Was Jesus Effeminate When...

[teresaq]

What would happen if we made our standard of “biblical masculinity” the Bible’s main character, the Son of Man himself? Let’s make a few things absolutely clear:

Showing your emotions and crying in public doesn’t make you effeminate. “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

Finding beauty in nature doesn’t make you effeminate. Jesus told us to “consider the lilies” (Matthew 6:27).

Being gentle, quiet, kind, and humble doesn’t make you effeminate. Jesus was “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29).

Having an intimate, emotional friendship with Jesus doesn’t make you effeminate. “There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). (That was John, the rugged blue-collar fisherman, by the way.)

Liking beautiful music and poetry doesn’t make you effeminate. Jesus sang hymns (Matthew 26:30).

Even being a victim of bullying doesn’t make you effeminate. “Herod and his soldiers ridiculed him and mocked him” (Luke 23:11).

Sure, Jesus was a strong man, a tough guy with a beard who worked with his hands for a living, called out Pharisees to their faces, stared down a mob, and overturned tables. But Jesus was also a man who wasn’t ashamed of being emotional, enjoying beauty, liking music, being humble, getting bullied, crying, expressing love, hanging out with women and children.

You may enjoy the whole article:
http://www.ericpazdziora.com/the-truth-about-effeminate-worship/

[phkrause]

Excellent post teresaq.

[GayatfootofCross]

GBU teresaq!

This is great!

amen amen amen all over the place!

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The point is, when we’re talking about “masculine” and “feminine” especially in religion, the majority of our commonly held ideas don’t come from the Bible. Maybe a handful do, but not as many you think. Mostly, like this one, they’re an amalgam of cultural customs and hand-me-down moralizing, badly filtered through recent tradition.

Take another example. One of the articles I linked above lists what the author, Douglas Wilson, sarcastically identifies as signs that “Your worship service and church community might be effeminate.” One of them is, “…a clerical collar and a powder pink shirt.” To us, of course, pink is a color for little girls. But here’s another quote from the early 1900s, this one from a clothing magazine in 1914:

“The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” (Source: Smithsonian Magazine)

In 1914, pink was the manly color and blue was “delicate and dainty.” A man who wore a pink shirt to church was “more decided and stronger.” Apparently, pink wasn’t even associated with femininity in the U.S. until the 1940s, mostly thanks to marketing by clothing manufacturers. Are we really promoting biblical masculinity or femininity here? Obviously not.

Taken to its most extreme, this becomes obsessive nitpicking and worrying and scrutinizing that something a man does might be (horror of horrors!) feminine. It can get downright laughable. I have another book in which several scholars try to explain “biblical manhood and womanhood.” Discussing the handful of scattered Bible verses that address gender takes them 575 pages—longer than the New Testament. As C. S. Lewis said in another context, this is “the discovery of the mare’s nest by pursuit of the red herring.”

The absurdity perhaps reached its nadir when Douglas Wilson listed this sign that a church is “effeminate”:

The worship music rides particular chord changes hard, with special mention being given to the shift from E Minor to C Major;

Because nothing says femininity like a chord progression with root movement of a descending major third. As a classically trained composer, the technical term I’d use for that is, “What?” Maybe he thinks men ought to go from E minor to B⁷ instead, since that’s the Dominant. Or to D^#, which is the leading tone, because men should be leaders, and… Oh, forget it, I give up. It’s just sheer nonsense. It’s on a level with saying that men should avoid spelling words with W and F because they stand for Womanly and Feminine.

Once a debate has gotten into a state like this, it’s not only jumped the shark, it should be sent to sleep with the fishes.

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I might put up other things in the future from the LINK provided at the OP..but the thing about masculine and feminine Colours AND mUSIC got me!

I look like a tough hulking mountain man (and so does my Buddy... ). I wear the blue jeans with folded cuffs(soooo butch..like i don't sew ha ha)..Plaid shirts and big beard and or big burly mustache and rugged boots. Then I pull out a colourful  pretty handkerchief! O no!

At any meal occasion you will see an array of fabulouse colour or colours. It cheers me.My eyes light up at colour. Whether it's a  sunset under a mackerel sky.Or a blood red rose. And even an emerald green lawn! (what's that?.. I'm in California) or a sun bursting orange delicate fabric for sneezing.... And i don't care what kind of looks i get.

It is not their ignorance or preferences that matter in my decision of what I wear. Or music I listen too.

I love the Lady Singers that milk every note.

I love that this Blogger points that out..I grew up with peeps who say boys cant wear pink? "Uhhhh let me tell you like it is... blue and pink helps identify the gender as babys where they can pass for either (well most). After that we get to choose for ourselves!" And if we are judged over it. They are gonna have to take it up with GOD who made the RAINBOW!

Thanku again teresaq!

really kool

God bless you!

And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Rev 4:3
 

Edited October 27, 2015 by GayatfootofCross

[teresaq]

GBU?! God Bless You?! How dare you? ;)