New Church Life Jan/Feb 2015 | Page 14

new church life: jan uary/february 2015 men, therefore, need to be taught and shown the true meaning of masculinity, not just external, natural representations of it. Their happiness depends on this, because when women are not happy, neither are men. The Lord wants everyone to be happy, which is why He created us male and female. The endeavor in our time to blur the distinction between men and women, and reduce masculinity and femininity to merely biological categories, or artificial, socially imposed classifications, cannot but result in frustration and sorrow for both sexes. And, in fact, studies have shown that women are less happy today than they were before the years of presumed “progress” to which they have been subjected. (Google “women less happy” to see these reports.) I realize how contrary to the prevailing dogma of the day these ideas about the sexes are. To men, “love of truth” may sound like an unrealistically “intellectual” definition of masculinity. To women, “loving the wisdom of men” may sound like a formula for oppressive patriarchy. But I think both those objections should be allayed by this unusual definition of male intelligence from Conjugial Love 331: “Intelligence is to love his wi fe only.” (WEO) 10