There Are No “Biblical Men” by B. Robertson

There Are No “Biblical Men” by B. Robertson

As I’ve noted before, strict gender role teachings, either taught under Christian gender complementarianism, or Christian patriarchy, can be harmful to men too, not just women.

(Link): There Are No “Biblical Men” by B. Robertson

Excerpts:

• For years, I struggled to fit in to the gender identity that I was told God had created me to be. I knew I was a boy and I felt like a boy, but I didn’t want to be a sweaty, football playing, burping, manual-labor-loving boy that I was told God had created me to be. According to many in my community, I was failing to live up to God’s standard.
• I was shamed by my pastor for doing “sissy work” when I wanted to be in the office instead of outside doing manual labor. My youth pastor made me leave a funeral service because I was crying.
• He told me, “If you want to be a pastor, you’ve got to learn to be a man. Men don’t cry.” For years I questioned whether or not I was pleasing to God because I was a man but I did cry. I didn’t like manual labor. I lovedsinging in choir. I was soft-spoken. I didn’t feel like any of this made me less manly, and in fact, the men I admired most had similar qualities.
• But as I searched the Scriptures, I was surprised to find a stunning lack of clarity on what it meant to be a man. In fact, many men in the Bible seemed to have traits similar to the ones I possessed. Jesus himself wept. And as far as I could tell, he never played football either.
• …. As I have studied the cultural context surrounding the New Testament writings and early Christianity, it has become astoundingly clear to me that Dr. Rainey (and subsequently many other evangelicals) definition of masculinity is derived much more from the Greco-Roman culture than from any clear teachings of Christ.

((read the rest))

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Related Posts:

(Link): Why Unmarried – Single Christians including MEN Should Be Concerned about the Gender Role Controversy

(Link):  The Masculinity Myth: The Real Reason Men Don’t Go to Church by the Evangelical Pulpit

(Link): The “Feminization” of the Church by K R Wordgazer

(Link):  Church must avoid becoming Fight Club to attract men by H. Coffey

(Link):  The Irrelevancy To Single or Childless or Childfree Christian Women of Biblical Gender Complementarian Roles / Biblical Womanhood Teachings

(Link):  According to this Christian Web Site, Authentic Manhood (their phrase) does not include single men or childless men

(Link):  Additional Rebuttals to CBMW Christian Gender Complementarian Heresy and Travesty That Declares All Females Must Submit To All Males In Heaven (Part 3)

(Link):   Marriage Made Into An Idol by Christians, Christians Who Believe Christian Men Are All Potential Rapists – Examples of these and other Topics

(Link): “You’re not a real man until you have children” by G. Proops – women should be able to relate to this too

(Link): Southern Baptist’s New Sexist “Biblical Womanhood” Site – Attitudes in Total Face Palm of a Site One Reason Among Many This Unmarried and Childless Woman Is Saying Toodle-Oo to Christianity

(Link): Gender Complementarian Advice to Single Women Who Desire Marriage Will Keep Them Single Forever / Re: Choosing A Spiritual Leader(Link):  A Grown-Up, Not Sexed-Up, View of Womanhood (article) – how Christian teachings on gender and singlehood contribute to raunch culture and fornication etc

(Link): Interesting Links Re Christianity and Gender Roles (A.K.A. Church and Christian Approved Sexism)

(Link): How Christians Keep Christians Single (part 3) – Restrictive Gender Roles Taught as Biblical

(Link): Are Marriage and Family A Woman’s Highest Calling? by Marcia Wolf – and other links that address the Christian fallacy that a woman’s most godly or only proper role is as wife and mother

(Link):  The Rise of the Lone She-Wolf by Charlotte Alter

(Link): How Christian Teaching on Gender Roles and Sex Can Mess People Up in Adulthood (from Wine and Marble blog, post by a former Christian guy)