I first came across Roosh in 2012. My first marriage was on its last legs and deteriorating fast. Around that time, people I read like Vox Day and Matt Forney began writing about something called “game”. I wasn’t sure what I was reading at first, but Vox Day especially has dragged me into subjects I never thought I’d learn, like economics. Somehow, through all that, I found Roosh’s landing page for his book “Bang”.
Game has many negative connotations, although I found it helpful. It helped me to begin understanding she who is now my late ex-wife. I believe it also helped me to meet my new wife and to hold things together in a second, much better marriage.
Like me, Roosh was a shy guy who knew nothing about women. Following advice from his mom lead him to the “friend zone” curse. Roosh is a scientist by training, and as he came across “pick up artist” material, he began conducting experiments and recording his results, which resulted in “Bang”. He began a life of travel and fornication and living off the proceeds of writing books about it. If nothing else, Roosh was always interesting.
I could tell through his writing that Roosh was begining to experience what Solomon called “vanity and vexation of spirit”, and I began to call him the personification of Ecclesiastes, my favorite book of the Bible. I thought if he didn’t become a Christian eventually, he would be a shell of his former self.
Roosh’s conversion in 2019 seemed to come on very suddenly. One week, his podcast was about normal for that stage of his life, and the next week, he had Dr. E. Michael Jones on. I sure didn’t see it coming. Roosh was baptized in the Armenian Orthodox Church, so he returned to that.
After his sister died of cancer and he realized his life in eastern Europe was not going to be fulfilling, he returned to the Washington DC suburbs to live with his mother. Then he launched a car trip around our nation, giving speeches in 23 cities. The trip took 5 months. Each week, he posted a travel log video of the places he’d been and the thoughts he’d had in the prior week. He showed clips of cities and parks and interesting places he’d been, along with commentary about his experiences. He called it “Babylon Road” and the videos are probably still on YouTube. I followed along at home.
Roosh created “American Pilgrim” as a book based on his experiences. Like the videos, the chapters are organized by weeks, beginning with leaving his last city and culminating in the next city. After making a few changes to his routine, Roosh settled into attending church on Sunday if an Orthodox church was available, the exception being attending Joel Osteen’s church in Houston, which was a let down for him. (A common practice; Barbara Ehrenreich also attended as research for her book “Bright Sided“, a very good read. (My Amazon affiliate link is included.))
I’ll include a few thoughts on the book. Roosh encountered many people. Some were open to discussing spiritual things and others were not. Some people may not follow Roosh closely as they showed up to his events expecting to hear about how to bang women, while Roosh no longer wants to encourage sin. He met several people who were happy to hear his new message and encouraged him. Roosh still writes a lot about his fornicating past, but it is part of his testimony and conversion so I don’t see how he could avoid it and remain authentic.
Roosh struggled with being new in the faith. He felt greatly under-qualified to give people spiritual advice, and mostly stuck to his conversion story or how he was able to overcome problems through faith. He stopped at many monasteries and churches and talked to as many priests and monks as he could. He told many of them his story and received advice and blessings. I think his approach is the right one. Many of us Christians get a little too caught up in trying to tell others what to do, when it should simply be “This is my experience”.
I don’t know much about the Orthodox church, but I thought we “Protestants” were bad. Roosh often experienced Greek Orthodox not letting him take communion because he’s Armenian Orthodox, and the two churches are not in communion. At one church, he got a long lecture about how he needs to convert to Eastern Orthodox because the Armenians are wrong. (I’ve been through the “You should come to my church because yours probably teaches the Bible incorrectly” talk myself.)
Roosh also struggled with substituting one idol for another, such as novelty for fornication. None of us are immune from it, but Roosh demonstrates a spiritual maturity for recognizing it. Through the tour, he began to desire living in the mountains, but due to choosing what used to be a drug house, his experience was short lived and he promptly returned to living with his mother.
I personally have given up on thoughts of leaving my area. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it either. But where would I go? People say South Dakota is free, but I’ve also been told if I hated the insular nature of New Jersey, I would definitely not like South Dakota. I also grew up in the military and somehow got the message that I was supposed to serve in the military and settle wherever I landed, which left me far from home. I’ve begun telling my children that it’s probably time to put down roots, and since I’m stuck here, then this is where our family should settle. I figure if God wants me somewhere else, he’ll drag me there. But last year in the middle of “COVID”, we were able to sell our old house after only 7 days on the market and move into a larger house after one offer and one counter-offer. It was so effortless, God had to have been involved.
I’m surprised to find that some of Roosh’s books are still available on Amazon. I thought they were all banned. You have to buy “American Pilgrim” directly from his store though. Like all of his books, it’s a good read. I guess I could facetiously call it “Jesus and the Art of Challenger Maintenance”, although Roosh only had to pay a mechanic to put a cover back on the underside of his car.
