The Devil's Carrots

(Image courtesy of pintrest.com.)

“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18).

When God created man, he created him under the umbrella of two broad categories: dominion and companionship. Most of a man’s responsibilities fall under these two categories and, many times, they overlap. For instance, a man’s work falls under both categories: he has domain over a certain set of tasks to accomplish and at the same time is able to provide for the needs of his companions through accomplishing those tasks.

While these groupings may not always be so neatly categorized, it is clear from Scripture and from natural observation that God has created man with certain aptitudes and responsibilities and that these differ from man’s counterpart, the woman.

However, the constant threat and ever-present danger is that these good, natural aptitudes will be undermined through falsehood. Particularly, the Enemy employs two schemes to destroy young men today. Especially vulnerable to these lies is the adolescent; multitudes of young men are desperately seeking how to accomplish the innate tasks they feel (though probably cannot voice) deep within them.

First of all, video games promise a false dominion. Speaking from experience, I know this danger. Video games often allow the user to exercise virtual dominion in building a virtual character, achieving virtual objectives, completing virtual tasks – all the while accomplishing virtually nothing.

On a few different occasions, I spent hours (sometimes eight hours straight) playing a certain video game, fantasizing over the dominion I was led to believe I was exercising. With every objective accomplished, I felt more and more successful; but when the time came for me to finally shut it down to re-enter the real world, the painful ache in my gut – the “I-can’t-believe-I-just-wasted-that-much-time-doing-nothing” – came on strong. I had spent an entire day accomplishing absolutely nothing that mattered. The Kingdom wasn’t advanced through my fantasy, virtual accomplishments. I had been duped to believe that my fantasy world was fulfilling the dominion that my Creator had made me for. Sure, I felt like I had accomplished something, but in truth I had not.

Secondly, pornography promises a false relationship. There is an epidemic among our young men and young women today. There are some who estimate that one out of every three adolescent girls today is performing heinous and shameless sex acts on the whorish website “Only Fans.” At the same time, pornography addiction among young men is at an all-time high. Even young men who are in their physical prime are experiencing erectile dysfunction in increasing number. This is due to one thing: because of pornography addiction, young men need more and more (worse and worse, more violent and more violent) erotica to reach arousal. Their consciences have been seared, and they are literally unable to engage in healthy, normal, and productive sexual relationships with their wives because their minds are so full of evil.

Obviously, this is a problem. Adam needed a companion suitable for him. God created Eve to meet that need, and she does meet it wonderfully. Historically, young men would marry a young woman at an early age (late teens, perhaps) and begin creating a family and bonding in their marriages. Today, due to the internet and the computer in your pocket, pornography promises to satisfy this natural longing for connection and companionship; but it is a lie.

So, how can we recapture the vision that God has for our young men, specifically? How can we help our young men regain their sense of dignity, self-worth, and leadership? It starts with uprooting the falsehoods, the carrots that the devil hangs in front of them, tempting them away from real dominion and real companionship into counterfeits.

Practically, during boyhood, parents ought to limit video games and even mindless play as a boy develops into a man. Give them a job to do, a task to accomplish – in the real world, where their accomplishments actually help put food on the table or support a local need. In our materialistic society today, we play too much, even into adulthood. Conversely, it is good for a man to work, to exercise dominion over his world. Work provides a sense of purpose and is very healthy for a young man to learn; it gives him not the only the feeling of success, but it actually produces success.

Additionally, be very careful what you allow into the hands of your son. Literally, don’t give him a computer to have on his person 24/7. Our grandparents lived their entire young adult years without needing such a device; your son will not die without one!

I once counseled a young man who was continually sinning with pornography. I asked him if I could see his smartphone. In his desperation, he allowed me to view his app screen. I uninstalled SnapChat, YouTube, Facebook, and several other apps that seemed relatively harmless, but provided access to pornographic temptation nonetheless. I cited, “Jesus said that ‘if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better to lose an eye than for your whole body to be destroyed in hell.’ You don’t need social media to live, so get rid of all easy sources of temptation.” The young man received my counsel and took it to heart.

What our world needs is not more couch potatoes or virtual reality nerds. We need an ever increasing number of men to exercise dominion by building great businesses, schools, hospitals, political movements, churches, and farms in the name of Christ. We need more men to build real relationships based on commitment, so that future generations will continue to exist and our daughters will be protected and provided for in the confines of marriage. We need real men, not virtual leeches, and this requires real and sometimes drastic change for many of us.

If repentance is needed, then start there. God’s grace will always provide what is needed to move forward. Godspeed!