Contra CBMW: Does Equality Equal Selfishness?

An article by David Schrock, who is the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Seymour, Indiana, is found on CBMW's website (http://cbmw.org/men/manhood/gone-in-60-seconds/).

Shrock's article highlights three ads seen on TV (Wolkswagon, Tide, and Taco Bell), and Shrock claims these ads distorts the biblical view of men because it enforces the idea that men care about their children only to satisfy their selfish desires.

"Yet, language is only part of the problem.  A great problem arises with the way that Tide suggests why a man should become a dad mom.  The payoff for this new role is presented as a way to get more ‘me time.’"

A man chooses to stay home and fold the laundry in order to have more "me time."  But when a woman stays home and folds the laundry, does she do it because she wants more "me time"? Is Shrock saying that women who stay home are inherently selfish?

"In reality, Tide is not to blame for this weak vision of manhood.  They are simply reflecting a culture that expects men to live for themselves.  And when adolescent boys, whose hearts are filled with selfish folly, see a picture of a man who stays home and has ample ‘me time,’ they are invited to find a woman—probably multiple women—who will take care of the finances while they take care of the home—and themselves.  This is not what God had in mind when created mankind as male and female (see Titus 2:1-10)."

If a woman finds a man (or several) who will take care of the finances, while she takes care of the home - and herself -  is it what God had in mind when he created mankind as male and female?

Perhaps Shrock thinks that women will spend a decade or two having babies, which leaves one with little "me time." But what about women who choose to have only two children (such as Shrock and his wife), or are unable to have children to begin with? Doesn't their choice to stay home reflect the selfish desire to have more "me time"?

While Shrock is certainly correct in saying that people absorb wrong messages from commercials, he seems to miss the point. The purpose of a commercial is to sell things, not help people understand right from wrong. Biblical equality does not teach selfishness; the world of commerce does. Equality affirms that all humans are created in the image of God, obligated to love their neighbors as themselves, and to serve them through love. Even Shrock sees the difference, when he isn't trying to enforce a gender separation into the picture:

What are we to make of these commercials?  Each presents something very wholesome and good—a father and son playing catch; a dad willing to serve his wife and children around the house; a man being unashamed to care for his baby on the streets of the city.  Yet, without changing camera angles, each commercial distorts God’s vision of manhood.

When he tries to make the case for the "neutered male," he loses sight of the beauty of a man caring for his children, and the same picture becomes something ugly. That he doesn't see that the ugliness comes from the advertisement department, not from biblical equality, tells us that he cannot differentiate the two.