Chuck Larsen

On her website, Gwen Shamblin, the author of the popular “Weigh Down” Diet plan makes some statements about the Trinity that are troubling.  She may have changed these comments subsequently, but when I read this some years ago, her statements were rather subtle and difficult to grasp, but they were serious enough to cause Thomas Nelson Publishers to cancel the publication of her next book. Shamblin doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. “People don’t care about this,” she says, primarily referring to her women followers, “They don’t care about the Trinity,” she said, “what the women want is weight loss.” The older, late, reliable Bible expositor, J. Vernon McGee, rightly observed, after looking around at our society, “Men want to be vigorous and virile; women want to be sexy.” As wrong or right as you might think McGee is, you can’t deny that our society, in all its forms of mass media, promotes these ideas and sells them prominently to each generation. In my opinion, they are getting better at it with each generation. One obvious truth here, though, is that there is indeed a difference between the motives, minds, and missions of men and women.

In his “Foundations for the Family” series, Dennis Rainey explains the difference. He says that even in conversation, they are different. “Men tend to report facts. Women are far more interested in sharing feelings. Men feel compelled to offer solutions. Women want affirmation and assurance.” Men’s minds wake up, men’s passions are aroused, and men’s hearts will beat faster only when they are challenged. The Greek language has a substantival participle (don’t go to sleep!) that captures what should be the nature of man. It is (an English transliteration) “hoi pragmatikoi.” The Greek Lexicon translates this phrase as “Men of Action.” In 2 Samuel, we read about David’s “mighty men.” They were all men of action. Their deeds are sometimes listed in the Bible. One of them was Benaiah. 2 Samuel 23:20 describes him as “…a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds.” In general men aren’t motivated or challenged by dialogue, they want to “DO” something. Even the marketing industry has discovered this. Nike logo “just do it” is an example. Don’t get me started on professional and college team names and mascots. We’ve got wolf packs, wolverines, broncos, Spartans, bulls, rams, and, of course, the formerly all-boys school “fighting Irish.” It’s all about action, challenge, and overcoming opposition in a man’s world.

This is why the church, populated mostly by women, ends up exhorting the men on Father’s Day rather than speaking gently to them, telling them comforting and affirmative words. We probably give them too much of that in the Church in the first place. We need to be challenged! We need to be moved to action. We want to do something! Being one of them, I know a good challenge always moves me to action. Gary Ezzo, in his book “Men of Action,” writes, “I once asked my daughter Jennifer what she thought were the biggest problems fathers have with kids. She said, ‘Dads have too many tomorrows.’ You know, ‘I’ll play with you tomorrow; I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’ She was right. Dad, be there now for your children, building quality and quantity benchmarks of trust. Don’t wait until tomorrow—or you’ll end up wasting too many todays.”