I
gazed in horror at the many Tonka trucks laying beside the pathway, in various
stages of destruction. Camp had a huge collection of the large dump truck type
Tonkas for younger children to play with in the sand volleyball courts. The
boys built roads, learned skills in excavation, and perhaps demolition, too. They
built mountains, and valleys, and rivers. I imagine there was even some
valuable lessons on teamwork that evolved while playing with the Tonka trucks
in the sand.
But
this one week the idea was hatched to use the Tonka trucks to sit on and ride
down the asphalt pathway. The path had a perfect incline, as well as a nice
banked curve to maneuver. It was a
goldmine for the boys’ creative use of the Tonka trucks. Only problem was,
Tonka trucks were never designed for riding upon downhill by junior age boys.
One by one, slowly but surely, the trucks became twisted, crushed, and useless.
They were not repairable, and ended up in the dumpster.
Role
confusion, in our modern world, is leading many into twisted and distorted
lives. Many young people are headed for helpless, even useless lives. Some may
even be headed for destruction, life’s dumpster. S. Truett Cathy, founder of
Chick-fil-A, made the statement, “It is better to raise boys and girls, than it
is to mend men and women.” Unfortunately, many children in our culture are
receiving such mixed signals, that the distortion in their lives will never by
mended.
Mom
and Dads, take note. You have the opportunity to teach and model truth for your
kids that will mold them for life. You need to know God personally and model a
passion to live in a trust relationship with Jesus. You need to know and believe
the God-ordained roles for men and women, for husbands and wives. Boys need to
learn from their Dads what it means to be a man-- not chauvinistically, but in
very real and clear distinctions. Dads can model what it means to become a
loving, caring, serving leader in the home and community. Moms can teach and model
true Biblical female roles. They can model what it will look like for their
daughter to one day trust the authority and leadership of their husband.
In
the last fifty plus years there has been an ever escalating push by society to
minimize the distinctions between male and female. Egalitarianism and feminism
have blurred and eliminated God’s original and beautiful roles. “Girl power” is
the rising tide of our generation. And sadly, the cultural thrust has been adopted
by most of the church. The Scriptures are being re-interpreted, jettisoning the
teachings on leadership and submission, substituting, instead, egalitarian
roles, under the guise of mutual submission. Like stiff-necked people we massage the
Scriptures to our own liking, making it say what we want it to say. We allow
the world to squeeze us into its mold, to accept a new normal. The catalyst for
change, here, is the desire for acceptance and praise from men, rather than
God.
And
we wonder why we have children coming into adulthood, utterly confused about
their sexual identity. We have young people in the church forsaking marriage
because of the disaster they see in their families and in the church. We have
an epidemic of single-mother families, dads excusing themselves from all
responsibility. And families that are intact are totally confused – mom wears
the pants and dad hides out in the garage or in his man cave.
The
roles of man and woman may be one of the most important issues of our time for
the church, more important than many of the theological issues that we love to
debate. In fact, a person’s view on
gender roles probably reveals a lot about their theology, their views about
God, and how the Bible should be interpreted.
Tonka
trucks belong in the sand. Riding toys belong on the pathway. They are not
mutually interchangeable, otherwise brokenness and destruction are inevitable.
