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If you attended the Finding a Mate - Forging a Love Conference, you may recall from the Friday night session on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, I shared a quote from John Ensor in his excellent book “Doing things right in matters of the Heart”, on “America’s conventional wisdom” with regard to the genders:

“Where gender differences are acknowledged, they are far from appreciated. Instead they are considered remnants of patriarchy that by nature are unjust and oppressive. All differences are considered imbalances, and imbalances must be corrected and made equal. Equal makes things fair. To be fair, masculinity and femininity must be deconstructed. A new androgyny must be created and then imposed. I can hardly wait.” p. 72

We continue to see this played out on the front pages of our nations news.  You may have been disgusted by the recent headline about the California first graders subjected to a lesbian wedding “field trip”.

Today, I read this quote in the third installment of a 3-part series by Albert Mohler:

Civilizations are built on careful and necessary distinctions.  As an institution, marriage has been defined throughout history as a heterosexual union.  Marriage is so central to our civilization that its related words have become equally essential.  Words like “husband” and “wife” have been necessary to understanding our stories, our laws, our families, our social arrangements, and our aspirations.  Transform marriage into a homosexual institution, and the vocabulary no longer works.

The loss of distinction is nothing to celebrate.  The blindness of depravity in our culture keeps those who defend the unnatural explanation of sexuality and personhood from seeing the beauty and truth of gender distinction.

How ironic that so much being heralded under the banner of “diversity” and “tolerance” is actually serving to deconstruct the most basic form of natural tolerance - tolerating distinctions between men and women.

Will you pray for us and with us as we move forward with the vision to be a voice of uncompromising Biblical reason and proclamation of God’s “very good” design?

If you would be willing to partner with us in spreading the message and expanding the reach of the Finding a Mate - Forging a Love Conference - we’d love to hear from you!

We’re interested to see who would be willing to help coordinate and host Finding/Forging Conferences in a city near you…

Contact us. And leave a comment and share your thoughts and reaction here.

For the fullest expression of God’s glory and image in all the earth,

Adam

If you were at RS 08 you know the resounding answer to that question.  “HOO-RAH!“  (It doesn’t quite sound as cool and masculine on screen as it does in person…But there’s a point to be made.  And we are serious and passionate about making the point at RockSolid.)

God designed the genders.  And He designed men to be men.  To take responsibility and to lead.  Not chauvinistic, domineering, ego-serving, self-centeredness.  Not passive, weak, conflict-avoiding, lazy, mouse-like, self-centeredness.  Manhood.  Leadership.  Servanthood.  For others good and God’s glory.

John Piper defines masculinity in very helpful (& accurate) terms:

“At the heart of mature masculinity is a sense of benevolent responsibility to lead, provide for and protect women in ways appropriate to a man’s differeing relationships.”

(from “What’s the Difference?  Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible” - p. 23)

Each word is carefully placed and unpacked in the helpful little book (which is a distillation of an excellent larger work, Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism.)

This is a huge issue and a huge need in the Church today.

And a word to the Ladies - you want men to be men! (can I hear an amen?!)  God’s design is not only true, but beautiful.  It is most satisfying for the masculine human soul and the feminine human soul, when we discover and embrace the truth and beauty of our Creator’s design in making us equally dignified and uniquely distinct (Gen. 1:27).

It is not only good and satisfying for men, to be men, and women, to be women.  But it is good for women when men are men.  And it is good for men when women are women.

This issue is on unique display right now in our culture, garnering massive press and attention on the highest public venue in the world:  US Politics.

It’s a great time to be discussing these matters and searching the Scriptures and our own beliefs.  Don’t misunderstand me, my main aim in this post is not to make any political statement.  It is simply to engage a (I dare say “the”) vital issue facing the Church today, certainly facing young men and young girls today.  It affects every marriage, every family, everyone.

There is an identity crisis in the world, mass confusion abounds in our society, and sadly, even in our churches about the issue of biblical manhood and womanhood.

At RockSolid, we face this issue head on, and it strikes at all three of our primary aims:  Sound Thinking, Sound Living, Sound Relationships.

In closing this post down, there is so much that could be said and should be said.  We will also address biblical womanhood at more length on this blog as we move forward.

Two things:

1. We will be sharing clear and passionate teaching on this subject and it’s implications on dating/courtship and marriage at the upcoming Finding a Mate - Forging a Love Conference, here in Cashmere, WA.  October 17-18.

If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so here.  I strongly encourage you to come if you can and help us spread the word.

For more information, read the flyer.

2. I was prompted to write this specific post after reading an excellent, and I mean excellent, series of 3 posts (not long at all) by Owen Strachan on the Gender Blog at the Council for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood.  I include them here, for your recommendation and reference:

A Blueprint for Manhood, Part 1: The Problem, A Solution, and The First Few Years of a Boy’s Life

A Blueprint for Manhood, Part 2: In Adolescence and Beyond, the Importance of Living for Others

A Blueprint for Manhood, Part 3: Maturity, Singleness, and the Legacy Every Man Can Leave