I appreciate Dalrock’s blog quite a bit because he is a “straight shooter” – without the confrontational hellfire-and-brimstone hyperbole of some (coughVoxDaycough) but with a firm commitment to speaking the truth and presenting the uncomfortable facts of life.
Of course, facts are uncomfortable and sexist (because reality is a social construct of the cisheteropatriarchy, no doubt! /sarc), and so predictably feminists get their panties in knots over it. For instance:
You know why we scold you and some of the others? Because your constant attempts to shame women are what separates them from Christ and eventually fuels more feminism. You should ponder the fact that who you are now attacking are often Christian wives and mothers, women closely aligned with your position on a myriad of issues.
No Christian wife or mother will be offended at hearing the truth from Dalrock. Sinners clinging to pride, however, will be very offended. The woman who has confessed her sin, repented of it, and accepted Christ’s forgiveness cannot be “shamed away from Christ” by a man who points out what she has already accepted as truth – that her past behavior was sinful and wrong. Whatever negative feelings she has in the present as a result of her sin are her penance to bear; God’s forgiveness is not a magic fairy wand that erases the temporal consequences of committing sin. To teach that women should never be ashamed of their sin is to teach that women should have their consciences seared and thus, unrepentant, be ultimately cast into Hell.
That is not a loving, Christian position to take. At. All.
This is the attitude of “You’re perfect!” that grates, even when paired with a catchy pop beat – because as a woman, I know I’m not perfect, and I don’t want people lying to me about it in an attempt to turn me into some kind of neurotic wreck whose shaky self-esteem is based not on realistic assessment of my failings and my attempts to be the best version of myself possible, but on some kind of childish mantra endlessly repeated in an attempt to drown out the condemnations of my own conscience.
The sting of physical pain tells you that something is wrong with your body. The sting of shame tells you that there is something wrong with your soul. Telling yourself “I’m perfect and beautiful just the way I am” is not a valid diagnosis when you have something physical wrong with you, and it’s not a valid diagnosis when you fail to live up to your ideals, either. Maybe your ideals are misplaced – that can certainly happen, and when it does, it takes sober reasoning about philosophy to correct, not a pop psych mantra. And if the best ideals seem out of human reach, well, that’s because they are. But you don’t have to strive for them all on your own, either – and it’s not cheating to take the Divine Intervention when it’s offered!
Something Fishy 