Does God Hate Men?

Men are the image and glory of God.’
-1 Cor 11.7

Men, you were born into a culture that hates you.

You have been told to sit down and pay attention nicely like the girls that surround you since your earliest years in school. When your naturally boyish and boisterous selves resist this environment, they pump you full of Ritalin and other drugs.

You are sent into schools where girls are naturally encouraged every step of the way but you are not. Girls do better in our current form of education and tests resulting in 35% more women than men going to University. More scholarships and grants are specially earmarked for women than men. A man and a woman of equal qualifications will often go for a job, but a woman is more likely to get it as it adds ‘diversity points’ to the business in the eyes of the government. If you are under 40 in the UK, you are earning less than your female co-workers. 

One-third of domestic abuse victims are men. 

You are 11 times more likely to die at the workplace than a woman.

You are 3 times more likely to be homeless. 

You are 99 times more likely to die in military combat. 

On average, men get a 65% longer the prison sentence for many of the same crime.

You have a 15% chance of winning your children in case of divorce.

You are 4 times more likely to commit suicide. 

In the UK, women retire 2 years earlier than men on average, even though they also live longer.

In spite of all these challenges, you're supposed to wear the label of 'privileged' because of your gender. 

Whereas once being a man meant something noble, young men are now viewed as nothing more than a Homer Simpson in the making. It used to be understood that there is something unique about being a man – that men and women are different and therefore naturally excel at different areas. Now such talk only invites the shrill mob of feminism to attack you, wielding the ill-defined accusations of ‘misogyny’ and ‘sexism'.You'll hear feminist and 'egalitarian' movements say that they don't hate men and are only for equality. But you notice how they never advocate in these areas where men are disadvantaged. They don't seem to care that more men than women are sewer workers. Why is that?

Most of you men aren't bitter about these inequalities. Most of you are willing to take a bullet on the combat field for your women back home. You're happy to dig ditches if it will enable you to provide for your woman and children at home. You're men. But under the banner of 'privilege', you now have guilt dumped on you for the crime of being male. 

In order to not get dumped on, you must ignore the reality, profess a faulted feminist ideology, and swear that you too are committed to 'smashing the patriarchy' (whatever that supposed to be).

Church

Sadly, it’s not just society. The church is no longer an encouraging place for you either. Here in the UK, only 37% of those worshipping on a Sunday are men. The music, the preaching, the decorations largely appeal to women. Whereas past epochs of church history resounded with robust masculinity under the leadership of reformers like Martin Luther or fiery church patriarchs like John Chrysostom, we now have ministers whose flowery talks are about as dangerous as a cup of warm Horlicks.

And this does not even begin to consider the recent overturnings of church leadership – be it bishops or eldership – being male. After nearly 2,000 of being led by men, we have gotten with the times in hopes that the cool kids will give us the thumbs up. Denominations that lead the way in embracing feminism 30 years ago have been wilting ever since. They are also the ones being most compromised by LGBT ideology right now. What man doesn’t want to get up early on Sunday morning and lead his wife and children to a church where he can hear yet another sermon against systemic male-hetero privilege by a feminist pastor?

Depending on the church, the singing part may not be all bad. But there are many churches where this is done in a pop love-song style with high notes that men struggle to reach. It's worse than the karaoke at the pub – and he’s expected to be sober.

This hurts both men and women. Many are spiritually widowed - worshipping at church while their husbands are home watching sport. When someone asks how the church can reach men better they are told that if men aren’t there that’s it their own fault.

Thankfully, the majority of women don't identify as feminists and most don't oppose men being men. Most Christian women want to help men share the gospel and war against demons. Many of us would not be where we are if it were not for the encouragement of spiritual sisters and mothers. We cherish and are grateful to these women for their love and support.

But the feminist minority is loud.


 The Glory

Men, even though clerics in high positions won’t say it, we need you. And we need you in a way that we don’t need the ladies (we do need them, but in another way). Society may hate men, but God does not.

Being masculine is not a joke or an insignificant part of your makeup as a person. God made you male for a purpose. Scripture declares that you 'are the image and glory of God'.  

Be that.

Be that without shame. Don’t apologise for being male – even if the plague of third-wave feminism pressures you to do so.

God made you that way to build civilisations, carve out roads in the wilderness, plant churches, lead governments, serve as elders, fight wars, take wives, and raise up families.

Society may hate men, but God loves men. And he loves you as men – not just as androgynous humans. Don’t throw away your masculinity when it comes to discipleship. Don’t waste your life with a neutered faith. You are his glory.

We need you to lead the charge against the gates of hell in this screwed up and confused generation. Everything will be against you. You will constantly be told you’re wrong. If you speak the truth, you’re called a bigot. If you lead, you’re called power-hungry. If you denounce sin, you’re called a hypocrite.

Do it anyway. 

(Download a FREE e-copy of our book: Elijah Devotional)
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Comments

  1. I think a more apt title would be "What Woman Hurt You?" After being a huge fan and promoter of your book, I expected better theology and a better understanding of social values from you. Just like #notallmen are rapists, #notallfeminists are man-haters.

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    1. Hey Dietrich, I'm glad you got and enjoyed the book. I'm sorry you this article didn't resonate with you. Getting the church to reach lost men is a passion of mine and I don't think our current strand of christianised feminism has been helpful. If you disagree and want to put more thoughts together, I'd be happy to read them brother.

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    2. "Getting the church to reach lost men is a passion of mine and I don't think our current strand of christianised feminism has been helpful."

      So your approach of "Grrr. Me be man. Me do good things that go unappreciated in a tiny slice of time. Me not like this. Me say encouraging other people to have power makes me weak" is going to pull them into churches by droves? That's going to be helpful?

      Pastors have been pulling at men to get into churches since organized religion began. You're writing revisionist history, and while I would love to explain my point, I'm not inclined to believe that you are interested in a conversation about this given your pathetic response to Katie and your lack of response to BrandonSeeSound. So I won't waste my time.

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    3. Ok Dietrich,
      I'm happy to talk history.
      Men have not historically been anti-religious. Even today in an orthdox Jewish synagogue or in a Muslim mosque, you will find roughly 50% men, perhaps a bit more. Even Buddhism is fairly evenly divided. It is modern Christianity in Western countries that has the problem of a disproportionate amount of women.
      This has not always been the case. There were times when the church was more evenly divided. WHetehr you look at the Reformation under Luther ot the YMCA movements in the early 20th century, there are times when strong male characters (as and INFP I am not naturally one of those) flocked to church. Today's evangelism is far from that though and so all sorts of men tend to stay away.
      Happy to chat more sweetheart,
      J

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    4. Like I said, I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you. But brother to sweetheart? That's an interesting flip.

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  2. Joshua,

    It saddens me that you would write a piece in such a hurtful tone.
    You touch on some important issues around why men are disengaged with Church but your blaming feminists for this is misguided.
    I think you need to consider what you mean by 'robust masculinity' when it appears that you don't see that this can share the same space as enabled women. If you are unable to be a man while I am empowered to be who God has called me to be then you need to check why your masculinity is not robust but fragile.
    Your attack on "theological feminist" seems to ignore their efforts to promote equality for women across the board.
    I didn't choose to have to fight to follow my calling to preach and lead, to have sexual abuse taken seriously, and for my experience-led reading of scripture to be given an equal voice to the 'normative' European male perspective, but here we are.

    I didn't choose to have this fight and if you'd like, we can be allies as we discover what it means for all of us to experience a true freedom in Christ.

    Katie x

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to comment Katie. I'm sorry that you thought the article was written in a 'hurtful tone'. I suppose that may be chalked up to the fact that there are a lot of hurting and neglected men out there.
      I'm not sure what 'fight' you were referring to. I once sat in a pastor's office and listened to him bully me and tell me that there was no way God had called me. But if God calls us, none of that matters. Jesus said 'wisdom will be justified by her children'. A calling will prove itself in time.

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  3. Interesting article. As a man who led his family for many years as a believer, but now is not a believer, I have always found this topic fascinating. Forgive me if I understand this article incorrectly. I do not have the Holy Spirit guiding me so I may not interpret it correctly like all the Christians who will understand exactly what you are saying on the first read. ;)

    I agree with some of what you are saying. I agree that times are changing and a man's place is very different than 100/1,000/ 10,000 years ago. Because the value of a human was placed on different characteristics (strength), the value of a woman has changed over the years. Technology allows woman to have more value in areas where men dominated and they are now being lifted out of the oppression. Whenever there is oppression, the response (feminism) to that oppression is sometimes over-correcting with many stages grief that we need to allow women to express: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Men are caught in the middle of this grief. With anyone going through these processes, we need to listen, be respectful, nod, repeat back what we hear, say we understand, let them be angry, not get defensive, and not be a whiny little pussy complaining and saying "what about me!?".

    "You have been told to sit down and pay attention nicely like the girls that surround you since your earliest years in school. When your naturally boyish and boisterous selves resist this environment, they pump you full of Ritalin and other drugs." I totally agree. We live in very different times today where women are valued and technology is making such that strength is not needed as much as it used to. So now, we are living in more of a "feminine world".

    "Once in the workforce, you will often hear women make jokes about men. If you make a joke about women, you may lose your job." Yep, we are reaping what the collective man has sown. Deal with it.

    "..young men are now viewed as nothing more than a Homer Simpson in the making". I understand what you are saying and I agree with this to a point, but men had a good run, women were oppressed since the dawn of time, they are finally able to speak. Let them have a little fun at our expense. Or does this hurt your widdle ego? Pack your manly pipe, drink your dark liquor, and say "yes honey, I understand." Live out your Eph 5:25-33 calling.

    "Be that without shame. Don’t apologise for being male – even if the plague of third-wave feminism pressures you to do so."
    Why not apologize? Man up and take it and apologize for the horrible way we've treated women since the dawn of time.
    I understand what you are trying to say here however. Are you saying that you feel like feminism is pushing out men from the church and making them be something they were not "made" for”? You are encouraging men to be real men of god. Men are awesome and have done amazing things that we should be proud of.

    I disagree that "society hates men". Society is just in a state of change coming out of oppression.

    Just my random thoughts on this subject. Thanks for encouraging men. Sorry this was so long, I didn’t have time to make it shorter.

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  4. I'm not sure the writer of this article understand what feminism is...

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  5. What a load of bull crap.

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  6. falling behind on approving comments? i get it.

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