Thankfully, a GUIDE.
A man who wrote a GUIDE and didn't call it a BOOK.
He called it a GUIDE, and that's precisely what it is, a GUIDE.
I read Don Riefstahl's new book, "A Christian Man's Guide to Love and Marriage in the 21st Century" on my way down to Kansas City. I was able to finish reading the entire tome before reaching Missouri because it is a short, succinct guide. As it's title suggests, it's for Christian men and it addresses love and marriage.
To be truthful (which Christians appreciate) it is NOT reading material for any veteran or experienced reader of The Manosphere for the past 2 years. It summarizes some basic information, tenets, philosophies and laws that have been discovered and repeated adinfinitum on The Manosphere. However, it's intended audience is NOT that of those exeprienced Manospherians. It's market is for two distinct set of Christians:
1. Men of all ages who have yet to wake up and unfurl the brainwashing "churchianity" has forced on them
and
2. Young Christian boys who are about to hit puberty and are in for a world of hurt unless somebody gets them this information right quick.
In short, two groups of people who have NEVER heard of the Manosphere or been introduced to its ideas but desperately need them.
The major problem I personally have with the guide is what makes it most marketable - it's for Christians. Ergo, it cites scripture and bases some of its arguments on the word of God. I personally don't believe some of the conclusions (women submit and serve your husbands, etc.) or other bits of advice that come in the book, but it isn't intended for people like me. It's intended for Christian men. Therefore, if they are true believers in the scripture, they will appreciate this tailor-made guide for their religion.
Naturally, anybody who cites scripture is lambasted in the secular community as a sexist, neanderthal who is foolish enough to believe in god (while oddly silent about radical Muslim's treatment of women). However, the biggest push back many Christian men face comes from within their own church which has been more or less hijacked by political correctness, feminism and cultural marxism. This puts many Christian men and boys in a very confusing spot. Do they follow the teachings of Christ and the word of God, or do they kowtow to the screaming Christian women who want abortion, pick and choose passages from the bible that convenience them, divorce frivolously and seem to use Christianity as a mere pharmaceutical to scratch some kind of psychological or social itch they have?
In short, your average secular man whose brain has not been encumbered by religious indoctrination does not need this book. The first few chapters are so elementary and apologetic they actually made me wince. But if you look at it through the lens of a brainwashed Christian boy who's not only been fed all the leftist feminist BS from secular society, but also the emasculating "churchianity" BS from his church you can understand the introductory and kid's glove nature of the book. Therefore, even though I wouldn't recommend it to any of my secular friends, I do recommend this short, brief and succinct book be put in as many hands of your Christian friends as possible.
I would only do so if I know the author has gone to collage, otherwise no.
ReplyDeleteNo Kindle version. Paperback only.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably a great idea. I was in a really bad marriage that somehow dragged on for 12 years before divorce last year. The majority of advice I got from the church was useless and mostly served no other purpose than to frustrate me. I read a lot of books on marriage and most of them were equally useless.
If the author had a Kindle version, I'd buy and review it. It sounds like this one is at least a little bit better than "Love your wife as Christ loved the church", AKA "let her walk all over you and put up with it since she has no accountability."
Thanks for reviewing this. I look forward to checking this out.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who was one of those who had to fight through the feminist churchianity I was inundated with for 40 years, I intend to give better to my son.
I figure I can collect Dalrock's blog entries, but a stand alone book would be nice too.
It is interesting that it both includes a point of view clearly coming from (or appealing to) a churchianity mindset, with that horrifying apologizing section at the beginning, and later gives it a whack with the bit about submission - which more and more fully awake people (let those who have digested the red understand) are realizing is a valid thing. Even psychology is hesitatingly starting to call a spade a spade, and not just a Sub a sub. Look, there's no ignoring the astounding level of white knight brainwashing that goes on. It is arguably the biggest social support of the church lady idiocy you listed in the review. Without it, the whole thing falls apart, women will be held accountable to the scripture they claim to follow, men might become men, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria!
ReplyDeleteBut you have to approach it from that point of view. These guys are carefully trained as any feminist to have certain responses to challenges to their own illogic, and dodging past that is the first step to waking them up. Trust me on this: I was one of them. Once something that actually works gets tried, all the craptastic guidelines and advice, however earnestly given, comes into question. No, this sort of guide isn't useful to anyone who is any distance down the road to truth. It's just to jostle some guys to the starting line.