Have you ever wondered why Christian men are so emasculated? Or why most normal red-blooded men find it absolutely impossible to relate to today’s clergy?
You’re not alone.
I use to think the problem was me; that I was old fashioned – at least that’s what I was told.
But then I had an epiphany.
God didn’t send girly-men to preach the gospel, build churches and reform society back in the days of the early Church. And He certainly won’t do that today either.
I’ve been writing a small miniseries on the state of our culture. I’ve predicated everything on one strategy: if we reform and revive the church, we’ll see reformation and revival in society as well.
Last week I touched on worship. This week the focus is masculinity. And I think that as a part of a strategy to change society we need to stop emasculating maleness in men.
The solution is simple. Start encouraging men in the church to be men – not women in drag.
I’m not the only one to say this.
Author David Murrow has written a very important book on the subject: Why Men Hate Going to Church. He confirms my theory. Men don’t feel welcomed in churches anymore because Christianity has been feminized.
Murrow relates several important statistics in his book:
- The typical U.S. congregation draws an adult crowd that’s 61% female, 39% male. This gender gap shows up in all age categories.
- On any given Sunday there are 13 million more adult women than men in America’s churches.
- This Sunday almost 25 percent of married, churchgoing women will worship without their husbands.
- Midweek activities often draw 70 to 80 percent female participants.
- As many as 90 percent of the boys who are being raised in church will abandon it by their 20th birthday. Many of them will never return.
- More than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians. But only two out of six attend church on any given Sunday. The average man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ, but fails to see any value in going to church.
These are absolutely frightening statistics, but they are not surprising.
J. Grant Dys argues on his blog that the spinoff effects of this reality can be seen in our families (or at least what’s left of them), our schools, our clubs, and in the prisons of our society. And ironically, with the death of genuine masculinity, an increasing number of young men are seeking to reclaim their manhood in homosexuality.
On a cultural level we all know that the idea of a “real man” has almost been beaten out of our social consciousness. Men are objects of scorn and vilification. Watch any T.V. commercial or sitcom and you’ll witness a barrage of attacks, all designed to assault the dignity of real masculinity and the historic male role model as provider and protector.
I’m not saying anything new here. Many have already made this point; some much better than I. But what concerns me isn’t that THE broader culture has rejected masculinity, it is that the church has aided and abetted this concept of manhood as a pariah. And it’s not just the liberal churches that are guilty on this score.
All too often the pastoral “role model” in Evangelical circles mirrors that Simpson’s character, the “Reverend Love Joy”. Our pastors are either quaint, odd, harmless pushovers or they are slick metrosexual types who can cry at the drop of a dime – literally – but have absolutely no courage to stand up against real evil or teach the unequivocal truth with authority.
They’ve suppressed godly male assertiveness, opting instead to “be nice.” They have abdicated their calling to “speak the truth” in the interest of political correctness. And they have decided that manipulating people with emotional self help books and anecdotal sermonizing is better for the bottom line than training and teaching the men in their congregations to be leaders and warriors for Christ. And as a result, the Evangelical church is suffering from a dearth of real men.
Is feminism to blame?
No doubt feminism is a force of evil in North American society. It is evil not because it has tried to establish equality. Rather it is precisely because it hasn’t established equality that it is guilty of perpetrating a fraud. What feminism has succeeded in doing is to convince both sexes that the only masculine identity that is valuable is an effeminate male. That in fact, the only way for equality to exist is for men to be like women, or to simply not exist.
Now we can blame the feminist movement all we want. But it won’t change a thing because in the end, men have embraced their own feminization. As Dys points out, men have done this to themselves because they have become soft and lazy.
Men are far more interested in accommodating the women’s movement than in asserting their masculinity. And whether that’s because we want to be “popular with the girls,” because we are too insecure and unsure about leading, or if it comes out of sheer exasperation – “You want to take over the leadership? Go ahead, I just don’t want to argue anymore” – we’ve conceded our role in family, church and the state.
But let’s be clear about one thing; we had no right to abdicate that responsibility.
The solution is very simple: men need to be men again. They need to take up their responsibility the way God intended them to behave. And the church needs to re-learn how to help them do that again.
Public date: January 31st, 2008
January 31, 2008
Good commentary Tristan.
How does the church “re-learn how to help them [men] do that again?”
Assuming your readers are personally convinced of what you say and therefore are prepared to sacrifice to some extent to bring about the desired change I think we should be proposing solutions to accomplish such an urgent goal.
Shouldn’t all of us who basically agree with your argument be supporting a congregation which acknowledges, through clearly defined doctrine, the reality which you have described and which is engaged in, or at least predisposed through its leadership to engage in, the proper moral and spiritual formation of its people?
After all, if we personally are not part of a local church community which is actively advancing said agenda [Matt. 28:20], how do we expect to see different outcomes from Christians and thereby from our nation? Are we in fact squandering our time, energies, money and talent when we remain a part of an assembly which is failing to succeed at this task? Have we forgotten that we will answer to God for neglect of duty as well?
Where exactly is a realistic starting point for the necessary change?
At this stage in our death spiral a realistic starting point may also be a radical one.
February 5, 2008
The church has emasculated Jesus, He is being portrayed as soft, loving, always forgiving. Full of emotion, running tears, and always serving. Women can easily relate to such a Jesus because of their own emotions; men can not that easily do this. The church does not make a connection to our Lord Jesus as our Judge, King, and almighty God Who has destroyed whole Nations because of their corruption
and disobedience. He caused the flood, and destroyed cities for their immorality. He raised up the early believers who would rather be thrown to the lions than deny Him. If we men would see our Lord Jesus as He really is and not through pink glasses, we men could better relate to Him. We would become proud to follow Him and to take on the world as the Apostle Paul did. Your article confirms what I have experienced during the last years. Eduard Conzen
February 6, 2008
There is a lyric from a Christian hip-hop song, “CHRIST was not hippy, pickin lillies with HIS friends. JESUS was a man’s man, so men followed HIM.” (”Man Up” By: Da T.R.U.T.H) I might add so did women. We need to have The GOD-Man JESUS CHRIST back in the church and all of society. I pray that real godly men will stand up and resume their rightful role of leading (not controling us, as the fems would suggest)us in The Way, The Truth and The Life of JESUS CHRIST!
Amanda Marie
The anti-feminist Woman.
February 6, 2008
Tristan,
I would be interested in learning more about how you define “true masculinity”.
You seem to associate it with “male assertiveness”, but I’m not sure what that looks like. I also wonder how today’s Christian men are not assertive (or how “assertive” and “niceness” are are not possible in the same person).
You also seem to associate true manhood to people who don’t cry “at the drop of a dime”, but I’m not sure what it implies for men’s emotional reality. I am further puzzled by that by seeing that most men of today are much less emotionally expressive than many manly men of the Bible (biblical times middle-eastern men were very emotionally expressive, crying, fasting, humiliating themselves with shaven heads, torn clothes and ashes, etc…).
You also seem to contrast true masculinity with “feminized masculinity”, but I am not sure what the characteristics of a “feminized man” are.
All in all, I would like to know what you interpret as being the characteristics of a “true man”. Could you please expand a bit on that?
February 6, 2008
What about Zeus, supreme ruler of Mount Olympus? Let’s start worshiping Zeus again. Zeus had balls. Zeus was a Greek.
February 6, 2008
very good article,In this day and a trip to the Church could become a trip to Satan’s den.Churches can no longer be trusted. I need not go into all the details
One listen to Hagee or a scan of the news is enough to make my point.Perhaps when the church leaders begin to speak out things will change,at present they are like the money changers in the temple when Jesus turned the tables over. They count their money from govt. to keep them quiet like the money changers.
They have been bought out.the atrocities of this world ,but not a peep out of the church elders. I dare say their attendance will fall they bring it on themselves.
February 6, 2008
mankind has been estranged from God since the garden of Eden, when Eve listened to the supersalesman Satan God’s adversary, Satan took truth of God’s word and twisted it, when he insinuated that God was keeping something from her,when he said that is it true that God hath said thet you may eat freely from every tree except the one in the center of the garden, Satan said she would not surely die (to become a dying creature if you eat)God knows that in the day you eat of thereof you will become as one of us, as Gods knowing good and evil. Eve being the agressive one took and did eat, and gave to her husband also with her, and he did eat. So mankind has been operating so-to speak as God’s while God is absent. God cursed the earth at that time, He has sent prophets and other and man has killed them. He sent His son, and man killed Him, God raised Him man kept refusing Him 21 more times, So God exalted Him and His right hand anmong the celestials, with a name that is hjighwer than any name named in the universe. So we live in a world with out the presence of God or His son’s presence, God has also informed us that in the last days the children would be their oppressors and women rule over them, If you trace the history of humanity you will find that a woman has been behing every movement of History. Read the Bible as History and Historic Literature. It is the God’s true History of humanity the racwe of man.
So-It-goes and will to the close of thisd wicked age (eon)….
I hope this is not to confusing for thought?
in Christ!
Koch
February 7, 2008
Maybe that is why I am attracted to Islam and its found Muhammad. Islam is a macho culture. No ifs and buts.
February 7, 2008
Women have been — since the beginnings of the church — more open to Christianity than men. The early church had struggled to grab the attention of men as they are attempting to do today. Not much has changed in this regard. Take Christian author Lee Strobel as one example. It was his wife who became interested in Christianity and the church before he. This is a pattern that has continued for some time. If one were to examine the various church ministries out there, one would find that many are managed by women (I don’t have a problem with this BTW). The Apostle Paul was wrong; women are important to the church and should speak-up as God designed it so.
February 7, 2008
Being of Native Heritage I look at the world of the white folks as being strange. Strange type of Govt. Strange type of living upon the earth that seems to be an ever growing more festering Hell on earth? Strange thoughts about what life is all about upon planet earth as taught in their schools.
Things I learned from experience is never try to solve white folk’s personal problems, their family problems, or problems of their Nation that they always seem to be weeping, wailing, and gnashing their teeth about constantly.
aho
February 7, 2008
Tristan: I agree with a number of points in your post.
Though I am no longer a Christian, I did grow up in the church, having come to know the Lord at the age of 9. I spent many years of five-day-a-week churchgoing, involved (as a participant and assistant) in many church activities, until my late twenties, when I left the church for good.
I saw many men who steadily lost their voice within the church, many women who didn’t understand why this was happening (or their role in the silencing), and the church itself as a body of believers unable to perceive that the problem lay both without and within.
The ever-corrosive influence of popular culture, though much remarked upon, proved (in my judgment) too strong a force for the unaided church to withstand. Perhaps it is the will of the Lord that this came to be. Perhaps it is His way of clearing the forests so that a new generation of trees may be grown. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time in the millenia-long history of the Jewish and Christian faith that this happened.
I don’t necessarily agree with the thrust of Eduard Conzen’s comment above (but I may be misreading it, and if so, I do apologize.)
It’s a reflexive reaction to believe that we are less manly because we are no longer modeling how we act on stereotypical manly behaviour. The very basis of socialization guarantees that these ‘fixed’ definitions of human nature never really are fixed. I realize that this is a contentious notion, and it may very well be that it is an expression of what Eduard is speaking out against.
In my opinion, we do not condemn the presence of sin in our lives in a firm, consistent, and continuous fashion. Equally, we fail to do this in the lives of our fellow believers. And finally, we fail to do this most stunningly in the spectacle of society at large.
We do not speak out against purveyors of violence across the globe. We do not speak out against the immoral international moneychangers who rob nations of the fruit of their labour. We encourage the belief that cancerous growth of acquisitive behaviour is the model life. All of these things, over many generations, has brought us to our current decline.
February 7, 2008
Men who try to puffball themselves into the bluster and sway of “real manhood,” while they continue to abide a society that is permeated by a culture of lies, are, in the end, homosexuals — economic buddy f*ckers. (Long before it reaches the partyboy phase, homosexuality begins with a culture of fake money. Money itself is today a romper-room of frauds against the sovereignty of God, and against the “men” and the institutions of government and marriage that they are obliged to form.)
When money itself is dishonest, how does a man provide for his family in an honest way? If he is forced join in with a culture of mass economic dishonesty — how then can he love Christ? Where does the honest man find an honest boss (who is not bankrupted like our family farmers), how does he earn an honest profit, as a boss, when he “earns” it the redneck way — with a philosophy of “I got mine Jack, screw you” so “buy low, sell high, and be quick,” a philosophy that if practiced in New England during the 1700s carried the penalty of hanging. In effect, the modern manly concept of profit is kicking in the sides of a brother and sister because they “lack some advantage.” How does an honest man provide for his family in a Christian way, when he “pays” his servants with a form of illegal play money, in fact a cruel “moneychanging fraud” against God which is created by Illuminati Jews as an escalating debt fraud against his own children? How does a Christian man take profits when he pays his servants with a form of money whose value he knows by God’s law, must go to zero, as all moneychanger frauds against God and Christianity do (– see Bible on gold, silver and usury — see Amos 8:4).
Before we create puffball manly men, who can only pretend to be the last honest man standing, in a culture of vast monetary dishonesty, we need to
(1) first restore a culture of honesty to the responsibility of creating currency and credit. (This requires (a) that money itself be honest — that circulation be gold backed e.g. not a crime against God) — “governments are instituted amongst men,” remember that? for the purpose of stabilizing the value money — whereby we can then close down the tables of the moneychangers, and it requires that (b) men become creative and productive again, instead of nomadic sex-clubbers and cowards, financed by the philosophy of carpetbaggers, shysters and prettyboyz; then
(2) hang all practicing homosexuals, and adulterers, which I dare say will result in the elimination of possibly 50% of the current sperm carriers of the species in North America, and lastly
(3) stop the abortions, which will only happen when we as men start forming juries and hang those lost men (prettyboyz) who got a female pregnant and then refused to love and protect her, who shirked on their godhead after releasing the seed of life outside the protective bounds of the institution of marriage. Also hang the males who want to criminalize the female or the doctor who performs an abortion — instead hang the partyboy male idiot who shirks his duty. (If there is an abortion inside a marriage, that should be a decision between a husband and his wife, and their doctor and minister — no one else, period — it is not the business of strangers to peer into the marriage of any other man. If men don’t respect the boundaries of male-female marriage, as an inviolable institution, then there is no institution of marriage, and all you have is village hell.)
February 7, 2008
Good Article. Are you acquainted with Henry Makow? He’s a writer living in Toronto, Canada, a Ph.D, who writes on this subject, and related ones, quite often. If you Google his name, you will find his website.
It’s been some time since I was inside a church, and I remember some effeminate clergy, but the majority I have known have been, at least seemingly, very masculine. One of the reasons I no longer go to church is because it seemed to me that churchgoers were more interested in impressing each other with their piety than actually following Christ. Clergymen seemed to be following some sort of political agenda. They seemed to be trying to lead their parishioners to support things they were reluctant to support in order to garner favor with their superiors, or someone.
I think the current emphasis among Christians on political action is disastrous for Christianity and for piety. Part of this emphasis has unquestionably come from the struggle against abortion, but I think the problem goes all the way back to the time of the Byzantine church, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. The moment the church allied itself with the Roman state and became the state religion of the Empire, it began accruing wealth and power and persecuting heretics, that is, those Christians who did not agree with the church’s dogmas and doctrines. The church (by the term “church,” I mean all believers in Christ) has been doing the same thing ever since: Byzantines persecuting Gnostics and other early sects; Catholics persecuting Byzantines; Byzantines persecuting Catholics; Catholics persecuting Protestants; Protestants persecuting Catholics; and on, and on, and on. It almost seems that if Christians don’t have someone to persecute, they’re unhappy!
In my view, this all stems from the church deciding to ally itself with the government. Jesus never counselled his followers to do that. He didn’t go to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and tell him to use his Roman troops to close down all the brothels, round up all the abortionists (yes, the Romans practiced that, too, as did the Egyptians and Greeks), arrest the purveyors of pornography (the Romans were really into that!), or anything else. Instead, His message was personal: directed at each individual person. Rather than try to change the world, He called people out to Him FROM the world. “Come to Me,” He said, “all you who are heavily laden, and I will give you rest, for My yoke is easy, and my burden, light.” Jesus’ teaching aimed at converting the world one person at a time, not all at once, by force. The early Christians, too, during the first and second centuries, showed this same understanding of Jesus’ teachings. Although they did go out and preach the Gospel, their preaching was mainly confined to pagans who were already attracted to Jesus’ message and came to them to hear it. they relied on the impact their community had on the pagans, living all around them. They converted the pagans around them by their EXAMPLE, as Jesus Himself did: “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples; that you have love for one another.” “Love one another, as I have loved you.” This, many have argued, is what converted the entire pagan world.
Christians are once again allying themselves with the government. They want laws against all those things they disagree with, and they want the government to enforce their prohibitions. This is the exact OPPOSITE of what Jesus did and taught!
February 7, 2008
Jesus was both a divine servant and a divine warrior. Not a warrior against other religions, but a warrior against hypocrisy, treachery, weakness, ignorance, and egotism. What Christian men really need is a true understanding of knightly chivalry, how to be a knight of Christ. That is the way to be a manly Christian. And they should stop wearing loafers with tassels. The idea of a Christian Knight, of Christ being a warrior for Truth and the divine Will — that is what’s needed. The wrong alternative is to adopt the wrathful, angry, jealous – aka psychopathic – ways of Jehovah from the Old Testament. That’s not being manly, that’s being a wild-eyed grouch. Spiritual chivalry, not holding doors for ladies kind of chivalry, but a code of spiritual battle and strength and integrity.
February 7, 2008
What happened to “blessed are the meek”? I think your just complaining that you dont want to be meek. Your ego is just getting in the way. Only kidding you!
Its an interesting argument. I do think however that trying to control the male urges for powerlust is part of the battle you men face in this life. Just btching about the fact that you’ve got to be kinder and softer actually makes you sound even more pathetic. You either follow the teachings of Jesus or you dont. Interpreting it how you would like is just subverting the Bible, and lets face it, means that you dont have to work as hard in chalenging youreself.
Stop being lazy and face the challenge. Men need to be more understanding and women need to be stronger and maybe then we can meet in the middle and work together.
February 7, 2008
That the ‘church’ has been feminised is nothing new; the whole intent of the ‘West’s’ organised religion has been to remove the abilities of people to exercise their wills without the approval of those who are at the head of the power structure. There has been little that has occurred without the various congregations bowing their collective heads and kneeling to those who wield the sticks, not necessary from the pulpit but from behind the scenes.
With the advent of adoration of a man – in this case the fellow Jesus – to the exclusion of any other, the focus is on emasculating men by having them adopt feminine attributes, most notably reverence for some male, usually handsomely depicted and oft-times naked but for a swatch of cloth covering his genitals. The image of the crucified Nazorean is, in itself, something that is demoralising and debilitating in that it was the fellow Jesus himself who refused to fight but acceded to putting himself at the mercy of the merciless Romans and their army. All men are expected to comply in kind.
There is nothing empowering about ‘Christianity,’ about a religion that perhaps appealed more to women than to men from the very beginning, about that coercisiveness adopted ‘West’-wide once Constantine’s wife made her wishes known. Even at the so-called resurrection, it was not one of the various disciples who ventured forth to find out what happened but a woman who demonstrated more courage than any of the ‘men’ who called the fellow Jesus ‘Master,’ they who headed for the hills at the first sign of danger and potential confrontation.
The whole purpose of the ‘West’s’ religious focus has been to cause the most ardently masculine members to become softened and to submit to the will of a man, albeit mythologised and presented as some hero where no heroics were ever demonstrated. Even the notion of manliness was never portrayed during the Nazorean’s life, his opting to forego the usual conventions of marriage and fatherhood (unless one looks beyond the ‘Good Book’), preferring the company of men who were themselves wrested from the bosoms of their wives, avoiding even standing up for his own life.
Reclaiming something that has never existed is never possible. The history of the religion has been one of the gradual process of neutralising gender differences, bringing about the peaceability of men in an otherwise violent World. The supposed subservience of women to their men has always been something taken to be tongue-in-cheek, something that even the glories of the Age of Chivalry and its renown for the Crusades make plain, devotion of the most fearless men to the whims and desires of women paramount. Admiration of martial abilities was merely a ruse to get men to make the greatest of sacrifices, that of giving their own lives. Even bullfighters in the macho Spanish culture devote their bloodlust to some woman! Machismo is itself a proof of subordination!
Some notions of masculinity have always been subordinated to the wills of the mothers and other women who have, curiously enough, controlled the kitchens and the households ever since whenever. The very process of wooing future mates has been one of seeing which can be the most supine and meet the qualifications of the prospective brides. This has been going on since Adam supposedly acquiesced and bit into the apple, proving his value in Eve’s eyes, her feminine wiles winning out with the advent of the family, further tying men to women by way of having to support each successive generation.
‘Leaders and warriors for Christ’? Only followers need apply!
February 7, 2008
As a homosexual non church going male who believes in the lord….there is a lot of truth in the forgoing by Tristan Emmanuel. I personally believe that homosexuality is the lords cure for an excessively feminised upbringing, this is not the mothers fault or the boys, but a natural consequence of any close love relationship, where subject and object transform each other in the act of knowing. The cure for this is a new love object, which is not the mother but the man.
Rather then feminism, I see the fall of the patriarchy as the real reason for the decline of the male.
Why men have to go too, when we get rid of the patriarchs, is a bit like throwing the baby out with the bath water.
February 7, 2008
“(…)Watch any T.V. commercial or sitcom and you’ll witness a barrage of attacks,(…)”
Very true. Whatch any film of the “Friends” series on TV and you will see males that behave like girls, even with typical feminine words.
Otto Triebe
February 7, 2008
There are some additional reasons why today’s churchgoing men are emasculated, one being the presence of the principality Jezebel (the Old Testament Ashtaroth) in the culture, whose primary function in the kingdom of darkness is to weaken the soul of man, and to turn male into female and to turn female into male, to cause male to be soft and effimnate, and to cause female to be bold and tough (leading to burnout). Another reason is the presence of the principality Antichrist, who the apostle John referred to as the spirit of Antichrist (the Old Testament Baal), who is also the spirit of idolatry, and the spirit of top down control (always with a highly visible top down control priestclass, in our day the system church priestclass). His function is to weaken the human spirit. The two principalities work together almost as one; the outworking of their power can be observed in the scenario in 1 Kings with the woman Jezebel and her rulership over the nation through the priests of Baal. Jezebel can be described as Antichrist’s PR person.
February 7, 2008
Frankly, Brother Tristan, I would explain it a little differently, from a woman’s perspective. Let’s expose the whole rotten thing. Male church pastors stand up in the pulpit every week in front of that ‘I’m-single-on-Sunday’ female majority, and they are oggled at like movie stars. Male pastors are the objects of female lust, or call it daydreaming, to use a more polite term. The pastors and their wives are well aware this is going on. Male pastors play to their audience. In the congregation, any man senses instinctively some kind of competition, and they don’t like to be there. When a church board is searching for a new pastor, they certainly take how attractive he is into the equation. When the congregation votes, the women vote for Mr. Handsome. Meanwhile, qualified women pastors are not considered, except in some liberal churches — and that is only because, as I have been repeatedly told, the only male applicants are gay or have whispered backgrounds of sexual touching proclivities. The bottom line in all this is that we have a Sexually Obsessive Culture, and until the Body of Christ is properly taught from the Scriptures that lust has no place in our lives, let alone in our Christian worship and service, healthy families, few as they are, will not enter church doors. The young man I met once who couldn’t understand why his church pastor didn’t discipline a man who was feeling-up his wife at every ‘Christian hug’ opportunity was a real man trying to express the frustration of someone who saw faith in God prostituted because churches are in bed with the world.
February 7, 2008
oh please! as a woman in the church. . .the guys maybe girlie men…but it is still men who rule and have the last word.. .great let men be men. . .and let the women be women. . .men taking both roles in the the church is unfair.
If 90% of the people doing the weekly work are women. . .it is NOT reflected in the ‘ruling class’ in churches.
Just another white male whining about what they percieve they don’t rule. Don’t worry you all still rule the church. . .why do you think they haven’t come out against this stupidity in the Middle East. Church fathers are almost all white males. Sucks to be you.
February 7, 2008
A society and its culture reflects its ruling class. Our culture is shaped by the monied class of Hollywood. The effeminate, homosexual, _ _ _ _ _ _, anti-christian hollywood. You stupid christians need to wake up and see the enemy ruling over you.
February 7, 2008
Men have been emasculated because male sex and sexuality has been criminalized. American boys and men are subjected to psychological torture and aversion to homosexual and heterosexual behavior every day of their lives. The message is continuous and unrelenting, “your sex is bad, your sex is dirty and any aggressive, natural male sexual behavior is now predatory and can be prosecuted. So men are reduced to subjected roles in their families and in society, hiding themselves away to get sexual relief from online porno. And much of this has been brought about by the invention of contrived, modern political Christianity. I have spent more than a few days on this Earth now and I can remember when Christian men used to be real men, real sexual men and they were more complete, whole human beings because of it.
February 7, 2008
This article is spot on and echoes the same concerns that other outspoken Christian defenders like Ted Pike have expressed. Of course, they’re not popular among the politically correct. But does that matter? No. Truth is not a comfortable thing all the time.
February 7, 2008
This past summer the pope authorized the use of the “old mass” in Latin.
If you ever go to one, you would notice precisely how much more masculine oriented the old mass is. It isn’t just the Latin; the whole event is permeated with coordinated military-type ritual movements, gestures and practices.
It is man style worship for a masculine church, and it’s on the way back.
February 7, 2008
I don’t think that this applies as much to Islam. They seem to be having a revival. I don’t mean in the extremist camps but the regular people who are law abiding and Muslim.
Also, the Orthodoxy of Christianity does not have the same problem.
Possibly it is due to cultural and ethnic background. This seems to be in the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, especially the Episcopal, Reformed Church of America and Lutheran demoniations.
February 7, 2008
I’d worry more about the Dark Masters’ influence than that of feminism or political correctness.
Emasculated men are the goal of the New World Order– nice, compliant, go along and get along guys who see themselves as the bumbling bozos on the sitcoms.
It’s OK to play ultra-violent videogames, because then you can kill when you’re told– and your own countrymen become no more than a game statistic.
Ooh-rah.
Mentally and morally wussy-boys who will kill their own people on command. That’s the goal.
February 7, 2008
This article is so right on. I have seen this all over as I have been a missionary for over 30 years. Overseas this is not so much the case as the men have not given up their leadership to the women. So the church is being sold a lie, completely contrary to the word of God re: a man’s place in his family and in the church. I believe it is a conspiracy to drive America to a homosexual state much like what happened to Greece and Rome and in the end to destroy it. In the Bible the prophets were in the minority and were right, the majority were mostly in the wrong. So I agree that we men need to stand up and be counted and no longer sit back but have some conviction and be like the men of God in the Bible. Please keep these articles going as it is so needed.
February 7, 2008
Anyone who believes the Bible is the word of God and willingly submits to the dogmas and doctrines of men, and CHOOSES to be a slave, has no reason to complain about being “emasculated.”
February 7, 2008
Good points. Ironically, most straight women don’t like feminized men for romance…they still like manly men. They just like the girlish men in the daily give and take of the work place (that is, men who give and women who take at the expense of men).
There’s another problem that may be related. The vast amounts of female hormones that are used to grow animals for food also plays a part in the feminization of men. So a meat and potatoes guy may not be doing himself a favor by barbecuing all those steaks.
February 7, 2008
Good article. And yeah, it is not new. However, there is a whole cultural machinery out there who will chew you up and spit you out if you are not careful. So pick your fights and resistance prudently, in and out of your church, family, country, or bedroom. You got to admit: what communism and fascism have not achieved, feminism has marvelously succeeded in not the least that they used the most deep seated psychologicial weakness in men and women: pride and self pity, day-dreams and sex and pitted one against the other – a typical tactic of satan (that’s the old fashioned me!). If we Christians had ever studied human behavior as they did, we could have known. At least we could have read the old desert fathers. They knew. They also knew that there is something like spiritual warfare and that it is very real which we do not take seriously any more either because women are just not made for war in which case all of us Christians have seen nothing but defeat. Surprised?
February 7, 2008
I disagree. The equal and opposite reaction to feminized masculinity in the ‘Church’ has already occurred. It’s taken the form of the militant war-mongering ‘Christian Right’, where ‘Fundamentalism’ channels self-pitying, frustrated, angry, fear-blinded testosterone in dealing death and proclaiming a carnal kingdom in the name of spiritual righteousness. Hysteria redeeming itself through arrogance! One false and pernicious extreme begetting the other…both apostate, losing rather than saving souls.
February 7, 2008
The reality of the situation is clear. The church is dead as well the culture. Dead, dead. No quick fixes here. The documentation is pretty clear.
See Morris Berman’s latest.
What is the next step? Nothing.
February 7, 2008
Firstly, the whole draw into the modern church is feminized:
“Do you want to have a personal relationship with Jesus?”
Secondly, we have church services that are emotional love fests:
“After the 20 minutes of rock-n-roll ‘praise time’ we’ll have a 3 minute prayer to refocus our attention on the wonderful feelings we have because we’re saved, then we’ll have a beautiful ballad by the women’s choir to help us open our hearts to the emotional needs within us…”
Thirdly, we are invaded by unbelievers who want us to accommodate their viewpoints in our faith:
*See numerous comments from the peanut gallery above, including the muslim, several new agers, the guy who is a “former Christian” (no such thing, by the way–you either are or you weren’t) and the animist “native”. Their comments on the feminization of our faith are–speaking as a member of that faith–completely unwelcome.
Fourthly, you have a fear of perception engendered by our temples of athiesm that too many (1 family is “too many) of our families subject their children to–government institutionalized socialization factories (i.e. public schools).
We have to start fresh. We have to go back to the way the early church did it. Men lead, no women allowed in spiritual leadership roles. No more church buildings. No more collection plates. No more paid pastors. No more of all this unholy infrastructure.
How can a pastor speak freely and truly when he has a board of elders overseeing his finances to be sure that he doesn’t say something that violates tradition?
Let’s look to what God established for His people–men worshipped separately from women. Men were trained to lead. Women were trained to organize the lives of their leading men. And if a man didn’t lead, other men stepped up to take over, they didn’t ask his wife to do the work for him.
We somehow bought into the lie that “equal rights” meant “everyone has the same role”. Those are completely different concepts! A Captain and a Lieuetenant both have the same rights and privelidges–the Capt. is still in responsible to lead the Lt. and the Lt. is still responsible to follow! Neither is exalted or suffering–both are fulfilling their roles.
We need RADICAL changes in our churches if our faith is to survive.
What we are seeing is the evidence of apostacy in our churches as predicted in Scripture. There will be a great falling away–and only the elect will remain, the “remnant” as Scripture describes it.
February 7, 2008
In regards to the article: “How the Church has emasculated Men”, I believe that the church has been emasculated and secularized by the world’s public school system. I believe that going through the public school system has made Christians double minded. What I mean by that is, if we continue to send our children to secular public schools, Christianity will continue to suffer because of a lack of a Christian consensus, and a Christian worldview. I we want to produce godly manly Christian leaders the young will have to be separated from secularized education, and given a purely Christian curriculum. Christians have allowed the ungodly to educate our children. Why then are we surprised when children fall away from the Lord? Why is the church falling for every wind of false doctrine, (the emergent church movement, the health & wealth doctrine etc), philosophy, because the church has become double minded, because of the involvement with the world’s system. It has been documented that the reason why the majority of our children are falling away from the lord is because of a lack of a Christian worldview. Our children will most certainly not get a Christian worldview by going to this most ungodly school system, if they want their children to turn out Christians, thinking like Christians rather than pagans. One of the first things the communists would do to take over a country is to get control of the school system. This is exactly what has been done in America. The people that hate God knew that in order to control and manipulate people for their own evil purposes had to destroy the family, patriotism, and their Christian faith. It seems to me they have done a very good job. This is why I believe the church for the most part is not turning out strong godly, manly Christian leaders, and has been emasculated.
February 7, 2008
Tristan, you have written an interesting article. It is true that the “softer” side of Christ is being emphasized in the modern church; however, in the centuries before, it was the opposite—fire, brimstone, etc….did that message revive the nation???…no, it did not…so what is the answer??…we christians need to stop forcing the idea down everybody’s “throat” that being a christian is “not doing this, not doing that”—all negatives; I am a christian, a man, and do not act effeminate in any way…(don’t wear cologne, except on the anniversary of my marriage), don’t wear pastel colored clothes, will go periods of time with the “5 o’clock shadow”, and I shout loudly at sporting events, live or on the tv….I don’t think any of those acts qualify as “feminized”…but, I freely admit when my daughter was born in ‘07, I held her for the first time and teared up and shed a few, I also cried while seeing the mel gibson movie about Christ…cried because of the words He spoke in spite of the torture, humiliation He bore for us….that proves that I am human—not some sociapathic jackass who blubbers for the benefit of attention from others….yes, the church is messed up, because as a whole too many of them support fascist politics of “republicans”…you know, those “men” who like to sexually molest children, yeah, those clowns—who also preach “family values”….they make me want to run each one of them through with a sword….I have much more to write, Tristan…I would appreciate corresponding with you on this article you wrote, for I have so much more to expound upon.
sincerely
a brother in Christ,
Kevin
February 8, 2008
Science has proven that humans are animals. Our genes are almost identical to those of insects.
If we think we are anything special on this planet, besides being destructive and useless, we are completely deluding ourselves.
There is no God “up” there and has never been any.
My suggestion: let’s pack all religions into a trash can and send it out into space. Good riddance..
February 9, 2008
- surely one of the nicest blogs I stumbled upon; also the most comments show you have serious attendances.
..after reading the comments, I ve to agree with Ben Rogers, 1.15 pm.
It s the same downhere; although our calvinist history dont permit the..acesses ( in our eyes ) found in a lot of your congregations.
I appreciate A W Tozer – who said that the (evangelical) church today is constantly working rearranging the stones of the altar; without realizing the possibility of actual living Fire from heaven..
..for all those of you who are serious: wait, watch and He will show you what is happening. And what to do.
Love
Loneman
February 11, 2008
I listen to a christian radio station all day long at work, because I have to, and I hate it. The reason is because 80% of the male singers sound like they belong to the Backstreet boys. I actually heard a deep voiced one today and was like “wow, how refreshing to hear a mans voice.” All the rest of the men sound like boys or sissys.
February 15, 2008
Great article. I expressed the same sentiments to a Catholic forum called fisheaters.com. They got tired of hearing me complain and kicked me off the forum.
Here is one of the biggest stories never told. 1870, Catholic Church declares infallibility of Pope (Vatican 1) The next 2 popes had visions of Church being chastised : 1884 by Leo XIII, and 1909 by Pius X. Normally it is the manly thing to correct errors, but Catholic men seem to have been relieved of that Godly responsibility ever since 1870. Basically we ended up with the kind of emasculating leadership that reminds me of Moses leaving Egypt in the first place. We’ve come full circle back to slavery.
Ever since 1917, we have experienced the Fatimazation of the Church. Instead of Godly men protecting civilization from the forces of evil, we look for a feminine icon to do that task.
This process of feminization of the Church has been going on for a very long time. How many prayer cards have you seen of the infant Jesus? The subconscious message is that the male Christian faith is always in a feeble and impotent form.
So there you go. Take these opinions to any Christian church, both Catholic and non – Catholic and see how you will be despised.
June 21, 2009
I agree with a lot of what has been said. I belive the last option is the one causing the most trouble for men.
One of the important issues that needs to be discussed and taught in our churches is the Biblical role of women. When women lead committees and church departments, men tend to back off. When women stand back and request the men to lead, the men will have a better chance of success. When women second guess every decision made my the men, the men pull back.
We have seen this directly in our church. My wife was approached by a younger woman asking to be discipled in the Biblical role of women. As my wife had not been able to find an older woman to disciple her in this same area 25 years ago, she decided that she would not turn this woman down. One woman turned into 8 very quickly. The women were hungry.
Families turned around quickly as men were given the room to lead and even fail. After leading two such groups through a 12 week study, she now has a workbook getting prepared for publishing. There are no other resources out there for women to turn to besides the one that teach women to stand on their own.
Hopefully, churches and more importantly women will rise to the occasion to raise up Titus 2 women. Older women are commanded to teach the younger women. It will not work any other way.
As husbands start to lead, the church will start to lose its femininity. Only then will there start to be changes.
June 26, 2009
Emasculated men in the church… I think that has something to do with Western Christianity. Celibacy was “instituted” by the men dressed in wonderful flowing frock of cloth. Western Christian practices are more of the mind than a whole body experience (go see your Eastern Churches in “action”). The church is so steeped in traditions which are not reflective nor relevant to the age we live. Talk about emasculation? It’s no wonder men have lost their “chutzpah” sitting in the pews listening to “virgins” and pious dribble.
The greatest male role models in my life were my father and grandfathers. None of them attended church as adults. All of them were/are solid individuals who stand/stood for something. Strong and compassionate. Opinionated yet not bullish. Hospitable. Not afraid to pitch in with a helping hand.
Anyone that purports that men in Islam are more masculine that Christian men – go see “The Stoning of Soraya M”. That’s 21st C Islam – not across the board – but masculinity does not equal brutality.
June 29, 2009
I think the answer is apologetics: the intellectual defense of the faith using publicly available knowledge and evidence. The feminized church is opposed to apologetics because faith has been redefined so that it is opposed to reason and evidence.
Apologetics would restore knowledge, aggression, competitiveness and victory to the church. But that will require the women in the church to see that Christianity has value for men.
July 17, 2009
The best way for a MAN TO BE INSIDE THE BODY OF A WOMAN is for him to go into one. By God’s design, a man may know a woman and her body as he fulfills his manhood as a good husband.
The best way for a MAN TO HAVE THE BODY OF A WOMAN is for him to marry a woman and so make himself whole: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
She is for him TO HAVE and to hold until death parts them. (And she likewise has and holds him.)
July 17, 2009
I can definitely relate to this article.
I feel like every time I’m in church, we’re singing songs reminiscent of drum circles in the 60’s.
It really freaked me out when I was in church being shown “interpretive dance” as special music.
Really? What kind of men does this appeal to? They might as well show Grey’s Anatomy and serve communion on frilly lace to finish up the theme.
That’s pretty much why I don’t go anymore. I’m tired of church feeling like a meeting of hippies and flower children.
If there was a church that had real discussion on issues in the Bible, didn’t sing songs (there are really some of us that despise singing, and music in general), I might consider going.
July 20, 2009
I was directed to this site by another article about euthanasia. I have been online for the past two hours looking at Pro-Life articles, I had no idea how big the movement was. This year’s upcoming pro-life movement in January in D.C. should be interesting, though of course it will be an almost underground movement, since no press will be there covering it live. The information also on the spirit of Jezebel brings to mind that abortion issue. I know at least in America, sex has become such a pastime, and is glorified as a recreational activity. Sex takes work. It is not just a means to temporal power of some sort. It is a means of crafting intimate and endearing relationship that which can be the means lead to new life here on earth, which is a miracle, but is also work, a job, a labour of love.
You know the bible says that in the end times there will be a battle in the heavens not just here on Earth. And I have talked to many spiritually oriented people, who have spiritual gifts, psychics, that do not value life here on earth. They believe in reincarnation and that the spirit will just come back to earth in another life, if the current one ends. How foolish, to think that such an important choice can be made by any one other than the one who endowed us with our right to live, as well as self rule. God is the Great I Am. The moment is now.
People don’t realize it. We are at war. Men of God are soldiers. The fight for life is real. The power of Christ, and the Virgin Mary, when you feel that Holy Spirit, the concept of divinity takes on meaning, and our sexuality, has purpose that goes far beyond anything recreational, it is an element of our creative mortality that needs to be spiritually nurtured in preparation for immortality. Courage is what it takes, to fight for the unborn, the fight for the freedom of the sex slave. Creative suffering, and sexual energy, if used right, is not consumptive, it’s creative.
It’s true, there is much Christian music out there today is slightly banal. I wouldn’t like to define it as girly. But rather as as week. And it is no wonder, I have met many christians and they are supportive of abortion, a cheap cop-out. The hour is here, Brothers and Sisters in Christ! And suicide and abortion are not going to be a part of our dream.
A few good songs on u-tube, that give me hope in the idea’s I associate with cool male strength.
Tupac – Keep Ya Head Up
Da T.R.U.T.H. – Who Am I
August 18, 2009
Jesus is the masculine of masculine. I pray that God will give men and women across CAN and US a greater revelation of this stunning atribute. Quite the manner to exemplify. Quite the man to be loved by.
August 22, 2009
I have recently finished a book Contra Feminism in which I argue that feminism is a false philosophy of the world and contrary to the bible. God offers women forgiveness of sins and eternal life with Christ, but it was not God’s intention for women to act and dress the same as men.
Most publishers will not touch such a book with a ten foot pole, but it is what I have had on my heart and I will see if I can do anything with it.
November 18, 2009
Have you all forgotten about economics. Yes the things that were mentioned above have some truth but at the end of the day the facts are the facts. There has been a slight increase in women pastors, but in the overwhelming majority of financial sound churches most of the leadership is male. Most pastors, reverends, priest,rabbi’s etc. Most deacon boards, trustees, its all still controlled by men. And men profit the most. You can say what you want about feminism but women bring dollars and blind loyalism. Finance has taken over church priorities. Yes women have great gains in education, medicine and politics, but in church the gains are small at best. If you look at the importance of money and power, then more things will come to light. But I know, just act like this doesnt exist and it will go away. Saving souls has become making dollars, then you can become a bishop or higher. Get on TV and you now are big man on campus. Leave women alone and worry about your own salvation. God Bless…
February 14, 2010
Any religion started or run by women always end up a Gnostic cult. Look at the Unity School of Christianity, for one. I’ll take my old faith, please.