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Morning musings: I believe that in the name of emptying godly manliness of that which is fleshly, there is sometimes a confusing of what are masculine tendencies BY DESIGN with what is sinful. The result is the feminization of men (some in ministry), in the name of godliness. 1/
And, I believe that some of it amounts to a manipulation of Scripture to create a vision for godly manhood that will win praise from a culture shaped by egalitarianism. In other cases it is an attempt to self-justify the feminization of those promoting 2/
such views, i.e., "The Bible teaches you should be like me." I'll go so far as to say that I suspect many of our godly forefathers who talked about things like manly courage, would find the "correctives" sometimes offered for "fleshly masculinity" unconvincing. What I mean by 3/
"correctives" is a definition of godly character that would make the masculinity that exists by design impossible to exercise. Instincts such as defending wife and children from attackers, as just one example. Another, would be to empty men of any sense of competition, 4/
regardless of how it is focused, or what its aims are. I also believe that there are more than a few godly men who would agree with what I'm attempting to describe, but remain largely silent about it because they don't think it's worth the guff associated with countering 5/
the sometimes popular perspectives. You can fill a room with little boys and girls and they will be DIFFERENT (there is another discussion to be had about how boys have suffered in the realm of education because of lack of acknowledgement of those differences). 6/
Godliness isn't about removing or blurring the differences that exist in men and women by design. Every believer should want to put to death the deeds of the flesh in all of its manifestations. But there is a God-designed masculinity that is NOT fleshly, it reflects the 7/
Creator's purpose. To put it bluntly, in some circles men are being feminized in the name of Jesus, and we do well to recognize it when it is happening and resist it with truth. 8/8
