Why Masculinity Becomes an Object of Ridicule

Whatever you do, don't be like this "church."

I wish this video (courtesy of

Protestia

) was satire, but it isn’t:

A TED-talk style church with gritty rock music and leather biker vests is literally the second cheapest form of masculinity, right after the one that talks about bacon and beer.

It is not an improvement for a man to be taken from the ditch of passivity and thrown into the ditch of anger.

Because anger is not a sustainable fuel.

It burns hot, burns out, then collapses, often to a worse-off state than it was before.

All the bluster and machismo expires in a huff. And assuming the man hasn't done irreparable damage to his relationships and reputation, he often becomes an object of ridicule.

To paraphrase a very wise man, "His ego is writing checks his body can't cash."

This is why feminists ridicule masculinity like this as "fragile." It has no stamina, because it revels in its own limited strength: money, muscles, prowess—all of which expire.

Yes, this is kind of awesome. But if this man doesn’t know he’s a sinner before a thrice-holy God, it really doesn’t matter.

Not that these things have zero place in a man’s life. Obviously they do. To be broke, weak, and ineffective is no better OR holier (!) than the alternative.

But men have to learn how to rightly order these things in their hierarchy of values, if they’re to understand how to use them properly.

This is why Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:8:

“For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

Paul doesn’t say, “Bodily exercise profits not at all.”

Nor does he say, “Judge every man by his deadlift.”

To understand what Paul is saying, we have to be able to hold two ideas in our heads at the same time:

1. Physical training is of some value.

2. The value of physical training is low compared to the value of training in godliness.

Again, not the value is not zero. Paul is not saying we can or should ignore physical activity entirely. Put down the Gummy Worms, Krispy Kremes, and Oreos.

Instead, Paul is saying the value is little in the eyes of God.

Is this hard to understand? Perhaps not when considering the following verses:

Thus says the Lord:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings.

~ Jeremiah 17:5-10 (emphasis mine)

So, don’t get me wrong, in our effeminate church culture I’m all for men being more like men.

But as soon as those pursuits forget the message of Jeremiah—which they often do in a matter of seconds today—then they’ve lost the plot.

And it takes far more than screaming, pushups, and leather vests to get it back.