Being 'easily offended" happens to both men and women David and has nothing to do with feminized conversations and emasculated men. Do love and good manners have to be genderized? From whence are the roots of such a concept as this?
If you were a man, you might understand this better. To tell you the truth, you are more a man than many men I have met, so this puts you at a disadvantage in considering this question. In talking about this to you, I feel kind of like someone making a point to an Olympic female weight lifter that women tend to be physically weaker than men. If she is stronger than most men, it might not make a whole lot of sense to her.
Historically, our rules of manners have come from women. We invariably turn to the female sex for sensitivity about politeness and manners. Surely the phrase "Miss Manners" means a little more than "Mr. Manners" to you.
The problem is that when women determine the rules of etiquette in dialogue, we get away from the kind of dialogue that the apostles often engaged in and also taught their disciples to engage.
The dialogue of men were so heated, that Paul instructed Timothy:
1 Timothy 2:11-12
(11) Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
(12) But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
Isaiah also uses gender to describe something not honoring to God.
Isaiah 3:12
(12) As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
If apostles and prophets make gender differences, then so can we.
What I see in our culture is that men have been pushed to the back to be quiet. Most churches are filled with more women than men, and many church youth groups have more women than men because men are not allowed to be men. Men are constantly rebuked for exercising their masculine qualities of vigor, integrity, courage, boldness, and ambition. Rather than directing their natural gifts in profitable ways, men are generally taught that such virtues are evil. If they stand up and rebuke evil, someone tells them to be quiet and stop being rude. If a man uses logic to dispel a false belief, he is told that he is losing many of his congregation (who happen to be women and children). The mouths of men who speak as men, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting, are constantly being stopped. This is a major reason that secularism has taken over the Judiciary and our educational system. It is a reason that homosexual rights are hijacking the institution of marriage. It is a reason that abortion has become so prevalent. Men need to be comfortable being men and they need to stand up against the atrocities of our culture.
Maybe Lance can help us out here with a book he may have read called "Wild at Heart." I haven't had time to read it, but I have had many bring up this book when I have taught on gender differences and the need for men to be comfortable being masculine.
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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