Joie de Vivre A Wretched Man’s Quest To Follow Jesus Christ

That line comes from a performance by one of my favorite comedians Russell Peters but, jokes aside, it gives occasion to think about what the role of men is in today’s world is, especially in the Christian context.

I have always maintained that, outside of the workplace, we continually see manhood eroded by society where men are told that in order to be acceptable they have to embrace their ‘feminine’ side, i.e. the ‘feminization’ of manhood. In response, we now see a plethora of skin-care products and even make-up for men!

Of course, there’s also the stoic approach to being a man — you shall not cry, you shall remain aloof, you shall endeavor to be Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind and mouth off “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a d**n”, or take Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry character as your role model, etc.

It is my position that both approaches are extreme and might even be wrong when seen from a Biblical perspective. What, then, does it mean to be a man?

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