More than 30 Hollywood actresses – including household names such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Cara Delevingne and Kate Beckinsale – have come forward to accuse film mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment and assault spanning more than 3 decades.

Many of the accusations exhibit the same patterns of exploitation. As a immensely influential producer in Hollywood, Weinstein would single out rising female prospects and arrange for them to meet him in a private place – usually his hotel room – on the pretext of discussing film scripts or acting opportunities.

Once alone, he asked for sex favours in exchange for film roles, declaring that such was the way of Hollywood. If they didn’t agree, he would have his way anyway, according to some accounts.

And apparently we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. New accounts of abuse at his hands keep surfacing in increasing numbers.

Even as a man, the things that Weinstein has done just sound utterly … monstrous to me.

I can’t even begin to imagine how hearing all this feels to a woman.

I find it hard to imagine Weinstein was always this way. What birthed this monster? Wealth? Power, having risen to Hollywood’s highest echelons?

I can’t even begin to imagine how hearing all this feels to a woman.

As I reflect on Weinstein’s soulless actions, I see a heart set out to dominate others. A man who abuses others to affirm his own “superiority”. I see a twisted take on Genesis 9:2, a false masculinity which wrongly encourages entitlement and brings a man pleasure from inflicting terrible pain on others.

It weighs heavily on my heart that so many at the very top of their fields live with such blatant and cruel disregard for others.

Weinstein isn’t alone at the top of this predatory food chain.

Hollywood’s casting couch is such an entrenched notion no one even bothers refuting its existence. Bill Cosby and Fox News founder Roger Ailes are among the recent media power players to fall from grace.

It’s rife in politics too. From Weinstein to Weiner – Anthony Weiner, a politician recently sentenced to jail in a sexting scandal.
I was just as appalled last year when I first heard the recorded audio of Trump making incredulously entitled remarks about grabbing women by their privates. In his own words: “When you’re a star, they let you do it, you can do anything.”

Of course, he was just following in the footsteps of another President, Bill Clinton, except the Democrat did what he did while in the Oval Office. Literally in that office.

This is the heart I see behind the horror:

• Self-pleasing: No empathy (Mark 12:31)
• Severe entitlement (James 4:1-12)
• Self-worth derived from wilful domination of others (Leviticus 25:43)
• Scheming to derive sexual pleasure from the discomfort and pain of others (Zechariah 7:10)
• Superiority: Pride which affirms one’s power over another by inflicting pain on them (Ezekiel 22:29)

We need to go back to the truth, where to be a man is to be like God.

I know that some of these are values that are prevalent and even celebrated in today’s world. That really saddens my heart.

We’re called to be a light in the darkness, but how much light will be needed to wash out this great darkness? How can I teach my sons so they imitate Jesus – not the Hefners and Bilzerians that seem to prosper in this world?

I can only look to the Bible for hope and wisdom. The primary response I can offer to the lives of men like Harvey Weinstein is to commit to living out a holy manliness instead.

If we want to see fewer Weinsteins in the world, we must first stop playing by the world’s rules of what it means to “be a man”.

We need to go back to the truth, where to be a man is to be like God.

In a world where rough men seemingly reign, we are called counterculturally to remain meek (Matthew 5:5).

At a time where infidelity reigns rampant – where players are celebrated and clapped on the back – we are called to love our wives singularly and sacrificially (Ephesians 5:25).

When making a name for yourself seems to be all that matters, we are instead called to be humble (1 Peter 5:5).

Real masculinity doesn’t gather crowds around and say look how big I am, look at what I can do. Real masculinity points the masses to our Father God, and tells them look how big He is, look what He can do.

What would the world be like if the men who lived in it looked less like the Alpha males glorified in the headlines, and more like Jesus?