10/11/2010

Suspending Blog

Due to the fact that the Ph.D. pursuit has become very demanding, I am suspending my blog about Functional Masculinity until further notice. Ref: 1 Corinthians 7:24.

God bless.

7/18/2010

Functional Masculinity (3 of 7): Sacrifice

A couple weeks back we finished with the Ephesians 5 Principle as it pertains to functional masculinity in relationships.  As I was writing that one I was looking for a transition to bring this to, but then one was given to me. Sacrifice. Why is sacrifice so doggone important? Simple. As my mom used to say (and still does), "It's not about you." I'm looking at YOU, fellas. In my last entry I talked about the Ephesians 5 principle and how a man is supposed to have his wife characterized as unblemished regardless of the way she's acting in front of him (positionally righteous much like we who are in Christ are positionally righteous before the Father). Well, that holds true for all of a man's dynamics to some extent. 

The functional man is constantly seeking God out through the Son Jesus Christ for the best ways to serve (i.e., to Glorify Him and advance His Kingdom). Now don't get me wrong, everyone, male or female is supposed to serve, but we as men need to put ourselves behind the needs of those we serve as Jesus did when he went up on the cross at the end of the Gospel. Humanity needed a savior, so Jesus, who didn't want to be separated from the Father, realized what He was there for and went through with it, and did so joyfully. Note Jesus asked the Father to even show mercy those who were putting Him on the cross. He even saved one of the two vagabonds that he was crucified with; because that guy believe.  Well, that's Jesus, who is perfect, what about men? Let me use a practical example.

Men, let me ask you something...especially those of you with wives/fiancees/girlfriends. How many times have you head home from whatever you do in your workplace (sometimes after a lonnnng day) and you get a buzz from the Mrs. to go do something? Did you groan about it? I have myself quite a few times when I was in relationships (even if you aren't married this concept applies but not to the extent that it does within a marriage). How many times did you not want to do something for your significant other and did it begrudgingly? Now sit back and think about where we'd be if Jesus had that attitude? We'd be in a grip of trouble wouldn't we? Hence, Jesus' attitude about going up on the cross and taking the whupping for our sins is the same attitude we must have with our loved ones. And Jesus knew what he was supposed to do under God. Now I'm not telling the men to be all giving the woman anything she wants whenever she wants it. With sacrifice must come discernment. Hence why men must go seek counsel from the Father through the Son, as the Son knew where he was supposed to be at ALL times concerning his immaculate spiritual walk.  As men we have to build our functional masculinity through much trembling and building of discipline.  We are not supposed to just be giving to any old anything, but sowing our all into everything God told us to do.

As men, we are leaders of the households. However, as leaders we have to make the sacrifice of sowing into the vessel that is our family. Not just for significant others or kids, but for relatives, often times parents,(spiritually) younger men, and anyone God says we as men are supposed to serve as we come across them. Servanthood is important to anyone's general walk, but indispensable to functional masculinity. It's not about you. It's about serving others in God's Kingdom.  We'll continue this next week.

Reference 1 Peter 4 for further details.

4/08/2010

Functional Masculinity (2 of 7): The Ephesians 5 Principle

Today, I want to continue on the functional masculinity piece. This particular piece is important, as it is the charge of every man to convey functional masculinity in a manner that reflects Jesus Christ. Now, let me talk about the Ephesians 5 principle.  I have spoken on the principle before, from a different perspective.  Keep in mind that what God wants is the order (God>Jesus>man>woman>children) maintained so His Power can flow (1 Corinthians 11:3).  If the man has the hiccup and the woman has the empowerment, she has to use it in the context to not be a theological contrarian (that's religiosity), but rather to empower the man and put him back in his spot (a modification to a past post).  With that said, let's roll into the meat.

Ephesians 5:25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." Then Eph 5:26-28 goes on (paraphrase) to say that a man should present her wife to himself as holy and blameless as a radiant church. Men should also love their wives as their own body. What I want to do is a bit of a breakdown of this.

First of all, the concept of loving the wife as his own flesh. Couple this to the general charge that Christ gives us all to love our neighbors as ourselves. (Matt 22:39) Note that with the exception of seeking God and loving God with all our hearts, NO OTHER DYNAMIC IS MADE REFERENCE as associating someone else with ourselves. And "Honor thy mother and father" is all fine and dandy, however, Genesis states that a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife. What this essentially means is that men should be treating their wives as if it is themselves. If the wife has a stomachache, the husband has to react like HE's the one sick (I watched this happened once; it was awesome to see).  While that was great, where is that in today's society? Largely, largely lost.  Men, we gotta get up on our stuff and SERVE OUR WIVES (no I'm not married).

Secondly, a man presenting his wife to himself without blemish. I had to brood on this one for a minute. Then I thought about it. When Christ died for our sins, then we got ourselves some positional righteousness. As far as the Father is concerned, we are seen just like Christ and so long as we ask Him things in Christ's name, they will pan out in our favor (paraphase Matt 21:22).  Just got to stick to that standard.  So what does that mean in a marriage? It means that a wife shouldn't be put on a pedestal in a place reserved for Christ and Christ alone, but the wife should be presented in the mind in a matter that she has no flaws, even when she produces the flaws. Having this characterization of our spouses mediates reconciliation, JUST like when we sin and go to God, it is our POSITIONAL RIGHTEOUSNESS mediated by CHRIST'S SACRIFICE for us all that allows us to get our stuff back straight with God. It's the PRACTICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS that cultivates our relationship with God, like a wife's practical flaws cause a rift in a marriage. Now men, remember, that picture we have in our heads isn't something she can ever reach through her works, it's something she has as a result of the covenant of marriage...and that leads back into a man loving a woman as his own body, and not hating his own body and taking care of it.  When the positional righteousness is given in the context described above, a man AND his wife can work on their flaws and loss of harmony and grow practically (spiritually).  Essentially, it's just seeing things as being all good because that's just the way it's going to be (or rather, understanding that God has it covered no matter what).

The last section of this is most important: husbands loving our wives as Christ loved the church. Well, what did Christ do for the church? Despite having the power NOT TO, he got up on the cross and died for the sake of the church, because Christ understood what His Role was. Does that mean we as men should simply give up our lives for our wives? Well, actually, yes. Let me explain. When a man gets married, it's not about him anymore. He needs to do everything under God that God has set him out to do to honor AND serve his wife in the marriage (and then the kids if they have kids present, but that's a slightly different story). That means a husband puts his stuff aside for the sake of his wife, and pushes himself as hard as the Lord's Will deem fit to make it happen in his marriage. Look, men have to take care of their wives, and do everything in their power to do right by his wife under God (the contextual key here). A concept that is lost in so many marriages. That being said, the standard not being followed does not diminish that standard, but rather those who conscientiously dismiss the standard. Note what I said. Conscientiously dismiss. If we don't accept the standard, the standard is still the standard. God is still God whether someone adheres to His Order, Standards, and Values or not. Therefore, the attributes are unmovable as well. I have seen, see, and read about argumentative marriages, distant marriages, dismissed marriages, and the like. God takes marriage seriously. This and Genesis 2 (be fruitful and multiply [go out and transfer His Image and Likeness]) are the crux of how God feels about marriage. As God takes marriage very seriously, so should we all.

Some of you who are reading this are probably saying, "Dude, you've never been married. You've never even been in a relationship for over a year." And you know what? Y'all are right. There are many who may have been married, some who are married (I'm thinking of some folks in particular) who could speak on this better than I have. I figured I'd convey God's Standard with as little of myself inserted in it as possible. Let me say this though. Even if you aren't married, if you're in a relationship, and you haven't distinctly taken marriage off of the table, this is still the standard you are working toward. I was talking to a buddy of mine a while back, and we came to a consensus that if you're going to get married and/or have kids, then your mentality should reflect that BEFORE it happens. And NO, PLEASE don't go call your girlfriend and ask her to bump nasties. That is NOT what I mean. What I mean is that as far as God says....and if even as we as men, JUST COURTING a woman, we need to be talking to God about her.  In short, while some things are reserved for marriage, other things should be implemented as early as deems fit (but let the Lord lead).  It'll restore the harmony in the marital dynamic, and allow God through His Holy Spirit to cultivate the man and his masculinity.   Next time I will talk about another aspect of masculinity largely lost on today's men.  Stay tuned.

4/03/2010

Quotent Quotables

Just some things I like to say:

"Don't let a wrench get thrown into your plans. A wrench is a tool; which means it only has power if it can be used. If it doesn't fit into your business, put the wrench back in the toolbox."

"I'm just an ordinary negro."

"Know who you're dealing with. Know what you have before you make a decision to deal with it or not. You can't walk into a Chick-Fil-A and expect to walk out with a hamburger."

"If you awaken a sleeping giant, chances are you're going to get clubbed."

"If you don't wish for the world to poop on you, refuse to be a toilet."

"Oh no. This ain't gon' work."

"That don't go together!"

"I'm not where I want to be; but I'm thankful I'm not who I used to be."

"You could always say 'blark'. It basically substitutes for any profane word."

"Hittin' you with your own pimp and confusing you with 5-syllable words since 1982."

"I have a Ph.N. I'm a Negro of Philosophy."

"I'm just here to get to the solution."

"I'd quit, but I'm not sure I ever read the manual on how to do that."

"Fear? I fear God. Once He's in my business, what else is there to be afraid of?"

"I don't listen to what anybody got to say but God."

"I'm not fond of folks who say 'I love so-and-so so much.' Love can't be quantified. If you truly love someone unconditional, love by it's nature is infinite like the God who gave it to us first."

:-D

3/07/2010

Functional Masculinity (1 of 7): Introduction

Well, I want to talk about something that's important to me, which is functional masculinity.  Every man should have it.  Every man should have an abundance of functional masculinity as it pertains to having a God-consciousness over his 5 areas (Colossians 3:1-4:6).  The reason why this article comes after the one about marriage is that because of God's Order (1 Corinthians 11:3), every failed marriage or dysfunctional relationship is ultimately an indictment against functional masculinity.  Granted, the woman does play her role in these matters, but since I'm a man, I'll let some powerful and productive woman address the women.  God made me a man, so I'm going to talk to the men. :)

Functional masculinity, for the sake of definition here, will be defined as a man's spiritual health and ability to obey God in what God has commanded him to do as a man. It is what's displayed when a man conveys God's Image (Jesus Christ) and Likeness (Standards [Exodus 20:3-18]), and Values (Galatians 5:22, the Fruit of the Spirit)) in every thing that he does. Essentially, the man conveys and portrays God's Truth. To better understand functional masculinity, one must understand functional Christianity...which is where Image and Likeness are passed down in love and a Christian keeps their pulse on their spiritual walk with God in their 5 areas (personal, family, career, church, community). How functional masculinity works within that is to make strong Kingdom-driven decisions that produce security. And security comes from the connection a man has to God, not necessarily to money. Because if I may say so myself, there are many rich folk so tied up in their money they're insecure. Functional masculinity also does all these things in love, so as not to be a oooga boogah chauvinist who wants to control EVERYthing. Functional masculinity knows it's not supposed to do everything, and leads the way but ALLOWS functional femininity to do its thing (another blog entry).

Why is this so important to me? In short, I know 17 single mothers ranging from ages 20-40+, and in most of the cases the dad has nothing to do with the kids. THIS, my friends, is DYSfunctional masculinity. It's actually the most prominent form of dysfunctional masculinity in my opinion, not only is it being dysfunctional, it leaves the most avenue for resultant dysfunctional femininity and also dysfunctional families overall. There are many, many examples of dysfunctional masculinity but let's just examine this one for now (I'll take care of the other examples down the line). Functional masculinity, in best-case scenario, hasn't created the situation in which a man could be fearful enough to run out on a responsibility. That being said, if functional masculinity has had a bit of disorder and had a kid out of wedlock, functional masculinity disallows itself from being prevented from transferring God's Image and Likeness to the next generation, regardless of the relationship with the mother (another story altogether). Jesus Christ was the preeminent example of functional masculinity, ever. And all functional men, while falling short, model themselves after THIS example and conscientiously seek God in their business.

A charge to any dads reading this: if you have a child/children, and you're in their lives, then call 'em up, or call 'em to you, or whatever, and just tell them you love them. Then, when they've gone to bed, thank the Father for loving you first. If you're not involved in your child's life, fearful of ineffectiveness and don't know where to start, or are a dad-to-be and are scared straight, ask God to put it on your heart to be an effective father to your child or children. Then ask Him to give you the strength and wisdom to be an example of functional masculinity. The common denominator is God though. That's the source of functional masculinity, as well as anything and everything else that works in His Kingdom. Thank you for your time.

2/28/2010

The first ramble: Salvation:

Before I get started, this blog is for the sole purpose of getting a finer characterization of the concept of salvation in Christian doctrine. If you don't believe in the Christian faith, that is your choice. I request you be respectful to my blog just the same. However, if you do believe and have some disagreement with what I have to say, then let's talk it out. That being said, let's do it!


SALVATION:

First question: Why do we even NEED Salvation?
Well, in the beginning, we didn't. Genesis 1 and 2 was reflective of God's default plan for us. In Genesis 1 and 2, God created the universe and then finished it by creating humanity (Adam and Eve, not named until Genesis 3). God's default plan was (and is) for us to remember that He is the source of all what we have and all what we know. However, while God gave Adam dominion over the land and the animals and told him to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28), Adam got caught up in what he was given by God so much he was bogged down in what was in front of him and forgot what the source was. This has twofold implication; one that Adam himself has failed to implement God's Word, and also because he did this, Eve has not been given the appropriate doctrine from Adam that God initially gave to him. In the very beginning, there was only one rule: "Don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat if it you shall surely die. (see Gen 2:16-17, right before God creates Eve). It can be said that Eve was the best gift God gave Adam (a helper, this is an entirely separate argument that ties into Salvation but for sake of the point I'm trying to make I will omit the Doctrine of God's Order and perhaps insert bits and pieces here and there). However, Adam's failure to penetrate Eve's mindset with God's doctrine allows her to be deceived by Satan into believing the fruit will make them like God. And Adam, who received the commandment directly from God, also ate it (to please Eve [as opposed to God]; see Genesis 3). At the end of Genesis 3, Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden never to return. However, there is a deeper implication. Remember Genesis 2:16-17? Adam ate of that tree, and every single person listed in the Bible since died (as well as everyone who has lived since the Bible). This death however is twofold; it's not only a physical death that is implied but more directly a spiritual death from falling away from God (i.e., Adam losing sight of what the source is and trying to do things his own way). This default nature of our flesh had been handed down from generation to generation and God found it necessary to bring his Son Christ Jesus into the world to be the 2nd Adam. If you read the Old Testament, you'll see that practically every operative person whose story was told fell short of God at some point, and struggled between their default predisposition and their relationship with the Father. Jesus lived a life without sin (if you notice in the Gospel [pick one, they all give a depiction], Jesus did not have this struggle at all-due to sharing his attributed with the Father [and being his Son], a matter of fact....Matt 4 is his direct conflict with Satan but he stood on what he knew and thusly did not indulge in his sin nature, not even a bit!) and took the sins of all (past, present, and future) to the cross with him, per the Father's Will. And when Christ dies on the cross and is resurrected, the mechanism of the Salvation has been completed; Jesus bore the sins of all on the cross and was raised from the dead on the 3rd day (though the fact that he is risen is the important part, not necessarily it being the 3rd day. Jesus beat every trial that came to him, the last of which being death (remember this). Therefore, to answer the base question you have, it is this default sin nature that behooves us to accept Christ and get sealed with the Holy Spirit for our Salvation. However, let's examine this further.

Because of the nature of Salvation (discussed later), we have what is called Positional Righteousness. It means that because Christ took the "whooping" for all of our sins, we are seen by the Father just like his Son. Because Christ took care of this, we are not judged based on anything that happened before our acceptance of Christ and are taken care of for all of sins. Few churches actually express this, but the one sin that sends you to Hell is rejection of Christ.

However, there is another side to this; it is called Practical Righteousness. It ties into spiritual growth and the day-to-day battle with deeds of sin. This has no bearing on whether or not you get into Heaven; Christ took care of that part for those who accepted him. The deeds of sin are things done contrary to what the Bible teaches. That being said, to walk a spiritual walk completely in-line with the Bible, which is why we need Christ. However, we can grow by seeking God through his Son Christ Jesus through his Word and through prayer, thusly developing a relationship with the Father, which it what he wants: uninterrupted fellowship (Deut 6 explains what this entails). Sin is the principal means by which fellowship is interrupted, for when one sins, they lose sight of God being the source (like Adam). The purpose of the sound spiritual walk (one that combats sin[successfully]) itself is to please God. However it does start with the positional righteousness, it goes even deeper than this though, as Salvation can really be separated into 3 parts:
Salvation from the Penalty, Power, and Presence of sin.

Salvation from the Penalty of Sin
This is the basic component of Salvation. The part that many churches (and more Christians) stop at. The idea of Salvation from the Penalty is that Christ has already died for all sins past, present, and future (being the "2nd Adam" where the first Adam failed-not to struggle with sin and staying connected with the Father throughout), and plugging into this will have us taken care of from the penalty of sin. What is the point of being saved from the penalty of sin? Simply that this life in flesh and blood is not the be all and end all of things; there is more beyond this. And Salvation from the Penalty means that we can receive eternal life (see John 3:18; John 3:36; and Col 3:1-4), get to connect to God, and are taken care of in the eternal perspective (going to Heaven when the physical life is through). This ties into the concept of positional righteousness and is called the Doctrine of Justification-as Christ's blood has made us justified in the eyes of the Father. While this is where things end for many Christians, it's not the end of God's plan and and ordainment for the nature of Salvation. There is still the Salvation from the Power of sin to deal with.


Salvation from the Power of Sin
While being Saved from the Penalty of Sin is enough to get you into Heaven, that's where the work begins. Although the only sin that separates from God and sends us to the boogaman (as my grandmother so eloquently put it) is rejection of Christ, accepting Christ doesn't eliminate sin from our lives. While Christ's sacrifice and Resurrection give us the means to be saved from what sin can ultimately do to us, it doesn't make it go away altogether, and because of the default sin nature we inherited from Adam, we struggle with it like everyone else (but Christ) did. Being saved allows us to go to Heaven, but we get the mind of Christ, which allows us the tools to grow spiritually and be closer to God. However, most of us upon the onset of our spiritual walks have not the means to utilize these tools effectively (but that's a slightly different talk). The Bible says walk in the Spirit, well our own spirits are at constant war with our flesh and our sin predisposition struggle with our disposition to please God (Gal 5:16-17). Galatians 5:22-23 shows the nature of walking a good spiritual walk; the good things that allow us to walk a sound spiritual walk with God. This is re-iterated in Philippians 4:6-8 where the attributes to focus on to connect with God are displayed again. Paul (illuminated by the Holy Spirit) wrote both the letters to the Galatians and the Philippians. The connection with God comes from his Word (the Bible) yes...and these are the things we should be abiding by. However, through prayer on top of the diligence in the Word do we get the connection with God and get the wisdom we need to appropriately implement his Truth. The Word is a good tool, but knowing the words in the book are secondary to putting the Word on our hearts, and seeking God...explained in James 1 (particularly verse 5). The nature of the spiritual walk is also explained in Philippians 2:12-13, where it is explained that one has to work out salvation through fear and trembling for God is at work in us, which starts when we get saved from the Penalty. Therefore, we get the attributes from the Word, but must seek God in order to get the empowerment and Filling of the Holy Spirit to implement them. And when it is not implemented we get some interim whoopings from the Father...however even these are done in love and are done in lieu of the eternal whooping and are for us to grow Hebrews 10:26 explains that there will be no reward after continuous conscientious sin...but even this is an invisible line between God's mercy and God's justice that no one can see but the Father (so it is best not to sin at all and if it does, to ask forgiveness with the 1 John 1:9 principle)


To step out of this for a minute: 1 John 1 is probably the best chapter that explains the "Why I have to be a sinner if I have God?" principle. Tied into our unfortunate inheritance of sin nature from Adam and our struggle with it through our dichotomy of spirit and flesh. 1 John 1 essentially explains that we have sin and must therefore seek God on our way to conquer sin...but though we won't be going to the boogaman, sin is still out there and in us (because of Genesis 3), and those who say they have no sin call God out to be a liar and his Word is not in us. However the Father is able to cleanse all sin committed during our spiritual walks (1 John 1:9) through confession and forthcomingness. Some corners of Christianity, use 1 John 1:9 as a safety net and forget all about Hebrews 10:26, and God eventually gets with those folk (though it's still in love...TOUGH love, but love just the same)


This implementation, once a daily part of our lives, is the benefit of Salvation from the Power of sin; spiritual maturity/positive spiritual growth. This is called the Doctrine of Sanctification. There is still one aspect to Salvation we need to discuss: The Salvation from the Presence of Sin.


Salvation from the Presence of Sin
Although being saved from the Penalty of sin gets us out of the eternal spiritual whooping, sin is around us and in us. So what's God going to do about it? Well, Jesus is eventually going to come back and fix that whole deal. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 alludes to the second coming of Christ and what will happen when we go to be with the Lord once and for all (to get glorified bodies). Jesus is to reign for 1,000 years and then turn over the Kingdom over to God...the creation of another (new) Heaven and Earth...where we all get new glorified bodies. Why a new body? This current body we have has the sin nature in it; it is not equipped to being with God so we must get a new body (analogous to our physical bodies we have now needing space suits to survive in space or scuba gear to dive underwater). Folk who die between now and the 2nd Coming of Christ get an "intermediate body", which has the same attributes as the glorified body but differs only in that the 2nd Coming hasn't come yet...the 1,000-yr Kingdom to be established by Christ before he turns over the entire Kingdom (those who believe/serve/etc.) over to the Father so the Father can be all in all is how we escape sin. Basically neither our current bodies nor the world we live in our suited for eternity, so a new Heaven and Earth must be created (Revelations 21 chronicles this). This is called the Doctrine of Glorification.

Introduction

Greetings, I'm Nelson.

I figured what I'd do is simply introduce myself. Some days I'm going to have time for this, and some days I'm not. Stay tuned in...sometimes I may have something to say you can use, and other days I'll be saying stuff that may polarize you or behoove you to distance yourself from me. I will pull very few punches just the same. That being said...here we go!