Patriarchy

No Good Guys Here: The Line Between Good and Evil Runs Through Every Heart

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Originally I had planned a blog on fostering unity between races based on mutual respect. Instead my attention was shifted to the war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran. 

I suppose that is how Satan works, he creates chaos, destroys our focus, and undermines the good we intend to do?  The hope of peaceful resolution and stability were wiped away by yet another ‘preemptive strike’ Pearl-Harbor-style surprise attack which this time has finally killed the elderly Shiite cleric.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with several members of his family, including his daughter and granddaughter, were killed in this violent opening assault. President Trump and administration officials—along with many other Americans—celebrate this as a big triumph. They don’t seem to understand that martyrdom plays right into the narrative of the Islamic Republic. What better way to prove that the US is led by a totally violent and lawless regime than to kill an 86-year-old man who said this in a speech before his death:

My body holds little value, my life bears no significance. Even if they kill me, do not count it as our loss as long as you remain steadfast on the principles of Imam Hussain (AS). We are winning this war as long as we do not bow before dictators, before power and greed, as long as we uphold the ideals of Imam Hussain.

And if immortalizing Ali Khamenei was not enough, for good measure the US struck a girl’s school in their initial salvo.  Images of bloodied backpacks and those awful stories of scattered limbs of children—175 innocent lives in just one strike—are justified as “collateral damage” (or just denied) here.  But this will only serve as a rallying call similar to “never forget” after 9/11 (when Sunnis from Saudi Arabia attacked us) or “remember the Alamo” is in US folklore. And you really can’t get a starker contrast between the hubris of the Zionist regime—along with our own self-indulgent child raping Epstein-class—and a man who offered himself as a symbol of values bigger than his own life.

Iran has long had the technical capability to make a nuclear weapon. But Ali Khamenei had upheld the fatwa against the development calling it un-Islamic. The “imminent threat” claims are really no different from the false WMD excuse to invade Iraq in 2003. Iran posed no threat to the US even if nuclear armed.  They lack a delivery vehicle to even hit Europe—let alone strike a city in the US. But what is abundantly clear is that Iran does strongly oppose the ethnic cleansing of West Bank and the Gaza genocide—and is the one regime Israel could not buy off or intimidate into silence and inaction.

Precious Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani with her grandfather.

Iran’s religious leaders have appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as their new Supreme Leader. This is the son of the late Ali, and a man who also lost his wife Zahra Haddad-Adel, his mother, son, sister, a niece and a nephew in the ‘successful’ opening strike. It isn’t hard to imagine that this makes it all very personal to him. The US/Israel have just removed the very man who prevented the final assembly of a nuclear weapon and Iran replaced him with a man who has every reason to get vengeance. There’s no sense in negotiation to bring a temporary end, like last time, when they know they will just face another attack?

There Are No Good Guys—All Are Bad

I have an Iranian friend, very liberal, hates the Islamic Republic for basically the same reason she hates Donald Trump—she is a “down with the patriarchy” feminist who sees ‘red’ America similar to what she does the regime back home. And I believe her when she claims that tens of thousands of people were killed. She prefers Iran to have a secular government—and couldn’t care less about non-Persian people being slaughtered in Gaza.

MAGA only supports Iran’s feminists—millions of women protested Trump.

But it is funny when the exact same people who justified the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, even make a joke of it, suddenly are showing solidarity with the far-leftists of another country who rose in defiance of the authorities there. Americans who would 100% be okay with BLM protesters being ran over for standing on public roads and love Trump’s no-mercy stance towards those who do not meet their standards would cheer if the blue haired leftists were gunned down here—and say they got what they deserved for defying the law and law enforcement.

That is why I do not buy into the narrative of it being about “freedom and democracy” for the Iranian people. No, this is about the US and Israel imposing their imperial will using any means possible. The CIA and Mossad have been plotting a counter-revolution for as long as the Islamic Republic has existed and at the cost of many lives. John McCain openly endorsed a terrorist organization in Iran, Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), responsible for thousands of Iranian deaths, and even my leftist Iranian friend was horrified when the late war-monger said this group should rule over her country.

Imagine if a Chinese official gave a shout out to North Korean operatives “walking beside” a violent insurrection in the US?

The Zionists (Likud party terrorists and their Evangeli-con counterparts) do not care the slightest bit about democratic values. If they did they would be totally opposed to the Gulf State dictatorships and monarchies.  They would be speaking passionately about regime change in Saudi Arabia—where women have less rights than they do in Iran.  But they don’t.  So long as a brutal regime favors Zionist regional hegemony it can basically do anything to its own people—which is why I do not share the jubilation of my Iranian friend over the death of the man she views as an oppressor.

If the Islamic Republic falls it will be a “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” where maybe the progressives can wear less clothes or get to have a Pride parade in Tehran some day, while merely opposing genocide by Israel will get them yanked off the street and tortured. It will mean tens of thousands of children die in Gaza unopposed by world governments.

You do not free people by bombing them into oblivion. It’s insane how fast our ruling elites go from “I support the Iranian people” to days later announcing intent to “inflict punishment” when most in Iran choose to respect their own leaders instead of rebel on behalf of Israel and the US.

The reality is that this war is about who will control the region and resources of Iran, not a humanitarian mission. Will or consent of the Iranian people matters very little to our elites who make others die for them. The US and Israel have brutally bombed anyone who opposed their imperialism. The body count from the US wars post-1948 is somewhere between 8.25 to 11.8 million dead. For scale, this is enough killed to fill 77 to 110 of the largest college football stadiums. The vast majority of the war dead—from Korea to Gaza—the primary victims non-combatants and children.

We flattened North Korea, destroyed almost everything, and then wondered why they wouldn’t welcome us as liberators?!?

It is crazy we’re still talking about October 7th as if that excuses the devastation that the IDF inflicted on Gaza. We remember 9/11 (not remembering who called it “good” or that Iran had nothing to do with it) yet we forget the 290 killed by the US Navy in 1988, the dozens of scientists assassinated over the years the 436 confirmed civilian deaths from the Twelve-Day War. In the current US and Israel assault there have been 1,225—1,348 civilians slaughtered so far. For the sake of reference, approximately 828 of the victims of the October 7th attack were civilian and a significant portion of them were likely killed by panicked Israeli security forces.

The US—Israel have attacked 40 countries since 1948. Over the same period Iran has been defending itself from invasion, they’ve endured their key figures being murdered at home or abroad, and have only fired at the Gulf States who are hosting US-bases that aid the current assault on their sovereignty. It is unfathomable distortion that fighting back is being portrayed as aggression and surprise attack called defensive. Yes, Iran helps the axis of resistance, Hamas and Hezbollah, and yet Mossad and the CIA have operated inside Iran leading revolts.

Trump and war propagandists are claiming that Iran has been at war with us since 1979, and yet if you consider that it all started with the CIA removing a secular democratic leader in 1953 (for his daring to believe that Iran’s oil belonged to Iran) can we really say that? We were at war with Iran’s people at the behest of BP, installed the Shah who ran a brutal dictatorship, then we encouraged Iraq to invade after their revolution and even provided chemical weapons to Saddam Hussain to use against them.  Iran, in that war, suffered at least 200,000 combat deaths.  This all a direct result of US policies.

The US—Israeli foreign policy is blood-drenched and at least as evil as any other in the world. An honest person must be able to acknowledge this rather than pretend they are pure as wind-driven snow because they say so.

The Flaw of Good Versus Evil Narratives

People quickly fall into binary thinking. We want two simple categories. We prefer liberals versus conservatives, Republicans or Democrats, good guys and bad guys—and the falsely dichotomous framings of narratives. Why? Well, making it all black and white, ignoring the true color or stripes of reality, this simply requires far less effort and depth of knowledge. Why do good analysis when you can just believe they all need to be destroyed for peace to be possible?

But this is not a Gospel framework. Jesus frequently insulted his ethno-supremacist religious peers by sharing contrary stories about good Samaritans, and commending foreign enemies for having a faith that was beyond that of all Israel—specifically the Canaanite woman and Roman centurion. He also brought up the foreign widow who helped Elijah and the people of Nineveh as well, and all as part of a rebuke of an ethno-supremacist religious crowd that eventually killed him for his never letting them off the hook for their own evil pride and complete lack of repentance.

Fundamental attribution error is common—we make exemptions for ourselves or our own, while then assuming that negative actions of ‘others’ originate from an immutable character flaw only solved by their death.  There is this great quote of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to help explain a different perspective:

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained.

The thought isn’t original to Solzhenitsyn, he’s paraphrasing St Paul:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

(Ephesians 6:12 NIV)

In both cases it is reframing the problem as being spiritual and external to a dividing line within ourselves. Rather than seeing the world as being our absolutely righteous side versus a bunch of irredeemable demons, we should turn first to look inward and consider that beam in our own eyes. If our own heart is full of hate, and we are wanting to see others judged, are we truly being merciful as our Father is merciful? No, and we invite judgment without mercy because of our judgement without mercy:

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

(James 2:12-13 NIV)

So how does this apply to the current war against Iran?

It means we recognize the unmerciful attitudes of those who claim to be forgiven and yet do not forgive others as Christ commanded. It means we see when we’re being encouraged to box others into a corner over the group they belong to (or we put them in) and judge them wholesale—as we exempt ourselves or our own from the same moral standard we have applied.

The US/Israel is led by a haughty spirit, this idea of our moral superiority and right to impose by any means, which is opposite anything we see in Scripture.

Once we stop assuming that everyone who fights us is just evil and cease believing that the US is just a faultless defender of the planet, there will finally be a possibility of a rational conversation that leads to peaceful resolution. No, the Iranian regime isn’t the “good guys” and yet nor are we.

I realize that a blog like this will not sway the religiously indoctrinated excited that the US is holy war against “America’s mortal enemy” that has supposedly waged a “savage, one-sided war against America” (see: Israel) and yet there’s plenty of reason to reflect on the evil we have done.  It’s amazing how fast we forget the coup we orchestrated, the chemical weapons we provided, the airlines shot down, the Gaza genocide and other aggression against the Iranians and population of this region.

The real tragedy lies in the binary thinking that paints entire nations or regimes as irredeemable evil while simultaneously excusing our excesses. As Solzhenitsyn observed, the dividing line of good and evil slices through every human heart, not between borders or ideologies. And Scripture echoes this: our struggle isn’t against flesh and blood, but spiritual forces—and mercy triumphs over merciless judgment.

Until we confront the beam in our own eye, and reject the haughty notion of our exceptionalism, and demand accountability from all powers (our own included), these cycles of vengeance and “collateral” horror will persist, burying more innocents and any hope for genuine peace. The call isn’t to pick a team—it’s to choose humility, mercy, and truth over the easy comfort of demonizing the “other.”

Postscript: Terrorism or a Human Response?

One last thing to reflect on.  The Temple Israel synagogue was attacked by Ayman Mohamed Ghazali and will no doubt be used to promote this idea of Muslims being evil savages.  But then consider that last week his two brothers (Kassim and Ibrahim) along with a niece and nephew (Ali and Fatima) were killed in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley.  The synagogue he ran his vehicle into and opened fire on hosts Friends of the FIDF events and has raised funds for the benefit of the institution that slaughtered his loved ones.  When you understand ‘terrorism’ in that context, of a man wracked with grief and not having hope of justice—is he evil or just a human with the same feelings we would have if a foreign country killed our loved ones?

Victims of IDF terror bombing

What do you really expect them to do?  Roll over and let us do whatever we want with impunity?

Love Is Patriarchal

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As I ponder my responsibilities, bringing a daughter into this world, my patriarchal protection is a given.

The West has been so successful at privileging women that many women do not comprehend the risks of true equal treatment. Feminism is only possible as a part of the patriarchal duty that men feel to protect women. What it amounts to is using male power to enforce standards that are friendly to women, that allow them to walk freely in the street in all manner of dress (or undress), and ignore the reality of what has existed outside the walls of patriarchalism.

Even the idea that sexual assault is a bad thing is an extension of patriarchalism where natural desire must be restrained by structures created by men. A buck in the rut doesn’t ask permission. Hormones direct it’s behavior and only the bigger male can ward off the advances it will make on a doe. It is a hierarchy that is built only on strength. Moral conscience is built off the idea that there’s a big man up there who cares about property rights; who says that a body belongs to someone and is therefore not ours for the taking simply because we desire it.

Yes, eventually this evolved into an idea of everyone owning themselves that we now assume is simply the universal truth. However, nothing in the animal kingdom suggests this is the case. The real world is often a brutal and unforgiving place. When a new group of male lions takes over a pride they will kill the cubs of the previous males. And human morality developed in a very similar manner. This was the default, whether the Psalmist’s fantasy about bashing the heads of an enemy’s infants against rocks or the book of Deuteronomy giving some rules for the treatment of war brides:

When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take some of them prisoner, and if you see a beautiful woman among the captives, desire her, and want to take her as your wife, you are to bring her into your house. She is to shave her head, trim her nails, remove the clothes she was wearing when she was taken prisoner, live in your house, and mourn for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife. Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go where she wants, but you must not sell her or treat her as merchandise, because you have humiliated her.

Deuteronomy 21:10-14

To our modern ears, this is horrendous. There is no asking for permission. And, other than saying to wait a month, the men were free to rape their captive females. But the reality is that this was a radical step in the direction of protecting women from physical violation. One hopes that this delay would’ve ensured a more compassionate and gentle approach rather than some blood-soaked orgy during the heat of battle and immediately after her male relatives were slaughtered. As grotesque as this seems, it was better for her to belong to one man (with some rights after he rejects her) than to be passed around as a mere sex object in the manner of a Japanese comfort woman:

CLAVERIA: (Through interpreter) A Japanese soldier got his bayonet and started peeling my father’s skin while saying, tell us the truth – your child is part of the guerrillas with the owners of that empty house.

MCCARTHY: As Claveria pleaded to let her father go, a soldier wrenched her arm. Birdlike, petite, Claveria strokes a badly set bone as she picks up the story of how she followed her mother’s screams up the stairs.

CLAVERIA: (Through interpreter) I saw my mother lying down with her skirt up, and there was a Japanese soldier on top of her. I ran. My two youngest siblings took little sticks and started hitting the soldiers. The Japanese soldiers then snatched away the sticks and bayoneted both of them.

MCCARTHY: They died. Claveria believes her parents were killed when the village was torched. Japanese soldiers hauled away two older sisters to a garrison and took Claveria to an infirmary for her injured arm. She does not recall how long she was there recovering, but she remembers a soldier named Terasaki. One day, he told Claveria she smelled, but she refused to take a bath, saying she had no change of clothes. Ordering her to wash, she says he gave her a uniform to put on.

CLAVERIA: (Through interpreter) I was to be taken to the garrison where my two sisters were. Before we reached the garrison, he raped me. I thought that I was going to die because I was in so much pain.

MCCARTHY: Terasaki would be the first of many Japanese soldiers to sexually assault Claveria, who was not even a teenager at the time. She was 12. She said her sister Meteria had been driven half mad by the trauma she’d experienced at the garrison. Claveria was shocked when she caught sight of her there.

CLAVERIA: (Through interpreter) She was burned with cigarette butts and boiled sweet potatoes. When one soldier after the next raped her, she put up a fight, but my sister was not brave. She refused because she was in so much agony from all the abuse.

MCCARTHY: Claveria believes her other kidnapped sister was moved to a different garrison. She was never seen again. Historians have estimated that at least 200,000 women were forced into sexual servitude during World War II, mostly in areas occupied by Japan, prominently Korea. The women were euphemistically called comfort women, and the organized system of comfort stations to supply soldiers sexual gratification ran from Seoul to Singapore. Writer Evelina Galang has documented women captured in the Philippines.

EVELINA GALANG: And these are women as young as 16 years old – really, some of them 8, 10 years old. In the Philippines, historians estimate that there were probably about a thousand women and girls taken and put into military sex slave camps.

Men can be monsters. Worse than animals. And, in many parts of the world, immodest dress is taken to be a sign she wants it. Morality does not hold back the aggression of the rapist. No, rather it is the role of other men to restrain evil. Women are protected by their fathers, by their husbands, and by institutions that represent these men. Political structures were created by men and are defended by men. Yes, even if women were granted the right to participate. E.g. even if Kamala Harris takes the patriarchal role—she is still acting in a patriarchal manner and will need the strength of men to impose her will.

There will not be a feminist left in Europe if Islamists take over. That is not to bash Islam or say they would kill off all women who did not submit. No, it is to say that feminism cannot exist outside of the Christian West. The notion of individual rights, that people can independently make their own decisions, cannot exist only on paper or it is impotent. It requires men willing to sacrifice themselves to preserve this egalitarian ideal for their wives and children. Self-sacrificial love is not natural nor a priority in every religious patriarchal structure. Feminists cannot exist in Islam because only the respect of patriarchal institutions gives them power.

The alternative to the current patriarchy is not the absence of patriarchy, men (or those who act like men) will always rule, but the real choice is what manner of rule we wish to live under. It really is survival of the fittest outside of the walls of civilization. Chants of “down with the patriarchy” are about as meaningless as shaking your fist at the wind. It misunderstands the world. It assumes that nature will simply obey our voice because we’re angry and believe rights can exist outside of the structures that guaranteed them for us. It is only in the absence of rule by men who care about more than their own sexual gratification that the value of this benevolent form of patriarchy is known.

Empowerment: When One Plus One Can Equal Three

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The pro-choice versus pro-life argument is only one manifestation of a bigger divide in worldviews.  For some it may be as simple as dichotomy between Patriarchalism and Feminism, the latest iteration of the gender wars, or an oppressed versus oppressor narrative, but the truth of the matter is a bit more complicated in that the dividing line is not where the two competing ideological extremes put it.  

Rather than Patriarchalism versus Feminism, there are actually three distinct hierarchies, two that are openly male-led (and are often lumped together) and one that is covertly male-led in that it both minimizes the most unique female strengths and is almost entirely defined by masculine pursuits of power.

The first is what is what is most commonly referred to as Patriarchalism and refers to a male dominated social structure, it is where the stereotype of men that keep women barefoot and pregnant originates, it is what motivates Feminists everywhere.  The second is that of the secular world, the American mainstream, where the focus is career, success is about earning more money, climbing the corporate or political ladder and sacrificing anything that stands in the way of these ambitions.  In these first two hierarchies the leadership role is about imposing our own will through brute force or coercion.  The third, which I will get to later, is vastly different than these two and inverts the power structure.

The Rejected Patriarchalism 

It is no big secret that traditional hierarchy, in the West, has been on the decline since the Protestants pulled out from under the Papal authority and rejected their kings.  There is certainly a case to made against Rome and their abuse of power over the centuries.  But that hasn’t stopped their wayward children from following in their footsteps.  

Like Father, like son, right?  

The misuse of authority did not end or begin with the Pontiff and the Patriarchalism of the most defiant fringes of American Biblical fundamentalism is clear evidence.  You won’t ever tell these men what to do, but they sure like invoking God’s will to make their wife and children submit to them.  The far extreme of this small minority, if they could ever agree on anything, may even resemble the fiction of Handmaid’s Tale if given power.

However, there’s about as much chance of this type of hierarchy gaining prominences as there is of Joseph Smith resurrecting himself from the dead.  This is the strata of internet trolls who post memes and enjoy calling women whores for prudently avoiding men like them.  And, this, incidentally, is what feminists happily use as a stereotype and strawman version of all men on the religious right.  Misogyny is a good term, as these are men threatened by strong women and see their rule as entitlement rather than a respect that is earned.  These men *do* stifle women because it is the only way they can feel strong or significant.

Opposition to abortion isn’t really isn’t about the babies, for the loud mouths of this particular patriarchy, rather it is about the competition and gaining back the social position they think they deserve.  In their cult groups women play the role of enabler, they must smile sweetly as their dear husband speaks of his superior role.  The great irony is that this is the kind of narcissistic man who creates his own mortal enemy, the angry ‘liberated’ woman, because he’s the embodiment of unqualified, irresponsible and just plain bad leadership.  No intelligent woman wants to be his baby making machine.

The problem with this hierarchial structure is that it is all about male dominance without male accountability, it is entirely populated by morally (or otherwise) deficient men and abnormally weak women.  It always spawns rebellion.  It is precisely what has led to the alternative, which has risen up in reaction to abuses, and is the ultimate expression of an American ideal gone off the rails.

The Dominant American/Western Order 

Industrialization has changed the world.  The United States was once envisioned as an agrarian society, of small communities, but the rapid technological advancements of the past two centuries have rewritten the vision.  The American dream of upward mobility and greater economic independence has now inspired generations in the working class.  This ideal of more more more has given birth to our age of consumerism.  But the thing is, this has not lived up to the promise, those who do achieve find their success to be a hollow victory and those who do not will always be chasing the next fad.

Many believe more money and increased independence will make them happier.  It started with men, the bread winner, leaving the home in the wee hours, with lunch pail in hand, working in the factories or mines, but since WW2 it has ‘progressed’ to include women.  I mean, Rosie the Riveter, who started her life as cynical war propaganda tool, has taken root as women have both increase labor supply (driving down wages) and have also provided a generally more compliant workforce for our powerful corporate overlords.  

The sad reality is that the rapid changes have not provided additional security for women.  Women told that their significance can only come from following masculine pursuits are not any more empowered than their grandmothers a couple generations ago.  Indeed, this idea that happiness comes earning more money or that empowerment comes from women filling traditionally male roles is the greatest myth of our time.  

Worse, unlike husbands or children that have a real emotional connection to their wives or mothers, these corporate and government bosses only see women as ‘human resource’ to exploit.  Sure, they might promote this idea and image of the emancipated woman, claim to care about rights, but it’s all a lie to keep women enslaved.  We are made to think fulfillment comes from our next paycheck, but it’s all a ruse.  The working class is benefitting less and less from their long hours, big corporations make record profits at our expense.

It is no big surprise that corporations are offering to pay for abortion and even the travel expenses.  The bottom line is that they can’t make their huge profits without docile and compliant employees.  It is simply much cheaper for them to end a pregnancy than it is for them to pay maternity leave benefits and potentially lose the services of a female employee forever.  It is never actually about her well-being or the future of the nation, it is always about the parasitic self-serving elites and their political or financial interests.

The whole system is structured to downplay the most uniquely feminine contribution to our future and that being childbearing.  Men cannot do this.  Sadly, many women, due to corrupted patriarchy and various narratives designed to subdue her potential (climate change, overpopulation, etc.), have been convinced that their most wonderful asset, the ability to bring new life into the world, is a liability and that they should work for ‘the man’ rather than invest in the only ones who would ever truly love them.  

Abortion is truly a result of female despair and not empowerment.  It is a ‘choice’ that is brought about by insecurity, a fear of being alone raising a child or their own inadequacy, and stifles the real strength of women.  The most insidious thing about this patriarchy is that it is sold as Feminism and freedom, but it is truly as denigrating of female achievement as the widely rejected traditional version of patriarchy.  In this new order women are simply the lower cost, lower maintenance, rented mules to replace the poor immigrant men of a prior generation.

Unfortunately, many will realize too late that they’ve been fooled into giving up their youth to the soulless industrial machine.  Women, in particular, with their narrower reproductive window, will carry regret as their only lasting reward for their academic excellence and being the employee of the month.  No, not at all saying that we should not have a career, or that money is unimportant, it is nice to have financial freedom, but who will care for this current generation as they age?Communities and social structures, like marriage, things that provide stability, have faded.  The patriarchy of corporate boards and government bureaucracies is only truly concerned with expanding their power or profits.  Even if the intent isn’t explicitly to subjugate, this regime run by controlling men and women attempts to monopolize our choices.  To corporate bosses even the competition of a baby is too much for them to handle, that’s why they promote and pay for abortion.

The Faithful/Healthy Patriarchy 

Patriarchy gets a bad name because most people see the first two manifestations and not the ideal.  There are patriarchs just like there are matriarchs, some are very good while others are very bad and, therefore, we must approach the topic with appropriate nuance to sort the better examples from the worse.  

The ideal role of the patriarch is to use their male strength as a means to provide and protect.  He is not a tyrant nor a pushover, he is never in competition with or threatened by a strong woman.  Instead, he lifts everyone around him up, is the model of submission to authority and willing to sacrifice himself fully for the good of others.  He is, like the Centurion commended for his faith, “a man under authority,” and a stark contrast to the abusive Patriarchalism of small men.  This is an authority that comes through actions and example rather than through his physical stature, his feelings of entitlement or bellicose demands.

It is the way of Jesus, who both spoke with an authority not matched by the religious elites of his day and yet was also gentle to those of lower social status.  In saying, “the last will be first, and first will be last,” (Matthew 20:16 NIV) Jesus points to an inverse hierarchial structure—one that is led by humility and repentance, defined love and faithfulness, rather the power to dominate others through brute force or disparaging comments:

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

(Mark 10:42‭-‬45 NIV)

Men who do not lead by the self-sacrificial example of Jesus, who as a man equal to God still fully submitted to the will of the Father, are not worthy of their position and make a mockery of the leadership role.  We live in an era where there are flamboyant displays of gender stereotypes, but none is more ridiculous or absurd than these grown little boys who try to dress themselves up as men and yet have nothing to offer the world besides shit posting on social media.  

Some need the male genitalia dangling from their loud smoke spewing vehicles to try to prove what would otherwise be open to question, they call women whores for being single moms or sexually active (in a way that excludes them) and yet seem to forget for every sexual encounter there is another party involved.  Women certainly do not impregnate themselves.  And most women would not seek to terminate the life inside their womb if they were in a relationship with an emotionally secure and Godly man.

No, the alternative of soft and sanctimonious men is not better. The enablers of the current political establishment, who appease women in a desperate bid to gain sexual access, are just as much an embarrassment to masculinity as their fake tough guy ‘conservative’ counterparts.

Women could be fully actualized as women if men were adequately filling their role.  No, this is not to say that women are incapable of sinning, of being power hungry or evil, but only to say that good men will be like Jesus and even take responsibility for sins that are not their own as a means to bring salvation to the most damaged individuals and lost sheep of this world.  Sure, laws to protect the innocent and vulnerable are important, but they themselves cannot hold back the rising tide of self-centered abusive men and angry reactionary women.

True empowerment is about giving life, not in taking life.  It is about creating, not controlling others.  It is found in the soldier’s sacrifice and also in the woman who bravely and courageously carries her pregnancy to term in an uncertain world.  Salvation came through Mary’s womb and was finished by the life-bearing Cross of Christ. Two plus two can become three when men and women both contribute to the whole, by selfless participation in the transcendent space of loving relationship. It is when two are brought together in spiritual union with the Divine that a new generation can find a good home.