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Saturday, October 14, 2006
Doug Giles :: Townhall.com Columnist
Raising Girls That Pimps and Thugs Will Hate: Part 3
by Doug Giles
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Dad, do you want to ensure that your girl doesn’t end up broke, bulimic, married to Bobby Brown, or more bellicose than Courtney Love is after she’s run out of crack and booze? You do? Well, good for you.

Having been personally blessed with two beautiful niñas, it’s my duty (duh) to raise these fair lassies to be large and in charge. Which means (in today’s twisted sister culture) that as a father, I’ve got to help them strategically and energetically paddle up the heavy rapids of a stinky creek.

Having been semi-successful with my Xena-like teenage tornadoes (and being the nice guy that I am), I want to accomplish several things with this column . . . my Manifesto for Raising Girls That Pimps and Thugs Will Hate: I want to encourage the dads who are doing their due diligence. I’d also like to inform other fathers who’re groping for some moral rutter. And last on my list, I’d like to thump in the skull the dufus dads who are abnegating their responsibility to protect their girls and to make sure they’re properly prepared for life.

Having covered points one (Teach Them How to Fight) and two (Teach Them How to Shoot Guns) in my last two columns (click my Pix for my archives), herewith are the remaining eight points that’ll help your heiresses eat idiots for lunch.

3. Teach Them How to Sense BS. Princeton Philosophy professor Harry Frankfurt states, “One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullsh*t." Call it non-sense, truth bending, reality styling, Mark Foley-itus, mendacity, Air America or whatever, you do not need to be the coldest beer in the fridge to recognize that lies, hype and spin are now seeing more action than Bill Clinton would at the Hooters in Little Rock. Now granted, most gobbledygook is harmless. However, some BS is disastrous. Case in point: the amorous, nauseous oozings that a Joran Van der Sloot excreted, and that were, unfortunately, bought by Natalie Holloway. Not discerning this Dutch dillweed’s depravity cost Natalie her life.

Speaking of Natalie and bad dates: Girls, if ‘red flags’ start going off in your head, your skin begins to crawl up your arm and your gut revolts against your eyes and ears—then you might want to pay attention to what your body and your intuition are telling you.

Yes, your sixth sense is trying to tell you there is something awry with Mr. Nice Guy. Don’t blow off this in-house salvo; rather, get well acquainted with your internal ticker. It’ll help you see through the veil of crap most bad guys live behind.

4. Teach Them How to Rebel. Dad, having a girl with a well whetted BS detector is not enough. Sometimes, when the twaddle is egregious, you’ve got to teach your little darling to revolt against the purveyors of it. I think the greatest need for rebels with a cause is within the homes of families who have traditional American values. Most families of faith are simply way too nice.

Nice dad, if you’re going to send your daughter to a state run university, then you’ve got to teach your lass to not just sit there in class being a good girl and taking whatever the secular “progressives” shove down her throat. You must teach to her to deftly defy defunct dogmas and not turn a blonde eye to bad ideas.

Yeah, traditional father, teach your girl to feel proud and comfortable with not being a communist, with believing in God, with our nation’s spiritual heritage and with not having her genitals turned into a campus Jiffy Lube.

5. Teach Them How to Be Classy (That’s mostly my wife’s job.) Look, I’m all for girls being Tom-boy rough around the edges. I like an earthy woman. My youngest daughter can burp so loud that it shakes a whole restaurant. It is quite amazing. That said, dad, keep your girls from being as gross as men are allowed to be. Men are supposed to be semi-vile beasts. Not you ladies.

Girls have now been liberated to be just as vulgar as men are. Girls, don’t try to be as base as us. We suck. It’s the feminine difference that keeps us in line. Your grace and mystery keep us in balance. Therefore, be prettier, daintier and more honorable—and we’ll conquer the planet for you. By being elegant and tasteful, you give us a reason to clip our braidable nose hairs, to learn which fork to use at dinner and to stop scratching our polyps when we’re in public. Let your girl know, however, that not being a gross, rowdy and disgusting slut might cause her to not get invited to every keg party. But she shouldn’t sweat it, because her tastefulness will cause her to excel in life and land her a worthy man.

6. Teach Them to Despise Anti-Intellectualism. The Beatles are credited with mainstreaming drugs more quickly than anyone else within the West. I credit Paris Hilton and the rest of her lockstep, anti-intellectual, ogling ilk for making it cool to be a credulous clod. Young girl, listen: Paris can afford to own dumb. Paris is filthy rich and has a lot of lawyers retained. If you follow her moronic lead and stay daft, well . . . all I can say is, “I hope you like eating government cheese and living in a van down by the river.”

Dad, provide your girl with a killer library covering a variety of topics. Start with the easy to read version of the Bible. Then get her everything R.C. Sproul’s written on Theology. After that, line the shelves with biographies of productive world shakers. Then get a good tome that overviews the major philosophers/philosophies. In addition, stack her shelves with world history books and the history of the West. Last but not least, stock the Classics. If you provide these pithy works and encourage your girl to imbibe deeply on them, I guarantee you won’t have to worry about your daughter drinking bong water with Tara Reid while clubbing on South Beach.

7. Teach Them to Be Visionaries. Teach your daughter to dream big and not to settle for personal, national, cultural or ecclesiastical mediocrity. Teach her, by faith, to see what is unseen and to work her disciplined butt off to achieve what she desires versus that which culture or others have prescribed for her.

8. Teach Them How to Party. Teach your girls that if they go out partying, to be aware that lame guys with hackneyed existences have found ways around having to get a life before they try to get your girl. It is called, as you all know, date rape drugs. With the advent of roofies and ecstasy, losers are able to work around a girl’s brain and body (if they can lace your drink) by getting you so smashed that you throw off any inhibitions (or go unconscious) so they can try their ham-fisted moves on you. So, to avoid being French kissed, raped, impregnated, kidnapped or murdered by these slugs:

1. Don’t take a drink from a stranger. Receive your drink only, only, from the bartender; watch him make it, and then have him hand it directly to you.

2. Don’t leave your drink lying around where Goofy can drop a roofie in it.

3. Don’t party with brain-dead buddies. Hang out with friends who keep their wits about them when they’re having a good time, who will not let you leave with three local peons or get ridiculously wasted, who have well-honed BS detectors and who will not let you get behind the wheel of your 330I if you’ve had seven shots of Cabo Wabo.

9. Teach Them the Value of Hard Work. Tell your daughter and show her by example that the harder she works, the luckier she’ll get. Make sure she doesn’t have an entitlement mentality towards you, a sugar daddy, church or our government.

10. Teach Them the Importance of Traditional Convictions. You do not have to be a tongue talkin’, “on fire,” Pentecostal father to teach your little girl the importance of faith in God, how to pray and the value of biblical values. This often ridiculed biblical infrastructure just happens to be a major part of why the west is the best. And dad, don’t pass spiritual training off to your wife. She’s only part of your girl’s spiritual picture.

* Logon to www.ClashRadio.com for Doug’s interview with NYT’s best selling author, Robert Spencer, as they discuss his latest book, The Truth About Muhammad. Also, Giles’ 3-Minute video commentary can be seen throughout the week on NRB TV [Direct TV Channel 378].

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About The Author
Doug Giles’ new book “If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going!" is now available. Ann Coulter says "Doug Giles is a substantive and funny tour de force for traditional values.” Doug’s talk show and video blog can be seen and heard at www.ClashRadio.com.
 
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R.C. Sproul
I was with you until you said R.C. Sproul. Can't you set your sights little higher than that? He is completely derivative.

Joran van der Sloot
You are totally out of line alluding to the fact that Joran had anything to do with the disappearance of Natalee. There is not one shred of evidence againt him - there is not one shred of evidence period. What are you convicting him of - other than being the last person that was seen with her. Yep that is his big crime - nothing more. He truly wishes he never ever laid eyes on this one crazy girl with an even crazier family! But I can assure you other than spending a couple of hours with her and leaving her alone on the beach that is all he did! So back off - innocent until proven guilty!!! And Joran is innocent!

One more thing...the hardest
Here's something more that's needed--one of the hardest for a manly man like Doug. Dads, let your girls see you acting in some of the ways you're telling them to act. Lead by example.

What might that mean? DON'T just indulge your tendency to burp and scratch. Honestly, right-wingers can have good manners too. Remember, your daughters (I have two) start off thinking of you as the coolest, most wonderful thing on the planet. So, CURB that impulse to curse and spit and run off at the mouth about how much you hate and despise whoever it is you hate and despise. You might be cautious about letting them read your columns, at least until they are old enough.

(With Doug that might eliminate 98% of his conversation, but would that be any real loss?)

Actually let the girls see you doing something BESIDES cleaning the guns. Like maybe READING some of those classics you say you think are so important. [Make sure, though, that you read the right classics--the ones that will never make you even think you don't already know it all.]

Let the girls see you DRESSED in something other than the camo I have the impression you wear 24/7 so you'll be ready for deployment. Look classy, at least sometimes. Let them see you dress up and take mom out.

KEEP your disagreements with mom under wraps. You're the sort of guy I'd expect to be bellowing his discontents at mom at the slightest provocation.

GO to church with the girls and don't fall asleep when you get to that part of the Bible about love and forgiveness and all that mushy liberal stuff. If you're giving a sermon, try to lose at least some of that 'left behind' business--having taught Sunday School for a few years in my (admittedly) liberal denomination, I can report that 5-6th grade kids find it unproductively scary, especially if their parents read it aloud to them.

DO NOT freak out when you meet their friends--you know, the ones who are into Goth, for instance. [Unless you've already succeeded in conditioning them to hate anybody who dresses differently from them--and you probably started that in pre-K]

DO NOT declare to the entire universe that you find all music kids listen to or movies they talk about devil-spawned liberal nihilist degeneracy. [See above for my qualifier on this as well.]

You can go ahead and teach them to shoot--but make sure they know that they are learning to kill. If I was into guns myself, I wouldn't have a problem with this, and I know you don't. My younger daughter is disabled and occasionally needs to use crutches (she's one of those parasites you warned your girls about; you know, the ones who benefit from the Americans with Disabilities Act). In any case, she has been dissed and sometimes pushed around by bullies. Amazing, the things you can do with crutches if you know something about self-defense.


So be of good cheer, Doug. You're on your way to raising good kids--in spite of a lot of things you say and do--and in that you're like most dads.


Gestell
C'mon Gestell. Your picture of Giles is one big caricature. I own firearms, go hunting, taught my daughter to shoot, and almost always vote R. I also dress up to go to church, teach Sunday school, wear cammies exactly once a year during deer season, read voraciously and have long discussions with my grown children about what we read. My son is a music professional and the polite and intelligent kids he ran with in high school would doubtless astonish their parents despite the spiked mohawks and black lipstick, just as the compliments i received from other parents about my son's behavior sometimes had me wondering if we were talking about the same teen ager. I am aware that if you are not doing what you are teaching, you are teaching something else. The other day my son remarked he found himself doing something my way "and i didn't even want to". Since he is a father himself, he is seeing the ol' what goes around comes around. Perhaps Giles doesn't need your advice any more than i do. Maybe there are right wingers who do. I doubt you'd find many of them reading these posts.

Entertainment
About the "DO NOT declare to the entire universe that you find all music kids listen to or movies they talk about devil-spawned liberal nihilist degeneracy."

That is, unless it is. The music where the male singer is generally denegrating every female he's ever seen, or where the poor fellow is screaming how his father told him "no" once while having his foot sawed off with a hack-saw is probably not the music young ladies should be listening to. Movies akin to the new version of "The Scarlet Letter" where the adulterers tell the community to mind their own business and ride away seems to hit that "you can miss this" mark as well.

We have come to a point in moral relativity where the expression of any moral center is offensive to someone. Teach them to maintain their moral center and let the world find one of their own, or don't.... Whatever. The assumption that all morals are equivilant, is to assume that the morals we, you and I, base our lives on are no better and no worse than someone elses. That pretty much negates the value of our morals. A precept not valued over someone elses has no value.

Pistol
I think you are taking Gestell a bit too seriously. Doug sets himself up for comments such as these, and reading Gestell, I found myself laughing all the way through. No doubt Doug would have found the same humor in his post.

Pistol
In fact, I got double enjoyment here. Doug is pretty entertaining too!!

Set apart by truth…

Thanks for recommending Dr. Sproul’s writings on theology. The one thing that anchors the soul in the midst of hardship and pain in an uncertain world is a Biblical view of the living God. Sometimes the belief in His sovereignty and goodness is all that faith has to hold on to.

Christ prayed that His people would be set apart by a knowledge of the truth. Giving your daughter the truth is the best you can do for her. In this generation Dr. Sproul stands in the tradition of truth consistent with the church fathers according to the words of Christ, ‘I will build My church’ in every generation and in every nation.


Doug's pretty close
I have 3. You have to talk to them all the time.
There is certainly enough filth out there. Watch TV (Which I Can't because it insults my intelligence) I'm not sure but I'll bet that statistically, more girls with tatoos have babies prior to marriage than those without. You have to let your girls know that being a lady is something they want to pass on to their daughters.

Gestell
Probably a deadbeat dad

bk
I can't wait for the Muslim hordes to start laying the beat-down on white females everywhere. Gawd, I'll be there with bells on in my dotage, soaking it all in :)

JimmyJoe, Ugottabe
JimmyJoe
If Gestell was just poking fun, i over reacted. I do have a button there because my life has two sides. I am a life member NRA, SOF subscriber. own firearms and carry concealed permit, go hunting, my career was in military electronics. Also i am a tithing member of Unity, Reiki Master, assistant teacher and professional tutor, boasting insufferable grandfather, and tickled recipient of a dozen hugs per school day from little kids i can't even keep track of their names. Lots of my gun bug friends don't see why i tithe. Many of my church friends are horrified by the fact i like to put venison on the table with a firearm. I have no problem integrating my life, but some other people act like they suspect i'm a wacko. I prefer to put myself in the same group as the Quaker investigating a noise downstairs, who admonished a burglar. "I would not harm thee for the world friend, but thee are standing where i am about to shoot".

RAISING GOOD WOMEN
Doug, you are on the right track. Continue to get the word out. There are too many boy-men with only one head and a smaller brain. The girls need to sort through all this and the first is the BS that comes from the boy-men. I applaud your comments and efforts

RAISING GOOD WOMEN
Doug, you are on the right track. Continue to get the word out. There are too many boy-men with only one head and a smaller brain. The girls need to sort through all this and the first is the BS that comes from the boy-men. I applaud your comments and efforts

Moral Rutter?
Nice column.

I have to believe , though, that he meant to write "moral rudder", not "moral rutter".

Is there any such thing as a "moral rutter"?

How come its so difficult in high school
When my daughters were in jr. high and high school then always ask me why there were so many mean and mess up kids, they said it made these years in school confusing. I always told them that the world is full of different kinds of people, and kid's at that age are looking for leadership positions, they make fun of people or hurt others to try to stop their own pain. I told them to always try to be honest to themselves, their heart and to keep their moral character and self respect. I cautioned them not to get into the mix, where they themselves will be confused, and possibly hurtful to themselves, thus being hurt upon others. I cautioned them that high school is a test of wits, heart and soul. And kid's are learning about life and how to grow, or in some instances where parents are not rearing children the kid's are trying to become like adults without any support. So I urged them to talk about what they may question and always use their better judgement to determine truth. I told them after they leave the school days and years they will be adults and responbsible for their actions and their decisions in life, without the constant advice of wiser older ones. I told them they would be out their in that world full of every kind of people, and if they grew in faith and truth that would give them the protection and love of heart and soul, that would put them on the true path of being a healthy and happy in life, thus fully pepared to serve the Lord and themselves and their family. Amen!!!! Praise Jesus!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen
Now would somebody teach their SONS that ladies like gentlemen better than Boors. Yeah, I know the attraction of the Bad Boys to young women; it's the irresistable urge of a young woman to 'reform' or 'retrain' the brat, the psychopath, the drunk and the loafer to be something approaching a Man in a Grey Flannel Suit. She's seen that Daddy is a NA$CAR guy -- scratching, swearing, throwing things on the track, yelling "Show us your t*ts!" at girls the age of their daughters, and painting their fat, bare bellies red white and blue and shaking them in the grandstand. But if Dad isn't a gentleman, his daughter won't be a lady; and if you expect your daughters to be ladies and your sons to be thugs, that won't work either.

Another excellent book to provide for your daughter (and your wife) is "The Gift of Fear", written by a bodyguard, which explains how to read your own body language and why it's okay not to get into an elevator full of pimps and thugs even though it's not Politically Correct, and why the feelings of the thug approaching your car are less important than the necessity of locking all your car doors.

Oh, and Doug? It's RUDDERS (those things that make it possible to steer a boat) not RUTTERS (which are what granny called 'tomcats' -- people who spend all their time thinking about and playing at sex.) In all your book buying, you might want to buy your daughter a dictionary and take the time to read it yourself.

R.C. Sproul?
Doug, I love you twice as much as I did before, and you know why.

Valiant
Just notice your comment. Thank God for you, too.

Anti Muhammed
You too, man. You rock!

Nice Job
Also explain to them that if they follow the other path, that they will never have a stable relationship and still be single when they are old. Not saying that single is a bad thing, but a signicant other/friend is better. I'm 45, and the fathers of girls that I'm dating should have read your article 40 years ago... It's not only the younger crowd that's adrift...

Kathy
No apostrophe in kids. There is none needed as the word in context is a plural, not an ownership use.

what is anonymouse smoking?
Joran has done this 20 times before but he's innocent ????

Thumbs UP to Doug for calling a spade a spade. Joran is as guilty as the sin he committed. His own father coached the three suspects on how to escape accountability, then his buddies Stratten and Jacobs finished the job.

Natalee's crazy family? Please, her family has refused to accept one more lie or deceit in this, amazing how criminals rebel against families who dare to not go away and let them commit the same crimes oh say - 20 more times?


Joran Van der Sloot
anonymouse, your boy Joran is a psycho murderer and should be in jail. His daddy the judge in training called in all sorts of favors to make sure that didn't happen. Our young people need to be warned about what the Island of Aruba did to Natalle and her family. The PIMPS have been drugging and raping our American girls for quite some time now. Natalee never stood a chance against that goon and his friends. You want to talk crazy take a look at the Van der Sloots and what they raised. 17 years old gambling, drinking, drugging is a way of life for Joran. Guilty until proven innocent is the law here in the U.S. In Aruba it doesn't work that way. We as Americans have no right to defend ourselves or get the truth as to what happened to Natalee. Freedom of speech is a good thing.

AudiR10
Granny must be so proud of you......Perhaps you should take your own advice and check out a dictionary. Perhaps it is being used as an analogy as in SHIPMASTER'S GUIDEBOOK.


por-to-la-no [pawr-tl-ah-noh, pohr-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun, plural -nos, -ni /-ni/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[-nee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation. a descriptive atlas of the Middle Ages, giving sailing directions and providing charts showing rhumb lines and the location of ports and various coastal features.

Also called rutter.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1855–60; < It: shipmaster's guidebook; earlier, harbor master < ML portulanus. See port1, -ule, -an]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Teach the sons
Loved this column, having been a daughter and having raised a daughter. I loved the differences between men and women when I was growing up many moons ago but there seems to me a new species of male out there that I am not too familiar with anymore. Why are all these young men being encouraged to be "Thugs and Pim*s"? There were thugs and pim*s when I was in high school back in the 60's and 70's but they were more of a minority, easy to spot, identify and stay away from (if inclined). Now looking at the high school hallways I see almost nothing but thug/pim* wanna be's and wonder who is teaching these young men? Are they learning that from home? Is that the example their fathers set for them? Oh yea, probably most of them are actually missing father figures and get their guidance from MTV and video games. I don't mind the occasional burping and farting of the typical male but really hate the "bi*ch/ho" language and attitude that seems too often attached to a weapon or drug of somekind. So yes, Doug is probably right that we need to teach our girls how to recognize and avoid these guys, how to be stronger than these types of guys. But wouldn't it be great if there was some teaching going on to these young men about how to become GOOD men, POSITIVE men, PRODUCTIVE, LOVING, REPECTFUL, KIND, HARDWORKING, MATURE men?

TH doesn't like the P I M P word
Doug can use the word P I MP in his column but we cannot us it in our posts? Weird!

@Gestell, Audi R10
Apparently Doug should have added another item about teaching the daughters not to use hateful stereotypes.

Y'know we gun nuts have feelings too, just like all those oh-so-sensitive gangsta types, who drive past the house with their sub-woofers blasting at seismic levels, and pepper every conversation with "m@th#rf*ck#r" and other such colorful turns of phrase.

Seriously. Nothing is advanced by your type of commentary. It is not reductio ad absurdum, just spewing.

There is a huge middle-ground in this US culture of ours, and it's a bloody shame that we find ourselves now defending even THAT territory from both extremes.

@Audi, If you'll go to the top of the page and look at the title of this piece, you might understand that admonitions for raising sons who aren't pimps and thugs would comprise a separate topic altogether. One which I hope someone will tackle soon, I might add.



@vickiz
TH also rejected the verb that describes being condemned to eternal tormet, forcing me to use a British epithet in its place.

That is especially curious, since so many TH commentaries deal with how we are--shall we say, darned to heck if we don't change our ways.

One more thing
Great stuff, well said. There's one more key thing dads can do to help channel their daughters onto the right path: show them how a real man treats a woman, by treating their mother that way. I don't know if any man can really understand what a difference that makes. Gentlemen, love your daughters' mother; honor and encourage her, be there for her, treat her with respect, and not only will she respond, but your daughters will have learned a lesson nothing else can teach them. Girls love Dad, but they identify with Mom. Why do you think the bad pathologies -- domestic violence, sexual molestation, drug and alcohol abuse -- persist through generations in the same family? Show your daughters the standard a grown woman should require, by setting it in your own home with the grown woman who will have the biggest influence on "the lassies."

Opinions
Unless you have raised daughters to adulthood, your opinions are speculation.

My 32 year old always took the high road; my 29 year old didn't. Parents can't control their daughters' decisions, but they can live with integrity.

Both our girls have experienced life's challenges. Interestingly, both responded IAW the values the grew up with. Whodda thunk?

drinking hound
As a father of three adult children, "drinking hound" is absolutely correct. One never knows the direction one's children will take. I prayed so much, and still do even though they turned out just great. When my kids were small, I used to wonder why such great parents, even as great as Doug, had so many problems with their adult children. I found out why. It's because they are adults and out of our control, and can make decisions on their own, duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Control is limited, influence isn't
It is absolutely impossible for parents simply to "control" kids, short of methods more suited to Islamic societies than our own. The point is for parents to have shown the things they value to the kids through example. If you want kids to respect whatever it is you respect, you have to show them that you respect it.

That's why I got on Doug's case. If you read him regularly, you get a pretty good idea of the many things, people, ideas, and viewpoints that he abominates, presnted in his he-man, tough-guy, fashionably hip prose. And all the while he's praising God and putting everybody who thinks differently down. He's very entertaining, although probably less so than he thinks he is.

When I hear or read somebody like this--and there is a left-wing version as well--I get very suspicious. It seems to me like he wants to teach his girls some great stuff, but that he's about a kiloparsec or two from following his own advice.

So, Doug, can you deliver on what you want your kids to do, or do you leave a convenient escape clause or two for yourself?

Training girls
Great article, however, if point 10 is relly emphasized then you shouldn't need point 8!

Oops
I meant really not relly.

Training girls
Great article, however, if point 10 is really emphasized then you shouldn't need point 8!

Oh come on!!!
What is it with you people that constantly whine when someone gets tough? "You're just mean", "You're just a hard-headed cold-hearted 'right-winger' who doesn't tolerate views different from his own", etc., ad nauseum.

Doug has a great point and is right on the money. I have 2 daughters of my own, and I myself and totally sick and tired of just what they have to face on a daily basis.

Oh, and Gestell, I have one thing for you.
If it walks like a duck...(referring to comments made about the Goths, etc.) Anyone of fine, upstanding moral charachter does not dress like a goon.

BTW
By the way, thanks to the way folks are educated anymore, we have had to come up with a new motto. Instead of "innocent until proven guilty", it's more like:

"You Are An Idiot Until Proven Otherwise."

Thanks
Great article. I was involved with youth groups for years. The advice is right on the money.

RC Sproul might not be encouraged...
...to know Doug is a fan! Reformed preachers usually go out of their way to spell out what they believe and why, not depending on cheap shots for laughs. I would have to believe that Mr. Giles disregards much of what he reads (in the Bible and books by Sproul)in order to continue in the niche he's built for himself. He's probably doing well financially, but what is the difference (seriously!) between him and Ted Nugent? Ted Nugent doesn't even drink (teach your daughter to party?)!

reply to OJ_Clutchpopper

Golly, I'll bet all those people who wear suits and speak with correct grmmar are just as moral as could be! Ever heard of the Pharisees?

Wake up call

Quit talking, start walking

You want to see what today's youth are like.

Just walk through YOUR local school (public or private).

Amen to you Southerner
I am also a southerner by birth and I call them like I see them. I belive that boys and girls should be raised with both parents, a man and a woman, (not two of either) setting a good example daily.
I choose not to drink alcohol at all, so I can tell my son or daughter "do not drink, it is bad for you." I do not smoke, take drugs, or get piercings or tattoos. I can tell my son or daughter, "Do not smoke, take drugs, get piercings or tattoos, they are bad for you."
My children see me treat my wife with the respect she deserves. When my son yells at her, I ask him "Son, do you hear me yell at Mommy?" He says "no" and then I ask, "If I do not yell at Mommy, why do you?" He usually apologizes to her immediately. If not, I ground him from something he really loves. We try not to spank him much as it seems to only make him angrier. He is adopted, and we are not supposed to use corporal punishment at all. I do believe that if we spare the rod, we spoil the child, so he still gets a spanking now and then.
I also do not believe that homosexuals should have any access to children in public or private schools, and that they should not adopt kids.
If you don't like my beliefs, good for you. I just know as a child I wanted to be just like my dad. I do not want kids raised in homosexual homes growing up thinking that it is normal. It is not. God calls in an abomination, and I believe what God says about it.

Hysterical
As I’ve said before, just looking at Doug’s manly face can make me chuckle but this installment is a real knee-slapper.

“Teach Them How to Sense BS” While in itself good advice, it is not what Doug really means. What he’s really saying is condition them to reject what daddy (Doug) thinks is BS. Otherwise, they might just reject daddy and all his works because they are mostly BS anyways. From what I’ve heard and read from his own website, Doug and his church gives me the creeps.

“Teach Them How to Rebel” Nice, but by rebel he does not mean against him (Doug) and his works but against that great bogyman of intellectualism/liberalism. I would rather hear how Doug would handle one of his daughter’s rebelling against his church. How to handle that would truly be good advice.

“Teach Them How to Be Classy (That’s mostly my wife’s job.)” Not only telling (wife’ job?) but endorses male vulgarity on an off hand way.

“Teach Them to Despise Anti-Intellectualism” Bravo! And an endorsement for the classics as well! Bravisimo! The only problem is that anti-intellectualism seem to be one of favored pastimes around here, especially when applied to the Bible or faith. Once again Doug is really saying be ‘something good but not too good’.

“Teach Them to Be Visionaries” Yah, right. This is coming from a man who considers himself a true visionary ye only looks to the past. All this is summed up in Doug’s last point.

“Teach Them the Importance of Traditional Convictions” Just what does that mean? It sound good, but it’s actually open to interpretation. I’m certain that Doug interprets it to mean very specific things. How else can he claim it to be a major part of why the ‘West is the best’?

Gestll??????
Your left wing version would be......Alan Alda.

I don't see many manly leftist out there. I presume they exist, but they must be afraid to exhibit it in public.


reply to Mike R
AS you may have guessed, I was trying to make some similar points about Doug. He's actually a lot of fun. I've seldom read a TH columnist who strains so hard to sound hip with his use of contemporary slang and pop culture references.

On hipness I like to cite jazz great Cannonball Adderly who once said on a live recording. "Hipness is not a state of mind, it's a fact of life. You have some people who are supposed to be hip and they act like people who are supposed to be hip, but it's not the same thing at all."

I see girl babies
As a dad with a 2 yo girl AND
one(1) on the way....
I'm laughing AND crying at the same time!

MikeR
I've never been to Clash Church in Florida, so I can't speak from experience anymore than you can, but I've checked out the website. Except for the name, which is off-putting, I don't see anything creepy about the website. Maybe it's because I'm also a Christian and I've attended a lot of churches and helped a few develop their websites, but the claims on the website are no different than the ones most "modern" churches make. There's a mission statement, times and dates for services, some discussion of the different groups available within the church, and an awful lot of praise for Doug Giles as senior pastor. I would note that this is not unusual for pastor-driven churches and will even appear in the websites of congregational-driven churches if they have a dynamic pastor.

Perhaps you could give us some specifics on what you find so creepy. Or is it simply that it's a church that is trying to reach modern man and you object?
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