by this all men will know

Not trying to exalt myself here and risk later getting asked to move to a seat of lower distrinction, but I will note my happiness and proclaim the cliche that great minds think alike. Just earlier this week I bemoaned the recent Christian men's movement toward focusing on power and might. Well, today EO bemoans a related topic. The ending is particularly eloquent and insightful:

During the early ‘90s, “wildman” retreats were all the rage as a way for men to get in touch with their mannishness. Men would head to the wilderness take off their shirts, beat on West African drums, and bond with each other. While we may laugh at such goofy behavior, this neo-testosterone movement within Christian circles isn’t all that different. We’ve simply replaced the mythopoetic “Iron John” with a mythic “Iron Jesus.” But young men don’t need a Jesus who strolls like the Duke, squints like Eastwood, and snarls like Rumsfeld. They don't need Jesus the wrestler or Jesus the warrior. They just need Jesus the Savior.

The Christian men's ministry attempts to fashion a macho Jesus make two critical mistakes. First, they attempt to fit Jesus and God into man's image of man rather than the Bible's image of man. Man's image of man, for example, has the woman raising the children despite the Biblical command for fathers to bring up children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. We can't allow our biased and narrow views of our own gender color the truth about who the Lord is and what He wants out of our own gender.

Secondly, they put God into this box, this single-characteristic box. God is power, yes. But He is also love. And compassion. And mercy. And other characteristics that Rambo might find "soft". Lord can't be placed into this box where we define Him by the character trait we deem most important. Lord is all things, and focusing on one aspect of His greatness will prevent us from seeing the entirety of what He has in store for us to learn.