An honest witness does not deceive but a false witness pours out lies. (Proverbs 14:5)
I really need about six of me, all with minds that can sync. There’s just not enough time in a day to do all I wish I could do. Recently, I’ve been thinking about research about what members of certain groups really think about various issues. This morning, a friend posted a meme about letting boys play with toy kitchens or dolls. It asked why we want our sons to cook and clean but won’t let them play with toy kitchens, and why we want our boys to understand girls’ bodies and the power of “no” but won’t let them play with dolls. It ridiculed the notion that letting boys do these things might teach them to be gay.
Today’s passage is about honest and false witnesses. So, let’s take a look. If it is wrong for parents to be worried that boys playing with girls’ toys will cause boys to grow up to be gay, would it not be equally wrong to assume that letting boys play with toy guns will cause them to grow up to be mass shooters and domestic abusers? Are claims like these honest? What do sexless dolls teach a boy about women’s bodies? What does it teach them about the power of “no”? Isn’t that like saying that if we let kids play with toy spaceships, they will grow up to be astrophysicists? Buy a kid the game of Operation or a toy medical bag and he’s guaranteed to grow up a doctor! It seems to me that the key to how kids grow up is more contingent on the way the parents teach them to interact with their toys and with the people in their lives, not on the toys themselves. Rather than buying a little boy a toy stove or broom, I think he should be taken into the kitchen and taught (at an age-appropriate level) how to cook and clean. Toy stoves will never teach that. Rather than relying on sexless baby dolls to teach boys about women’s bodies and the power of “no” why not take him to social situations in which he learns to properly treat women and babies?
It’s curious to me that those who push for boys to be encouraged to play with girls toys because of the influence that playing with the toy will supposedly have on them are often the same ones who claim that violent video games and pornography don’t teach violence and disrespect for women. I find myself wondering to what purpose these people are trying to deceive the rest of us.
Today’s passage is about honest and false witnesses. So, let’s take a look. If it is wrong for parents to be worried that boys playing with girls’ toys will cause boys to grow up to be gay, would it not be equally wrong to assume that letting boys play with toy guns will cause them to grow up to be mass shooters and domestic abusers? Are claims like these honest? What do sexless dolls teach a boy about women’s bodies? What does it teach them about the power of “no”? Isn’t that like saying that if we let kids play with toy spaceships, they will grow up to be astrophysicists? Buy a kid the game of Operation or a toy medical bag and he’s guaranteed to grow up a doctor! It seems to me that the key to how kids grow up is more contingent on the way the parents teach them to interact with their toys and with the people in their lives, not on the toys themselves. Rather than buying a little boy a toy stove or broom, I think he should be taken into the kitchen and taught (at an age-appropriate level) how to cook and clean. Toy stoves will never teach that. Rather than relying on sexless baby dolls to teach boys about women’s bodies and the power of “no” why not take him to social situations in which he learns to properly treat women and babies?
It’s curious to me that those who push for boys to be encouraged to play with girls toys because of the influence that playing with the toy will supposedly have on them are often the same ones who claim that violent video games and pornography don’t teach violence and disrespect for women. I find myself wondering to what purpose these people are trying to deceive the rest of us.
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