Book Review: The Masculine Mandate

What does it really mean to be a man?  Is it just to be masculine?  Is it to have big muscles, athletic, and have a great looking car?  Is it to hit the bar every Friday night to drink and watch a ballgame?  Is it to work hard at the job I hate during the week and then work hard at the things I love during the weekend?  Is it to provide financially and physically for family?  Is it to have a good reputation within the community? 

So what really does it mean to be a man?

Within the pages of the this book, we can find answers to the riddles of what exactly it is to be a man.  We cannot answer the question if we are defining it through the skewed and distorted perception of what our culture and world say what a man should be.  We have to look into the question through the perception of something more concrete yet alien to our culture and world; we need something with more substance and more tangible truth:  God the creator and His Word.

The author brings to light many truths about what it is to be a man and a strong "proactive" leader of his house.  An emphasis on "proactive" leader because passive leader is oxymoronic especially dealing with men and their wives and children.  God has a calling for all men and that is to be the leader of their household.  Men cannot be passive in life especially when it comes to the well being (spiritually, emotionally or physically) or their families. 

Throughout this book a glaring theme reciprocates:  that all men must live proactive intentional lives to guard their families from the all competing forces.  As men we bear the image of God, in that we are given the responsibilities of headship within the institution of the family.  We must stand together(as men of faith) and firm on foundational truths and not succumb to the whims of false doctrine and the ideology of this world.