Yeah, what he said. The world in which our God placed us is rich with opportunities for redemption in our own lives, and to participate in His redemption of others.
First, I need to note that the Catacomb Resident Blog is not pastoral in nature. It is prophetic and addresses the same meta questions about faith that I do, but from a different angle. We agree enough to echo each other at times, and today I want to take a pastoral approach to what he suggested in the linked blog post, as he requested. He raised the issue, but leaves it to others how they work it out.
I also agree with Jack at Sigma Frame. While I can’t find the specific reference, I am quite certain at one point he said that we all have a little Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, Sigma and even some Omega in us. It’s exceedingly rare when any man in real life is all one thing to the exclusion of every other profile Vox Day delineated in his hierarchy. What matters is that each of those types is an avatar of how the Devil works in men to keep them captive to his false world. None of them is truly Christlike, so it’s not a real “hierarchy” but simply a typology. Don’t aspire to be any one of them, but seek to understand how each of them needs something that only Christ can offer.
And because there is an established typology we can all refer to, it provides the grounds for suggesting ways we can redeem each man from the temptations and flaws inherent in each type. That we are obliged by God to deal with others is not a question anyone should have to ask. You are no doubt better equipped to handle some than others, but to dismiss one or another simply because it’s uncomfortable is not the way we build His Kingdom. You can’t drive them away and demand they change first, before they are fit to be in your company. Would you like to spend time before God without the blood covering of His Son?
Our Lord commanded us to build communities of faith. He didn’t offer too many details, so the Apostles did what came natural to them and founded what amounts to Christian Synagogues. That came with certain basic requirements, but left plenty of room for local variations. The trick is to analyze what they wrote in their letters, and consider what we can find in historical accounts, to identify variables versus general requirements. If Paul says, “Women are to keep silent” in the worship meeting, we can be sure our cultural orientation in evangelical America is not up snuff. If he says men cut their hair and women don’t, and then connects it with eternal things (“because of the angels”), then the only question is: How long is too long for men? How short is too short for women? In the past few years, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s more to this than mere fashion trends. On the other hand, I’m not going to set restrictions on your search for peace with God.
It’s easy to get lost in the details, and as Jesus notes with the Pharisees, forget about the whole point of what Biblical Law was supposed to accomplish: redemption of fallen humans. Not “humanity” as an abstract concept, but specific people with names and DNA. One of our basic principles in the Radix Fidem way is that you really should build a community of faith that is homogeneous; that was the primary result of the Tower of Babel. Don’t go looking for, but build, a community of faith that narrows down some of the basic questions of human identity so that you don’t get lost from the “weightier matters of the law” of God.
However, I contend that this doesn’t mean excluding some of the types identified in the Sexual Hierarchy. Those are not cultural issues; those are fundamental to our human existence. You are not allowed to dismiss the Gamma Mamma’s Boy just because he’s annoying. You are not allowed to lock out the damaged Omega. You are obliged by the Great Commission to do all you can, whatever and however much that is. But it’s utterly stupid to pretend they are equals in the operations of the Body of Christ. They are weaker members in need of healing. The Body needs strong male leadership to be ready for them and to have a plan to handle their flaws.
To the degree possible, you will identify the men in the body whom the Lord has blessed with the talents for handling the flaws of each different type. That’s part of the long-term plan of building a faith community. However, that takes place within the framework of the Covenant boundaries. Those boundaries are what saves your fleshly nature from the Devil’s domination. You don’t keep the Devil out by keeping out his captives; you take those captives from him by asserting holiness into their lives.
Jack’s discussions of male Headship are part of the holiness. Men need to see that in action, but they need to see it done with compassion. One of the most annoying things about the so-called Red Pill community, the Christian branch in particular, is too often the lack of compassion in dealing with each other. There’s this fierce orthodoxy that slaps down those who dare to comment from too far down on the hierarchy, as if the Alphas and Sigmas are the holy priesthood and the rest are groveling pigs needing a bath. Have we forgotten that every man can manifest the traits of other types, if encouraged and given the chance? Whatever happened to building up your brothers?
If you are going to raise the issue of the so-called Hierarchy, then at least obey the Lord in teaching your brother how to get out of Satan’s traps. Don’t act like the Pharisees who bind men with heavy burdens of guilt while refusing to flex so much as one finger to help lift them from the mud. Throw them a lifeline or stop talking about it. Stop preening in public how wonderful you are compared to others, and get busy working out ways to set people free. The foul smell of arrogance and the lack of compassion is entirely un-Christlike. Bear your cross.
Update: Okay folks, stop imagining this as an argument with Vox Day. I’m on record shaking the dust off my feet at his blog, and for the same reason as Jesus said to do that, but it wasn’t over this issue. Vox can present himself any way he likes on his blog, and I can do the same here. What this post is about, and I’m sure it’s the same for Catacomb Resident, is moral persuasion: If you are going to encourage the image of Christian fellowship, I don’t think Vox is a good model of that. That’s not his thing. Don’t absorb his apparent attitude as the right way to handle the full variety of men.
But if you want to build a community to discuss Christian manhood in light of the Red Pill manosphere lore, I’m convinced the Holy Spirit doesn’t promote dismissive spite. You will need to open up the comments for a much wider community, because the Lord died on the Cross for everyone. Be truthful like Jesus, and don’t spare anyone’s feelings when the moment calls for being frank. But you need to prepare for every kind to show up in the comments and be ready to help them see the light of divine revelation, without the dismissive arrogance of someone who has no time for weaker brothers. If you don’t have time for that, consider just what you are trying to do.
At any rate, I aim to bring redemption to everyone who appears to be seeking it genuinely.
