males – Auriesville Tubthumper

In the Footsteps of Your Father?

Follow the markers and don’t get lost along the way…

“Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us?” (Malachi 2:10a)

For you guys out there, have you thought about what it looks like to become a man. And if you are a father, (defined that you have a son you are responsible for and haven’t just planted a seed and walked away like many) have you thought of the journey your son will make? The journey to manhood is one that every male must take.

It is a sad commentary that in our times (2014) the jungle out there drains the manhood out of many and the survivors are few. We now live in a society where there is very little direction for men. There are no maps for our young men to follow. Sadly there are few committed fathers willing to show the way young men need to travel. Back in the day… fathers spent time with their protégé and taught them the way of the land. They helped their son’s to earn the steps to manhood and to know the day they really become men. Hikers can follow the markers on the Northville-Placid and Appalachian trails to show them each step along the way for miles. The Appalachian Trail is a rugged trip through 14 states and each marker gets you one step closer to the summit. Young men need some markers to show them to the summit of manhood. They need the trail blazed ahead of them by strong men going forth first.

Growing boys and young men need a roadmap and need to see the lay of the land. Even with seeing the lay of the land they will still need to make difficult choices along the way. A good father will provide a clear roadmap but will still allow the freedom of choice. He will allow his sons to fail and experience the knowledge that comes from the school of hard knocks. He will pick them up clean them off and lovingly but firmly set them on the trail again. A father will provide corrective measures appropriately where needed and do what is necessary to help his seed mature and blossom at the right time. “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” (Proverbs 13:24)

Whether young or old, men need to have instruction repeated. Most men need to hear instruction five to seven times before it sets in. Repetition is good for males. Repetition is good because we are woefully forgetful. “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?” ( Hebrews 12: 7-9)

The world we live in has changed. Oh, if we could only wake up to the world we once knew it would be so comforting. This is not to be. Our world has changed and there is no longer a worldview of fatherhood. Back in the day we had a good picture of our world with strong, loving and caring fathers. Back in the day we had men actually fully integrated into family life. We had fathers for children to go to for some guidance when they needed it. Our world had fathers that would provide protection, guidance and comfort when needed. We had fathers to model what a daddy or a husband looks like. “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.” (Psalm 127: 3-5) If you were unfortunate and were one of the few back then that lost your father for some reason it was more likely one would come forth from your neighborhood. Oh, how we lived in different times.

If you are on the Lake Placid hiking trail and you skip one or two of the markers or check-points along the way you will get lost in the wilderness. The markers cannot be skipped and the check-points are there for security. If you miss on of those you will incur a wound. A son that misses a check-point in the journey to manhood will be lost and will have a wound. “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” ( Ephesians 6:4) If they fall too far off the path they will have a deep wound. As an example… If your father abandons your family you will need to become a man before you are ready. You must fill the shoes of the father that should be there for you. Because you need to fill his shoes you get robbed of your youth. You are put under inappropriate stress and that is a deep, deep wound. The scar will remain forever.

Have you ever noticed all the genealogical information in the Holy Bible? It tells us that so and so begat this son and so and so was the son of this guy and he was the son of that guy and on and on it goes. Father’s and sons obviously have great importance to God. “The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.” (Proverbs 23:24) There is hope!

We have hope to carry us through this troubling time. If you are a man that became lost because you missed a marker or lost the map you can get on the right path. You can find your way back. If you are a young man and you want buck the tide and be a good father there is a way. If you want to be a good male leader there is a way. There is a roadmap that was developed ages and ages ago. It is for all to follow and it has markings every short distance traveled to show you the way. You can see the truth and the forest through the trees. It will show you the way!

There is a Father! The father figure you have missed and are looking for is there. He will show you the way and he will help you to stay on the right road. If we all take a close look we can see God as that great Father we need. When you read the scriptures it becomes clear the Bible portrays the Lord as the Great Father. God created everything and God created you. He was not presented to us in the scriptures as mother. God was positioned for us as the Father. All throughout the Bible He is the Father. Seek the Father… turn to His word, notice the markers and get on the right path. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” (1 John 3:1)

God Bless your day,

The Tubthumper

Meaning of Man, Part 2

Part 2 of 3 posts.

Ok men, here we go on the journey overview. We will look at six stages and will begin with ‘adam.

Creational Male: The very first experience a man has is the only one that we share with females. The foundational Hebrew word for man is ‘adam, which can refer to either male or female. It reflects a generic idea of mankind. For us men it tells us we are first and foremost (creational) beings. We ultimately reflect our Creator. We are flesh and blood, good ole red-blooded male material beings who someday will return to what we are, which is materially dust. Because we are creational we have capabilities that are divine and honorable. We also came with a caveat, in that we are also capable of using the talents we were created with for evil purposes and no good. We can never forget who and what we are as men. We are beings that are capable of fantastic and glorious benevolence and at the same time we are beings capable of horrible and destructive evil. We are capable of being rotten to the core and some, as you are aware, become evil beings.

Phallic Male: The second Hebrew word describes maleness in a basic and fundamental anatomical way. The Hebrew word zakar is the word for “male” in the phrase “God created man ‘adam, male zakar and female”, Genesis 1:27. If you check the Hebrew lexicons you will see they list the root of this term as “the male protrusion or male phallus”. According to Dr. Hicks, “This word reflects the phallic male in his most distinct sexual aspect”. We at our most primal level are sexual beings. The Bible is clear on this and does not pretend we are anything other than stated. To be a male means you are a phallic kind of guy and you do not have a need to apologize for being that way. You should never, ever allow it to be denigrated by women or by some crazy or crass individuals calling themselves men.

Warrior Male: I guess it is fact that there is a lack of true warriors in our society today. The Hebrew word gibbor describes a male in his warring strength. We know how it is right? We war often to be the best, the biggest, the toughest, richest, smartest, etc, etc… We kill our competition. We do away with any opposing viewpoints. We kill our declared enemies, and sometimes we end up killing our own marriages and families in the wake of things. This warrior and competitive warring is all part of being a normal man, however, the warrior has been de-valued in our contemporary society. Because of the feminine influence and the sissification of men the warrior has become a nasty killer that is violent, stupid, careless and abusive. Warriors are important to any society when they are fighting for the right things. A nation without its warriors will be in very serious trouble when a situation arises that calls for war. Strength, power, combativeness and competition are true masculine traits and unless we rediscover them and value them will lead our society into serious trouble. There is another reality to a warrior. The reality of combat is serious as warriors do get wounded and many die young.

Wounded Male: The next Hebrew word describes man in his weakness and frailty. The fourth Hebrew word for man is enosh, the wounded warrior or the wounded male. The contemporary male has been wounded by many things. Our fellow men have been wounded by abusive fathers, absent fathers, domineering mothers, bad teachers and poor educational systems, toxic business takeovers, layoffs, failures, success, alcoholism, divorce, poverty and even wealth. Men in our society are wounded and bleeding and are in need and don’t even know it. Sometimes the wounded male recovers and sometimes they never do. They become lost in the black hole of woundedness along the journey. Men can remain wounded for the rest of life pretty easily. Woundedness is a very important part of the normal male experience. Wounds are predictable but very few men are prepared to deal with them. The wounds are survivable and survivors can move along to some other gratifying male experiences. Before you think I am portraying men as victims I want to point out that most men are to blame for a good percentage of our wounds. We give up our place at times and we make mistakes. All is not our fault as noted above but some is. No matter what though, we need to man-up and get through it.

Ok men… we have reviewed the first 4 stages of the masculine journey. Now come with me and let’s take a look at the last 2 stages.

Click here to go to part 3

“The Tubthumper”

Meaning of Man, Part 1

Part 1 of a series of 3 posts.

This series of posts will be an overview of the six stages of masculinity from “The Masculine Journey”.

What does it mean to be a man? What is manliness or masculinity? Both men and women want to know the answer to the question, “What does it mean to be a man?” Does anyone have a clue? I suppose most men would hesitate before throwing out an answer and would have a fear of getting swallowed by feminist equalitarianism when answering that question.

You men that have reached the mature or sage stage of your life might want to pass some of these posts on to your young men in the creational or phallic stages to help them to not get lost or stuck along the way to where you are. Oh, now you ask what is a “creational stage and what is a phallic stage”? Stay with me on these posts and learn. For you men that are looking for what has been lost I hope it shows up here.

The model that Jesus gives us in the gospel should provide a good visual image for man. You must, however, study His life without any of the modern interpretations or miss-representations that I see so often. You must read the word for what it is and let it speak for itself. Jesus modeled both strength and sensitivity which change as men grow older. Manhood will look differently as you move through your adult life cycle.

Remember men that your life is a journey and on any journey the landscape changes as you travel. Some of you might say, “c’mon man”, there is nothing that is normal anymore when it comes to the subject of gender”. To a certain extent I am inclined to agree with you if we’re only talking about our warped cultural and social mindset these days. Make note, however, there are very critical differences between male and female in just about every area we can think of. Because a high percentage of males born today do not have the presence of a father and we have a dominant force of feminine expectations about men, it is not “politically correct” or “socially correct” to be talking about “the normal male”.

As you men travel your journey you will leave and arrive at a new place at times. You need to be aware when this happens that you will have a separation from the past, with an introduction to the new place and this will cause you some confusion to work through.

I don’t know that I will address marriage much here but when a man gets married he throws himself right smack dab in the middle of chaos and change. I remember when I got married. I did not give a second thought to the adjustment and change that would be required. If all men would get in touch with the adjustment needed most would wait and some might be scared out of it. Maybe, I say maybe, because I was young, blinded and just married her. I was heavily bound in the phallic stage which will be explained later. Now if you were to combine another event to cause adjustment such as a young man losing his job in the first year of marriage the adjustment, chaos, confusion and transition is longer and harder. When those kinds of things happen it will feel like your lesson is inappropriate for the season of life you are in and much too harsh. These experiences are actually normal. Don’t let anyone tell you they are not. These are rich experiences that will cause you to learn more about yourself and your manhood than any book or lecture could provide. Survive them and move to the next stop on your journey.

“The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the grey head”, Proverbs 20:29. In other words, “young men are defined by their warrior strength and old men are defined by their wisdom” says Dr. Hicks.[1] What a man is greatly depends on what season in life he is in. These different seasons of life also provide different spiritual challenges and issues relating to faith. Children need to know that sins are forgiven; younger men need to overcome the tendency to do evil; and older men need to hang in there and value the spiritual persistence. As it is written, “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one”,1 John 2:12-14.

In Dr. Hick’s writings he plotted out six Hebrew words that represent the male journey.

Follow along with me in part 2 as I provide a quick overview of each stage of the masculine journey by working through the meaning of these six Hebrew words from Scripture.

Click here to go to Part 2

“The Tubthumper”

[1] The Masculine Journey, understanding the six stages of manhood, by Robert Hicks, page 23.