A Reflection From my Odyssey Notes

The disproportionate valuing of aesthetic beauty is one of the key factors of today’s cultural crisis. We are losing men and women to immoral, materialistic worldviews that accentuate the transient elements of man and neglect his immortal, enduring part: his soul. Gentlemen and ladies are few.

Advertisements common to the media blare their message of temporal self-exaltation, and communicate to, and impose on the women of today a superficial standard of what it is to succeed. They are told by cosmetic companies that age is a restraint, not a passage to maturity and greater being (let alone beauty), but a merciless bandit robbing them of their only way of being happy in life. Wrinkles are smoothed and hair is dyed, and those marks of childbearing that once where scars of achievement—great medals of which no one was ashamed—are removed. We are taking so much out of women, and making them fight a trite and futile battle. They will never win; we just set them up for failure and watch in horror, and at times in sick amusement when they keep fighting the fight we have enlisted them in to the end, never giving up. You’ve seen it before, the woman who has turned fifty and has a face of plastic and wardrobe of a teenager. They don’t want to grow up—they can’t grow up, because they are far too terrified of growing up. The task that we give them is one of the forerunning causes of anxiety that I have witnessed. We are destroying our women—our society is nearly a concentration camp for ladies—if you will lend the image of comparison.

This paradigm pumped through the media concerning women and their appearances does not only affect women. The expectations of men are lowered and condoned. It is far easier for a cad to have his way when the woman thinks her self no better. Men are allowed to demand unattainable youth from their wives and girlfriends and judge them solely on their appearances and no one will make a fuss as long as men do not come out and say it. It is a horrid reality that once the woman is confronted with it, her spirit is crushed. (They are offended—their souls are offended because they know it is not supposed to be this way, but only Christians can legitimately provide a reason why.) When the man’s low expectations are not debunked and scorned, women suffer. The men do not suffer reproach for their wrong ideas; to the contrary they are told to think about women in the same way that women are told to think of themselves. The fatal beliefs of man go unrestrained and set the whole soul of the man aflame with sin.

The quality of a woman’s soul cannot be trivialized—we cannot embrace the low expectations of men, nor the inevitable death of the masses that such unattainable goals are bound to bring about. When the Homeric values are embraced and followed to their logical conclusion they result in the devaluing of our equals (in value and in dignity), and they are treated as toys. They become the sole objects of lust, and are severely abused. Looking into the eyes of a woman who has embraced this is terrifying, because she is dead and cannot see her own pressing spiritual need. Porn embraces these low expectations, and since it is so easily accessible and the women participating in it are praised for their lewd exposure, it won’t die. That is, it won’t die unless we make men not want it, and women realize they are not succeeding despite the praise they receive. Helen is the death of our culture.

If only the women knew: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quite spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful” (1 Peter 3:3-5). If only the men knew what beauty is. Maybe we should let them know. I liked the way that Nancy Pearcey put it in How Now Shall We Live?. She states, “Christians are called to redeem cultures, not just individuals.” This is how we are to live: we are to be a pervading influence of integrity and moral excellence.

I am blessed to know women that are being made so very beautiful by God—that are radiant in a way that society does not recognize. But God does, and He makes this world that much more tolerable by building up wonderful pillars of womanhood that remind us that there are women worth loving that will help us in our intimate relationship with God. Women, you are beautiful, and I thank God for you. God reveals Himself through you in such a unique way. To the men: do everything it takes to be a man of integrity—do not forget their souls (even though they may, and all of secular society wants you to as well) don’t lose sight of the true beauty that is imperishable, which cannot be measured by a figure. I bought into it once—DON’T YOU DARE BUY INTO IT! Ask God—bade Him to increase your capacity of perceiving, appreciating, and respecting beauty. There is more beauty in a godly woman than you would suspect, go ask her about her relationship with God.

Huzzah for godly women! Our culture is not lost!