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Episode Transcript:
[00:00:00] Welcome back to the life on target podcast. I’m your host, Nathan spearing, bringing you my conversation with someone who has become a good friend of mine and someone. Who I seek out their wisdom on a variety of issues. And family business. And also just spiritually sound individual, John Moody. We talk about his upcoming food conference, the road food conference, the first or the second weekend, I believe in may.
We talk about how he is raising his boys to not be a feminine as is. The pattern in a lot of female dominated. Education environments, how families should handle that. The role of the church. The role of fathers, the role of mothers, and just sharing some of our own personal experiences with doing that.
Hope you enjoy the conversation with my friend, John Moody.
Nathan Spearing: [00:01:00] So before we get to why homeschool boys are largely effeminate or large, and effeminate maybe is a better way to say it, um, let’s talk about rogue food coming up in May in the, uh, Presbyterian contingent from Southern Pines, North Carolina. Coming in full force, me and my family, a couple other families from church, we’re really excited about it.
Nathan Spearing: So if John Moody and Polyface isn’t enough, then maybe the, uh, the chocolate sprinkles of the spearing family being there is, is enough to get some people to show up. But, uh, talk to us about what you’re, why you’re excited about that, why it’s important for now. Um, all that good stuff.
John Moody: Oh man. So we’re doing rogue at Polyface. If your listeners aren’t familiar, Polyface is Joel Salatin’s Farm. So started by Joel’s [00:02:00] father when they reim immigrated to the US after almost dying in a huta in South America. Which is crazy story all in and of itself. And so when he came back to the US he ended up eventually getting a settlement from the, I think it was Argentina, the country they fled, that underwent some kind of revolution and they got a settlement of money.
John Moody: And so his dad wanted to get the most value out of this money. And it reminds me of the O Nomos, the Greek book on household management. Because one of the things the book talks about is one way to make money is buying poor quality land and turning it into good quality land.
Nathan Spearing: Mm.
John Moody: And so his dad had this cash settlement and he went and found this just absolutely rundown over farmed, over lumbered [00:03:00] 400 acres in the Shenandoah Valley just outside of Stanton and bought it.
John Moody: And, you know, so one reason I encourage people to go see Polyface is to, uh, see with your eyes what a multi-generational, uh, stewardship oriented mindset actually can look like in terms of its impact on ecology, on economics, on, on so many different things.
Nathan Spearing: Yeah, so that’s, that is, uh, the plan. I think if. Me if I’m wrong. We’re gonna be, there’s gonna be some stuff Friday evening. Uh, what’s the dates real quick? We’ll put a show, show, uh, show note link there for sure. But what, that’s, uh, first weekend of May right? Or second weekend
John Moody: Well, it’s May 12th and 13th,
Nathan Spearing: Yep.
John Moody: and so
Nathan Spearing: we’re co there’s time to look at the farm, which
John Moody: yeah, Friday [00:04:00] is all day from eight to five.
Nathan Spearing: Yeah.
John Moody: and, uh, you know, so you get a tour of the farm with Joel. So he’ll be doing one of his famous tractor trailer tours where they hook up a bunch of wagons to a tractor, everybody piles on, and Joel takes you by all the major animal things. And, and, um, one of my family’s favorite memories that will be with us for all time is a number of years ago.
John Moody: After I was at Polyface for a different event on Monday morning, we’re just kind of milling around and Joel looks at me and he goes, Hey. He goes, you wanna grab the kids? And I’ll grab Daniel’s kids and let’s go up the mountain. In my Tonka truck, he has this little old beat up truck from like the 1970s.
John Moody: So we pile 10 or 11 of us in this. and Joel took us all the way up to the mountain, but about every 20 minutes he would [00:05:00] stop and he would do lectures on history and geology and US history. And it, it, so if you’ve never had a chance for, to hear Joel in person talk about all of the things he’s gifted in, um, the tour on Friday alone will be worth your trip.
John Moody: And then, So Friday you’ll have a tour part of the day and then you have many, many hours to just poke around and explore the farm. Uh, Joel’s always had this kind of open door policy where, you know, cuz he believes in transparency, people could just show up, look around, poke around, actually see if what they do is what they say.
John Moody: And then on Saturday as kind of a teaching day where we’ll have a bunch of different speakers like Congressman Thomas Massey. Joel, myself, um, max Cain, number of super cool people talking about, [00:06:00] you know, how to build in spite of government opposition and how to do so successfully.
Nathan Spearing: Yeah. And so talk about a little bit about that, uh, because those of us that have been through the last couple years have heard a, a full spectrum. Of Romans 13 doctrine and application and principle, the principles, but then also, uh, certain spiritual leaders actually saying, this is the principle and this is how I say you apply it in order to not violate it.
Nathan Spearing: And, and understanding even different, the difference between the principle and the application of the principal and all that kind of stuff. It’s all can get muddied. So why, um, why do we build. Specifically for this conference, I know there’s talk of entrepreneurial type and other things, but specifically in the food era or the food sector, why is, uh, why should, uh, [00:07:00] Christians care about building in spite of government opposition, and kind of just a general framework for, for why that matters?
Nathan Spearing: Um,
John Moody: So for why it matters for Christ. I mean, we can spend a whole couple podcasts on this,
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: but I, if you look at the health statistics of the church, if you look at, uh, you know, dependence upon pharmaceuticals, declining testosterone and sperm rates, rocketing health issues in our children and grandchildren, uh, you, you know, the, the way I view stewardship,
John Moody: Ah, you know, imagine you lent me a car and when it come back and when I give you the car back, uh, it has a flat tire. [00:08:00] Seats have holes, tears in them, car smells all rank and foul. You’re gonna look at me and be like, Hey man, I trusted you with this car
Nathan Spearing: Hmm
John Moody: and you did not steward it.
Nathan Spearing: mm.
John Moody: I gave you this opportunity to do something good with this car and instead you did something bad.
John Moody: And that’s by and large how I view a lot of modern Christian’s approach to environment and personal health that, that they’ve been given a super good thing, something infinitely more valuable than a car, and instead of stewarding it well, to maximize its potential. Um, they tend to abuse it and whatnot.
John Moody: And I don’t know, just, it just never, never really made a lot of sense to me that this is, and, and the worst part is that then sets up their [00:09:00] children and their grandchildren for even worse, negative outcomes because you’re leaving them a genetic inheritance, but you’re also leaving them. , an inheritance of example and habit and discipline or lack of discipline and other things that really does carry over, which is why, you know, most people are like, well, you know, obesity just runs in my family, which by and large is not true.
John Moody: What runs in your family is a legacy of bad habits, um, and, and lack of self-control and self-discipline and right priorities. and that’s why your kids look like you. They would probably not look like you if they had more responsible parents. They’d look like a more healthy individual if they were being parented by a healthy individual.
John Moody: And you’re just using genetics to dismiss any sort of culpability and accountability for what’s going on there. You, you [00:10:00] know, so, so there’s that aspect of it. Just, you know, our bodies are one of the main good gifts God has given. Us. And if you’re married, your body’s not just your own, it also belongs to your spouse and your body is made for service to other.
John Moody: We’re to work with our hands. You know, let us, it is just one of my favorite verses in the Bible. You know, we wanna pray for those in, in authorities, so we might be able to live peaceful and quiet lives working with our hands. So we might have something to share with those in need. Uh, you know, so, so our bodies have these very clear purposes.
John Moody: And how we steward them lets us maximize our ability to fulfill those purposes, or really goes a long way in hampering our ability to fulfill those purposes. Um, and then why food? So as I said, at the first county before country, you know, it’s an old dictum in politics. He who controls the food, controls the [00:11:00] people.
John Moody: Um, Adam was originally a gardener. . Um, it’s, it’s not without purpose that when Jesus rises from the dead, the first thing he is mistaken for is a gardener . If you’ve never caught that little thematic tie from Genesis to the resurrection, Jesus is raised as a gardener, um, as one who tends and stewards the, you know, he looks like somebody who tends and stewards the earth.
John Moody: You know, f food is one of the most powerful ways we shape not just our homes, but the communities we live in.
Nathan Spearing: Hmm.
John Moody: So agriculture has always been the foundation of economics. And so how we eat and how farms steward their lands and if farms are, are paid well, has a cascading set of positive economic effects.[00:12:00]
John Moody: In a whole bunch of different directions that Joel’s been talking about for years, and Wendell Barry’s been talking about as well, and some other writers and authors. Um, and, and that’s why though food is unsurprisingly to me, but surprisingly to most people, one of the most, if not the most heavily regulated sector of the economy.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I, I think that, uh, you know, fundamentally, it, it goes back to personal responsibility. And so that I, obesity runs in my family is not a personally responsible statement. It’s passing the blame. So that is, is a epidemic in our society to blame. Your environment to blame your parents to blame anything and everything [00:13:00] as an excuse as to why you’re not where you are.
Nathan Spearing: And the other side of it, I think, is that that ability that the government has said, okay, if you want to not be responsible for your safety, we’re happy to do that for you. We’re happy to give you the regulations about how you avoid, uh, certain sicknesses we’re going to, and, and they do it over the top.
Nathan Spearing: Like my, my, um, particular take is not that all these politicians are these evil controlling, like, trying, you know, maybe there is, if you trace it all the way back up to the, to the source. There is a lot of that, but there’s a lot of people that literally feel like it’s my responsibility to keep you safe.
Nathan Spearing: And so if I can put these rules, and that’s I think, goes by back to why the business [00:14:00] owners were, were, were going into that cuz they didn’t want to have the conversation with their customers about, I can’t keep you safe if you want to shop here during this time. What you’re doing, what my policy is based on what the government said, and then a confusion of household versus the government and how those spheres of sovereignty and authority work is just abysmal as well.
Nathan Spearing: Uh, so I think that the way that I heard you articulate it with, with Joel was just as a somebody who wants to take responsibility, you can opt out of. , you should have a fundamental human right to opt out of a system of protection if you want to. And so if you,
John Moody: and yeah. And on a, you know, the tie off on the Romans 13 aspect, since that especially came up when the government tried to shut down by buying club years ago,
Nathan Spearing: [00:15:00] Mm-hmm.
John Moody: and people ask, well, what’s your justification for disobeying? You, you know, I’ve, I’ve basically held to for almost 20 years, kind of a Schaffer esque understanding of the limits of government authority.
John Moody: So that, you know, there, there’s the old saying is Rex l is the king the law, or is Lex Rex is the law the king?
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: Um, you know, so this came out, I’m not gonna remember offhand this morning since my mind is still in judo jiu-jitsu mode, exactly where that originated. It might have been Rutherford, but you, you see this in, uh, you know, ax Paul on numerous occasions, uh, has opportunity to set aside.
John Moody: Rights [00:16:00] and privileges that his citizenship grants him a. And he even has the ability to do that at times in order to suffer and to die for the gospel. And instead, he claims the full rights and benefits of his citizenship to not only avoid possibly suffering and dying for the gospel. , um, but you, you know, to set precedent and to push back against governing authorities and whatnot.
John Moody: So you have both. Paul’s example, which does not at all support a Romans 13, gives governing authorities a blank slate to do whatever they want, whenever they want to, whoever they want, with no opposition or questioning of any kind. And then we have a rich Christian political history that, you know, Luther, [00:17:00] Calvin, all throughout them and on that also doesn’t hold to what was just a mind bogglingly, unbiblical take on the two years of Ronna Madness.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I guess another thing for me personally, having been to the last Rogue, and enjoying Rich Christian fellowship where I am, being in a place with other like-minded individuals is hugely refreshing. Uh, you take the content of the speakers away, you take the location, uh, that it is, um, and, and set that aside.
Nathan Spearing: Just being in the room with two or 300 people that are on the same page in a lot of factors, but then also have. Now we, there was some conversations like, oh, we’re very different in this and that’s a good way to be stretched in my own understanding of [00:18:00] some of these issues. And so there’s, it’s not just this echo chamber cuz there’s a, a vast theological and experienced background amongst the attendees. it’s, it’s just can be refreshing. And I, I am sure that time in the Virginia Mountains is, is it’s gonna. Picturesque. So there’s, there’s just so many reasons. Uh, so, so we’ll put the link to sign up, uh, as of this recording or has, has your daughter informed you where you are numbers wise? How much room do we have?
Nathan Spearing: Uh, cuz I know you said you were way ahead, uh, based on typical numbers for online sales right now, so
John Moody: Yeah, we have under 150 tickets out of the 400 left, I believe
Nathan Spearing: okay. Yeah, so this will probably go out this, this Friday. So at that point, there’s enough room for, uh, a small percentage of our listeners that are on the East [00:19:00] Coast to potentially get a ticket and come. Are there any kids tickets left? I know there’s a, are those sold
John Moody: Yeah, there’s a few kids tickets left as well, so unless, unless you’re bringing 20 or something, you’re, you’re good to go. and, and Polyface is
Nathan Spearing: 12 to 15, uh, amongst our contingent. That was the part that made me feel a little bit more rushed. It’s like, oh, there’s less kids tickets. We gotta, we gotta jump on this cause we got a lot of kids coming. So, uh,
John Moody: you do.
Nathan Spearing: so, um,
John Moody: this school.
Nathan Spearing: So, you know, I obviously have christened you with a new nickname, John Bone Breaker, moody.
Nathan Spearing: You wanna talk about what you, what you did last weekend a little bit. And, and as a, as a preface to why maybe you and I are both qualified to delve into this topic of, of masculinity and, and, uh, raising homeschool boys appropriately.
John Moody: Uh, well, we had a judo tournament that me and [00:20:00] my boys competed in together. So two days, I guess three days ago now on Saturday. So,
Nathan Spearing: hot off the press and you won your, you won your division. Come on, let’s talk about it a little
John Moody: did win my division
Nathan Spearing: Yeah. So, uh,
John Moody: old man division.
Nathan Spearing: yes. Competent in, uh, Marshall Virtues. So talk, talk a little bit a while back, you talked about a head of household drilling. On horseback and that being something, and, and we, we’ve talked about this numerous times on the phone and stuff, but just like kind of as the lead in, uh, as a man, um, why are you doing martial arts and, and why should you, and then why, and then, you know, also, what is that form for your, for your sons?
John Moody: Yeah, so that’s again from the Ochi Nomos, the Rule of the House, which for four to 600 years was considered [00:21:00] the book to read on household management in the ancient. and you, you can easily find a free PDF to read online of this book. You should be able to read the entire book in under an hour if you’ve never read it.
John Moody: And it’s, it is just, that book is really influential because, uh, for the founders of our country, like Jefferson, it, and a number of the other founding fathers, their view of households, militia economics. Was greatly shaped by that book and that cultural tradition. So, and in the Ochi Nomos, the book is all about, um, it actually echoes the Apostle Paul May purposely be echoing that book, um, when he says that a man must manage his household well because that book, the book is kind of a Socratic [00:22:00] dialogue between two people. The one character is asking the other character, you know what, what is the purpose of this? And the guy goes, well, it’s so that you might manage your household. Well, it’s like exact same phrasing as Paul. And there’s a number of places in Paul’s epistles. He’s both, you know, phrasing, old Testament things you can clearly tell.
John Moody: And since we’re Christians, we catch the Old Testament illusions cuz we’ve hopefully read the Old Testament. and our Bibles, you know, interlinear show us connections to the Old Testament, but we sometimes miss that. Paul was a Greco Roman and he’s at times, um, when I took, I took Coin a Greek at a local college while I was in seminary to get exposure to classic, sorry, not coin, a classical Greek.
John Moody: And my professor was really great cuz he was a really good believer at pointing out places in [00:23:00] Paul. Where he seems to be alluding in how he’s in phrases and words to other Greco-Roman literature.
Nathan Spearing: Mm.
John Moody: Uh, and in the s one of the things that defines the ideal household manager is his commitment to fitness and Marshall skill. Um, and so this is a guy that is weekly drilling himself. so that if the city has to call a muster of men to defend the city or go defend another city or whatever, he is qualified and able to be one of the ones who is in that muster and even possibly help lead, lead these contingents. Um, and you know, you see this in Abraham, you know, when Abraham’s family gets in trouble, he’s not calling the local constable.
John Moody: he’s not [00:24:00] waiting for the police department to arrive. He, he clicks his fingers and says, you know, men arm up. Men mount up men, we are out the door as a tactical strike unit in 30 minutes to rescue the family.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: and you know, so much of modern life, the, the way we’ve kind of been sold on modern life is we’ve outsourced everything.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: So, you know, We don’t cook, we eat out at restaurants.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: We don’t split firewood. We buy electricity. We don’t train to protect ourselves. We have 9 1 1. Um, you know, so, so there’s, as you were talking about earlier, this idea of ownership. Our modern economic system is an anti personal ownership system because that’s really profit.
John Moody: For the people who buy all of who we have to buy all of these things [00:25:00] from.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: Cuz now we have to buy security and buy this and buy that and buy the other. And really good book I referenced when I did a mini conference for a church down in Tennessee. Um, it’s a book called the 1933 President’s Report on Social Trends.
John Moody: And in that, , it gives a list of all of the functions that households were historically responsible for. And I’ll try and find it for you. I have it on my Facebook somewhere. Uh, and it, it lists just all of these functions, you know, like cooking, preserving functions. We, we even still kind of consider part of a household, but then hospitality, security, education.
John Moody: these were all considered classical functions. Um, you know, I shouldn’t say classical, but natural, [00:26:00] um, indigenous functions that belong to and flow out of the household. And in this 1933 report commissioned by President Hoover, they were talking about that, the dramatic economic changes that were just getting rolling.
John Moody: And were now kind of on the backside of. Had reduced most households, I’m, I’m not gonna get the phrasing exactly right, but I think they referred to households as little more than parking lots
Nathan Spearing: Mm
John Moody: where people occasionally put themselves to rest, but by and large, all the other important things of their lives took place somewhere else.
Nathan Spearing: mm That’s in that report basically the summary is here’s all the things that the household used to do. Now the household is a parking lot.
John Moody: Yeah, it, it’s a, you know, and that was [00:27:00] in 1933
Nathan Spearing: yeah.
John Moody: they felt that amount of erosion. Uh, and, you know, w don’t wanna get too far afield cuz we’re a little time constricted today. But, you know, you talk about, uh, growth of corporate power, growth of government power. . This is one reason I, when I finally, I, I had a, you know, like a lot of people in the early two thousands because of Ron Paul, you go through that fleeting infatuation with libertarianism.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: And the biggest thing I realized why libertarianism would never actually fix some of the problems that it rightly diagnosed is cuz it doesn’t actually understand how God ordered the world. And, What, what always served historically as a ball work against corporate and government in ecclesiastical abuse was households [00:28:00] intergenerational, economically productive, strong households.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: So and so anybody who’s trying to talk. Fighting the government or restoring gov, you know, limited government and protections and this and that, who’s not talking about not just the primacy of families in that, but the primacy of households in that I don’t think is somebody you should take seriously because they’re missing one of the most fundamental solutions for the problem.
John Moody: That no other solutions will actually work unless this solution is first in place.
Nathan Spearing: Mm. So on that theme, this is something that I, I was texting both of my pastors about and asking them questions cuz I’ve been trying. The way that I understand the world or the way that I make a decision, I think, is I try to [00:29:00] understand who has the right authority to make the call. Like, is this me as the dad or as the husband making a call?
Nathan Spearing: Um, and, and then the next question is, okay, have I ordered my life to date to have cultivated wisdom and virtue and things in my life that I can be confident making this decision? Do I need to get counselors? Do I have fellowship and mentors and people I can ask? That don’t have the authority and I don’t get to pass the buck to them, but that can lend me wisdom in making that decision.
Nathan Spearing: Or is this something I’m bucking at? Because I generally want to be the boss of everything because that’s a human condition. Um, and I need to submit to the elders of my church and I need to listen to my pastor. Or this is something that is, is an actual legitimate function of government that is, is good and right, and, and that I need to just follow the rules.
Nathan Spearing: I gotta do this. And so, You know, one of the things, and this will tie [00:30:00] into that discussion about raising boys is, you know, for you, what would you say, education, um, and schooling. Where does that fall? Like jurisdictionally and, and then, you know, based on your study, who, who’s responsible for that? Uh, primarily.
Nathan Spearing: And then, you know, is it, how do you as a man, um, , if it’s not your skillset, but you think your kids should learn it, how do you, um, you know, or, or is it the church? Is it, you know, cuz I think that, I’m starting to feel like most Christians and most churches don’t really understand principally who’s the boss here, who’s responsible.
Nathan Spearing: And the military, we always, you can delegate the, the, uh, the tasks you can. Um, but you can never delegate the responsibility that you have. You know, it’s, it’s so, [00:31:00] you know, I know this, I rambled a little bit, but talk to me kind of a little bit about that. How you see the world.
John Moody: Well, biblically and historically education has always been considered the responsibility of.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: So now, you know, historically the, the, the government and the church have always played subsidiary, but supporting roles
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: and, and the, the amount of authority and influence they had has varied over the course of human history, but they’re, you know, primarily until very recently, you know, in a, unless you go to societies that don’t operate out of a Christian worldview, Christian framework, so like, you know, hardcore socialist, communist [00:32:00] type societies, um, or materialists like John Dewey and Company who were very clear, they wanted to elevate the government’s role in education.
John Moody: to undo children’s ties to family and religion. Um, you know, but, but in our, in our framework, um, the buck stops with mom and dad
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: and churches especially, um, because churches are the household of households.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: So the church is described in the New Testament as a household, and it’s a household made up of house.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: it has a supporting role in some of these areas and matters, uh, but not a primary role. So you see, for instance, with the Puritans and the reformers, um, you know, they would discipline families who were negligent in their [00:33:00] duties to educate their children,
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: and they would help ensure if like a man died in a family.
John Moody: that the church would help provide funds if the kid, you know, if the kids needed sent to like a local parochial or some type of schooling or whatever. Um, they saw that as a mercy ministry of the church to help that family ensure their children are educated. Uh, and obviously some churches have gone farther and started schools and whatnot, and you’ll get all sorts of opinions on that.
John Moody: But at the end of the. , uh, you know, as a father we can bring in others to supplement educating our children, but it’s our responsibility to oversee that, to know what they’re actually being educated in, um, to, you know, we’re the ones who are primarily to disciple our children. We’re the ones who are [00:34:00] primarily to educate our kids and.
John Moody: Even if we use a Christian school or some other tools, um, we need to keep our hand in that cookie jar to make sure we know what’s going on.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm. So how does that transition? So we were talking not too long ago about, uh, you know, the first subjects to go for a boy. gonna be some of the more crucial things for his masculine, uh, you know, archetypes, if you will, or his masculine character qualities that are necessary. And we talked about like, you’re gonna, you’re never gonna give up English literature in, in lieu of judo, or, you know, uh, we’re gonna do all these math sheets like all.
Nathan Spearing: 73 of the exact same problem over and over and over again because [00:35:00] little Johnny messed up number 23. He literally got so bored doing the same thing over and over again. He started to look out the window and he forgot to carry the one. So 500 more problems for you, little Johnny and no more jiu-jitsu and no more judo because you gotta do your figuring, you know?
Nathan Spearing: And, and, uh, so talk about that.
John Moody: Uh, you know, this comes out of Wiley’s. Made some observations on this subject, and I’ve been a Christian since 1997. Uh, so I’ve been a part of quite a few different churches over the years. Went to Southern Seminary, so I got to meet a ton of homeschooled or Christian schooled guys.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: Uh, Yeah, I’ve been surprised how much pushback I’ve gotten at times on this.
John Moody: I’m meant to ask Wiley if he’s gotten pushback when he’s said this, but it strikes me that [00:36:00] it, it, it’s not uncommon, you know, I can’t put an exact percentage on it, but that the way a lot of boys are raised in a lot of Christian households, um, you know, just like churches are mainly ran by women in America.
John Moody: education and most homes are ran by women. Now. That’s partly because men no longer work in the home. So the influence of a man in his home over its tone, direction, philosophy and priorities often is greatly minimized.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: Mom is usually. calling almost all the shots when it comes to what are the priorities in terms of daily schedule and educational material.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: And let’s face it, mom is not like [00:37:00] mom is far more likely to make the kids read Jane Austin than she is to make the kids read Jocko willing.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: you know, mom is far more likely to wanna take the kids to Shakespeare in the park than blood sport Um, so, so there’s this kind of issue that, again, it just like when you talk about the feminization of church, you talk about the feminization of home, you kind of begin to step on some toes.
John Moody: Uh, but the way I often see this, over 20 years of, you know, I, I also taught at a highly prestigious, um, private school in Louisville for a year. Then I ran my own private tutoring business probably for about seven years, and privately tutored multiple hundreds of kids, most of them from private schools, a lot of them private Christian schools [00:38:00] over those years.
John Moody: And you, you really get a feeling for. , um, you know, just kind of the mouthiness and the softness that characterizes the priorities in education, um, that, that we’re especially offering young men. Um, and, and so that’s a, and one area I’ve really seen that stand out. And it finally kind of clicked for me that a lot of this, you know what I tell people if they were listening to this, well, John.
John Moody: what would be a quick way, you know, like what’s the dummy light in my car that I can look at and get a quick gauge on how things are. I’m like, well look at your schedule and go through and, and look at hours devoted to more feminine type things. Um, plays in art and, [00:39:00] uh, you know, classical music. and, uh, you know, bookish and whatnot.
John Moody: Not that any of these things are bad, I want to make it clear. I’m not saying these things are are bad, but a lot of these fall more into the feminine ethos and then look at your schedule and classify masculine things. How much time is spent on truly physical chores,
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: building things, repairing. This, um, how much time is spent on a, a martial art or a truly competitive sport that, that has a little bit of an edge to it.
John Moody: Um, and, and I think you’ll be surprised, um, at, you know, how little of a lot of homeschooling or Christian family schedule is built around things that [00:40:00] actually build. real men.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: Um, there there’s a lot of things that build men who can get by well in our effeminate culture and economic system, but we don’t wanna build men who can get by in this brokish hellish system that we now inhabit.
John Moody: I want to build men who can change it.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: I want to build. Who, who can see just who, who are just like, yeah, I don’t wanna live in a country where everything is controlled by multinational conglomerates who then, you know, can make me get an experimental drug just so I can go to work and all of this other nonsense, you know?
John Moody: So part of it’s just this idea that what kind of boys, what kind of men do we want our boys to be? . And then what does that [00:41:00] look like for our daily, weekly, monthly schedule and rhythms? Um, you know, cuz like my one son on Saturday, both my sons competed in two divisions at this tournament. And my one s you know, my one son was coming off of a week.
John Moody: He had a respiratory infection, so hadn’t been sleeping good all week, kind of worn down. still wanted to compete, which I was great with, cuz again, in real life like you’re a man. Like I sprained my wrist last night at session. I still ran a chainsaw this morning. Ain’t comfortable running a chainsaw with a sprained wrist, but we need a bit more firewood.
John Moody: Like, you know, as a man you, you have to be able to perform under less than ideal circumstances. So my son is now deep into this Saturday tournament fighting in his second division. And, um, I’m watching from the sidelines as a dad and his opponent just snaps him and he, he just [00:42:00] hits side of face. I, I could hear it from 40 feet away, just whack bam, against him that I can hear him wince,
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: you know?
John Moody: So this is my 12 year old son. I have that dad moment of just like, I wanna go to my.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: because I could see, you know, I’m 40 feet away. I could just see this look of immense pain on his face cuz he just literally ate, ate the mat full force. Um, and he turtles up to defend until the ref calls Maite and makes them stand back up.
John Moody: And now I’m sitting here going, wondering what is his mental mindset going to be? When he stands up and has to get right back into this fight,
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: I’m now watching to see how he is going to cope with [00:43:00] that reality. That this other person just hit me with the Earth
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm.
John Moody: and I have to get back up and decide, am I hurt?
John Moody: Am I gonna, you know, A and you just, there’s so few places you can give your sons that type of emotional fitness, that ability to, you know, perform under pain, to take loss and get back up again and go right back at it. And then families wonder why, um, the, the, the households that their households produce are so, , weak vis Avis, the culture at large and other forces surrounding them.
John Moody: And I’m like, well, you never taught your boys to be strong and, and you can’t teach your boys to be strong by solely modeling it. You can’t teach your boys [00:44:00] to be strong by talking about it. But those are important. At the end of the day, boys can only become strong, like trees become strong. So there’s a study years and years ago where they planted trees.
John Moody: and what was considered like this perfect environment. And what they discovered is over time, all the trees died and broke because the trees never faced any adversity in this perfect environment, and it made them weak. And, and so adversity challenge, um, a proper amount of pain in physical discomfort. If those are not part of our curriculum for our boys, we are never going to produce men.
Nathan Spearing: Mm-hmm. Well, we had the. My 10 year old, uh, choked out a five or six year old at church. [00:45:00] Um, and I heard about it from the five or six year old’s, mom and I. This was a huge win for our church culture. It was this huge win for that household. That wife asked me, Hey, uh, your. my son out. Like it was not my, I haven’t actually even taught my son proper choke nick technique because he hasn’t, he doesn’t understand body position yet, and I don’t want him trying to do a finish when he doesn’t understand how to reverse these positions and hold these positions.
Nathan Spearing: It’s just where we are in our personal development of that. So she said, what is the, what is the proper thing here? What do you think? I don’t have boys. I have, you know, I have, this is my first boy. I have young, I have daughters, and I’ve got, I want to know what do we do here? And I said, well, And she was asking about her son, cuz her son got like really mad and my son let him go and then turned around and just started punching the 10 year old, which first of all, [00:46:00] understandable, you’re gonna have to escalate to different tool set.
Nathan Spearing: But she was asking about how do you train and say, well first of all I’m gonna go to my son and I’m gonna say you’re, you know, we talked about this, the Judo Mutual benefit. Like you’re a 10 year old, he’s five year old, you should. Right at his level, you should have control, you should be building him up and then, but at the same time, you don’t ever get to have lack of emotional control because that is what we’re actually training is calm decision making.
Nathan Spearing: Process despite adversity and you learn and it’s such a fun thing to be doing that with other parents in the church. You know, cuz I think that they always, like the boys are, you’re in your church clothes and you’re wrestling. No wrestling, you’re not allowed to rest. No, no, no. Like we actually want them to wrestle.
Nathan Spearing: We want them to actually probably cross boundaries and see character flaws and have parents that aren’t saying Stop. And this is, and and shepherding over shepherding. It’s fun to work that out communally. Um, [00:47:00] and our households having to have the discussion. The husband’s standing there and you know, me talking to my son afterwards and saying, okay, this is how it works.
Nathan Spearing: This is how it works out in the, in the big household of the church. Um, and that’s fun. Uh, I know you have, uh, time constraints. Uh, when, when is your podcast coming out real quick?
John Moody: Oh, hopefully by May.
Nathan Spearing: May. Okay. Well, we’re not waiting that long because. We want Rogue. Wanna see a bunch of our listeners at Rogue Food. But you’re excited about that.
Nathan Spearing: You got a little teaser for, for guys. Where are they, where are they gonna be able to find it and stay connected? When are you gonna start announcing that and where, when, when it’s, when it’s live? Where are, are our listeners gonna see that link show up?
John Moody: Uh, it’ll be on my socials and the podcast is gonna be a new Christendom press. So if you follow Eric, And suave and them. I’m sure they’ll also, they’ll also drop the word when it finally goes live.
Nathan Spearing: Oh man, the internet [00:48:00] will never be the same. Well, I know you got things to do, John. Uh, thanks for taking the time and looking forward to seeing you in person.
John Moody: Yeah, man. For your listeners, you know, if this is a subject they want us to come back to when we have a little more time, um, I’d, I’d love to have, you know, 30, 40 minutes to talk about, you know, more. It, it’d be great to do. I wonder if we could get Eslan and Wiley and you and I all on a show together.
Nathan Spearing: Mm man, that’d be great.
John Moody: so, but I
Nathan Spearing: they use, uh, Chris to, he probably has the wasta to actually make that happen. And, uh, and we’ll get it, get it done.
John Moody: Nice. Well, Lord bless your day brother. And Lord bless all the listeners.
Nathan Spearing: Same to you brother. Bye.
Nathan Spearing: There, you have it. My interview with John Moody. Share it with a friend. If you found it inspirational, maybe listen to it with your wife and let her push [00:49:00] back. On the ways that she feels like it doesn’t apply in your household or ways that you guys can incorporate some of those things into your household.
I always say, there’s a reason why. God created it, husband and wife, because our boys need the unique things about their mother and their father to become productive. In life after their youth. As well as our daughters, they need the unique qualities that a husband and wife can provide together in harmony United towards a vision. So take an opportunity to listen to the discussion.
And implement certain things in your home. Have fruitful discussion with your wife, your kids, your boys. And as we mentioned before the road food conference in may I linked that in the show notes, as well as an opportunity. If you are in the Pacific Northwest, we want to come to the traditional fatherhood intensive.
MI CR Wiley. [00:50:00] And Rory groves and I linked. Uh, in two weeks. I’m doing the digital summit with well, Spencer Renaissance of men talking about what men need.
All those online and or digital events will be linked in the show notes below.
As always have a good one.
