What Does The New Testament Say About A Man’s Heart?
Posted by truthtalklive on 17 November, 2009
And how does that play out in the average American Christian male?
God is after every man’s heart. He is after yours. Not to tame you, or make you a domesticated, church- going nice guy. He wants to take you deeper into who you were always meant to be.
Today, Robby Dilmore, aka “The Christian Car Guy” talks with Darrin Koone of Dangerous Heart Ministries and Sam Main about a life-changing event designed to help men get their hearts back….A dangerous heart weekend.
Related info on Robby’s Hobbies Website HERE
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5 Comments on “What Does The New Testament Say About A Man’s Heart?”
I’m skeptical. The advertisment emphasizes Paintball, Zip lines, and a Climbing Wall. I tried to read further but I only found a statement that most Christian men are bored. The ministry appears to take the position that Christian men are emasculated, heartless wimps and have taken upon themselves to rectify this and entice those who would not want to participate in such an emasculated identity. If men really are pitiful wimps, giving them a paintball gun is not likely to change it. I’ve been to men’s camps that tried all these things as well as real guns, motorcycles, ATV’s, baseball, poker and so on. Frankly it’s shallow and ridiculous how hard they try. On the other hand, if Christian men aren’t a bunch of pitiful wimps, how could they appeal to such manly men by suggesting they’re girly men and need to rediscover a godly kind of masculinity?
I see the dilemma. When boys grow up, particularly in an affluent culture like the US, they form a concept of their identity. Some aspects of their identity might be foreclosed by their parent’s choices, others are profoundly affected by peer influences, and oftentimes adolescents and teens experiment with alternatives. Sometimes people commit to a particular aspect of their identity experiencing achievement and other times people diffuse — they don’t commit a choice.
There are so many aspects to one’s identity from gender, to sexuality, monogamy or polygamy, ethnicity, religion, avocations, culture, clothing style, occupation, and on and on. For so many men, things like their job and their avocations constitute a large part of their identity. Ask them, “what do you do?” and they answer, “I’m a tradesman, office worker, manager, artist, businessman, etc.” Oftentimes beyond that they try to define their identity with avocations like riding Harley Davidson motorcycles, guns and hunting, fishing, golf, and spectator sports, football, baseball, basketball. Bikers, outdoorsmen, and sports fans often dress the part of their persona and drive a vehicle that matches.
Now when you get born again, it shakes all that up because you are not defined by the things of this world. Your identity is not in the world’s expressions of masculine, male, heterosexual monogamy — whether they’re boring or not.
The problem I think Eldredge is trying to address is based on how Social Science sees the Christian. Because the Christian doesn’t experience achievement in identifying with the things of this world, social science sees a person in identity diffusion where the commitments to the things of this world are weak and therefore they see such a Christian as socially isolated, withdrawn, and having low self-esteem. Eldredge describes such men as languishing in institutional churches, hen-pecked by their wives and oppressed by the church’s admonishments not to drink, smoke or go with the girls that do… into repressed, dutiful, church-going “nice guys.” Eldredge attempts to appeal to them with popular movies like Braveheart and lyrics from the Dixie Chicks.
I read an appeal to Christians called “responsible, reliable, dutiful… and dead.” He wants heroes and warriors living a life of adventure and risk but sees passive men bored to death. If he really sees such men, let him know that they don’t need guns, zip lines and the Dixie Chicks. They need Jesus Christ who is our life.
There is no mention of Christ on the first page of their website. They mention the name of John Eldrege and Zip Line more than they mention Christ. John Eldredge thinks that if you are a rugged outdoorsman then you are a man. I believe if you are like Christ you are more of a man.
I note that Eldredge misquotes Scripture to make what is arguably the central thesis of his book (Wild At Heart) by referencing Proverbs 20:5. When he quotes only “… the heart of a man is like deep water…”, he changes the subject of the sentence — in other words, he changes the meaning entirely — in order to support his point.
While I agree that society has, in general, emasculated men, I don’t agree with Eldredge’s methods in asserting his points.
Wow, I have to agree that Eldridge is way off base. I read his book, wild at heart and to be honest, I do not need to blame my dad for ‘wounds’. Men need to stand up and take responsibility for who they are and if they are lacking in some area then they need to own up to that and correct it. If you look in 1 Timothy 3 you will find the characteristics that a real man should have. Not just an overseer or deacon but every Christian man should aspire and work towards that and be a disciple maker. To be more like Christ every day should be our goal, not to watch Hollywood trash and buy into the notion that to be a real man you need to do certain things. That is buying into the worlds notions, just from a different angle.
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