I've been doing a lot of reading lately on man-hood and am doing a series for my Jr. Highers on Biblical Men. The reading, and studying I've been doing has definitely given me the idea that we as men (especially within the church) are being or have been emasculated. I'm currently reading Wild at Heart by John Eldridge, in which he says this exact sentiment.
One of the things John Eldridge says is: "Inside every man is a warrior".
That may not seem super intuitive, but let me as you man to man: when was the last time someone called you a warrior?
We as men read stories of warriors, watch movies of warriors and our hearts begin to beat faster as we think "I would love to be THAT guy".
I collect swords, read fantasy books and watch war movies because deep inside me is a warrior that relates to ALL of those things. Sometimes, when I'm alone, I duel an imaginary foe with my collected swords. Up until now, I was embarrassed and some of you may laugh, but you know what? You would too if you had my cool swords. I connect with Wild at Heart more than I ever thought I would. I heard guys talk about it and I envisioned John Eldridge telling me I had to be a man of the woods to experience masculinity, or I had to rock climb to be man. Yet, he doesn't say those things, he mentions them as things he does, but he doesn't try to DEFINE manhood, he simply states that a man's heart has three needs: "A battle to fight, an adventure to live and a Beauty to save". We want to battle, because we are WARRIORS.
Sadly, what has happened is that our "Battle Face" has been told to calm down, be less hyper, be less intrusive and to be more....feminine. We can't allow our warrior to have his penis cut off guys! God has placed us men on earth to fight the enemy, Satan! Once we relax and let the warrior get castrated...Satan has an upper hand in this fight.
I think I'm going to be posting more on this, so we can get to the "How" of this topic. But, never forget...YOU ARE A WARRIOR! (Thanks John!)
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6 years ago
I love that book! It's weird how when we start talking about men being men some might think we're diminishing women, but you can be both masculine and honor & respect the talents and rights of women.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% Erik!
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail right on the head. I think more people in the faith need to know and understand what is happening right under our noses here.
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