My apology to you for the length of this post, however I couldn’t see my way to breaking it to several shorter blocks. I felt the entire message had to be completed.
This goes out to my fellow men.
How does the doctor know? How does he know if the baby is a male or female?
That is a rhetorical question. Of course, he looks. If there is a penis then its male. If not it’s female. End of story. Only lately has there been confusion around the subject. It gets debated and politicized. In this post we will observe what the ancient wisdom of scripture days about it.
Zakar: this word means “male”. If we go deep and look at the sematic roots of the word it means sharp or pointed or in other words the male protrusion, penis or phallus. The Arabic take on the word is close in being Dakar with the same meaning.
When we look at scripture it places the male identity and sexuality firmly in anatomy. Where it should be. It does not place it in a realm of psychology or sociology. Modern psychology says that you are a male if, “you feel like one”. Modern sociology says you are a male if, “you do the things they consider to be male things”. The Bible on the other hand, describes and defines manhood by the phallus. It’s just like the doctor saw it as long as it is a natural phallus and not something brought about by some perverse sex change operation. Male is the Zakar as mentioned above. There is a female counterpart described as Negevah or “bored through or pierced. You can see the plain description for the parts on the human body the Lord created. You can also see that one was made to fit with the other. Is that surprising? This identity was based on the equipment we were born with. With that said, most males have little to no awareness of this identity until puberty begins to set in.
The phallus also was a determination of religious service. Spiritual service in the Old Testament was regulated by gender. Because it was determined and regulated by gender it is offensive to most in our society today. The feminists have had a hug impact on this and they have had a planned agenda and movement over the last several decades. A lot of this agenda has led to the sissification (is that a word?) of men but that’s another subject for me sometime. You know what I mean. I have driven down the road and been unable to tell if the being on the sidewalk moving in a way a sissy would walk is a man or a woman. Enough on that for now. My point being that the feminists make all gender differentiation into political discrimination. When a feminist reads the Bible they see sexual discrimination and do not see the true message intended.
Let’s observe how religious service was regulated by gender back in that time. 1. They celebrated animal offerings at feasts and the offerings were made on the basis of gender. The heads of households on Passover were to bring a male lamb. “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats”. (Exodus 12:5) 2. For a guilt offering only a female sheep or goat was allowed. “And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.” (Leviticus 5:6) 3. Peace offerings could be made with a male or female offering. (Leviticus 3: 1,6) 4. All free will offerings had to be male sacrifices. “Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.” (Leviticus 22:19)
Feminists have pointed out correctly the fact only the males were required to bring a sacrifice. “Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God.” (Exodus 23:17) “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty.” (Deuteronomy 16:16)
Only males were counted in the national census. (Numbers 1:2,20,22) Only males could be Priests. (Exodus 28:1)(Leviticus 8: 1-3) This is probably another issue that raised the ire of the feminists. But get this: Only males could be killed in mass murder and used as cannon-fodder in war. (Women and children were allowed to live. Deuteronomy 20: 13-14) Men also had to pay more money than women to make the very same vows. (Leviticus 27:3, 5-6) Now isn’t this unfair? Why is this?
The Bible indicates there is no conflict between sexuality and spirituality. We are addressed by God in the Bible with terminology that describes who we are. We are Zakar. We are Phallic males. By possessing a penis it places us with unique requirements before God. It also determined how we are to worship Him.
Your gender was also a symbol of dedication and connection. It is no secret that the erect male organ has always been a symbol important to religion. I don’t really need to go into that much. The phallus was the male organ singled out as the unique site for the very first blood-letting and wound that a young man must face. “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17:10,14) The ceremony became a male marker for his dedication to God and for his connection to the community. The community of Israel. It was a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant. “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:1-8) The circumcision ceremony was also a symbol of God’s faithfulness in the provision of male offspring who could, in turn, produce more offspring to continue The Covenant. It was a daily reminder to every boy and man as to who he was. That he was different from the Gentiles and why he was different. Sexuality and gender marking took a spiritual significance.
Today’s society does all it can to separate the phallus from any spiritual categories. Our society does nothing to separate the phallus from other sexual exploits and in fact sexual innuendos have reached a fever pitch in our society. If it feels good then do it, is the norm. It needs to be pointed out that in no way is the suggestion here that true sexuality and spirituality should be united like it was with the sacred prostitutes of the pagan societies of the past. Actually the Apostle Paul had to address the Corinthian Church because some believers were still having intercourse with sacred prostitutes in Corinthians 6: 15-20. He encouraged marriage, abstinence, etc. but then had to tell them not to deprive themselves because they moved to the other extreme. I guess there is hardly ever a good balance in anything.
Christianity in our current society is not able to openly deal with the male phallus in its full activity like it was in the Old Testament. Most secular therapists have not given much attention to the spiritual side of things that surround a complete understanding of the phallus. They deal the sexual dysfunctions and addictions without a consideration of the larger and deeper connections that could be relate to worship, spiritual bondage or demonic activity. Monick wrote, “People are uneasy with the correlation of sexuality and religion. Christianity, especially has separated the two in a way that would make them appear to be irreconcilable. Psychiatry continues the disjuncture, emphasizing it with pathological labels. The church elevates religion, devaluing sexuality. Psychiatry does the opposite by elevating sexuality and devaluing religion. The union of sexuality and religion is like an electrical connection. Wrong joining leads to disaster. No joining produces no energy. Proper joining holds promise.”
The fight between scriptural theology of sexuality and irreconcilable psychology can cause men to do harm to themselves in secrecy. It is believed that without proper teaching on the phallus they will have inherent spiritual tensions. This can be due to a spiritual god-hunger that is mysterious and powerful and will seek fulfillment in any way they can. This could drive men into sexually deviant behavior. Thus many men never graduate from the locker room school and are still caught in an adolescent philosophy. Men get stuck in a phallic stage. Unbridled sexuality becomes harmful for men. Women too, however this is about men. When the phallus is given over to its full-blown spiritual power with no restraint, it will become an idol!
Therefore, in the scriptures, God makes it clear… The phallus, though being a symbol of God’s faithfulness and provision, must be regulated, lest it become a very mysterious taskmaster. This must be kept in check.
How do we keep the phallus in regulation? “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.” (Deuteronomy 6:24) We are to observe the statutes. We are to fear the Lord our God. In our society today we see that with the onset of Aids and other diseases they are advocating abstinence, restraint and clean (monogamous) sexual partners. And this is exactly what God was trying to do in the Law. It was to regulate our sexual behavior because of the inherent potential for destruction when left unregulated. I will encourage you to read Leviticus 15: 1-33 to note the value placed on the emission of semen by the male along with nocturnal emissions. It is obvious that what happens to a man’s semen is important to God. In Proverbs 5:18 we note how important our sexual lives are to God as well. Our God know our hearts and He knows they need regulation otherwise we do what we will.
God seeks to orient our sexuality for our best interests and for His glory. He placed a major prohibition with regard to the male phallus and the keeping of creational distinctions. The first one had to do with bestiality. The book of Leviticus is very clear on this subject. It is also very clear on the subject of homosexuality. God put these in the Bible because he knew we would be in those situations of temptation. The Bible simply calls them what they are: abominations. Our society calls them other things like addictions, compulsions, obsessions and disorders. The Bible also covers the subject of incest and modesty as well. These regulations have been ignored and now we have a society that is outwardly sexually compulsive but inwardly bored.
The real location of the lack of regulation or beginning of adultery is always in the heart and mind. Jesus made this clear in the scriptures. So the phallus is stimulated by how the mind conceives the ultimate sexual experience and the role of fantasy plays a big part. Men primarily fantasize about having access to beautiful women without risk and without rejection. This explains the popularity of pornography and addiction. Pornography plays with our minds at the very deepest levels.
When we think of the Phallic Man one that comes to mind is Samson. Samson’s fatal flaw was his phallus. Samson liked and fell in love with good-looking Philistine women. The first time he gazed on one of the daughters of the Philistines, he wanted her simply because she looked good to him. (Judges 14:3) And most of us know the story of Samson and Delilah. Another Philistine damsel. Delilah got to Samson the same way the other women did, by using the old line of, “If you really love me you would.” The she cut his hair off and the soldiers gouged his eyes out and imprisoned him. And the ending worked out because his hair grew back and he was able to pull the pillars down. Samson was a high testosterone, man’s kind of man. He was Zakar to the core. The only problem was that he never made it beyond the phallic stage. He got stuck like many men do. Even when the spirit of the Lord was upon him he failed at controlling his phallus. He was hopelessly controlled by his phallus which allowed him to give in to his fantasies about beautiful Philistine women.
Here is some good advice about having some sexual sanity and controlling our phallus by Earl Wilson, a clinical psychologist.
“Sanity returns when three things happen. One, we control our sexual behavior rather than being controlled by it. Two, we use sex for its intended purposes- pleasure and procreation rather than to meet other psychological needs. Three, we keep sex in its proper perspective and don’t take it too seriously…. There is a certain type of insanity with using sex for other than its intended purposes. I strongly believe that sexual sanity come when sex is engaged in by a man and a woman who are married and deeply committed to each other. People who engage in sex apart from these constraints run the risk of becoming enslaved to their sexuality and thus having it lose its meaning. This is a waste and approaches insanity.”
We never outgrow our phallus. It stays with us all our lives even though its power may wane. It’s been said, “The flesh never gets better, it just gets deader!” So it is with the phallus.
The phallic stage is only one of six and men can find themselves in several stages at once or in one solitary stage. This was a discussion at our men’s ministry meeting this month and based on the book, “The Masculine Journey by Robert Hicks.
Come back for the third stage of manhood called Gibbor: The Glorious Hero. The Warrior!
Click here to jump to The Warrior!
The best to you,
The Tubthmper