Am I a Man?

So I'm not sure where this will go, I have a stack of books, the Word of God, google, some podcasts, and about a zillion thoughts. One of these podcasts I have is by a man named Mark Driscoll, pastor of a large church out of Seattle, and a contemporary Calvinistic theologian. Sometimes Mark and I agree on things, sometimes we don't; but I'm not here to get into that right now, rather I introduce him to you as the spark of this particular conversation. One of Mark's podcasts dealt with the topic of marriage, actually two of them did; one directed at men and the other at women. Now allow me to set forth first that I am well aware that I am not married. However, Driscoll set out to define what a man is, and I'm afraid I fall short; and happily so. Thus I am setting forth to define what it is to be a man, and moreover explore the fascination or perhaps obsession with "Manliness".

So a man should be big and strong, show no emotion, lead well, solve any problem and of course make enough money to provide all that a family could need; or at least that's what society tells us. But that can't be all there is, that can't be what I am called to be. Waldemar Janzen set forth the idea in Still the Image (1973), that before one worries about being man he must first set out to live as human. Male and female, or a suppose technically man and woman are subsets of the broader category of humanity, so if I want to excel at the former i must first excel at the latter.

What is humanity? Well at this point I could explore the great depth of the doctrines of Imago Dei; but I won't. That has been done by many people, many times; I will instead conclude that to be the image of God is to possess, at least the potential of, the characteristics of God. A solid, but none extensive list of these can be found in Galatians 5, the fruits of the Spirit. 

We have more to look to however then just the abstract ideas of things like love and peace; we have a living example of what that looks like. Christ came to the Earth and lived a perfect, blameless life... that is what I strive for in my quest to become a better person and a better man. 

But how can I live up to this perfect life? Well that's the ultimate question isn't it.

Here however I want to set forth that Christ was not the 'perfect man' as society would see it. And I would also set forth that he does not meet Driscoll's ideals for a Christian man. Christ is homeless, wifeless, put women on the same plain as men, he was fed by those around him. 

I'm not worried about being the man society expects me to be. I'm not worried about being the man another expects me to be. I'm not worried about being the man that you expect me to be. My goal is to live a life that reflects the glory of God, that strives to live as Christ demonstrated to me, a life where I can walk equally with my brothers and sisters in Christ alike. In Christ we find our wealth. 

There's lots I've skipped over, and I don't mean to come down on Mark to harsh, me is only one of a whole segment of Christians who hold this stance, but my fear is this; me become too worried about being men, about filling roles, that we forget to simply fill the role of the human image of God that is called to be a light to the nations.

The State of Poetry

So with my new job afoot I have a lot of time to read, one thing I now read is the newspaper... or at least I skim through it on my way to the Sudoku section. A headline caught my eye the other day, it read some like: 'He Writes Poems, Is He Gay?' I know I probably have the wording wrong but that was the idea. It was in a part of the paper that's one of those write in with life questions and an 'expert' will answer them. So the story goes like this; the lady writing in has been with her boyfriend for about a year, and things seemed to be going well. Apparently he treats her well, and everything is going well, but she has one issue. The issue is that he writes her songs and poems, and therefore she is concerned that he may secretly be gay.

What? Are you for real? Is the world so mixed up that a man can't express his love for a lady without being gay? How does that even make sense?

Love poetry goes back as far as Ancient Israel in the Song of Soloman, and there's no reason to think that was the first poem in the love poetry category. According to Wikipedia, and yes I know it's not the most reliable source out there, the oldest know love poem was recited by some king's wife, the king ruled in 2037-2029 BC. Poets to write love poetry include people like T. S. Elliot, Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens just to name a few. So when did this become gay?

Oh, and he writes her songs, because all musicians are gay? The Beatles primary topic of song was love, therefore they must be gay. Every member of every boy band ever in fact must be gay, along with the Rat Pack, Elvis, Barry White, Ja Rule, The Rolling Stones, Garth Brooks, need I go on? 

So how does one possibly think that because a guy expresses his affection for a girl through poetry and song he must be gay? I simply cannot fathom how the jump is made. Perhaps I'm missing something but just because a guy shows sensitivity instead of just pounding in the face of any guy that looks at his girl does not make him gay.

Welcome

Well it's official, I have decided to become a blogger. This way I will have an avenue to set forth my mind blow ideas, or more frequently my nonsensical spewing of nothing! So feel free to check in on me every so often... or not, I'm really doing this more for me then you, I guess I'm selfish! So what can one expect to find when they come here, well lot's of theological discussion, some sociological observations, and perhaps the odd story of my magnificent cooking experiences!

That is all for now, stay tuned!