Men... And Church

Men... And Church
M.D. Wright
5.3.09

I have had discussions lately with both men and women (mostly those who wonder why men continue to avoid going to church regularly, if at all).
The answer(s) is/are both simple and complex, but there aren't many. Here they are, from what I have been able to decipher from the guys I know and from my own personal experience after leaving the church I went to for over 15 years in Greensboro.

1. They don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ in the first place.

There are guys who promise a "good church girl" the night before (usually after they consensually engaged in illicit activity -- and yes, I'm calling some of y'all out, because I CAN and I KNOW) that he will go to church with her the next day in order to appease her. He may go a time or two, but if she doesn't poke and prod and continue to press him about going, he won't. Why else would someone go to church if they have not the proper purpose for going in mind in the first place?

2. They have wandered from God if they are already saved.

This actually isn't all that common, because many of the guys who go to church consistently have what is best described as an off-and-on relationship with God to begin with. They just attend church out of rote, but they're not really active nor effective because of the aforementioned reason. The ones who usually stop going or never go to begin with and have wandered from God have been in rebellion and disobedience for some time before they actually stop attending. That, or they see an influx of poisonous spirits that infiltrate every ministry and see other vile things up close if they were involved in heading a ministry or assisting a pastor, elder or some other clergy. This happens quite a bit more often and explains why some guys abruptly stop going altogether.

3. The apparent embracing of the homosexual spirit that has engulfed many of the upcoming generation of young adult men -- while shunning Apostle Paul-like men who have not abdicated their kingly thrones as men.

I cannot account for how often this has happened. I have heard it expressed MANY times, however. And most people in church know fully well that from the music ministry down to other ministries in the church that overtly gay, unconsciously feminine or just flat out boys and young men who are around 99% of the time and therefore have become effeminate have dominated the male populace in most church congregations in the United States. It's not a regional thing.

Side Note: I was close with a great number of my cousins on all sides of my family growing up; 2/3 of the ones I was around most of the time were girls. I'm not effeminate in the least. So using that as an excuse as to why so many of these boys act like this in church now is ludicrous.

SEGUE

4. The church seems content with playing to peoples' emotions and not dealing with reality and truth. Yes, emotion IS part of the worship order. God ordained it that way. After all, He gave us emotions as an accompaniment to the physical, spiritual and logical senses He instilled in us when it comes to understanding His Word and His entire being. However, far too often there is constant pandering to the emotional, hoopin' and hollerin', shouting that is not steeped in any real truth or purpose, but just something reminiscent of a scene of women watching Sex & The City or an episode of Desperate Housewives. This emotional appeal is naturally going to go over most men's heads, while appealing fully to women, as they dwell on the emotion far more often than men do. Most men require and desire substantial truth manifested in evidence (I know, I know, Hebrews 11:1) before the emotional appeals from the pulpit are going to have any effect.

For all that, most of them can get their emotional jollies by watching ball games, fights, playing sports, racing cars or doing whatever it is most of them do when they DON'T go to church.

Notice this isn't a worldwide problem -- but almost endemic to the United States. The church doesn't deal in truth or TRUE Holy Spirit works. The latter being the ultimate issue.