Saw a story on Good Morning America this morning about a new movement called the "Godmen." Their basic premise is that the church is too soft for men and has gone "girly"
Don't know much about this group yet, but here's a link to their website.
Question: Do you think the church is too "sissy" for real men? Does it sing PROM songs to Jesus (as the group claims?)
2 comments:
Bob:
I can't type fast enough to respond to this one. I went out to the "GodMen" website--one of the things they state is: "[we are] not [talking about] the God of Sunday School and sweet worship songs, but the God of fire, creation and awe. The God who drives even the hardest man to his knees when he finally realizes the God of all things calls him son."
Without endorsing everything on their website (I might later, once I've had a chance to digest it), I think they are on to something. The God of the Bible, the One and Only TRUE God has been relegated (in many churches) to some kind of "genie in a bottle." "God wants to make you rich; He wants your life to perfect, free from worry, or stress, etc." These same churches ignore the fact that God is a God of wrath, of holiness. God punishes sin. That doesn't seem to get mentioned today. People "get saved," but from what? The answer is found in passages such as Romans 5:1—"we have peace with God." Before we were saved, we lived in opposition to God and His Holy standard, His Word. We were deserving of His wrath. But when He saved us, He imputed Christ's holiness to us, treating us as if we had lived the life that Christ lived. God is not some sappy, grandfather figure sitting around in heaven, waiting to give us a "treat" if we're good. God is a God of love, but he is also a Holy, Righteous Judge. He is not to be taken lightly or flippantly.
On top of our misconceptions about God, the church as followed after all kinds of programs and fads that are not built on the Word of God, but rather fanciful ideas and methods developed by men. To be more relevant, God-centered hymns have been replaced with "sweet worship songs" that are sometimes hard to distinguish from gushy love songs one might hear on the pop radio station. Fide-O runs a "contest" from time to time called "girlfriend or Jesus" where participants are challenged to determine whether the lyrics of a posted song are about Jesus or someone's girlfriend. Sadly, I've recognized many of the lyrics…and at times have sung them in church.
Another area where I think churches have failed is in the area of strong Biblical preaching. Preaching today is looked up as "old-fashioned" or out-dated. Churches resort to skits, video presentations or the "preacher" sitting on a stool, or on a bed (Ed Young Jr's prop for his recent series on sex and marriage) and "sharing" rather than exposition of Scripture. Why would they do that. The WORD, faithfully preached is what saves! (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1:21; 1 Peter 1:23)
Paul told the church at Corinth to "be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong." (1 Corinthians 16:13). Yes, the church has become "girly" because they won't "stand firm in the faith [and] act like men!" The truth DOES matter, and we—the church—better get serious about preaching the Word (the truth) and holding people accountable to what it says. The church needs strong men, strong leaders/shepherds that are committed to Biblical truth at all costs. That may mean losing some people; that may mean not being the largest congregation in town; that may mean preaching and teaching things that are contrary to society. But in doing so, it may mean "the salvation of our souls."
Bob:
Here's a link for an ABC News story re: "GodMen." From what I saw, don't know that I'd be comfortable with it. Just my two-cents.
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