You probably saw that “GQ,” a magazine that purports to help men become all they can be, put the Bible on a list of 21 classic books “you don’t have to read” — describing it as “repetitive, self-contradictory, sententious, foolish.”
This makes no sense. Who would be so foolish to say such a moronic thing about the best-selling and most translated book in human history? Who would trash the book that formed the mindsets of the writers of the Constitution, the founders of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, and the creatives behind the Renaissance?
More personally, it was a referendum on me as a man — the “sententious” guy who has read the Bible every day for 35 years.
This book changes me from the inside out every time I do, making me better and less selfish. The “GQ” statement was like an attack on my best friend, who gives me direction, life-saving advice and strength to do good. The Bible has enriched every relationship I have, and before my own eyes has set hundreds of thousands of men free from the path of broken male culture and into a life centered on others.
I would like for a moment to place the editors of “GQ” next to just a few figures in history who would fall into the category of “foolish” in their estimation for loving the Bible and reading it to learn how to live out their purpose. That list of fools would include Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, William Wilberforce (who ended slavery in the British Empire), Dr. Frances Collins (head of the human genome project), and 2.3 billion others alive right now whose confession of faith is rooted in, animated by, and made alive by the Bible.
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Lift these fools off the planet, take every choice guided by the wisdom of the Bible away for one month, and drain the inspiration they receive from it to bless humanity — and you would give birth to the darkest and most dystopian nightmare that the earth has ever seen.
The words are not just an attack on the Bible; they are an attack on God himself. They are the words of people who don’t like cosmic accountability — the idea that when they die they will be held accountable for their actions. So in a bold move, they try to eliminate the moral source that makes demands of our character and holds us accountable. It is the classic idea of atheism and agnosticism — eliminate God or the Bible, and you can live any way you want.
In other words, you call the shots, you are your own master, you possess all the intellect and wisdom needed to live as a man. I have seen firsthand many men try to live this way; I myself tried to be my own master. I am here to tell you it doesn’t work. It may be fun for a while, but soon you’ll be right back where you started.
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“GQ” or the Bible? If history serves us correctly, critics and burners of this best-seller are gone and the Bible remains. Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler, and others threatened by those who love the Bible were all assigned their place in history, and “GQ” will be, too. These men were arrogant enough to believe they could shape communities and countries around the thoughts of man — and their arrogance begat only suffering.
We are in a war for the mind, and I can say this with absolute confidence — no movements that benefited humanity on the scale that the Bible has will ever be birthed out of “GQ.” Usually what happens is that critics of the Bible increase its readership and it continues to do what it has always done — help people find truth and meaning for their everyday lives.
The good news? This article is actually a massive win for the Bible. More people are opening its pages to see exactly what it says, and when they do they will find the truth that will set them free.
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You know what threatens people by what they attack and criticize. Clearly faith and our inevitable accountability to God threaten the editors at “GQ.” Amazing how a few arrogant sentences can kill the credibility of an entire publication and marginalize so many.
Unfortunately for “GQ,” this man will return to his Bible tomorrow and the next day — not to become sententious (moralistic) but to become a more intentional man, one who wants to be dangerous with goodness in the world. More specifically, to become like the man who said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Or is that foolish?
Kenny Luck, based in California, is the CEO of Every Man Ministries and host of “The Every Man Show.” His latest book, “Dangerous Good: The Coming Revolution of Men Who Care,” will be released this summer.
(photo credit, header image: “GQ” magazine, CC BY-SA 4.0, by Teddymstudio)
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