I was reflecting on the book of Genesis. God highlighted his design and intent for men and women. In the beginning God created them male and female which included not just a unique physical design but also unique hormones, brain chemistry, and a soul. When Adam and Eve sinned and a curse was released because of their actions, God pointed out the negative consequences of what they had done.

He told Adam that he would have to put in painful toil and fight thorns and thistles to provide for his family and Eve would have her pain increased in childbearing. God did not say that childbearing was the curse for Eve or that working to provide for his family would be Adam’s share of things gone bad. The difference was that those designed endeavors would now be tempered with pain. It was always God’s primary design for men to work, to provide, and to master the environment. It was always God’s design for women to not only bear children but to raise them with a nurturing temperament. That does not mean that women should never venture out into careers, be the CEO of a giant corporation, be Olympic athletes, or aspire to be president. What is does mean is that there is a masculine soul and a feminine soul and we should be careful how we handle those as we go our ways.

I just want to reflect on the masculine soul today. In the last 60 years or so, elements of our culture have worked hard to erase or, at least, deny those differences. They have pushed hard for same-sex marriages and unisex bathrooms. In essence, they have worked hard to deny God’s design and to change it into something God never intended. To do so will create its own consequences. I believe that the biggest disaster related to this “transforming cultural agenda” is the demise of the masculine soul. Men were made to work, to provide for their families, to protect their families, and to master or dominate their environment. The masculine soul thrives when confronted with hardship and risk and the challenge of overcoming that hardship – a display of heroism if you will. God made man that way. That is why research bears out that a man needs respect and admiration even more than love.

In our current culture, we now have elements that are trying to eradicate all risk, challenge, and hardship from the lives of young men. Participation trophies eliminate the risk of losing and the need to strive harder. Parents allow young adult men to stay at home and not work or face the realities of life in a hard world rather than pushing them out of the nest at eighteen and telling them to get a job or go hungry (almost sounds abusive doesn’t it?). Parents no longer allow schools to discipline their rude and rebellious children so that young men don’t have the face the consequences of their actions and many have declared homework to be too much for children so young men don’t even have the opportunity to struggle and triumph over algebraic fractions.

All of this effort to make life painless, toil-less, and disappointment free has created an entitlement generation in which the masculine soul shrivels and character has no soil in which to develop. The masculine need to struggle and overcome has been taken away except for a few. Because of a male drive to dominate and overcome his environment, when legitimate and heroic challenges are taken away, that drive to dominate will turn elsewhere – bullying, for instance, and sexual domination of women that is more and more frequently expressed in rape. An insecure and controlling arrogance will replace the humble confidence of a man who has learned who he is through challenges, wins, and losses.

When the masculine soul faces hardship and overcomes, self-esteem is born. When the masculine soul learns to master his environment by learning skills that not everyone possesses, self-respect is born. When hours are put into homework, practice, or just hard labor and success comes from those efforts, then a boy begins to feel like a man. God’s intent was that the masculine soul would be shaped by challenges and hardship. He has placed the desire to be heroic in every young man and the cultural element that wants to remove all risk, all competition, and all hardship, and all possibility of failure removes that potential.

I remember reading about a high school and senior career day. On that day, numerous businesses and even Armed Forces representatives spoke to graduating seniors about possible career paths for their future. The Armed Forces representatives were placed at the end of the day and, of course, began to run late. The Army, Navy, Coast Guard,  and Air Force took their time to tell everyone about the opportunities, the travel, the good food, and the educational opportunities the graduates would receive if they enlisted. When his turn came, the Marine rep had only a two minutes to make his presentation. He walked to the podium, looked slowly around the audience and said, “Out of this entire graduating class, probably only four or five of you have what it takes to be a Marine. If you think you are one of those, come to my table after you are dismissed. After dismissal, the crowd at his table was three times larger than any other table.

The Marine rep had appealed to that part of every heart that desires to be exceptional and heroic. That is especially true for young men. We need to give them the opportunities rather than saving them from those opportunities. God designed the masculine soul for those things and we best not tinker with God’s design. If you are raising a boy give him responsibilities, expect him to work hard, let him risk, let him fail, let him win with grace, let him break an arm, let him eat dirt, let him get stung by ants, and let him find his unique design by overcoming challenges. Just some food for thought for those in care of masculine souls.