Hard Christian Truths
Finding True Adventure
How the Church of Safety is ruining childhood
I recently saw an advertisement that caught my eye. This ad was pitching a new videogame and it said, “Looking for a new Adventure? Start one from the comfort of your own home.”
Now first, let me say I do play video games from time to time. It isn’t common for me but I do understand the draw and it can really be fun. BUT there is something fundamentally wrong with this statement and I’m just gonna say it.
If you really want adventure, you have to leave your home!
It is a lie that you can find adventure by exploring a strange world on your PS4. It is an attempt to fulfill a core desire of men, the desire to explore. We all have it, we want to know more, to learn how to do things, to have new experiences and to earn our place in the world.
But we have a whole generation (or two) who has been indoctrinated into one of the national religions of America, the church of Safety. Where we obsess about how we could possible be cut, maimed or injured in any way.
Parents put restrictions on their kids that keep them from experiencing hurt and discomfort and they develop a fear of anything that might be difficult or painful. Kids are in car seats until they are 17. We wash our hands 20x a day, and we close our kids up in the house where it is safe.
But is it really safe in the house? Or are they exposed to something even more dangerous?
You CAN NOT take away this desire for Adventure! It is hard wired into the soul of young men. Boys still look for it in even in their suburban prisons.
They play video games for countless hours and they talk trash and brag and act tough, but they know inside they could never back up their words. So they stay at home and hide. Or worse, they bully helpless children online to build themselves up.
They also look for adventure on the computer by exploring the other unknown, sex. As they explore sexuality online, they develop perverted attitudes about sex and how to treat women by learning about sex from a culture completely obsessed with all things sensual. They never come to understand the true intimacy that God created for us to enjoy.
Young men should be stomping through the woods and exploring God’s wild creation. They should be free to join other young men to overcome impossible odds in sporting endeavors and challenging themselves socially to work on a team, developing their skills and abilities.
Learning character and citizenship happens in the context of community, Learning perversion and self absorbed behaviors happens in seclusion. Our actions become distorted because they are not done in the light and subject to the accountability of the community.
So for you parents out there, stop worshiping at the Church of Safety, give your boy a pocket knife for his birthday, let him go hunting, or play sports or push the boundries.
God gave him this desire for adventure. Give him avenues that are healthy and Godly to fulfill these desires or he will find unhealthy ways to find adventure.
And you Godly fathers, put aside your responsibilities from time to time and lead your son into adventure. You won’t regret it. Remember, Boys with scars become leaders of men.
read more at www.jtaliaferro.com
