Every day the word tries to distract us. We get caught up in what celebrities are doing, and we look at superficialities such as just telling men to be good fathers without looking at why the violence and divorce laws drive men away. A Pastor can be destroyed if his wife leaves him. And you cannot expect courage when you have trained it out of a man to make him a good Church Going Nice Guy.
Look at this list of people of faith.
23By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26He considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger; for he persevered as though he saw him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. 31By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
Moses was a murderer. The Jews were idolators, cross-grained, disobedient. And Rahab was indeed a prostitute. God chose them anyway. But I can see that Moses would not be acceptable in a modern 20trh Century Church, nor would his sister Miriam the prophetess. Not would Jesus. Can you imagine any modern Pastor preaching this?
52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
This is one of those passages that have led to the Catholics talking about the saving power of the communion table. However, the thing about this is that it is an act, it is a choice. Our faith is shown by our actions. Like Moses, we have to choose Christ instead of the fleeting distractions of this word.
Nor should we let the church push us into a mold: of mild mannered sheep. We are Christ’s not the church. Most men, as part of their nature, have a somewhat wild, feral edge as well as an internal little boy. The feral edge, disciplined and trained, keeps us and our families in faith. (This is why men need to meet together. Men can confront the hard edges each person has — and we often do ti by doing a few tasks together. Most women simply do not “get it”.). The little boy comes out in our enjoyment of new toys, tools, and our hobbies. And in our appreciation of tbe beauty in this world: from trees to the sea to the woman beside us.
But it does not come out in being some kind of false “nice guy” who does not have problems. Being a man instead is about dealing with problems: the ones that result from our own errors and sins and the ones that happen around us. We are here to follow Christ, and ignore the demands of the world. And in many ways, the power structure of the modern church is part of the world.
[Quick note. I am not saying that we should abandon the church to make something new. Instead we need to use the church to meet as men, reclaim the structure (with leadership by men) and let God begin the process of correcting the church. For the wordly, divorce tolerating, female and queer led branches of the church will die. The branches who choose Christ and at present are opposing the spirit of this age, and will live.
Choose wisely. You can either follow Christ or be a good Churchian. You can’t do both.
The committees of the mainline churches have been overtaken by doctrinaire feminists and identity socailist. The consequence is that many of the men who remain try to teach the truth are being subversive within the institutions of the church. Because we don’t want to be evanjellyfish.
I guess that’s why the church is filled with weak men. And all the strong men are conspicuiously absent.
(i.e. linking that piece about him. Not linking him, personally.)
Ick; I can’t stand Doug Wilson; in fact, you’ve just inspired a rant / blog post, by linking him. Thanks!