What is manhood? What does it mean to be a man? Is it power? Is it strength? Is it having the biggest truck? Or the biggest house? Or the best kept lawn? Is it the family and white picket fence? Is it finding true love in a wife? Is it raising children, and caring for grandchildren, and growing old together? Is it leaving a legacy of family?
Is it sexual prowess? Is it the "bro lifestyle" at the bars? Is it going from woman to woman, conquest to conquest? Is it found in experimenting with smoke and pipe? Or perhaps in a hedonistic search for pleasure?
Is it gathering wealth and possessions? Could it be attaining to total power? Is it creating brilliant works of art? Or might it be immortalizing oneself in writing books and poetry?
Is it in finding oneself? Or perhaps might it be discovering the truth that works for you? Or as some have said, to find your own meaning in the world?
Manhood is a very misunderstood topic today. One could say that western man has in many ways lost touch with what it means to be a man. But there are always the hold outs, the exceptions to the rule. They are around, holding their heads high, living lives of meaning and dignity. They are out there. I aspire to be one of them. I aspire to be a man of strength, courage, and conscience.
What kind of man are you? And if you're a woman, what kind of man would you want to lead your home? What kind of man would you want as your partner in the business of life?
Manhood can be very confusing. If one watches television and culture, one might have some very confusing ideas about what being a man is. If you watch commercials and sitcoms, you might think that men are supposed to be dumb, somewhat out of control, and in need of guidance from his wife who seems to commonly take the superior role in the relationship. That isn't manhood though. That's a fantasy world and it isn't real.
Some say there is a war on men. I don't know, maybe there is. Maybe media means to disarm men, to push a lot of guilt their way for their oppressiveness in the past. But I suppose I don't adhere to that. I won't be suppressed for the crimes of others. I just won't. Society, culture, people groups, and families in general need strong men, strong leadership in men, and overall just good men are needed.
Young men are not especially any of these categories. A lot of them are being told they're suppose to be more feminine. They are being told nothing is ever their fault. They are being told they are victims. They are being told they need to explore homosexual relationships. They are told they are suppose to try to sleep with everything that moves. If you haven't noticed this then you've been living in a box. Young men are for the most part, predators. It's creepy. Young men are being told they are the product of time + matter + chance. They are being told that they are just pond scum, and do whatever feels right. As they say "follow your heart." My heart got me into a lot of trouble, so today I follow the leading of my God. But men are hungry for something else. They are hungry for honor, dignity, truth, and a great cause to stand for.
But today? My goodness. Young guys today make me want to puke actually. Many of them do, truly. Especially the guys who dress up like gangsters. Or even worse, the bar hopping bro guys. They are just insufferable. These are the guys who have read "The Dao of the Badass" five hundred times, and make a practice of manipulating and seducing bar girls. They usually end up paying a lot of child support and drinking heavily. There's no meaning or happiness in that pursuit, believe me, it's empty. And child support is expensive. Welfare queens. It's ridiculous.
Do you know what they call that? In Psychology it's considering something called "King Baby Syndrome." King baby syndrome is characterized by selfishness, rejection of criticism, complaining, refusal to accept circumstances, refusal to mature, and believing that rules of life don't apply to them. The king baby is always looking for the next chance to laugh about something, or have fun no matter what. When people get in the way, they call them a drag and move on to the next. The king baby says things like "I shouldn't have to work, because then I'm just enslaved to my corporate masters." They refuse to face the difficulties of life, and refuse to accept difficult situations. Instead they tend to run from such issues, and often have chemical dependency issues and/or alcoholism problems. So let me ask you: Are you a king baby? If so, maybe it's time to grow up? You can be king of the pen at your mommy's house, or you could allow yourself to mature into a man? Your choice.
Let me ask you, have you noticed a certain trend? I've noticed this quite regularly. It seems to be the new rule, not the exception. Guys in their twenties, jobless pot heads playing videogames all the time, sitting in the passenger side while their girlfriend drives them around. Have you noticed this? I've noticed it. I think they call that man boy syndrome. Girls don't like that. They just have nowhere else to turn. Public schools and fatherless homes turn out these dope smoking man-boys by the millions.
Now that we understand the problem in somewhat blunt terms (your welcome) we can look at a hope for the future. Let's look at recovering and redeeming manhood. Five areas.
1. Men need to understand who they and why they are. What is my roll as a man? In other words, what does it look like to be a man?
The young man rolls off the assembly line, gets plugged into the matrix, and eventually asks himself: What am I suppose to do? Usually there should be a strong man in the household to sit down and explain it to this young man. Unfortunately that's not always the case.
Let's settle it right now. Your primary purpose in life is not to be entertained, it's to be a man of honor and dignity, upholding a righteous cause. You sir are not a product of the slime, and you don't get to choose buffet style what life does and doesn't mean. You are a man, created in the image of almighty God himself, endowed with a conscience that you should use. You are afforded days and nights on this Earth, bright stars above, and dirt below to do your best to be a mighty man of God.
If you want to believe whatever you want to believe, then life has no meaning. And you can go back to being a loser man boy destined for welfare. Maybe you can apply for disability so you can sit in your mom's bedroom for the rest of your life and play WoW and COD. But if you want to be a real man of greatness, you must understand that what you do matters, how you live matters, there is a God, he made you, he's in charge, and your life will echo throughout eternity. There are fundamental truths of life that do not change. And your purpose is to stand for what's right, care for your family, raise your children, bring in the bread and meat, and sacrifice for your wife and your family when need be.
If you can stop running from your God and turn and embrace him, he can make you a man of greatness. He can make you the man you were always suppose to be. But you've gotta rise above the man boy syndrome. It can be done. God is real, and he's got the power. Let's move on.
2. Men want boundaries and discipline. Men want a code. What is my code? How should I live?
What code do I live by? What are the rules and disciplines surrounding my life? As much as it seems so great to just indulge in everything, we've seen how destructive that is. It's spawned a lot of men addicted to pornography, men addicted to drugs, men addicted to sex, and men addicted to the party life. Every young man quietly craves for guidelines. Dad, show me where the boundaries are!
The boundaries are outlined in this book, and if you can handle not running to your mommy and crying about it, I'll tell you the title: It's called the Bible. The Bible is your basic instruction manual. Stop whining. Stop dishing out your liberal "objections" to the Bible. Your objections stink. The Bible is real. Your code is in there. Your chivalrous code of honor and truth is right in there. It's all there.
Do good, champion the causes of the oppressed. Stand for truth. Stand up against those who threaten freedom and liberty. Honor your wife. Care for your family. Don't lie, don't steal, and don't cheat. It's all in there. And it makes sense. It really makes sense. And if you can't handle that, there's the door. Go apply for disability because you are terminally man-boy. But if you can handle it, then you've found a manual, a guide, a power, a greatness, and a tool to handle every situation life can throw at you. You've started the journey of becoming a real man.
3. Men need an allegiance. What is my cause to champion?
Causes have been stripped from men. I'm not sure how or why, but it has happened. I need a mission in life. And we can see that can't we? Look at the movies we men love. We love Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, the great battle against the evil empire. We love war movies, because of the great and glorious battles. We love super heroes, because we want to be the heroes of our story. Think of the videogames we play. We play Diablo, Starcraft, Call of Duty, Half-Life, World of Warcraft, come to think of it every single computer or videogame I ever played was about a hero fighting in a desperate cause against the forces of evil. Think of Master Chief and his battles against the covenant. Or Metal Gear Solid. Or Fallout 3. Or Morrowind. Oblivion. Rise of Nations. The list could go on and on. We all have that urge within us, to fight on the side of the righteous, in the hopeless cause, in defense of the weak and trodden on.
What is your cause? My cause you might say is that of the paladin. I'm a righteous warrior of light. I'm the white knight of God, washed and renewed in the victory of Jesus Christ. My God is real, powerful, and mighty. He is real. He is all knowing. He is the architect of all life. And he means for me to fight in his army on light on Earth, the body of Christ.
I have an incredible cause to champion, in a dark world, I am honored with the gift of carrying the light. I wake up every morning and put on my spiritual armor, and make war on the darkness. I share the truth boldly. This is the ultimate cause. And every man needs a cause to champion. Otherwise he's just a selfish, snotty little brat who wants everything his way. We can all think of that guy, can't we? Don't be that guy!
Submit yourself before the real God of the universe, join his army of light and truth, and begin the exhausting, arduous journey to fulfill your destiny. The journey is long and hard, taking us through the darkest valleys, and highest mountains, but if we are brave and tap into the power God gives us in his Spirit, we will make it to the promised land. Let's continue.
4. Men need an outlet for exploration and adventure. What is my adventure?
In connection to a righteous cause, is a need for exploration and adventure. Men suffer greatly in the cubicle. I know I do. I'd almost rather be dead then have to come back to a cubicle every day. It's insufferable. Men need adventure. We need outdoors. We excursions. We need men's outings. What is your adventure? Maybe it's something as simple as camping, hiking, or rock climbing. Maybe it's going on mission trips. Maybe it's joining a gun club or a state militia. I don't know, get creative. It could be joining a service organization like Lion's Club. It could be protesting, it could be skydiving, it could be fishing, it could be many things. But we need our adventures. It's kind of like Fight Club, we need our adrenaline.
Men are born trail blazers and heroes. Men are born for action and excitement. That isn't a bad thing. Sometimes it's just channeled wrong. But if we search, there are outlets for adventure, usually along the same lines as our cause/calling.
5. Men need a sense of glory and a striving toward greatness. What is my glory and what is my greatness?
This desire for honor, glory, and greatness is at the core of the male heart. It is God given and good. It's the part of me that wants to stand shoulder to shoulder with patriots to retake America. It's the part of me that craves a great awakening. It's the part of me that despairs at the state of men today. It's the part of me that is caught fire with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the instinct within me that is the most righteous and true. It's that part of me that hungers and thirst for righteousness, truth, and the victory of good over evil. This is the very core of a man.
No matter how much sex, drugs, selfishness, materialism, and gluttony is dumped into the masculine heart it cannot extinguish this God given splinter of eternity that cries out for justice, truth, and the righteous perfection of God himself. We can't escape it. There is always the part of us that calls out in the deep for truth, for glory, for greatness, and for something greater than ourselves. We need that greater cause that we can lay down our lives in the service of.
That cause is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the truth of life itself. The male character finds it's perfection of greatness and glory in the tireless service to the noble cause of the Christian faith. We are called to radical action to see the world saved from the very greatest threat of all: death itself. We are called to a noble cause indeed. We are called to gather the lost into the army of God, to stand on the battle lines in the army of God fighting the forces of hell. We are called to make spiritual war on the forces of darkness. We are called to stand for the truth in a world full of lies.
Are you willing to become a man of greatness? Are you willing to step up, and become a real man, the man you're suppose to be? This is it. This is our cause. This is our victory over consumerism and meaninglessness.
The Christian faith is the truth about all of life. God is a real God. We are called to defend the truth, and stand against the darkness. But the walls are vacant. The men are too busy trapped in addictions and obsession with self satisfaction. Men are too busy stalking women, collecting trinkets, and aspiring to management positions. Come out of the bars, come out of your mother's basement, and become the man you were born to be! Become a man of greatness.
God turned me from the most pathetic, addicted man-boy, into a man serving in his army, standing for truth, fighting pitch, desperate spiritual battles; God made me the warrior of truth I had always hoped to be, yet couldn't quite grasp. God made a real man out of me. And I want you to be a real man too. Turn from man-boy syndrome, and begin your journey to masculinity. Begin your journey at the cross, receive Jesus Christ and his Spirit, don your spiritual armor, and get ready for a war. Men of honor are needed on the battle lines. It's time to take your place on the frontlines. The greatest cause in the history of man awaits you, sign on now, before the time is too late.
