Look, there’s nothing wrong with discussing how to raise young men into compassionate, connected, competent, and confident adults. Nothing.
That said, many of us doing the raising believe now that things like repressing emotions, enforcing arbitrary gender stereotypes, or just encouraging boys in general to do things they don’t like or enjoy in the pursuit of being “manly” isn’t the way for anyone to be a happy and well-adjusted young person.
Pastor Clint Pressley seems to have different ideas, like saying you can’t be a man unless you eat meat, can do pushups, somehow learn how to sleep less, and prefer dogs over cats.
Pretty weird.
Here’s his complete list:
Image Credit: @PastorClint
And here are 15 of the best responses to it on Twitter.
15. I mean there are plenty of reasons to dislike Crocs but they’re not inherently un-manly. Whatever that means.
https://twitter.com/tcburkejr/status/1167127776064937984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1167127776064937984&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwokesloth.com%2Fchristian-manhood-checklist-twitter-reactions%2Fjenniferstill%2F
14. I can’t speak for Jesus but I don’t think he authorized this list.
If I don't use too much hair product and learn how to drive and use a chainsaw, will that make me a manly man, just like Jesus was?
— Gerry Lynch (@gerrylynch) August 29, 2019
13. Best to not take any chances, I guess.
Must it be 4 biographies, specifically? Will men grow vaginas if they only read 3?
— sjw fuckface (@commieteamsix) August 29, 2019
12. Reading material is thin, I suppose.
Oh cool I think I saw this while I was shitting at a Jimmy Johns.
— Andrew O. (@TheOrvedahl) August 29, 2019
11. Don’t be like Ron Swanson.
Half of these are things Ron Swanson would say at the start of an episode before Leslie Knope convinced him to change his mind. The other half are things Ron Swanson would never say because they're concepts that are a weak man's idea of what a strong man is.
— Brock Wilbur (@brockwilbur) August 29, 2019
10. Sadly, I’m pretty sure it was not meant to be a joke.
https://twitter.com/GigglesNschitt/status/1167120243140915200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1167120243140915200&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwokesloth.com%2Fchristian-manhood-checklist-twitter-reactions%2Fjenniferstill%2F
9. What is wrong with vegetables, exactly?
Rejecting Satan's plan for you to eat vegetables. I think you really got him on the ropes now, fellows!
— Meghann (@janejellyroll) August 29, 2019
8. I mean we’re all just trying our best, right?
I'm trying my best – however, sometimes I do find myself wearing Crocs, and weeping as I masturbate over a Greg's Vegan sausage roll.
Oh, and tea over coffee you neanderthal.— Richard Jerrett (@r_jerrett_uk) August 29, 2019
7. Never has there been a more appropriate GIF.
— St. Simeon the Holy Fool and 1.5M others (@SimeonTheFool) August 29, 2019
6. Except for maybe this one.
— John Piper’s Seashell Collection (@YaHyaChouhada) August 29, 2019
5. I don’t know what this means but it makes me laugh.
https://twitter.com/SheHimHolden/status/1167184515665727488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1167184515665727488&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwokesloth.com%2Fchristian-manhood-checklist-twitter-reactions%2Fjenniferstill%2F
4. I mean he looks like a man to me.
https://twitter.com/HunterCrowder6/status/1167205420517285890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1167205420517285890&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwokesloth.com%2Fchristian-manhood-checklist-twitter-reactions%2Fjenniferstill%2F
3. I definitely agree with the talking to Jesus part.
Step # 100: if you have to check items off a list to feel “manly,” you are insecure in your masculinity and should talk to Jesus about that.
Ask Him if you’ve been internalizing worldly cultural beliefs about your gender rather than resting secure in the way He made you.
— Josiah Hawthorne (@JosiahHawthorne) August 29, 2019
2. Fra-gee-lay.
— Sarah Anne TheHome6 on bluey place (@The_Home_Six) August 29, 2019
1. Only one because the rest of us don’t have time for more.
— MegMegMcGee (@MegMegMcGee) August 29, 2019
Here’s hoping my 2 young sons grow up knowing they can eat what they want, cry when they feel like it, and use as much hair gel as they’d like (based on my baby’s hair currently, he’s going to need it).
What do you think about this list? There are obviously good things on it, but as a whole, would you share it with your sons?
Let us know below!