It's a Man's World

Real men affirm reality.  ~ Ilana Mercer 

That was said within the context of a political discussion where a candidate was being pressured to apologize for telling the truth because some found it 'offensive.'  Mercer describes herself as 'paleolibertarian.' And because she supports good character in the marketplace, she isn't affiliated with any political party.  Mercer believes that a man of character would not apologize for calling someone else out on her lie, but rather that real men affirm reality.

What does this have to do with the Runaway Bride?  If I choose to believe that KatieLyn was telling the truth when she said that she wanted to marry a "real man," then it has quite a lot to do with her reactions.  After she ran back home in the middle of the night, she became all sorts of offended.

KatieLyn's 'normal' environment is that of a feminized world. She had lots of sisters, and her only brother was half a generation younger.  She would babysit him, so in some respects, the family dynamics worked out that she was part mother-figure to him. She is employed as a preschool teacher and does not interact with any males over the age of three. Her father is a passive male who lets his wife run the family. KatieLyn herself commented on the culture shock of Joe's "masculine" world.

Personally, I think Joe's world is well balanced in that regard. He interacts with both genders regularly. I can see that by contrast, it would seem very male-oriented to KatieLyn, but that is only because she is so far from being centered herself. I believe that part of the reason God was putting her together with Joe was so that she could grow into a healthier balance that was more couples-oriented. His friends had embraced her as their friends, she was accepted as she was, and many opportunities were at the brink of opening before her.

Her flight home in the middle of the night sent her back into the feminized world. The advice she received next was the typically emotional response of an ultra-female perspective that had very little to do with affirming the reality of what she had done. She had fled from God's plan for her life.

She had fled from God's plan for her life, and in her all-girl world no one would assert the truth of that. Instead, her friends and family were there to cloister her away so that she would never have to confront the fact that she was scared and shrank back from God's will for her life. She allowed the clattering cares of this world to drown out God's soft quiet voice.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 says, "... woe to the one who falls and there is not a second to raise him up!"  KatieLyn had many to help her up; but none of them had heard from the Lord. They were raising her up using worldly ideas that are unfit for godly counsel. She did not have a "second" who was allowed to confront her with the truth or affirm reality to her. She fled back to the safe bondage of her totally female world. She became more like her mother than ever because that is the person she turned to to protect her from the reality.

If she had turned to the Lord instead of her mother, if she had been able to trust the Holy Spirit for comfort instead of friends who'd never met Joe, if her father had said a good word in season, if..., if..,. if...

KatieLyn's dad has all but abdicated his "father" position. His willingness to delegate his man's role of fathering  to her mother has left KatieLyn adrift, making one of the biggest mistakes of her life. She is still totally blind to that because of the triangulation (discussed earlier in this blog) that filtered all her information. KatieLyn got blasted off God's path for her life because there were NO MEN other than Joe sticking up for her; and the women in her life had sown so much doubt about Joe that KatieLyn became confused.

The Lesson
There is not much else to say here except to point out the correlation with the events in the Garden of Eden. Ever notice how in Romans 5:15, 5:16, and 5:17, "one man's offense" is repeated three times? Eve was the one who had the emotional response to the serpent, but it was one man who God held responsible for deaths entry into the world.
KatieLyn was living at home, supposedly under her father's protection. She was in the same house with him, yet she was abandoned by him. She had a father, but no father figure to rely on.