Hey Mate!

October 23, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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Every week at least one Australian woman dies from domestic violence. There is something very, very wrong in our community when men still think it’s OK to harm women.

Violence against women is never acceptable.

White Ribbon, Australia’s campaign to stop violence against women, is getting ready for White Ribbon Day on Sunday the 25th of November. They’ve launched a new campaign that not only calls on us not to commit violence but to challenge it. Staying silent only lets violence against women continue.

Here’s just one of the short videos that are being used to get the message out.

If you want to play your part to stand up to violence against women you can help share the campaign. You can also find out more about safely challenging violent behaviour.

You can let the world know where you stand on violence against women by swearing an oath.



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All Fathers Should Swear

August 31, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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White Ribbon, Australia’s campaign to stop violence against women, believes that all fathers should swear this Sunday on Father’s Day. We’re all being encouraged to swear an oath that says, “I swear never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women.”

You can find out more about their Father’s Day campaign and sign the oath at their website.

Contributing to the prevention of men’s violence against women requires more than simply being a non-violent man. It requires an understanding of the factors which underlie and contribute to violence against women and how these factors are deeply engrained in our culture, to the degree to which they are sometimes not immediately obvious. It requires an awareness of how these factors influence our beliefs, attitudes and
behaviours – about what it is to be a man and how to relate to others. It requires the courage to change, to adopt new beliefs and new attitudes, and it requires the knowledge and skills to put new actions and
behaviours in place.

Fatherhood provides this opportunity. Perhaps more than any other life stage, it delivers the chance for men to examine how the factors that contribute to violence against women impact on their choices and behaviours on a daily basis. A good father is a non-violent father. Yet fathers can do much more to prevent violence against women than being non-violent men themselves. Through their relationships with women and children and
their involvement in family tasks and responsibilities, fathers are well positioned to reflect on issues of masculinity and gendered power relations, to do more than just practice non-violence, but actively work towards the creation and maintenance of equal and respectful relationships, and to contribute significantly to the prevention of men’s violence against women.

Whether you’re a father, grandfather, brother or son, I hope you’ll swear this Father’s Day.



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I Swear

November 25, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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I consider it my responsibility to swear today.

Men across Australia are being asked to swear an oath that commits them to never commit or excuse violence against women. The My Oath website has full details on why we should swear and lets men take part in the campaign.

The campaign has the support of high profile men such as Keith Urban, Wil Anderson, David Koch, Adam Goodes, Shannon Noll, Gerry Harvey, Joe Hockey, Rove, Dicko, and many others.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has labelled violence against women the most prevalent violation of human rights on the planet. And Australia is far from immune. Currently, one in three Australian women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Every single one of us knows a women who has suffered its effects, whether we know it or not. These women are our mothers, daughters, our wives, our girlfriends, colleagues and friends. By supporting this campaign you are helping to ensure that Australia becomes a safer place for all women, and their children.

Today is also White Ribbon Day, and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Australian men are urged to visit the My Oath website and follow the links to swear the following:

I swear:
never to commit violence against women,
never to excuse violence against women, and
never to remain silent about violence against women.
This is my oath.

Violence against women is never acceptable. Please swear today.



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Real men swear

November 25, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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Today, in Australia, it is National Swear Day. I consider it my responsibility to swear today.

Men across Australia are being asked to swear an oath that commits them to never commit or excuse violence against women. The My Oath website has full details on why we should swear and lets men take part in the campaign.

National Swear Day has the support of high profile men such as Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Lt Gen Ken Gillespie, Hazem El Masri, Rove, Keith Urban, Wil Anderson, David Koch, Adam Goodes, Shannon Noll, Jason Culina, Dicko, and many others.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has labelled violence against women the most prevalent violation of human rights on the planet. And Australia is far from immune. Currently, one in three Australian women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Every single one of us knows a women who has suffered its effects, whether we know it or not. These women are our mothers, daughters, our wives, our girlfriends, colleagues and friends. By supporting this campaign you are helping to ensure that Australia becomes a safer place for all women, and their children.

The day is part of the White Ribbon Campaign. Today is also White Ribbon Day, and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Australian men are urged to visit the My Oath website and follow the links to swear the following:

I swear:
never to commit violence against women,
never to excuse violence against women, and
never to remain silent about violence against women.
This is my oath.

Violence against women is never acceptable. Please swear today.



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John Piper and Television

June 27, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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piper.jpgJohn Piper seems to be beating himself up about an answer he gave at Advance ’09. While I don’t see the problem, I’m glad he decided to explain his position more clearly.

His post, Why I Don’t Have a Television and Rarely Go to Movies, is a thoughtful explanation of why he is very cautious of trivial entertainment for entertainment’s sake. He tackles the issue I touched on in my recent post, Get Naked for Success. He talks about preachers trying to remain relevant by immersing themselves in popular culture through the latest movies.

There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.

I’d have to say that I’m not one of them either.

I love Piper’s explanation of why nudity in films is not acceptable.

I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.

I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).

Whether we like to admit it or not, John Piper is right.

It’s not just sex and nudity in flims and on TV that bother Piper.

But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.

Even if you’re not a Christian, you’d have to admit that a lot of television tends to glorify the trivial and that can’t be good for any of us who want to enlarge our vision of the world and what we’re capable of achieving with the precious life we’ve been given.



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