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“WE ARE LEFT WITH INDEFINITE ADOLESCENCE AND A PETER PAN SYNDROME EPIDEMIC WHERE MEN WANT TO REMAIN BOYS FOREVER.”

The world today is filled with boys who can shave.

Historically, a guy would go through two life phases: boy, then man. The transition from boy to man was comprised of five sociological variables that happened almost simultaneously or in very close succession: Leave your parents’ home (Gen. 2:24); finish your education or vocational training; start a career-track job, not a dead-end-Joe one; meet a woman, love her, honor her, court her, and marry her; have children with her.

But here’s what’s happened. Rather than moving from boy to man by this succession of sociological transitions, we’ve created something called adolescence. It’s a third life stage in the middle between boy and man. We don’t know what to call them so we just call them “guys.” These are boys who can shave.

Today, adolescence starts somewhere in the teen years and continues indefinitely. There is no foreseeable end. The problem with adolescence is guys don’t know when they’re ever going to grow up and be men, and no pressure is exerted on them to do so.

Is it when you’re 16 and you can drive? Or 18, when you can vote and join the military? Or 21, when you can drink? Is it when you graduate from college after you’ve worked on your undergrad degree for seven or eight years? Is it when you get married? Is it when you have kids? Is it when you buy a house? No one knows. So, we are left with indefinite adolescence and a Peter Pan Syndrome epidemic where men want to remain boys forever.

“YOU MEN ARE THE GLORY OF GOD, AND GOD WANTS HIS GLORY TO SHINE THROUGH YOU.”

So where do you go? Go to Scripture. Go to Scripture. …

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