What Are Men To Be?

I read this book, which is primarily about what men are supposed to be. While Murrow has some good evaluations of some churches, his theology and history stink. Murrow describes Moses, David, Peter, Daniel and Paul as “lions, not lambs – take charge men who risked everything in service to God. They fought valiantly and spilled blood. They spoke their minds and stepped on the toes of religious leaders…All of these men had two things in common: they had an intense commitment to God, and they weren’t what you’d call saintly.” Interestingly, in Scripture Jesus is always referred to as the Lamb, except for one passage in Revelation.[1] While looking at the lives of biblical men is helpful, our model should be supremely Jesus. Our ideal of masculinity must come from Jesus, not from what our culture tells us masculinity should be (Murrow reads the masculinity of biblical men through the lens of contemporary culture).

Murrow makes the argument that manhood is best understood through the lens of what he thinks a man should be, not what Scripture says a righteous man should be. The most glaring omission of this book is the lack of biblical exegesis for understanding manhood. Furthermore, when exegesis does occur (rarely) it is done in a superficial and haphazard manner.

For example, Murrow writes, “God made men for adventure, achievement, and challenge, and if they can’t find those things in church, they’re going to find them somewhere else.” Murrow supplies no biblical basis for this statement. According to Scripture, this is not what man was made for, or intended to pursue. Man was created for relationship with God and with others (Gen 1:26-25). As Christians, men are called to suffer and to serve, to imitate and to follow the path of the Suffering Servant and Slain Lamb (Eph 6:5-9; Phil 3:10-11; 2 Cor 1:5, 4:10; 1 Cor 10:33-34; Col 1:24). This is a true ‘manly’ calling, not for the weak of heart, but for the most resilient people on earth, followers of Jesus Christ. This, not “adventure, achievement, and challenge,” is risky, dreaming big, and pushing the envelope. This is why Christ and the apostles and the early church were put to death; this is why Christians all over the world continue to be martyred. This is how the Christians of the early church viewed their Christian witness, not by adopting the Greco-Roman cultural view of “risk taking, power, aggression, and heroic sacrifice.” It is because the early church was and we are counter-cultural, aliens; the world knows we are different and that we refuse to accommodate their culture.

The biblical mandates for men are the Beatitudes, Christ’s life, grace and peace, service, and suffering. Personally, I don’t care if some men don’t like the word ‘gentle’ or ‘meek,’ because Christ calls us to be both and live both. Unfortunately, Murrow seems to see the issue as either/or. Either you are culturally ‘manly’ or you are a Christian wimp. Christ was neither.

Murrow is scathing when it comes to contemporary Christian leadership: “Most paid leaders in America’s churches are either teachers or musicians who may have never been trained in leadership, nor do they possess a vision for leading a congregation.” Again, this is personal anecdote by Murrow. Scriptural leadership is a far cry from the leadership that Murrow, or the rest of the world, seeks. First, while ‘vision’ is helpful for church leadership, it is not primary. Scripture says nothing about having ‘vision’ for the church; this is again the influence of the CEO mentality upon the church. Note Murrow’s remark: “[Churches should] Look for leaders in corporate America, not necessarily in seminary…Laymen may respect such leaders all the more because they possess real-world experience.” I would argue that it is this very CEO mindset that is leading to the downfall of many churches. What Scripture requires for leadership is a calling by God and a godly character. The goal of Scriptural leadership is spiritual transformation, not vision, or church growth, or anything else that Murrow claims. Painfully telling, Murrow mentions nothing about prayer or the leading of the Holy Spirit when it comes to leadership. Furthermore, leaders throughout the Bible are by no means uniform. For instance, Moses didn’t want his job (notice how Moses reacted when accused by Miriam and Aaron), Gideon was rather indecisive and weak, Timothy struggled to keep order, and Paul didn’t get along with John Mark.

In summary, the last thing we should want men to do is to embrace what comes naturally to them. Everything that Christ wants us to be is not natural; it is against our fallen nature. Our understanding of manhood should come from what Jesus portrayed and what a redeemed and sanctified man looks like, not what men look like in the world or before conversion. This book could have been better if Murrow had stuck to his original question of why men hate going to church instead of straying into his own theology of manhood. P.S. Don't read this book or John Elridge's Wild at Heart, because they are nearly identical in theology.

[1] Revelation 5:5. Even in this passage, Christ is heard as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, but actually seen as the Lamb. For more on this, see R. Bauckham, Theology of Revelation.