Proverbs 31 Relative a Hellcat and Horizon: Forbidden West

My wife Lauren asked for a handgun this Christmas. Initially, we eyed the Kimber Micro 9, and the Sig P365, and both made a favorable impression on us, when we looked at the selection Scheels in Johnstown had, while out celebrating our 16th anniversary.

When it came time to buy, however, the week before Christmas, I ended up getting her the Springfield Hellcat instead. Allow me to explain.

At 11+1 capacity, the Hellcat holds plenty of rounds in its double-stacked magazine, compared with what is more typical for a CCW semi-auto. I also like the two-stage trigger, in the respect that accidental discharge should not be an issue quite like it could be without. I also like that this Hellcat in particular is already ready to have an optic installed; and on that front, if we keep it, I will be eyeing a little red-dot sight for faster target acquisition.

That said, reports from other owners online concern me. For instance, the trigger sometimes locks up when sideways pressure is applied to it, rendering the firearm inoperable.

Another bothersome thing about the Hellcat is how stiff the slide release is – that is, it is extraordinarily stiff. Other owners online report that it loosens up with firing, and that there is also an after-market option of a larger slide release we could opt for.

For that matter, from what I’ve read, the trigger issue can also be fixed with an after-market replacement. But then you really shouldn’t need to replace parts in a brand new gun to make it operable. It’s a mark against both the company and their design here that we even need to have this conversation.

Horizon: Forbidden West

In other news, for our older boys’ Christmas gift, I wanted to get some new games for our PS5. We still don’t have many just yet. So I looked into what the highest rated games were, and noticed that Horizon: Forbidden West always placed near the top of every list.

Besides that, Horizon did not have so much of some of the unfortunate detracting elements of other games, and that the screenshots, videos, and reviews all agreed that this is a big and beautiful game, with phenomenal texturing, lighting, and physics, and how the use of color and angles is masterful from a visual standpoint, I picked it up.

The thematic components come together in a way that is fun and fascinating. Caveman-like primitives, in a post-apocalyptic future jungle, fighting one another and the robot versions of dinosaurs and extinct mega-fauna mammals, using a combination of high-tech weapons and more traditional stone-age implements – what’s not to love?

Then there is the lead character you play, Aloy. She is a girl, or woman, by the way.

According to feedback from my eldest sons so far, Aloy is the manliest character in the game thus far. All the men are either fools, cowards, feckless, corrupt, or needing drink to drum up enough chutzpah. Aloy, though? She is wise, courageous, strong, and upstanding.

In this respect, the star of Horizon seems to be a bit of a Mary Sue, of a piece with Rey from Disney’s Star Wars, or Galadriel from Amazon’s Rings of Power. She is woman. Hear her roar.

Strong Female Characters

Believe it or not, all of this brings to mind Proverbs 31.

As the head of household to a large, conservative, homeschooling family, is it wrong for me to buy my wife a handgun for Christmas, or for us to watch a movie or TV show, or play a video game that features strong female characters?

For that matter, was it a mistake for one of my sons to get his sister a pink Xbox One controller?

Some might expect me to say ‘Yes,’ on account of my having a conservative view of men and women, stemming from what I believe the Bible says about the different roles we should respectively play in the family, church, and society based on our sex.

That expectation would be a bit presumptuous, if not entirely off the mark.

In Proverbs 31, consider how often the word ‘strength’ shows up, from the tenth verse to the end, when “the excellent wife” who fears Yahweh is described.

Later in the New Testament, she may be described as “the weaker vessel,” but that doesn’t mean that the ideal is for her to be weak or defenseless, nor that such should become our aspirational model.

“Shedresses herself with strength,” after all, “and makes her arms strong.”

That Pink Xbox One Controller

About that controller for our daughter. So what if it’s pink? Evelyn likes pink.

When my wife told me she wanted a handgun for Christmas, on the other hand, I did not go looking for a pink one. Lauren does not like pink.

Both of these facts, that Ev does like pike, and that Lauren doesn’t, in no way make one or the other of them either feminine or not. Whether we’re talking controllers or firearms, the more important question, to my mind, is whether the thing works as well as it can, or as well as it needs to, whether or no the user is a girl or woman.

But then that leads us to the question of what should work well for girls or women, particularly the ones in our lives. And this is where it becomes critically important to put all of the above into the context of the fear of the Lord, and striving for good and faithful servanthood to what He has made us for and called us to.

To some conservative Christians who might say the character of Aloy in the Horizon games is unrealistic, I would retort that this might be so, but that the same complaint could be leveled at the woman being described in Proverbs 31.

Either way, this is my point: if we are more concerned with our petty jealousies, or insecurities, than we are with making ourselves capable, or building one another up, then we are missing it, and we are tearing both ourselves and one another down to all our detriment. This is not only foolish, it is perilous.

To be sure, “strong woman” outside the context of fearing God and keeping His commandments often means in our day that women are trying to take men down a notch. But it’s just as bad, and for the same reasons, if we are intentionally trying to make women less strong, confident, and wise to make men great again.

The better thing to choose is this, that we would see ourselves strengthened when every member of our family is as strong as they can be, serving one another and the Lord above in faith and holiness, grace and humility. If a pink controller or handgun can further that goal more than it undermines it, then I want to get it, and I hope it’s there to get.

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