Men=War?

Recently I have been reading the book by John Eldredge entitled "Wild at Heart". Although I don't believe in a lot of things that Eldredge espouses in his book, the premise of the church losing it's masculine identity, I can definitely agree with. We as a church have let the popular culture make our saviour( and hence our men) weak and frail. Meek and mild, is not weak and frail. We as men need to stand up and reclaim our house, and our church and become men that are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do what is morally right.

Having said that, I have been subscribing to a blog published by the "Council of Biblical Womanhood and Manhood". Many of the articles I receive on a daily basis are well written and have a very valid message. But one recent blog made me rather upset. The title of the blog was "A Man's Summer Reading List..." When I first saw the title, I thought that this could be interesting and was excited to see what books were out there that might be a good read for a hot summer. When I began to read the blog, I was stunned by what I saw. Every single book that was recommended for "manly" reading was based around military generals, war, battles, or murders. One of the war books even tried to use Isaiah in its title to invoke some sort of "God's service" in the battle.

Now I like a good war book, and have read many. I even like learning about 1920's mafia and the like. But I take offense that this is the type of subject matter that has to be in books to make them a "manly" read. How about books talking about humility and servant hood. Or, if you want adventure, even a good story about some missionary?

The church needs to figure out what true biblical manhood really is. But in doing so we need to make sure we don't fall into the same trap as everyone else. In stereotyping genders, we are causing just as much harm as we would if we are trying to homogenize the genders.

If you would like to read the blog for yourself, here is the link.

http://www.cbmw.org/Blog/Posts/A-Man-s-Summer-Reading-List-Completely-Portable-Pleasure-Part-1

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Wild At Heart Chapter 2

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In Chapter 2, Eldredge makes that case that God is "wild at heart". He believes that most men have a warped idea of who Jesus is and was. People get their attitude of Jesus based on how their father was, the kind of pictures we always see of Jesus, and what the church tells us that Jesus was like. Eldredge says that most people end with the vision of Jesus being "Mister Rogers with a beard". We are told to be nice, be swell, and be like Mother Theresa. He makes the statement that he would rather be told to be like William Wallace from Braveheart.

I would argue that both characters where strong in their own right. William Wallace was strong in his stance against the English. Mother Theresa was strong in her determination to rescue the poor in Calcutta. I truly don't picture Mother Theresa very mild. But I guess I see Eldredge's point. I just would have chose somebody besides Mother Theresa to compare side by side with William Wallace.

Eldredge goes on to state that God has a battle to fight, and adventure to have, and a beauty to win. I think the premise is quite clear that God definitely has a battle to fight (or better said battle that has been fought), and a beauty to win (his bride the church). I am a little tepid to accept the adventure part though.

Mr. Eldredge says that since God created the world and since most of the world is dangerous and wild, then it obviously means that God prefers "adventure, danger, risk, and the element of surprise". I would argue that the world could have been much more tame and not as wild before the fall. Perhaps some of the traits we see around us-danger, risk, etc are products of the fall.

In the garden we have a world that is perfect. We have a world based on God's commands, God's love, and one on one communion with God. Was there death in the Garden before the fall? Was there a need for carnivores to be carnivores? Was there a need for danger until the serpent entered? I really don't have definite answers for that but it seems that if Eldredge's premise is a perhaps a bit skued on this point.

Now having said all this, I do believe that we have white washed the power and judgement of God. He is a lot more wild than we give him credit for. I agree that we associate Jesus with someone of the character of Mister Rogers. But he was much more. He was not timid. He was not mild all the time. God was not "nice" in the OT. God says he is a jealous God. He is righteous. He can be angry. Eldredge uses a quote from C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. The beaver is talking to the children. The children ask the Beaver if Aslan is safe. Mr. Beaver's response is...

"Safe? Who said anything about being safe? Of course he isn't safe. but he's good."

And that is how it is with our Lord. If we think he is safe, we are sorely mistaken. But he is good.

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Wild at Heart Review: Chapter 1

Again I am by no means a writer. But I will do my best to critique this book and whether or not I think it is worth reading. Since I am taking my time to devour each chapter, I shall try to review the book one chapter at a time.

Chapter 1 Wild at Heart

Eldredge begins his book by saying that "Eve was created within the lush beauty of Eden's garden. Adam, if you'll remember, was created outside the garden, in the wilderness." This statement in and of itself is true. But the premise that Eldredge is trying to draw from it is a bit obtuse. He makes the claim that because Adam was created in the "wilderness" his heart longs to get back there. This has a complete disregard of the fact that the garden was created for Adam, not Eve. Who knows how many years, centuries, or even mellenia, Adam and Eve lived there happily. If Adam was wanting back out into the "wilderness" why didn't he try harder before the fall. Why was it a significant punishment to be cast out of the garden? To say that Adam did not want to be in the garden because he longed for the adventure is to say that Adam did not want or even desire to be with God (which is what the garden was).

Eldredge's thesis for this book is that every man has three desires...A battle to win, an adventure to have, and a beauty to rescue. I have to say that these sound intriguing to me and I am excited to see what he is talking about. Mr. Eldredge does have some good points. He makes the case that the modern church has been so influenced by feminism, that we have emasculated our men. How can the church expect to live up to it's full potential if we are so confused about gender roles? We are confusing what it means to have Christ like traits with what it means to be a woman.

Some of the negative reviews I read about this book complained that it was sexist. One in particular was quite negative and complained about Eldredge wanting the medieval chivalry back. I would argue that maybe we need a little chivalry in this day and age. We need men who are not afraid (or lazy) to open the door for a woman (or anyone for that matter). We need men who know their place in the family structure and are willing to impart what it means to be a man to their sons. We need men who are not afraid to treat their daughters differently than they do their sons.

I am not sure how far Eldredge will take this issue. Will he promote men going up into the wilderness and practicing the "primal scream"? Does he promote working on cars, going to monster truck rallies and banging heads in a football game? He has already laid the premise that we as men want adventure. I concur. But what kind of adventure is he talking about and at what expense?

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