Big Words

I recently sent a video to a couple of men. The response was different from what I had expected. “They use big words.” I had planned to respond in a not-so-good way, but it wouldn’t have been appropriate. However, I would like to remember some things from the video, so I will post my thoughts about what I heard.

Here are the practical thoughts I took out of the video.

I am a victim if things don’t happen as I want in my church.

The destabilization of men and women is the foundation of the problem, which, in turn, we are attempting to solve by church leadership fetishes.

The solution offered in the video is the one I have been preaching for the last three years. Strong men who take responsibility for leading their families will make better churches. It doesn’t matter how “qualified” you have a man if he refuses to take responsibility. Having a wife or kids makes you qualified to lead. If he does not stop being a boy and chasing his hedonic pleasures and begin to take responsibility for leading his family, then your “church” will just stay in the same rut it has always been.

“Do I read a text and then bring my predetermined biases to the conversation? “Protestant tends toward fractionation. If it’s just you and the text, there is an infinite number of you. What is the role of the congregation? You are blindest at your blind spot.”

“The most damaging attack is an attack on the people that comprise the institution, not the Bible itself. The attacks have nothing to do with the Catholic doctrines but the activities inside the church.”

The morally virtuous parade around as a cloak for personal agendas, using the religious enterprise to justify their self-serving behavior. Those behaviors blind them to the sheep’s needs right before them.

Strong men are defined as those men who are willing to take responsibility for themselves and the families they are called to lead.

They are not perfect men. Not men who can do a whole bunch of stuff. Not men who look virtuous on the outside but live irresponsibly behind closed doors. Not even men who have a wealth of biblical knowledge. Just men who are willing to fail in the pursuit of male responsibility. If you have a wife or kids, you face that opportunity.

Strong men make strong families. Strong families make strong communities. Strong communities make strong institutions. Strong institutions encourage the development of strong men.

Strong men and families make better churches. It never happens in the reverse order because there is no such thing as a strong church without strong men and families.

Big words shouldn’t scare us any more than little words do. They both have the same letters. Just because it is a big word doesn’t mean it is not understandable.