day no. 17,452: too good at golf

"If we keep the prohibition of Deuteronomy 22:5 in mind, this has direct application for women in such sports. 'The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.' This text prohibits cross-dressing for men, but it also bans women from putting on 'the gear of a warrior' (keli geber). If women shouldn’t be placed in combat roles, and they shouldn’t be, then they shouldn’t be in warlike training. College football would be out, for example... While certain forms of athletic competition are both lawful and useful for girls, there is no reason to believe that it should occupy the same importance for girls as it does for boys. To assume that it should be 'equally important' to both sexes is to demonstrate that you have internalized the rancid egalitarianism of our day, and have prayed to receive Title IX into your heart." — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and Christian Community #3

The prohibition from Deuteronomy is not saying that a woman can never put on a bullet proof vest, but it is saying that she should not be in the habit of wearing one. She can protect herself if the trouble comes to her door and she can have a basic understanding of how the tools of liberty work and where they are kept and how they are handled, but she should not be an expert. She can only do so much and becoming an expert at reloading magazines comes at the cost of being better at making biscuits. On the flip side, men should not be too good at golf. Golf is hard and it requires a lot of time and dedication and money to excel at. If you are too good at gold, that is really too bad. Something, if not some things, are suffering badly from neglect. All that time swinging a club came from somewhere.

That said, competition and physical prowess and gamesmanship are transferable skills that men can and should learn in athletic areas. Men were made for pitting their strength against another. It sharpens them, like iron upon iron. Women were made to help. They need older women to help them learn how to love their husbands and children and the older women need help keeping up with the homes they've kept up with for decades. 

Everything does not need to be equally important to be as important as it should. A man does not need to care as much about baking a cake or cooking dinner than a wife does and a wife does not need to care about football as much as her man does, but both benefit from caring about that which God has given them to sharpen them in their respective roles.

day no. 17,451: feminism: a crash course in blessing the curses of others and cursing your own

Genesis 3:16

Unto the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

Part of the curse of Eve is the temptation to believe that the curse of Adam is superior.

"Eve's curse isn't good enough, they (feminists) want to share Adam's too." — Voddie Baucham

Feminism, not content with its own curse, clamors for the curse of Adam. It wrongly asserts that his privileges are greater than his responsibilities and falsely assumes that the woman's responsibilities are not privileges.

Feminism blesses the curses of Adam and curses the blessings of Eve.

day no. 17,450: rocking chairs and resting well

“It might be said symbolically that Americans have a taste for rocking-horses, as they certainly have a taste for rocking-chairs. A flippant critic might suggest that they select rocking-chairs so that, even when they are sitting down, they need not be sitting still. Something of this restlessness in the race may really be involved in the matter.” — G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America 

Americans are restless. 

Rocking chairs allow one to rest without resting completely and that is, in microcosm, the essence of the American spirit. We strive, we reach, we push... or at least, we used to. 

We did not find rest in Jesus, however. That is not why we have stopped striving. We have not found contentment. No, we grew discontent with our discontent and so we found a new way to be discontent... laziness.

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." — Augustine

Doing nothing is not resting. A rocking chair can genuinely relaxing. It maximizes the relationship between exertion and relaxation. A minimal twitch of the leg can set the entire body back and forth. In that way, a rocking chair is perhaps a good picture of resting in Christ while doing that which He prepared beforehand for us. 

We must do something and we must rest. In Christ, we can do both. Without Him, we either work ourselves to death or we die to our work. We get anxious or we get lazy, but we do not rest.

day no. 17,449: borrowing Christianity's tools to beat it with

“It looked not so much as if Christianity was bad enough to include any vices, but rather as if any stick was good enough to beat Christianity with.” — G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Christianity is accused of being too fussy because it condemns drunkenness, but it is also accused of being too fast and loose because it requires wine in communion. 

Christianity is accused of being too bloodthirsty because it requires the execution of convicted murderers, rapists, and kidnappers, but it is also accused of being too merciful because it forbids the execution of innocent unborn children, the elderly, and the handicapped.

Christianity is accused of being too prudish because it forbids fornication and adultery, but it is also accused of being too profane because it requires regular relations between a husband and wife.

Christianity is accused of being too vulgar and base because it talks openly about sex, but it is also accused of being too prim and proper because it condemns open displays of overt sexuality.

Christianity is accused of being too materialistic because it insists on tangible obedience, but it is also accused of being too spiritual because it looks to a city not built by human hands.

Christianity is accused of being too old fashioned because it has been around a long time, but it is also accused of being too novel because it has only been around since the death of Christ.

Christianity is accused of being too divisive and is blamed for all of the blood of human history, but it is also accused of being too compromising and is blamed for being too wimpy to matter.

Christianity is accused of being too boring and it is accused of being too excitable.

Christianity is accused of being too much work and it is accused of offering too much grace.

Christianity is accused of being too hot and it is accused of being too cold.

Christianity is accused of being too much and it is accused of being not enough.

Christianity is accused of being too Christlike and it is accused of not being Christlike enough.

All that to say, there are any number of ways to accuse Christianity of falling short, but there is only one way to measure how short something falls, and that is Christ. He is only the standard against which Christianity can be compared. So, even in accusing Christianity, the heathen must borrow Christian tools. 

It is Christ or chaos.