masculinity – Auriesville Tubthumper

TITANIC MEN, WHERE ARE THEY? Part 3

When I left the last post, I mentioned I would bring up the term “Adolescence.” This term is largely a creation of our society. It has to do with growth from child to adult and the emotional and physical experiences to adulthood. Culture plays an important role in influencing childhood development, and what is considered “normal” varies greatly from one culture to the next. Actually, most of what develops in people comes from the parenting skills of those that are charged with training up the youth. Encyclopedia Britannica published that American psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson described adolescence in modern Western societies as a “moratorium,” a period of freedom from responsibilities that allows young people to experiment with a number of options before settling on a lifelong career. Without clear roles, adolescents may establish their own pecking order and spend their time pursuing irresponsible or deviant activities. This has become a huge problem for us with the fatherlessness I mentioned earlier. Adolescence is usually a period when the youngster has an adult body after puberty but it still immature. It is a time when the person would be involved in much foolishness. This so-called adolescence period is accepted in our society, a time of fun for young males, a time that encourages visionless men that are only looking for the next piece of entertainment or a chance to put another notch on their belt. This adolescence thing does not exist in the Bible and it contradicts manhood.

We have all the thousands of abortions and baby killings going on around us and our men do not care. All they care about is the escape and the entertainment choices they have. Even within the modern church today some men are not living a life devoted to Christ and are living the ME-FIRST kind of life and not caring about the women and children of the church. They are not preparing themselves for leadership roles in church and not ministering in a devoted and meaningful way. It’s all about ME_FIRST!

Jesus did not go through a period of Adolescence. Growing from childhood into a young man then into manhood. That should be the model. THERE SHOULD BE NO SEASON OF FOOLISHNESS. Raise young men to be “MIGHTY MEN OF GOD.”

Today young men and boys are playing games (literally playing games on their smartphones) while Rome burns!

They just don’t care!! They just don’t care!

And speaking of adolescence, I just got a little distraction I can’t go without mentioning. Surprisingly I bumped into an article on my browser this morning that was written by one Mark Manson and was titled “What’s the problem with Masculinity.” I saw that he had a number of sources cited none of which was the Word of God. He used a bunch of pretty crass swearwords (most of the media today think that is cute to do) and early on asked the question, “Why are men such dicks?” Reading his article had me pretty much dis-believing this was a male writing. He pretty much slammed the young male species as being cruel and used an example of a boy picking on a girl. Well, I am here to tell you there are probably more cruel young girls than boys as I have seen it. The girls mature faster and usually are larger than the boys and there has been no lack of girls picking on boys. My wife tells me stories about how she used to feed her little brother actual mud pies. Oh my… I don’t know where this guy is coming from. He wants to know why us? Why men? He asks if its biology or evolution or some other cultural issue. Well Mr. Manson could follow these posts and also read the stuff on the Masculine Journey for some answers. He actually claims the answer is both biology and culture. I agree about the cultural thing which is evident in my writings but there is nothing inherently wrong with males that is biological. God made man in His own image. Plain and simple.

Mark Manson says that masculinity evolved for socially-beneficial reasons that are not applicable to today. Again, I believe he is dead wrong. He says violence has declined. I say where? He says and I quote, “Male advantages in strength and expendability are no longer necessary for a healthy society.” Again, I vehemently disagree with that statement. History has shown us that the decline of masculinity and the loss of the warrior in the males of society will lead to that society being destroyed. History is there for the benefit of knowledge for today. Lastly, he says we are more conscious of women’s rights and equality with masculine aggression presenting economic and liability damages. To that I say how could we not be more conscious of equality and women’ s rights with it being shoved down our throats daily for the last 100 years. And the women are becoming the aggression group now. Little girls are fighting in the schools not only with other girls but boys, like has never been seen in history. Maybe Mark has not been paying attention to these issues or the female’s massive male bashing in our society today either.

Another quote from him is, “The male body is becoming outdated tech” is he off his rocker or what? And he says we need to evolve our definition of masculinity and bring new worth like honesty, integrity, emotional openness etc. You are out of touch, Mark, those qualities have always been important. But along with those qualities it’s ok to be man and it is ok for us to have friends that are a man’s man. Keep your sissy’s they need not apply here.

Oh, one last thing on his article, he said this, “Men are so emotionally incompetent without women, getting married is literally the healthiest thing a man can do.” Women are the most emotional beings on earth! And guess what? It is supposed to be that way. Are you married Mr. Manson? Women are historically the most emotional side of the equation. At the risk of making the weaker vessel upset I will simply say that your comment is pure hogwash and those female emotions are probably why the Bible says its good for man to remain alone if he can.

Well although it provided some entertainment for me that is enough on Mark Manson’s article.

I need to explain the “Five Imperatives of Christian Manhood.”

Remember the key verses: “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.Let all your things be done with charity.” (1 Cor 16: 13-14) Men this is an exhortation to you.

The five imperatives of Christian Manhood.

Be watchful and aware of the dangers in the world. Protect!
Stand fast in the faith- know what you believe and be courageous men willing to stand regardless of the cost.
Quit you like men… Or in other words, ACT LIKE A MAN. Conduct yourself like a man should.
Be strong- carry your responsibility and exercise manly strength.
All things are to be done with charity. All the above things need to be done in the spirit of love.

“And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.” (Daniel 10:19)

Men, God will provide our strength. I will say more about this in the next post. Satan’s work is all around you/us and the devil wants you to fail so call upon the Lord for your strength and the devil will flee.

“Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the LORD do that which is good in his sight.” (1 Chronicles 19:13)

“Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which seemeth him good.” (2 Samuel 10;12)

Be of good courage, and let us be strong: Courage and strength are not matters of feeling and circumstance. They are matters of choice, especially when God makes His strength available to us. We can be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10).

“Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1: 6-9)

Men, God is saying, “Keep the law and don’t deviate from it for this is the way to prosperity and success. Observe it day and night and meditate upon it. As we turn to the first Psalm, we read, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law does he meditate both day and night, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper”(Psalm 1:1-3). Are you looking for prosperity, are you looking for success? God has given you the rules. Meditate in it, observe it, and thus shalt thou make thy way prosperous, for these are the rules to prosperity. These are the rules to success. So, the conditions upon which he can know the power, the presence, the victory.

Be in a partnership with God and victory will be yours!

We continue to ask what did the men on the Titanic know that men today do not.

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Please come back for the next post as we continue this quest for Titanic Men,

God bless you all,

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.