righteous men, there is only one righteous woman in that same bunch, if even that.  And Solomon would know a thing or two about that, having gone through at least 700 wives.  :blink:  (Ecclesiastes 7:26-29)

Phillips/Challies appear to be too numbnutted to believe that the failure of a marriage might actually involve two people instead of just the man.  Indeed, it seems to me the primary perpetrators of evil in our increasingly feministic society are women, not men. The divorce courts favor women, while our laws give women special status in almost every aspect of their lives.  Women can also falsely accuse men of rape and destroy their lives with absolutely no risk of consequence.  The entertainment industry also constantly denigrates and insults men at every turn.  How could this relentless bombardment of male bashing not seep into the thinking of even well intentioned women (including Challies)?

And they wonder why men might not value marriage anymore?  Seriously?

Personally, I’ve given up on the idea of marriage or even dating.  I have accepted that there is simply no single woman out there left that is worth my time and aggravation.  The neurosis (teh crazies!!1), the self absorption and the utter sense of supremacy gets old after a while.  Who can find a virtuous woman?  Certainly not I.  As a result, I have admittedly become very bitter about it, but I am slowly learning to accept that Paul was right, I am in fact better off single.  Of course women who see this will say the reason I haven’t found anyone is because I’m bitter, or ugly or otherwise undesirable.  They have absolved and divorced themselves of any accountability in regards to their despicable behavior whatsoever.  It is ALWAYS the man’s fault.  I’m single?  Gotta be my fault and my fault alone.  Women are but darling cherubs of light to which it is nigh on impossible for them to do any wrong.  Right.  And I got two bridges in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.

Since our supposedly Christian stalwarts of the community appear completely vacuous in their analysis of what ails marriages today, I’ll try to fill in the void with my common sense approach to the matter.

Marriage is a two way street.  It’s not about pleasing yourself, it’s about pleasing your spouse and doing what makes him OR her happy.  Women should not go ahead of their husbands and should let him take the lead.  Men in return should not treat their wives as  doormats but with love and respect, and should not be afraid to make command decisions either.  Each spouse should have their due affection rendered them, whether it comes in wumpsy snugglies or other things.  Let the strength of one complement the weakness of the other.

See?  How fricking hard was that?  It certainly beats the advice of telling men they need to camp out a lot in the wilderness like that schmuck for brains John Eldredge does in his book “Wild at Heart.”  Oy.

Maybe I should write a book myself.  :ggrin:



I lack for nothing (which means I have too much junk)

Lincoln Adams | October 5, 2008 @ 5:36 pm

I decided to shed some of the books I own as I prepare myself for a life on the run on the road, so I stopped by my local library to donate them.

I walked in and approached one of the clerks at the reception desk.

“I would like to donate these books please,”  I said with my broad, winning smile.

The haggish looking clerk took one look at them and said, “Sorry, we’re only accepting certain books, and we won’t need any of these here.”

“But… I have books on Abraham Lincoln!  And some really great books on the law too.  Don’t you want the patrons here to learn more about the law??  And lookie here, a beautiful vintage 1828 Webster’s Dictionary!  Wouldn’t that be awesome for your collection??”

She glanced at it.  “That’s a big dictionary, but we have enough dictionaries here.  Sorry!”

I grumbled as I picked up my stack of books.  Oh well, not a big deal, I’ll just drive to another library in a nearby town and donate it there.

20 minutes later…

I walked in with my stack of books to the reception desk.  “I would like to donate these books, please.”  Another winning smile. :D

“Sorry, we’re not accepting donations right now.”

Again another song and dance about how valuable my books were and how important it is that people learn about the life of Abraham Lincoln and frick it man can’t you just take my #%^$ books anyway?? But still no dice.  Oh well, on to the next library.

20 miles later…

I walked into a quaint, little library happily whistling the tune to the Andrew Griffith Show, only this time I walked right past the reception area and sat down at a table near the reference section.  I had my books in my bag, so I took them out and placed them neatly on the desk.  I then got up, smiled my ever winning smile one more time… and left.

Mission accomplished.  :ggrin:  Now with that out of the way, I can focus on winnowing down my stuffed animals collection.  Anybody here want one of my teddy bears?



An Unwelcome Guide

Lincoln Adams | April 29, 2007 @ 12:53 am

Jiminy CricketGod has seen fit that I should not make my journey through life without having a persistent, (and oftentimes irritating) conscience to guide me. Unsure as to how I could introduce this important figure on my blog, I decided just to name “him” Jiminy Cricket. And my old friend Cricket was at it once again when I took the stack of textbooks and primers I had bought some time ago to prep for law school, and started putting some of them up for bid on eBay.

“What are you doing?” Jiminy inquired.

“I’m selling my books. My law school plans are done. It’s time to move on.”

“Why don’t you wait a little while longer?? You might still be able to go!”

“Why?? My boss screwed me over, it’s already two weeks past the deadline to make a deposit, it’s finished!”

Ole’ Jiminy then hopped onto my desk. “Give God a chance to work, it’s not over yet. There’s still plenty of time, and God always tends to move when things look impossible.”

I threw my hands up in frustration. “Look, how long do I have to put up with this? My prayers haven’t been answered, in fact just the opposite of what I asked for happened. I’ve been running around in circles with this for over 18 months. I’m sick of it. I’m tired, and I just want to move on with my life.”

“You need to be patient, my friend. You’ve seen in the past that God is never in a hurry. Give Him space to work.”

“Space this,” I said, and shooed Cricket away as I placed 2 of my law books up on eBay.