I looked at the forum and I’ll tell you what I think, for what it’s worth:

I think that today’s church has allowed the world to dictate what a man is supposed to look like. Though I do agree that a man is built by God to look for a fight, he is also purchased by God to be the bride of Christ. I like the way that John Eldredge put it in Wild At Heart: Every man is looking for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a woman to save (my memory may be off, but that’s the gist of it anyway).

What I see as sad is that in order to be a “man” today, you’ve gotta be all tough and in control. That’s the exact opposite of what Jesus called us to be. He called us to be humble, tender/pliable, and loving. The one whom Jesus loved was the kind of man who laid his head down in Jesus’ lap! How “manly” is that?

Also, looking at the words to that song, it is apparent that an extremely intimate thing is happening. Song of songs is provocative, to say the least. But why do men always have to see things so one-sided?

“spread wide” caused one man to almost faint. Well, I guess he could only think of a woman in the bridgrooms bed chamber, and that’s sad. I can easily spread/open wide the way to the most intimate/secret parts of my spirit-man and allow the bridegroom to have His way with me. That’s what it’s all about – giving ourselves FULLY AND WITH SWEET ABANDON to the One who went trough hell to be with us.

We’ve been decieved by the world around us as to what a real man is.

At the same time, I think it would be great to bring back some of the old songs – bringing them up to today’s style. Some people are combining the “intimate” and the “war” together. I love the song “Smashing Idols” from Morningstar. It’s a wonderful example of combining the two.

We are too “caged” into one view of what the church is supposed to be, what a man is supposed to look like, what sin is, what “doctrine” is right, etc. The list could go on and on. We have got to get past all this mess, and then we could actually LIVE.

I love the comment left on one of the entries: Jesus did not come to make bad people good, He came to make dead people live.

Longest entry ever for me, but I appreciate the platform.

God bless you all

Rob McKinnon

Enjoy your weekend with the family and give Andrew a “happy birthday” hug from Uncle Gary. I’m off to GMA tomorrow, then on the road for another week with consultations around the country. It’ll be a busy 10 days of traveling and hard for me, too, to keep on the diet!

Love ya man,
Gary

Yes – that’s her! I just edited the post, as well – someone pointed out that my wording “left in the hands of”, etc., wasn’t really complimentary … I didn’t intend it to sound that way – my heart was to say she was leading worship, etc, and that she’d do a great job!

Fred

Is Elizabeth Veal Elizabeth Blitch? I remember the Blitch sisters being very talented, and I even befriended Elizabeth for a while before she graduated (or got married can’t remember)…

Anyways, hought it’d be neat to say hey if she was the same girl.

Thanks!
Russ