{"id":718,"date":"2008-11-25T22:31:21","date_gmt":"2008-11-26T05:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/?p=718"},"modified":"2015-10-19T20:27:18","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T03:27:18","slug":"the-feminization-of-the-church-a-modern-day-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/11\/25\/the-feminization-of-the-church-a-modern-day-fix\/","title":{"rendered":"The feminization of the church – a modern day fix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bride-Women-In-Ministry-blog-by-Cheryl-Schatz\"<\/p>\n

There has been much talk in the last few years about the \u201cfeminization\u201d of the church.\u00a0 Books have been written about this \u201cserious\u201d problem and many men are thoroughly disgusted with seeing men outnumbered by women in the church.\u00a0 These men feel that something drastic must be done to bring men back into the church.\u00a0 I think that it is time we give this issue a \u201cserious\u201d look in order to help those men who have stopped going to church because of the \u201cfeminization of the church\u201d.<\/p>\n

Before we look at a solution, let\u2019s have a look at the problem as identified by men:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Men don\u2019t like singing love songs to Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus is my savior, they say, not the \u201clover of my soul\u201d.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Men do not like to see flowers and tissue boxes at the front of the church nor do they enjoy sitting on pink cushioned pews.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Men need to separate from women to assert their masculinity.\u00a0 Men don\u2019t want to be around a place where there are a lot of women.\u00a0 In the book \u201cThe Church Impotent the Feminization of Christianity<\/strong><\/a>\u201c, Leon Podles writes about men\u2019s need to separate from women.\u00a0 David Wayne<\/strong><\/a> reviews the book by writing:<\/p>\n

Podles thesis (from a sociological point of view) is that men are born with an attachment to women, their mothers. At first, the male is not aware that he and his mother are different beings. It is only later that he begins to realize they are different. When he realizes this, he is in the position where, in order to attain manhood, he must break with the feminine. Hence, the male\u2019s psyche is such that he is always seeking separation. This leads to a proclivity for dangerous activities. There is some intense social pressure put on boys to make the break. If they fail to do so, they are called \u201cmomma\u2019s boy\u201d or \u201csissy\u201d or worse.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4.\u00a0 Men view males that go to church as less masculine.<\/p>\n

Podles<\/strong><\/a> writes:<\/p>\n

Western Christianity has become part of the feminine world from which men feel they must distance themselves to attain masculinity. That is why men stay away from church, especially when they see that the men involved in church tend to be less masculine\u2026Psychological studies have detected a connection between femininity in men and interest in religion. There may even be a physical difference. Among men, football players and movie actors have the highest testosterone level, ministers, the lowest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

5.\u00a0 Pastors are catering to women\u2019s needs and not men\u2019s needs in the church.\u00a0 The sermons are too long and there are not enough stories of war, fighting or examples of manly heroes.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s have a look at the past and see how the early patriarchal Jews managed to keep their synagogues from being \u201cfeminized\u201d and see what we can observe from their patriarchal past:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 The Jewish oral law did not allow daughters to be taught the scriptures.<\/p>\n

Modern-day solution<\/strong>:\u00a0 Stop teaching girls about the bible and better yet, keep them fully uneducated.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 The Talmud, the book of Jewish law, stipulates that women reading aloud constitutes a public performance that would bring shame and harm the \u201cdignity of the congregation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Modern-day solution<\/strong>:\u00a0 Tell women that any public speaking, praying or singing shames and harms the dignity of the congregation.\u00a0 This should help to keep women away from outnumbering the men.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 The Jewish synagogue kept men and women segregated.<\/p>\n

Modern-day solution<\/strong>:\u00a0 Establish a men\u2019s sanctuary area free from women so men can be assured that they will not come into contact with anything feminine.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 The Jewish oral law had a required number of men before a synagogue could be established.<\/p>\n

Modern-day solution<\/strong>:\u00a0 Reestablish the quorum on males.\u00a0 Do not allow a church to be established unless it can congregate a set number of men.\u00a0 Then start counting females.\u00a0 Do not let in any more females than males.\u00a0 Once the number of females is equal to males, lock the door and bar any further females from entrance so that the church cannot become \u201cfeminized\u201d.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 The Jewish patriarcal system was extremely good at keeping only men involved in the synagogues.<\/p>\n

Modern-day solution<\/strong>:\u00a0 Give all the public jobs in the church to men.\u00a0 Make sure that only men are on the decorating committee (football and hunting decorations should enhance the appearance of the sanctuary) and ban anything pink and replace soft things with leather and wood.\u00a0 Also make sure to replace the tissue boxes at the front of the church with spitoon bowls so that in case the men get emotional, they can properly blow their noses in a manly way.<\/p>\n

Next let\u2019s look to Jesus to find his solution to the \u201cfeminization\u201d of the church to find a way forward:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 God is seen as \u201cmale\u201d and men don\u2019t want to \u201clove\u201d another male.<\/p>\n

Solution<\/strong>:\u00a0 Reeducate men to understand that God is God and is neither male nor female.\u00a0 While Jesus came as a man, his essence is God.\u00a0 We are to love God with all of our heart and soul and mind.\u00a0 Teach men to love God and then they can sing with all their hearts words of love and honor to the Almighty God.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Men have used feminine things to put down other men.\u00a0 Want to insult a man?\u00a0 Just tell him that he should pull up his panties or tell him that he walks like a girl.\u00a0 When men who have sensitive egos are put down for who they are by comparing them to women, they will protect their egos by staying away from anything feminine.<\/p>\n

Solution<\/strong>:\u00a0 Teach men to see women as joint-heirs, and fellow \u201csons\u201d of God who are to be respected and held in high regard.\u00a0 Stay away from dishonoring another man with feminine insults.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Men see \u201csubmission\u201d as a command to females alone.\u00a0 The tough men \u201crule\u201d and the weak women \u201csubmit\u201d.<\/p>\n

Solution<\/strong>:\u00a0 Teach men that submission is a godly, Christian attribute and all of us are to submit in love to one another to learn from each other and serve one another.\u00a0 Jesus, the greatest man who ever lived, spent time on his knees washing feet.\u00a0 Jesus also went out of his way to engage women and meet their needs.\u00a0 Teach men that women are a gift from God and not a nuisance to be avoided.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Men see Christianity as a sign of weakness.<\/p>\n

Solution<\/strong>:\u00a0 Teach men to know and understand the gospel and its power<\/span>.\u00a0 Christianity is anything but weak and the soon-coming conquering King deserves to be obeyed no matter how much peer pressure men have to stay away from Jesus and the gospel.\u00a0 Teach men to humble themselves before God and to admit that they are not complete in themselves and that they have needs.\u00a0 Teach them that the Holy Spirit is the one in charge of giving of the gifts for the benefit of the body of Christ.\u00a0 Teach these men to respect the Holy Spirit\u2019s choice and honor those who have the gifts that they need even if the person who holds the gift is a female.\u00a0 Lastly we need to teach men that it is not about numbers.\u00a0 If there are women \u201csons\u201d filling the pews of the church, then men need to praise God that so many women have answered the call.<\/p>\n

Ah, the feminization of the church\u2026.just another misnomer for the bride of Christ.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has been much talk in the last few years about the \u201cfeminization\u201d of the church.\u00a0 Books have been written about this \u201cserious\u201d problem and many men are thoroughly disgusted with seeing men outnumbered by women in the church.\u00a0 These men feel that something drastic must be done to bring men back into the church.\u00a0 I think that it is time we give this issue a \u201cserious\u201d look in order to help those men who have stopped going to church…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41,55,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor","category-prejudice-in-the-church","category-reaching-out-to-complementarians"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe feminization of the church - a modern day fix - Women in Ministry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2008\/11\/25\/the-feminization-of-the-church-a-modern-day-fix\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The feminization of the church - a modern day fix - Women in Ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There has been much talk in the last few years about the \u201cfeminization\u201d of the church.\u00a0 Books have been written about this \u201cserious\u201d problem and many men are thoroughly disgusted with seeing men outnumbered by women in the church.\u00a0 These men feel that something drastic must be done to bring men back into the church.\u00a0 I think that it is time we give this issue a \u201cserious\u201d look in order to help those men who have stopped going to church... 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