Sunday, April 20, 2008

Manly Men's God

Don't ask me why I'm reading this Christianity Today article, I don't know, entitled "A Jesus for Real Men", but this is amusing to me, a la "Buddy Christ":

The aspect of church that men find least appealing is its conception of Jesus. Driscoll put this bluntly in his sermon "Death by Love" at the 2006 Resurgence theology conference (available at TheResurgence.com). According to Driscoll, "real men" avoid the church because it projects a "Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ" that "is no one to live for [and] is no one to die for." Driscoll explains, "Jesus was not a long-haired … effeminate-looking dude"; rather, he had "callused hands and big biceps." This is the sort of Christ men are drawn to—what Driscoll calls "Ultimate Fighting Jesus."
But then of course, it's gotta get scary:
...women believe the purpose of Christianity is to find "a happy relationship with a wonderful man"—Jesus—whereas men recognize God's call to "save the world against impossible odds." Moreover, he claims to have history on his side. While the church was masculine, it fulfilled its purpose. But in the 19th century, women "began remaking the church in their image" (and they continue to do so), which moved the church off course.
Now, this article is dissecting a movement here, but man, that movement sounds scary. Yes, let's save the world from itself. We could start by asking a lot of questions? What could we call this, a Questionarium? No no, how about an Inquisition? Yeah sure, I jumped straight there without bothering to look both ways first, but my underlying point is solid: I fear when anyone with a cause decides to turn their attention to the rest of the world.

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