Why men hate church

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Aquila

I was thinking... if my memory serves me correctly... in early America there used to be something referred to as the "rule of thumb". It wasn't a formal law... but supposedly a man had the right to discipline his wife and children with a stick as long as it wasn't any thicker than his thumb.

While I don't advocate beatings and abuse. The premise that would allow such a thing in at a cultural level demonstrates a cultural respect for male authority.

My point is this... authority isn't authority unless it can be used and enforced. Sadly... male headship in America, be it in the church or at home is merely an illusion that only applies when the parties involved agree to allow it to apply. "Hey, I know. Let's get married and play headship!" lol

Now your back to that 'Christian domestic discipline' thing again lol.

A qualification for an elder is that he 'rule his house well', otherwise he cannot be expected to 'rule the house of God'.

So then anyone in oversight of the local church must have a demonstrated track record of effective leadership in his own home. If a man wants to lead, he has to start with himself and his immediate family. He has to learn how to get Honey to properly submit - willingly. And that does not always require 'the rod', it more often than not requires an ability to persuade using both positive and negative motivations. It also requires a lot of prayer and self deiscipline, leading by example, etc.

A supervisor is not expected to literally BEAT his subordinates into submission. A father, while it may be necessary to spank a child, should be able to progress rather quickly beyond the rod and into other, more mature forms of motivation and persuasion. Leaders responsible for managing people must learn how and must be skilled in the ability of getting people to willingly agree to follow your leadership. Leadership 101.

Also, people have GOT to get back to an understanding of marriage and proper roles. We must teach our children these things, and model these things for them in our own lives, because nobody else (for the most part) is going to do it.