Men (in the church) are failing.

Be on guard; stand firm in your faith [in God, respecting His precepts and keeping your doctrine sound]. Act like [mature] men and be courageous; be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13

I grew up in a middle sized church filled with older men; examples, role models, who I looked upon. Examples of what a (nice) man looks like. Examples of what I thought I was supposed to become. It's what was taught in the sermon on Sunday, woven into the messages on Wednesday at Awana and lavished on at church camp. Everyone be nice, love your neighbor (like Christ loved the church), be meek like Jesus was. We teach all these words and formulate them to create gentle passive Christians. That is failure. That is what needs to be addressed, accepted, and changed if there is going to be any redirection to this path of darkness we are on. We have to truly understand how Jesus lived, who he was and strive to love up to that example.

Growing up I loved hero stories, war stories and survival stories. Most of the main characters were men who were filled with strength and courage. A monumental sense of adventure and vision! These stories of fighting for your family, with your family for a vision - that is what got me excited to be a man. These men were not nice, were not soft, were not quiet. They stood for something.

The message the church portrays is that Jesus is the ultimate hero and he loved everyone, cared for everyone, was always gentle, never fought, never disagreed with anyone.

Basically that he was a watered down nice guy.

No where in the bible are we commanded to be nice.

The origin of the word 'nice' in Latin (nescire) means to not know.

The Bible does call us to wisdom- Ephesians 5:15, Proverbs 12:15, Proverbs 1:7, and many other times. It's also calls us, specifically men to be strong and courageous- Joshua 1:6-9, Deuteronomy 31:6, 1 Corinthians 16:13.

As men, it starts by diving into the real side of Jesus not the soft westernized model of him. Jesus hung out with low lives, head tax collectors, stinky fisherman, prostitutes, and typically didn't have very 'nice' things to say to the religious leaders!

Understanding this has made being a Christ follower make more sense. It has given me true encouragement to teach these lessons to my family so that I can raise them up strong and in the truth. It also gives me excitement to share the manliness of Jesus with other men.

If you are still reading and maybe because you were worked up from the title, let me calm your nerves. I don't write this to argue or create anger. If we sat down and pulled out the unbelievable amount of data it can be seen that the western male is failing and that includes men in the church. I have failed most epically too. But also that we serve a gracious God and he is giving us the opportunity to turn it around. To change generations and break chains worldwide.

I am excited to share more as I continue on my mission of spreading biblical manliness.

Be Well,

Chris.