This post is satirizing the rather inane comments recently made by John Piper in which he stated that "God has given Christianity a masculine feel." (More of his comments can be found HERE ).
Though Piper has contributed some meaningful books to the thousands of Christian bookstores across the world, his recent comments are neither helpful nor true. A masculine feel?? What happened to being the bride of Christ...unless Piper intends on being the groom? What happened to being "born again"? I don't know any men out there who can give birth...He also describes masculinity as "tender-hearted strength, contrite courage, risk-taking decisiveness, and readiness to sacrifice for the sake of leading and protecting and providing for the community" - none of which I believe to be inherently masculine traits.
You know, from all that I've heard over the past several years about masculinity and how to get men back into church (or how to galvanize men spiritually), it seems like people are fighting the wrong battles.
If grace perfects nature, then it seems to me that both men AND women shouldn't really focus on "how to be a man/woman" but rather "how can we be more like Christ?" If that happens, then a man will naturally become the man he was meant to be (whatever that looks like) and the same for a woman.
The HUGE issue that we really ought to be worried about is the profound emotional unsafeness, narcissism, pride, and insecurity that characterizes our society and the Church. I don't care who you are, man or woman--you should be cultivating emotional openness, honesty, and vulnerability to others. This is the primary reason why it's a real struggle for me to remain part of an evangelical community--people are either coy or aloof, or they just want to talk about theology. It seems like all the girls are standoffish, and when I am "real" with them, they fall in love with me. And then there's the women who construct a faux-authenticity with their take-charge, talkative attitude. And I love, love, love my sisters!
On a related note, I suspect that the egalitarian movement is largely motivated by women looking for theological excuses to not be vulnerable to men. And that's probably exacerbated when it seems like all the men are not emotionally aware/intelligent or easily able to be vulnerable/real/authentic with their inner lives.
Again, I think it's all about emotional safety. Everyone will continue to be closed off and turn to pornography/romance novels/pining for marriage because we believe that the only real way to be emotionally safe with someone is through marriage. This HAS to stop, and I see very few people talking or doing anything about it.
As far as I'm concerned, the best model for how to understand Christian marriage is the adventure stories we have; e.g. Pirates of the Caribbean, Conan, King Arthur, etc. In these stories there is a man and a woman, a King and Queen, or two warriors. Because it's an adventure story, their goal is not to fall in love with each other, but to help save the world. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder instead of face-to-face. I think many egalitarians think that complementarians are advocating the face-to-face relationship, but they're not. It's just that while a man and woman stand shoulder-to-shoulder, the King is still head of the Queen in their quest. The grow as individuals and as a couple when they learn to trust one another in those roles.
Wow, that was long.
Finally, conservative or not, man or woman, watching poop being squeezed out is disgusting.
What the HECK does this have to do with Christianity or John Piper?
ReplyDeleteThis post is satirizing the rather inane comments recently made by John Piper in which he stated that "God has given Christianity a masculine feel." (More of his comments can be found HERE ).
DeleteThough Piper has contributed some meaningful books to the thousands of Christian bookstores across the world, his recent comments are neither helpful nor true. A masculine feel?? What happened to being the bride of Christ...unless Piper intends on being the groom? What happened to being "born again"? I don't know any men out there who can give birth...He also describes masculinity as "tender-hearted strength, contrite courage, risk-taking decisiveness, and readiness to sacrifice for the sake of leading and protecting and providing for the community" - none of which I believe to be inherently masculine traits.
I see.
DeleteYou know, from all that I've heard over the past several years about masculinity and how to get men back into church (or how to galvanize men spiritually), it seems like people are fighting the wrong battles.
If grace perfects nature, then it seems to me that both men AND women shouldn't really focus on "how to be a man/woman" but rather "how can we be more like Christ?" If that happens, then a man will naturally become the man he was meant to be (whatever that looks like) and the same for a woman.
The HUGE issue that we really ought to be worried about is the profound emotional unsafeness, narcissism, pride, and insecurity that characterizes our society and the Church. I don't care who you are, man or woman--you should be cultivating emotional openness, honesty, and vulnerability to others. This is the primary reason why it's a real struggle for me to remain part of an evangelical community--people are either coy or aloof, or they just want to talk about theology. It seems like all the girls are standoffish, and when I am "real" with them, they fall in love with me. And then there's the women who construct a faux-authenticity with their take-charge, talkative attitude. And I love, love, love my sisters!
On a related note, I suspect that the egalitarian movement is largely motivated by women looking for theological excuses to not be vulnerable to men. And that's probably exacerbated when it seems like all the men are not emotionally aware/intelligent or easily able to be vulnerable/real/authentic with their inner lives.
Again, I think it's all about emotional safety. Everyone will continue to be closed off and turn to pornography/romance novels/pining for marriage because we believe that the only real way to be emotionally safe with someone is through marriage. This HAS to stop, and I see very few people talking or doing anything about it.
As far as I'm concerned, the best model for how to understand Christian marriage is the adventure stories we have; e.g. Pirates of the Caribbean, Conan, King Arthur, etc. In these stories there is a man and a woman, a King and Queen, or two warriors. Because it's an adventure story, their goal is not to fall in love with each other, but to help save the world. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder instead of face-to-face. I think many egalitarians think that complementarians are advocating the face-to-face relationship, but they're not. It's just that while a man and woman stand shoulder-to-shoulder, the King is still head of the Queen in their quest. The grow as individuals and as a couple when they learn to trust one another in those roles.
Wow, that was long.
Finally, conservative or not, man or woman, watching poop being squeezed out is disgusting.