Real Men Talk About God- A new Christian movement lets guys be guys.
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Real Men Talk About God
A new Christian movement lets guys be guys.
Is Christianity in modernity really more feminine than masculine in terms of the way it asks us to behave, and the way it speaks to the average Christian man?
I’m not sure what to make of this. The description of the event seems to portray ‘real men’ as 14 year old boys on a sugar rush. I don’t have any use for these events but that is a personal opinion. If these events somehow make christian men feel like they have a place to worship, then hakuna matata.
It’s too bad that Godmen and others (Wild at Heart comes to mind) can’t perceive men as anything other than beings who live only to experience the next adrenaline rush. The flip side is that it’s too bad that men feel that events like this are necessary because the of portrayal in the church that men should be pussies. Christ was neither.
To my mind, unreconstructed machismo and ‘boys-only’ clubs don’t exactly lend themselves to humility, love of thy neighbour or contemplation of one’s place in the universe. Sounds like the cynical rebranding of Christianity to mop up an otherwise reluctant demographic.
I’m gobsmacked. I had to check the date to make sure it was not April 1. If I had a tea party with my dogs in my back yard and put a Bible on the table, could I call that a Christian gathering? Seriously, could anyone gainsay it?
Organized religion made little sense to me when I woke up this morning; it makes even less sense now.
The first rule of Godmen is that you don’t talk about Godmen!
Grab your sword and kick ass for Christ? Either they or I seriously misunderstand what Jesus taught. I could be the misunderstander, now, but I don’t think so.
This reminds me of the men’s campfire/drumming sessions that were a big thing for a while. Go sit around a campfire and drum and talk about how real men do things. I think it’s time we took the “John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn” stereotype out, and shot it. That’s no more a real snapshot of what real men are then Little House on the Prairie is a real snapshot of what real women are.
The only part of the whole thing that makes sense is:
When I first heard there were guys going off into the woods, dancing around campfires, banging on drums, while naked, then bursting into tears, and occasionally bellowing “I LOVE you, maaan!”, I figured whoever told me about it was on some serious crack.
But I was wrong…
I’m wondering what will take the place of the ferns and flowers that are so emasculating.
And they’re right that Jesus was pissed about the moneychangers, but in the end He did lay down His life rather than fight back. Turn the other cheek, cut off the hand that spites you…
As [a prophet?] once said, “there is nothing new under the sun”. This sounds like a particularly repellent degeneration of the Victorian vogue of "muscular Christianity".
FWIW, American society not only survived the original version, it’s arguably benefitted immensely from it, and will doubtless weather this latest manifestation, although I’m not anticipating any cultural benefits this time around.
From the OP link;
Holy Huevos, Hehsuss! I always read Jesus’ teachings as being an antidote to cowboy/ sword tactics that have led humankind into sad waters.
I suppose the wussy doe-eyed compassionate Jesus needs to be replaced with a crew-cut six-pack ab buff Messiah. Yeesh-hua!
Thanks, Astro, I’m really all-afeared that fella is going to come and kick my ass, now, and everafter. But he din’t have a crew cut. What a wuss!
Where exactly was that posted? Not that I want to taint the great persecuted columned halls of testosterone with a simple questioning presence…
A look at their website makes me think that they’re not as bad as the Newsweek article makes them sound.
Here are a couple of extracts:
Although I disagree with their idea of what is feminine, if they can help men deal in healthy ways with the issues they describe, more power to them – literally.
Meanwhile, I think that many women would also derive benefit from women’s church groups that deal more openly with women’s issues and encourage them also to be more assertive and powerful. (That’s not gender specific.)
Cattails, maybe? Interesting how flowers and ferns aren’t emasculating to male landscape architects and gardeners. 
Oh, there are all sorts of fussy, supposedly feminine things that “real” men are allowed to do as long as they’re getting paid for it…there’s a whole genre of DVD out there about it…