Posted on by Abe Austin

A Pivotal Moment- An Opportunity

Two Different Reactions)

In my last post I mentioned diverging movements that we are seeing in America today. Over the last few years, the white, conservative male has decided to respond to the unfair treatment that he has received. For some that has meant going back to church and looking for a higher purpose, while for others it has meant abandoning society and treating their antagonists with deep resentment.

Many of those who turn to anger and resentment will do so because they are reacting to personal hurt. Perhaps they obediently submitted to the anti-masculine/anti-white messages they received, publicly emasculating themselves until they could bear it no longer, then turned hateful for having been led to shame themselves. But the truth is, they “simped” because they thought it would serve their own interests, and now their turn to harshness and cruelty is still in pursuit of their own interests. They are still obsessed with the self, and just playing the game that they think will benefit them best.

The better approach is to take oneself out of the game entirely. Turning to God and traditional religion, if done sincerely, is an act of faithful surrender. It is saying, “I don’t care what the rest of the world says anymore, or what benefit or harm society has in store for me, my focus will remain on something Higher.” In both reactions we have men recognizing that the current state of affairs just isn’t going to cut it, and renouncing the way things used to be, but one actually breaks free of the social merry-go-round while the other goes around for another turn.

Which of these sides will outweigh the other? Only time will tell.

Hanging in the Balance)

The future is unknown because the future is still subject to influence. I believe that there are many men currently hanging in the balance who could ultimately go either way. In this there is the danger of souls being pulled deeper into the abyss, but there is also the potential of souls landing at safe harbors.

What we need now, is lighthouses. We need many beacons of light. We need good examples and good teachers, people who can encourage the undecided young man in the right way to go and welcome him with open arms. We have the opportunity in this pivotal moment to really make a change for good, to make the world better than it might have been otherwise.

I am personally considering ways that I can help those who are looking for answers in this pivotal moment and invite you to do the same. Let us see this as our God-given opportunity to do something with our lives that really made a difference.

Posted on by Abe Austin

A Pivotal Moment- Possible Outcomes

Back and Forth)

I have discussed how some aspects of America’s historical treatment of women and the black population were immoral, how many of those issues were addressed, and how the pendulum kept swinging so that now there is much that is immoral in the treatment of men and white people also.

Now, there is a movement pushing against that most recent unfair treatment, but does this actually represent change and progress? If all we’re doing is changing which side has the stick to beat the other with, that would only be a continuation of the same.

As I mentioned before, this sort of tribalism and zero-sum game and cyclical oppression all seem to stem from our loss of spiritual identity, and shared purpose, and sense of one another as children of God. Unless we see a positive change at this deeper level, then I cannot be optimistic about any shift happening on the surface. So long as we remain godless, each shift is more likely to be an escalation of offense, not a return to balance.

What is Happening Now)

So, do we see any of those deeper shifts that would represent a return to godly living? Unsurprisingly, the answer is mixed. Let us look at the dynamic of men versus women specifically. On the one hand, there does seem to be a real movement of men back towards religion. A recent Axios article noted that “Gen Z men are more likely to attend weekly religious services than millennials and even some younger Gen X-ers.” It also noted that while historically there have been more women in church than men, that the female decline in church attendance continues. Thus, if the latest trajectories persist, eventually there will be more men in church than women.

Of course, this trend must be observed longer to see if it is going to actually have any lasting results. The numbers are still developing. Speaking anecdotally, though, I have also perceived a shift of men around me moving back to God and religion. Even I, who always called myself religious, had a shift seven years ago that has made my relationship with God far more real.

But that’s just one side of what’s happening. At the same time, we are seeing movements like MGTOW, which is built on resentment and rejection of women and society as a whole. We also see figures like Andrew Tate growing in popularity, who encourage men to treat women as products. And just like I have seen some men around me moving towards God, I have also seen other men moving towards anger.

For an entire generation, men have been told that they are irredeemable monsters. This is a gross lie, but my great fear is that this oft-repeated incantation will summon forth a generation of men filled with cruel indifference, men who truly are beasts, and thus become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Hope and Fear)

It is an unclear picture, with many parts still moving, and difficulty in telling how things will land. There is reason for hope and there is reason for fear. A time of potential, but also of danger.

I admit that my assumptions are pessimistic. I see the world following a downward trend overall. Also, I am a Christian, and I believe the Biblical prophecies that the world will be a hellish place before the return of Christ. I suspect we are in the last age before that return, so even if things do get better in the short term, I suspect that overall it is worse times that lay ahead.

Still, I could be wrong. There is reason for hope. Even if this shift turned out to be negative overall, there could still be a treasure of good within its midst. I will finish this series tomorrow by exploring that more hopeful view.

Posted on by Abe Austin

A Pivotal Moment- The Pendulum Swings Back

In the last post we discussed the deep spiritual sickness that society has progressed in for over a century. We have pushed God further and further from our hearts and never found a core purpose to take His place. We have become technologically and financially superior, but depressed and bitter at the same time.

We also discussed how we never found a unifying force either. Now that we no longer see one another as brothers and sisters, fellow children of God, our fractures have grown deep, dividing us into tribes that compete rather than cooperate.

In the last sixty years there have been dramatic shifts in society, and we have changed who is “winning” at the game, and we call that progress. But that is an extremely shallow and shortsighted perspective. There is no progress in taking turns oppressing one another. There will only be progress when we stop playing the game entirely.

Men vs Women, White vs Black)

Two of the greatest divides in our culture today are on the basis of sex and on the basis of race. Feminism looks to disable the patriarchy, and racial justice seeks to end differences of outcome. In both cases, I believe there were valid concerns at the origins of their movements, but they have also each been corrupted by overreach, tribalism, and faulty assumptions. Let’s look at each in turn.

With feminism, all one needs to do is watch classic movies from the ’40s and ’50s to see that there was a genuine tone of misogyny common to the time, and that’s never alright. Even worse, there was little recourse for victims of abuse, and women have always been more at risk for that then men. These were genuine concerns, and any society seeking to improve itself would need to address them.

At the same time, though, man-hating has been an angle of feminism basically from the very beginning. Also, the movement goes far too far in assuming that every cultural tradition, difference in sex responsibilities, and difference in outcome is necessarily a problem. It lacks the nuance to see that some differences were mutually agreed upon because they were beneficial to both men and women and still would be today.

With racial justice, again there were clearly many legitimate concerns at its roots. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, Jim Crow laws and segregation prevented all races from enjoying the same freedoms. The Civil Rights movement was necessary to provide systemic equality to every person.

As the years have gone by, however, there has emerged a movement for reverse oppression instead. DEI initiatives have brought back the very same racial discrimination practices that the Civil Rights movement sought to end! There also has been an increasing trend of casual racist sentiment, with mainstream media unabashedly disparaging an entire category of people on the color of their skin. It wasn’t right when that was permitted towards our black brothers and sisters, and it isn’t right when it is permitted towards our white brothers and sisters either.

Lost Progress)

In summary, things have gone from correcting genuine problems to hurting one another in a zero-sum game. What at first looked like barriers being broken and all becoming one, transformed into barriers being re-established, and one group elevated at the expense of the other. Many have noted that gender and racial relations seemed to be improving for a time, up until the turn of the millennium, but that the last two decades has seen a reversal into increasing racism and sexism.

But then, over the last two years, it has appeared as though things are starting to shift again. The revolution seems to be facing a counter-revolution. White men, previously submissive to the public agenda, now are pushing back against it. It took about a generation for this to happen, as challenging the narrative seemed like social suicide, but people will not forever tolerate playing a game that has unfair rules. Thus, the rules are changing.

But is it for the better? We’ll examine that in depth tomorrow.

Posted on by Abe Austin

A Pivotal Moment- The Death of God

Mankind Ascending)

In the late 19th century, Nietzsche boldly proclaimed the Death of God. The world had passed through its Enlightenment Era, scientific discoveries were breaking barrier after barrier, and industrialization would see a dramatic increase in the average wealth of the everyday citizen. With things becoming so self-manageable and positive, what need was there for God?

Even as he made this observation, Nietzsche’s words also showed extreme caution. He foresaw existential quagmires as people gave up their traditional morals and purpose. Would we be able to find a new source for motivation and decency, or would we be blessed all the way into a state of despondency and depravity?

As it turned out, humanity’s ascension was not without serious setback. There was a crippling depression, terrible world wars, organized crime waves, and continued racism. Did these serious problems dispel Nietzsche’s vision of a godless society? Actually, no. If anything, they seem to have hardened that vision in our cultural mind. So now mankind was ascendant, but also cynical, a most dangerous combination. As a whole, we still believed that we didn’t need God, but also a growing resentment against Him, one another, and all of creation.

Competition and Nihilism)

Though Nietzsche might have hoped that we would find some new unifying principle, we never did, and so shifted into a zero-sum game where every side seems to feel that they can advance only at the loss of the others. Significant portions of society have bought into the idea that everything is a struggle for power. This mindset pits poor against rich, women against men, and black against white.

If we are not all children of God, members of a universal family, then why not look out for our own interests and play for our own advantage? From this perspective, we have only to look at whoever was doing best at the turn of the century, and clearly those people were “winning,” so now everyone else needs to compete against them and grow by taking away from them.

So obsessed have we become by this game, that we have ignored the fact that no one even cares about the prize anymore. They want to win just so that they can say that they are winning, but they’re the most miserable “winners” the world has ever known. Not only have we not found a new unifying principle outside of God, but we also haven’t found a purpose outside of Him either. We say that all we want now is career, fame, and fun, but do those goals really sustain us?

Look at the end result of these worldly pursuits: incredible rates of depression, suicide, singleness, childlessness, abortion, obesity, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, media consumption, complacency, declining education, indifference, dearth of creativity, crime, and mass murder to name a few. So now we’re striving against each other to get at the top of the heap, but one has to stop and ask, what is even the point?!

A Current-Day Analysis)

It is a most disturbing picture. Nietzsche correctly saw that humanity was entering a new era, but it did not turn out to be the utopia that so many hoped it would be. The dream has become a nightmare. Suddenly, old and “quaint” fables like the Tower of Babel and Icarus flying too close to the sun become incredibly relevant. We have ascended on high, but was to our ruin and not our salvation?

As I said in my previous post, the world seems to be shifting again, but I am undecided as to whether it is to something better or worse. Now that we have this deeper analysis of society in front of mind, we are ready to look at some of those changes in the proper context and can discuss what they do or don’t say about this deep underlying sickness.

Posted on by Abe Austin

A Pivotal Moment- Introduction

Shifting Tides)

It has been my perception that society has been shifting over the past couple years. This observation has inspired a few different posts from me as I have grappled with the larger implications and pitfalls that such a moment entail. My tone has been cautious, because even though I do see some positive changes, transitory periods are as full of danger as they are potential.

People seem more and more willing to have conversations now that they weren’t earlier, more and more willing to call out long-standing problems that used to be unspeakable. That is a prerequisite for needed improvements to be made, but it isn’t a guarantee that we will actually end in the right place. It is entirely possible that we will shove off from one dangerous shoal, only to run aground on another. Perhaps one that is even worse.

I don’t normally speak very directly about current affairs, preferring to let my messages be universally applicable. In this case I will be a little more specific, though hopefully my message will be able to stand separate from the details of this particular moment in time, being useful for all of the future pivotal moments that society will inevitably find itself in.

Examples of Change)

Of course, when I speak of shifting trends, the one that probably comes foremost to mind is the result of the 2024 US Presidential elections. Many have interpreted that election (and other similar ones around the globe) as an indictment of extreme progressivism, a sign that transgenderism and DEI would no longer be winning agendas for the left. There wasn’t even the predicted wave of retaliation votes for the overturning of Roe v Wade, suggesting that America was at the very least apathetic on the matter of so-called Abortion Rights, if not outright opposed.

Clearly something has changed, but so long as we only concern ourselves with these surface movements, we are missing out on the far more significant tectonic shifts happening deep underground. The changes in the political climate are but a sign of deeper ideological transformations, ones having to do with our spirituality and personal identity.

Before continuing further, I need to take some time to try and define these core issues and how they first came into being. Something took root in society decades ago, and it metastasized into various malignant forms, including the modern forms of abortion, atheism, depression, feminism, racism, and sexual and gender identity. What is it that lays at the core of all these? And what does the fact that some of these outer tumors are declining say about how things are developing down at that core?

These are tough questions, ones that I am admittedly still figuring out, but I will try to take a stab at them with my next post. After that, I will attempt to forecast possible futures that we might be moving towards, and whether we should feel enthusiastic or concerned.