“American Christianity in the last two hundred years has been feminized. It presents Jesus as a friend, a lover, someone who ‘walks with me and talks with me.’ This is fine rapturous imagery for women who need a social life. Or it depicts Jesus whipped, dead on the cross. Neither is the type of Christ the typical male wants much to do with.”Men are turned off by feminized, "Jesus is my boyfriend" churches.
I can understand hoe Frederica’s writing style might not click with everyone. But, she is quite prolific and obviously has an audience.
I assume you are aware that her husband was an Episcopal priest with young children who converted and left a secure position to establish a mission parish?
One of their sons is now a priest. I my be misremembering, but I think a daughter is married to a priest.
Being Manly is all good and well, but read Corinthians 13- if you don't have love, you have nothing. Pharisees were superb ritual-followers.
My wife and I recently visited the Church of the Nativity on a Holy Land pilgrimage. While we were waiting in line to view the Grotto, a group of about 30 Orthodox priests (not sure where they were from) performed an impromptu a cappella recital. This Roman Catholic can attest to the “basso profundo” that filled the Basilica. Very beautiful and moving. Wish they had a CD for sale! :)
I go to daily morning Mass, where the women outnumber the men 3-to-1 to 4-to-1 easily. And the KofC (Knights of Columbus) is noticeably less active and prominent than the CCW (Council of Catholic Women.)
I've got to agree with Mathewes-Green that we could do with a bracing adrenalin-testosterone shot of the Masculine Virtues: by which I mean,
Even though we have two priests and three deacons (we are blessed by these men), almost every ministry, devotional and activity group is woman-headed. The overwhelming sense-surround of the place is potted-plants, herb tea, estrogenic.
I believe over all the comments probably cite the problem of why men don`t like to go to Church.
The so called portraits of Jesus are enough to keep men out of the Church but no one wants to call them what they are, and I better not say it.
But there are some protestant Churches that look at it in much the same way.
The difference being that we believe what the Bible teaches us is to be taken with us and practiced in real life rather than used as a ritual in Church.
2Peter 2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
If we read what Jesus told us to do but then tell our selves we have to do nothing we are denying the lord that brought us.
John 8
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Jesus was more inclined to tell us what we should do as we already know what we shouldn’t do as it had been preached for thousands of years.
It hardly takes a bible scholar to know about the destruction of the sodomite cities.
Jesus said to love thy neighbor, how many people in this age even know their neighbor? or wants to?
Jesus said love your enemy, he did not mean for a man to go around kissing other men, he just meant to help them if they need help.
Jesus said do unto others as you would have them do unto you which explains the prior verses.
But we have people who claim to be believers who will try to twist all of these verses around to mean anything except what they say.
It is not how high we can jump in Church which counts but how far we can walk with God in our real life after we come back down to earth.
One contrasted this “robust” quality with “the feminized pictures of Jesus I grew up with. I’ve never had a male friend who would not have expended serious effort to avoid meeting someone who looked like that.” Though drawn to Jesus Christ as a teen, “I felt ashamed of this attraction, as if it were something a red-blooded American boy shouldn’t take that seriously, almost akin to playing with dolls.”
Awesome comment!
This is quite relevant. After a decade of searching, I determined that of the churches available in my vicinity, the Lutheran-Missouri Synod church is closest to Luther's original intent to reform the Catholic church and return it to the Apostolic faith. Orthodox churches are not readily available where I live; but I salute this faithfulness.
One of the reasons I love my church is that there is a real appreciation for males. They are very welcome in our congregation and are heavily represented in the volunteer corps.
I have been on the other side, the side which tries to get men to quietly play in the center of the room. It doesn’t work.
My church is Southern Baptist Convention.
The same is true with fundamental churches. They preach the word rather than some watered down Social Justice nonsense.
Pray America is waking
Podles points out that the sentimentalism of the middle ages also gives rise to the emphasis on feminine type emotionalism. This is most often seen in protestant churches who like to claim and emphasize a "relationship" with Jesus. Charismatics are the most guilty of emotionalism, but perhaps the emotional manipulation of the second great awakening by men like Charles Finney are the most to blame in N. America.
Every denomination is subject to the cancer of feminism, because every member and leader lives in a feminist culture. I could produce hundreds of examples from every flavor of Christianity but a few from the most conservative will suffice. Al Mohler, (President of Southern Baptist Seminary SBC), writes that a man must continually earn his access to have sex with his wife contrary to 1 Corinthians 7:5. One of the favored marriage counseling materials in the greater church is "His Needs, Her Needs". The author Harley recommends that wives reward husbands who meet the wife's needs with sex that she has been withholding. How many times have you heard from the pulpit that marriage is a compromise yet scripture never even hints at compromise, but is clear on wifely submission. How many times have you heard a sermon on wifely submission start out on submission is not and by the end of the sermon is submission for the wife turns out to be making her husband make her happy! Happy wife happy life is not a proverb of the scriptures but "a contentious wife is like a constant dripping" is. The Lutheran study Bible in the comments section says that that proverb means that it is important for a husband to get along with his wife, the comment is only 180 degrees away from the scriptures message. In John Piper and Wayne Grudem's Recovering Biblical Manhood and Woman Hood they say that the starting point is that men and women are equally created in the image of God. They use the most fragile exegesis to support their point without giving any ink to the volumes written on what is the image of God and how or if it survived the fall. What is noteworthy is the appeasement of the feminists. IF they had simply said both were created to bear the image of God they might have avoided this controversy but they said equally not both. The Bible nowhere says equally, that is concept from civics theory not theology. The feminists say equality the closest the Bible comes is join heirs in 1 Peter. The church is simply saturated in feminist presuppositions such that she is incapable of discerning how far she has wandered from the teachings of the Bible.
The culture of the church music reflects the gyno-centric emphasis. The leading part or melody is written for the soprano, women and the most masculine part the bass is normally just written to augment the women.
If a pastor dares to teach Biblical patriarchy, he risks being defrocked. If a Pastor risks teaching 1 Peter 3:1 he risks being deposed and exiled. This is not hyperbole it is first hand experience. Christo-feminism is not to be challenged, the white knights and rebellious women will not allow it.