Crisis in Masculinity
by Leanne Payne, 1985Masculinity and Femininity are more than merely biological characteristics of men and women. They are transcendent realities which ultimately descend from the nature of God, who is complete Truth. Our culture has stripped us all of the masculine traits necessary for abiding in Christ and walking in the newness of His Life.
- When a Man Walks alongside Himself — A short look at the consequences of a man being unable to see and accept himself as a man. Hating oneself prevents true abiding in Christ.
- Man in Crisis: Richard’s Story — The will is the masculine part of everyone, male or female. In the restoration of masculinity, the will is not laid down but united with Christ’s. Willing His Will is our highest masculine impulse.
- Crises in Masculinity without Sexual Neuroses — The heart of true masculinity is to honor the truth by speaking it and being it. Stripped of this power, anyone (man or woman) will have a crisis in masculinity.
- What Is Masculinity? — In relation to God, we are all feminine. God is the initiator in our relationship to Him, and we are the receivers. As such, we can only be as masculine as our will to receive. Masculinity is the power to do good. We cannot receive the power to do good as long as we are trying to will to do good. We must receive even the will to do good, if we are to have the power to do good. Our will must be united with His, willing to be, willing to receive all that we need from Him. Willing to do, we look to the task and receive nothing, and anything we accomplish amounts to nothing. When we get in touch with masculinity, we are empowered with Truth Himself.
- The Polarity and Complementarity of the Sexes — Polarity in union is the expression of fullness of being. (See also G.K. Chesteron’s paradox of the lion and the lamb—Orthodoxy, chapter VI.) It is only by dying to the old man who seeks to fulfill his own vision and will apart from God (even when that vision and will seem to coincide with God’s moral pronouncements, i.e. legalism) that a person finds healing for the imbalance of the power to initiate and the power to respond.
- Woman in Crisis: The Story of Richard's Wife and Others — Every individual, male or female, must have a balance of transcendent masculine and feminine principles in order to be a truly whole person. Women are held in an ungodly and non-Biblical bondage when they are taught that submission requires them to put to death their real selves in order to obey authority. True obedience (and therefore true submission) requires a recognition of when authority figures are attempting to exceed their authority, and obeying the higher authority. It requires the ability to listen to and obey God, receiving love and fulfillment from Him rather than demanding it from men, thereby freeing them to act in a godly submission which does not rob them of their power to do and to be.
- Appendix: The True Masculine and the True Feminine by Jeffrey Satinover, M.D. — Additional supporting discussion of true masculinity and true femininity and how they complement and support each other.