We are men.
We live in a society that has forgotten what it means to be a man. Powerful masculinity is equated with movie stars, and chiefly defined in terms of frequent indiscriminate sex and still more frequent and indiscriminate explosions. Idealized masculinity is the action hero: admirable, but not attainable by the ordinary male. In practice, masculinity is a half-hearted imitation of these models, with pornography and cheap alcohol a ready salve for failure.
Young boys are difficult. They won’t “behave.” Schools respond by doping them with Ritalin and encouraging them to act like girls. Colleges are geared the same way; an increasing number of men shrug, give it up, and go learn a practical job instead.
Too many families are not training their sons to be men. Unchallenging stepfathers, either abusive or too eager to be “buddies,” try to fill the gaps left in families abandoned by earlier husbands and live-in boyfriends. Some boys know no father at all. Even close families, blessed with good fathers, are led by men most of whom were not themselves trained in manhood. More than one generation has failed.
Churches often do little better. Men are told to be “nice” by the servants of an effeminate Jesus with a soft smile and weak arms: an esteem-enhancing psychotherapist in place of a carpenter- turned-prophet, with a paraphrased New Testament as their recommended self-help book. Songs to our sappy boyfriend in the sky offer little to quench the thirst of male souls. A watered-down and inoffensive gospel too seldom speaks to the still, small voice telling men that somewhere, surely, there must be more than this.
Something has been lost.
We want it back.
If you don’t like manhood, you won’t like this blog. Our goal is to initiate and cultivate an ongoing conversation on the subject of Godly manhood. If you have a question, ask us; we will do our best to find an answer. If you have an answer to a question we raise (or ought to have raised but haven’t yet), supply it.
We earnestly ask other men to join us in this journey. Read. Comment. Correct. Define. Contribute. Agree. Disagree. Walk with us. Sharpen us, and let us sharpen you.
We welcome comments, thoughts, and even guest-posts from women. We need the insights and wisdom of our sisters. Help us live out our calling.
Because we do not just want to talk about manliness. We want to live it. We want to be hearers and doers of the Word.
We are seeking insights, experiences, the wisdom of every age and society. The manhood that was lost in Adam has been regained in Christ. We want to participate in that victory.
Are we frightened? Well, yes, a little. This project is far too big for us to do on our own. We will often be stepping out scarcely knowing what we are doing. But as the Apostle Paul proclaims, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Knowing our own inadequacies, we place ourselves in His hands. And we ask all of you to keep us in your prayers.
We are embarking on a journey.
Will you join us?
