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<\/source><\/picture>There may be no more dangerous situation for a man than to make his life easy. This goes against the spirit of our age, I know. As I spell out in my brand-new book The War on Men<\/em><\/a>, ours is a soft, comfortable, safety-driven context. Think about what we say incessantly to one another in place of the traditional \u201cGoodbye\u201d; now we say, like a mantra, \u201cBe safe!\u201d<\/p>\n It is easy for men to live easy lives today. Instead of a challenging flesh-and-blood existence, you can live what I call a \u201cplastic life.\u201d<\/p>\n Plastic pursuits<\/strong><\/p>\n What is involved in a plastic masculine life, you ask? Here are a few common features of it.<\/p>\n Instead of a man seeking to win a woman\u2019s heart in marriage, he can watch videos of women, women he will never meet. Instead of listening to a woman, showing understanding to a woman, forgiving a woman, and being forgiven by a woman, he can manipulate the women on his screen to do what he wants. When his desires are met, he\u2019s done. No sacrifice. No loving care. Plastic.<\/p>\n Instead of a man joining and serving a church as a born-again believer, men can log on to church. Fire up the live-stream, sit in your easy chair, and try to stay awake for the music and the sermonette. There are no people to greet; there are no cars to get parked; when it\u2019s done, he closes up his laptop and goes away to do whatever he wants. No investment. No real involvement. Plastic.<\/p>\n Instead of a man practicing adulthood, men can fire up video games. You can get lost in imaginary worlds. You don\u2019t have to pay bills, cut grass, deposit checks, wash dishes, clock in for work, troubleshoot house problems, troubleshoot relational problems, build friendships, visit needy people, or volunteer. None of this is real; all of it is plastic.<\/p>\n Men need help today \u2014 much help<\/strong><\/p>\n The list of plastic pursuits can go on. Of course, you can use our modern media for much good. Further, you can enjoy moral recreation and serious fun through such media. But here\u2019s the thing: It is all too easy today for men to opt out of the real world altogether. That is precisely what many men are doing; they\u2019re dropping out, quitting their jobs, staying home, not growing up, and generally living a defeated, self-driven existence.<\/p>\n But we need to think carefully here. A big part of why men are not growing up today is this: men do not perceive that they are welcome in the wider world. Our culture has relentlessly needled men. It has trained boys and young men to think that they are \u201ctoxic.\u201d Their wiring, their instincts, are not good; they are bad. Girls naturally listen well, make friends, and form inclusive communities, goes the argument. Not so with men.<\/p>\n Men, we hear from outlets like the American Psychological Association, are needlessly aggressive, foolishly impulsive, and prone to break things. Men are unkind and unempathetic. Men want to dominate others. So, for all these reasons, men need to be pushed out of the mainstream. It may not be ideal for men to live in the basement, we know, but at least that way men don\u2019t risk anything \u2014 or break anything. Safety rules, we remember.<\/p>\n Weak men who find their strength in God<\/strong><\/p>\n There is a better way than this. It is the Bible\u2019s pathway for masculine maturity. In the biblical mind, men should not be marginalized. Men should not become women; boys should not become girls. No, boys should have their natural aggression and assertiveness and risk-taking-instinct discipled<\/em>.<\/p>\n