What is a man?
The famous question nowadays is ‘What is a Woman'?’. But its corollary is perhaps no less important… What is a Man? The French famously say, “Vive la difference”, and it pays for us to find the differences.
A gentleman by the name of KingEmperorPenguin (which I suspect is a pseudonym) published a post called ‘The Manhood Question’. Which is a good question.
The question being, obviously, ‘What is a man?’. But the question he was asking was not the man/woman question but how, in our society, are we to distinguish the men from the boys. (We also need to ask ourselves how we are to distinguish a man from a woman, but I have already written on that. And no doubt will again.)
He writes an interesting article, but it is filled with errors. They are not just errors in spelling or grammar, they are not even really errors of logic. They are errors in… let us call them ‘practical philosophy’. His eyes are too narrow to see the world as it really is.
In his article he proposes that a man consists of three things. A man, according to him, must:
Protect – the ability to defend himself and others from danger e.g. animals, other men, nature etc.
Provide – the ability to meet his physical needs and those of his family and friends e.g. food, water, shelter etc.
Procreat[e] – the ability not only to impregnate women but also to attract a woman (or women) and maintain a relationship/s in order to raise healthy children.
This is an interesting list, but not, I’m afraid, a very complete one. At least as he lays it out.
Just Money
When you take a long hard look at western society, what makes a man is money.
The interesting thing about this quote is that he immediately contradicts it. Like, in the same paragraph…
If you ask a western person what is the first image that enters his mind when someone says “successful man”, that image will likely be of a man with a beautiful wife and healthy kids who lives in a big house and has a fulfilling and lucrative job which pays him extremely well.
That is a fascinating summary, and not all that innacurate… but it contradicts his thesis. Which he himself shows…
The first thing he thinks of is not going to be a single man who lives in a shack but who nevertheless is extremely virtuous, happy, self-confident and physically powerful. And he certainly won’t think of a Catholic monk cloistered away in some monastery.
So, no, it isn’t about just money. The ‘successful’ man, even by his standards, is married, has children, healthy children, his wife is beautiful, and his job is fulfilling… and lucrative. Think how many different ways that could be contradicted!
-He could have an ugly wife… he married her for her money.
-They could abstain from children to have more money.
-He could have abstained from marriage to have more money.
-His job could be boring or even annoying… but still lucrative.
And would he really say that if the married man with healthy kids, a beautiful wife, and a lucrative job was evil, unhappy, painfully shy, and/or weak/sick/wheelchair bound… that he was still successful?
So, no, money does not make the man. It provides a crude way of measuring some of what makes the man.
Leadership
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will servethe LORD.
Joshua 24:15
Now lets take the man… and make him henpecked. At home and at work, he is bossed around by his wife, his kids, his secretary, and his board of directors. He is all the things we want him to be above… but he is a milksop. He is a follower, not a leader. Is that part of what we see as our vision of manhood?
Now turn it around. The true man will lead his wife and his children. He will know how to say now, and how to say yes. As in, ‘Yes, you will do this thing that you don’t want to do.”
Virtue
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
II Peter 1:5-7
Let’s take our man, and make him evil. the interesting thing about this is that, typically, a lack of virtue will tend to show itself in other areas. The virtous man will find it easier to get a wife, and easier to value her. He will tend to have, and value, his children. His virtue will make him more successful at work.
Family
A Song of degrees. Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, andpeace upon Israel.
Psalm 128
While we are dealing with contradictions, lets talk for a minute about his point about procreation. The true man will procreate. But what that means is that He will not merely ‘be attractive’ and have sex, he will form a family and, umm, grow the family. He will marry, have sex, have children, and raise them in Godliness.
Protection
The true man, the Godly man, will not only protect his family physically, but in dozens of other ways. He will protect them from false doctrine. He knows how to ‘gird up his loins’ and fight for his family. And to raise up sons to do the same thing.
Conclusion
If we are merely looking for a biological definition of ‘man’, we could take a boy and add a certain amount of physical maturity and slap the label on him. If we were looking for a legal definition, then we could go by age (although that is a stupid definition). But if we are going to go for a historical, philosophical, cultural, and religious definition… then we have a bunch of work to do.
But at the same time, we will need to look at the problem from the opposite end. Cause manhood is not only an achievement, it is a responsibility. It is possible to say of someone that they are a man, aren’t a man, and need to start acting like a man. A grown up boy who avoids his responsibilities doesn’t get off… he gets told off. By all of society and God Himself.
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Great thoughts.
I've heard it broken down as protect, provide and preside.