2:12 AM MAN-UP.
You know, with all the Obvious differences I have with Barrack Obama I agree with him on one thing.. Wheres all the "dudes" at? Out of all Obama's hopeful (and I say it boldly) claptrap he says one thing right... (I'll be breaking down what he say's wrong also.. as well as what McCain says right and wrong.. but that's for a later time..)
In regards to the men in most Churches.... I feel there is a lack of "real" men... If I look around I see dudes that look like little boys.. why? Mainly because they still act like little boys.. They run around wearing "girl clothing" have "girl haircuts" and are BIG TIME "drama queens" Men today are more concerned with fashion more than anytime in history.. Don't get me wrong.. I don't have an issue with making sure you look good.... The ladies like that.. Today men are passive, they are cowards, they can't talk face to face... When issues arise they hide behind pansy texting. They try and drink their problems away.. They abandon their children.. MOST MEN IN THE CHURCH ARE NOT CAPABLE OF DISCIPLING SOMEONE.
A lot of these "dudes" make more of a stand through being EMO or INDIE or METROSEXUAL than they do with Jesus Christ... There's a small group of real men in the church but the numbers fall sup-par to what it should be... I became a "man" by mistake really.... My dad abandoned me... But I've somehow survived and haven't become a pussy like "most" of the boys around me (I've made a lot of "admitted" mistakes and have had to Man-up) However, there are a few real men around me, and I'm making sure I stay close... I spent a lot of my youth getting in fights and dodging gangs and bullies. For a short time I walked in retaliation, breaking my knuckles and hurting a lot of my enemies along the way.... Through the many paths I've been down, trying to make sense of what the purpose of a man is, I think I've arrived on the right path that God wants me to journey down...
I've been thinking about this one guy..... this one guy, that is a true man.. someone that I have been around almost since the beginning of my walk with God.. This man is significantly older than me.. It's important for us young men to find older men... Obviously this is a huge deficient with most of the men in todays churches..... The young prideful man is always the one that abandons wisdom.. but this guy is amazing.. this is a guy who is very wise and humble... but at the same time if you get in his face he's completely capable of giving you the ass kicking that you probably deserve.. I'ma make sure I stay close to him...
here's another guy that doesn't mess around..
Posts
Manhood = 'a--kicking?'
Manhood = baggy pants?
Manhood = Republican Politics?
Manhood = Mark Driscoll?
Mahood = attacking visitors to your blog?
;-)
Manhood = the Son of Man, the Second Adam (Man)?
Just how are you defining the word 'man?'
feminism has done a number on our culture, hasn't it???
Leslie...
I think feminism has given men an excuse to not be men...
Hey Pastor Steve,
You were once a wrestler right? I'm sure you're perfectly capable of putting someone in a choke hold. Or sweeping them off their feet with a fireman's-carry, no? (Heck, I remember you and your brother being the two biggest guys in the church with arms the size of my head, and legs that looked more like tree trunks..your jawline went straight from your ears to your shoulders..) Being "capable", does that mean you paint yourself green and stomp around letting everyone know it? Suplex anyone?
Maybe I should have described him as someone like Paul Bunyan..
but then you probably would have hammered this on me..
Manhood=tree killer?
see I can do that too... although, it seems you know more about being a man than I do... awesome.
I'm glad you were able to define that for me.. Cause like I said.. "I think I've arrived on the right path that God wants me to journey down..."
Assuming I'm that ignorant only proves to me you have something against what I have to say, when remembering some of my past, looking towards the future and what God might have in store for me, and in the present, seeing what is right in front of me and making a legitimate healthy assessment for correction.... Or rather, you want to prove something to yourself because you're a Pastor... go ahead you can use my blog to test your intellect...But I'm not gonna assume the position as one of your sheep..
Hold on, my phone is ringing... let me see if it's you.... Nope.... Seems you're the passive aggressive type.
Baggy pants? what does that even mean? Are you just splurging your questions with whatever is opposite to what I say? Clearly you don't understand the culture I'm speaking about..
I'm not a Republican.. where do you get the idea that I am... because I'm Pro-Life? and I don't agree with Obama? Well.. skinheads don't like black people... does that mean I'm a skinhead?
Mark Driscoll is the man! Or have you not been told that yet?
Attacking visitors on my blog? Sorry to be tit for tat here... But, You left the first comment... Using a fancy word to stamp me as a smear merchant or a contributer to "hate speech" is pretty bold.. But I didn't take that as an attack, rather I challenged you to prove your points.. you failed to do so.....
How do I define the word man? Well, I guess because my daddy wasn't one I must not be either... Good thing you had a father and know what it's all about... I guess I should just pack it in.... and turn my eyes to you instead of Jesus..
Hey Bro,
I really have no intention of insulting you:
"Assuming I'm that ignorant only proves to me you have something against what I have to say"
"Using a fancy word to stamp me as a smear merchant or a contributer to "hate speech" is pretty bold"
If this is how you perceived my initial comments, then my sincere apologies!
But, I certainly didn't intend them that way!
I assume you take issue with the word 'diatribe?' I wouldn't use that to call you names, but merely to point out that your words come across to me as angry, divisive, and antagonistic...
That doesn't mean 'hateful' or 'smearing' (at least not to me), but simply overly aggressive. Which is exactly how I feel like you have interacted with me!
I'm a big boy, I like the taste of my own blood in my teeth, (I am a former wrestler) but I do feel like that kind of an approach does little to reflect God's Image into a world in desperate need of 'the sons of God to be revealed!'
At this point you and I stand shoulder to shoulder in agreement; the world (and the Church) is in deep need of men to be men.
But my failed attempt at humor (which I should know by now fails in a written format with people who don't already have an intimate knowledge of my mannerisms!) in pointing out the way your post seems to define manhood was a real desire to know how you do define the term!
You seem to call men who wear stylish clothes 'girls' (and use the term as an insult!) and to paint manhood in terms of inflicting physical or psychological pain upon others.
Is this just a penchant for inflammatory language?
If so, I have the same 'gift' so no worries...
But the question remains. What is a man?
Jesus was no pushover, but neither was he an a--kicker! The suffering surrounding Jesus was what He endured, not inflicted!
??
Pastor Steve,
My first statement about painting ones self green was to show I wasn't advocating violence or a bully of any sort.. Just because I said a man is beyond most in a physical manner doesn't mean that I'm calling for men to start bopping one another into submission.. it's just a simple form of identification compared to what I see lacking..
am I clear on that?
vitriol:
Noun
1. language expressing bitterness and hatred
2. sulphuric acid [Latin vitrum glass, referring to the glossy appearance of the sulphates]
There is an extreme difference with making a generalized statement and pointing directly at a single person....(i.e. We are all sinners, therefore we are all lacking in character) If I make a safe legitimate analysis on what is taking place around me or even in the world and it has truth to it.... well, I guess the proof is in the pudding...
I wear stylish clothing.. Or at least I try to..But you wont find me planning an entire weekend to go shopping out of town.. I hardly shop online, in fact I don't think I have. For the past few years I have encountered A LOT of I guess "men" coming up to me and only being concerned with what is covering my skin.. Seriously, If you only knew how many times a dude will come up to me and scan me with their "style radar" and let me know they approve... it's rather sad...
As far as Jesus being an ass-kicker.. I believe he was... and he even took names while doing so. Is he a bully? Not at the least bit... But show me where the soft, weak, poor, "chick-a-fied" man people like to paint Jesus as went into the temple and accomplished what He set out to do..
"the question remains, what is a man?"
I think I've figured that out pretty fast...
thanks for your comments.
Dude, I'm a little late, but you've pretty much just spit out what I've been ranting about forever.
It's unbelievable how guys try to stay in a state of perpetual childhood. And don't even get me started on masculinity, or lack thereof. It seems like many guys are so eager to run from their calling as men.
And skinny jeans bug the hell out of me.
Anywho-great post, man.
haha.... I look beyond the "skinny-jeans" but, my point.... because I do have one.. Is there is this weird thing, whether it's psychological do to the "costumes" we wear. And let me say, there are men that wear "skinny jeans" or even "super baggy" that can qualify... but I'm talking more on the lines of being "controlled" by the trend you wear? Make sense? My spirit discerns that most men are being guided not fully by God, some not at all. Within our generation, (I am marginalizing) in most cases, men are really boys, and women are having to play both roles...