"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

As commonly known as this story is, one would think humanity should have learned something by now. I'm not talking about the overt points, concerning temptation and direct disobedience. Let us not only examine this as mere children, seeing only the lessons which we were taught in Sunday School; but with an adult mind. I want to show you something here, not altogether beneath the surface, yet commonly overlooked.

I will admit outright that this fortnight's topic was inspired by a recent conversation with Sir Eric Howard of The Order of St. Simon. It is, nonetheless, very relevant.

When we examine Adam's involvement in the above excerpt, it seems very passive. One would easily draw the conclusion that Adam, like some dumb sheep, innocently followed Eve into this bewitching circumstance because he was too ignorant to know otherwise. But Adam was an intelligent man. When God created the earth, the plants, the landscapes, the garden, and all the animals, birds, fish, and "creeping things", Adam knew exactly what they were. In fact, Adam was granted the task of naming every creature. Though a recently created entity, Adam "wasn't born yesterday". He was not fabricated into a blank state of mind, functioning only on reflexes and default programs, like a newborn infant. Not only did he possess every ability and skill needed to survive, he possessed a knowledge of language, and a mental encyclopedic phylum of all living and created things.

We understand that Eve was beguiled. But why did Adam fall so easily? The answer is easier to apprehend(yet not so easy to understand) inasmuch as we men tend naturally to perpetuate it in our daily lives. It is a large chunk of the reason we feel disrespected, dissatisfied, unfulfilled, and stupid; and much of it is our own doing.

We take pride in our heritage as men; of great peril, adventure, exploration, conquest, and building empires. We are ready at a moment's notice to storm the castle alone, strangle the dragon with our bare hands, sweep Fair Maiden off her feet, and swoon her away as the kingdom burns to ashes in our wake. And all because we got her permission first. Happy wife, happy life!

Wait... That doesn't sound right... Oh yeah... Because it's not.

But when God came to the Garden, he didn't approach Eve. We will not go into detail in this matter at this time except to point out the accountability God placed on Adam for even what Eve had done. When called into account for his actions, Adam's excuse was, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." One of the earliest moments of human manhood, one of the most shameful moments of human manhood, and one of the most repeated moments of human manhood. How many times in an argument with your wife or girlfriend have you excused yourself with "But you wanted me to do...!" I know I have, and often it was something I derived as an implied desire myself rather than something I was expressly asked to do (which still wouldn't have made it any better).

"But isn't it right to make our wives happy? I mean doesn't the Bible say so? Husbands love your wives," they say. But they leave off the latter portion: "even as Christ loved the church." Christ by no means defers to the will of the church, neither does he (in the Gospels) claim to follow his own will, but the will of the Father. Herein lies the key which will unlock our understanding.

In I Timothy 2:13-14, the husband's appointment as leader in the home and church is confirmed by Paul as he writes to the young pastor (also see Ephesians 5:28). Roy Davidson, of oldpaths.com affirms, "God’s appointment of men as leaders is based [...] not on temporary cultural circumstances as is sometimes claimed." Our commission of love toward our wives is that which will benefit them; not necessarily always what will immediately please them. The pursuit of Godly manhood will definately be most beneficial to everyone whose lives we affect, and especially those whose lives have been placed under our charge and leadership.

To quote Howard directly:

"The world has never known so many useless, angry, bitter old men than it has now. Generation Jones men who have suffered their entire marriages and careers giving in to the women in their lives for the sake of “peace” in the home, at work and in society.

Today the sons of these men have been brainwashed into thinking they’re being sacrificial. They think it’s their duty as husbands and fathers to give up their fitness, training, sports and their aggressive pursuits to be proper family men. Sorry but it is not your duty as a husband and father to sacrifice your masculinity. Becoming husband and father is prime time to pursue your masculinity.

Women and society have played a trick on us, playing off our honor. They know as men honor is in our DNA.

Tell a man he is more honorable if he quits his youthful passions of fighting and fitness to be at home every night to help with dishes and tuck in kids, and a man will do that instead. Convince a man that being strong, knowing how to fight, competing in violent or aggressive sports, and just hanging out with men in general is a thing for young guys and bachelors, and tell him a real man - especially a real man of God - instead will just go home... and that’s what a man will do.

This becomes a problem for men when they care about the opinions of women [...] over those of other men - about what it means to be a real man. When it comes to most things in my life, the opinions and feelings of my wife matter most to me. But my wife doesn’t know what it means to be a man, what masculinity truly is, and she doesn’t understand fully what God calls men to be and do. Therefore, I don’t seek her opinion or view on those things - at least not first. I seek the opinions, wisdoms and experiences of real men first.Luckily, my wife is humble enough to know she doesn’t have a clue, and therefore trusts me to become the man God is calling me to be. Not always without a fight, but trusts me nonetheless. And now we pretty much have our roles figured out. When it comes to duty, she knows when “that’s a woman thing” and when “that’s for the man to do” and it’s beautiful."

So how do we as men escape this great bond of the ages?

1. A Godly, Biblical, Christian life.

1.1 Man Up

Fini.

Mr. Medewe, LEO
IG: @theblueshepard

Sir Howard, Knight Commander
IG: @barbarian_gentleman