Manhood

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I have two questions and I ask that you be as honest as possible as this is to help with a potential youth ministry.

1) What does it mean to be a man? What makes a man a man?

2) When does a boy become a man?

Thank you all for your input. God Bless :)
 
1) A leader, protector, strong, kind, compassionate, steadfast and self assured.
2) I'll let you know when I become one.
 
A lot of times when people ask this, they mean man (as different from woman) or man (in how he relates to women). Many of the same things that separate the men from the boys are the same things, however, that separate the women from the girls. It's too easy to come up with emotionally dead he-men who have no capacity for forgiveness or error.

Boys, in many cultures, become men when they pass through a rite of passage. Alternatively, those rites recognize that they've already become men. In most modern Western cultures, we have no similar things and many men wander around in some vague mixture of the two forever. Turning 21 is usually celebrated, at least, and marriage is a weak substitute.
 
I suggest reading the book -Wild At Heart- by John Eldridge. Its about boy/manhood. Its Christian. While i'm not 100% behind everything in there, overall i think its a good resource and could help answer those questions.
 
I always hate trying to define this. So often we impose our cultural understandings on to what is a man. To some it's someone like John Wayne. Some may try to impose a certain emotional standard to what a man is. Some may try to impose a strength or height standard. It's so hard to 'define' without giving some cookie cutter, one size fits all definition, which fails to acknowledge that all men are unique.

I'd think at a bare minimum a man is someone who...

1. Takes responsibility for their actions.
2. Seeks to provide, protect, and teach their family if they are called to be a husband.
3. Seeks to be conformed to the image of Christ.
 
Ugly said:
I suggest reading the book -Wild At Heart- by John Eldridge. Its about boy/manhood. Its Christian. While i'm not 100% behind everything in there, overall i think its a good resource and could help answer those questions.
Click to expand...

I have and am reading it again :)
 
1still_waters said:
I'd think at a bare minimum a man is someone who...

1. Takes responsibility for their actions.
2. Seeks to provide, protect, and teach their family if they are called to be a husband.
3. Seeks to be conformed to the image of Christ.
Click to expand...

I don't think I could have said it better Stilly. So many people look at age or financial achievements as being the sign of passing into manhood, yet I've met 15 and 16 year old men and 40 and 50 year old boys.
 
When I think of a true man, I think of David. He was a man after Gods own heart, honest, faithful, a servant, caring, and brave. Even though he did something bad and slept with a woman, then had her husband killed he still pursued God and wanted change. He had faith in the lord and took out Goliath. With a slingshot!!!!!
 
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