Material Signs of Maturity (on Father's Day, Dr. Mohler asks "When does a boy become a man?")

Answers Magazine ^ | R. Albert Mohler, Jr

[GodGunsGuts]

When does a boy become a man? The answer goes far beyond biology and chronological age...

[GodGunsGuts]

Ping!

[AnnGora]

I thought men were only grown-up boys.

[GodGunsGuts]

Ping!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Fzob]

When does a boy become a man?

When he puts away childish things, and acts like a man.

[hosepipe]

Rights of Passage are nebulous and arcane.. both with men and women..
Not so... the difference between a father and a sperm donor..

[ASOC]

Good question. Article at link has some intresting points.

Others have said

One might define adulthood as the age at which a person learns he must die and accepts his sentence undismayed.

A competent and self-confident person (an adult Ed.) is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.

And to paraphrase RAH
A man should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.

So, Happy Father’s Day to one and all.

[mouser]

About 50 years ago an old man told me the differance between a man and a boy was the man takes responsibility for his own actions

I have never found a better way of putting it.

[squarebarb]

I like that list.

[ckilmer]

Here's a pretty good prayer song

[Dad x 3]

I’ve heard it said that when Burt Reynolds was asked the same question, he answered with something to the effect of, “When his daddy says he is.”

[papineau]

A boy wants to be a fireman when he grows up.

A man wants to be a giant, monster fireman..

(I forget who the comedian who said this was)

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

When does a boy become a man?

ANSWER: When he joins with a woman...

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

When does a boy become a man?

ANSWER: When he joins with a woman...

P.S. That answer is in Genesis.

[Running On Empty]

marking

[DejaJude]

IMO, Kipling said it best in “If”.

[LanaTurnerOverdrive]

When does a boy become a man?

When he sleeps with his semi-attractive public school teacher.

[thecodont]

IMO, Kipling said it best in “If”.

IF.....

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm

[DejaJude]

That’s the one.