In Spartan culture, the strength of the males was tested from birth. When a new male was born, men of the town would inspect the child looking for areas of weakness or insufficiency. If a defect was found, the child would be tossed off a mountain, abandoned on the mountain or kept to act as a slave of the Spartans, known as a “helot”. Babies who passed inspection were bathed in wine rather than water in order to test and improve their strength.
By age seven, the boys were moved to the military school called the “Agoge” where they would learn basic subjects (math, reading etc.) but would primarily focus on training them for warfare. This training was sponsored by the state and was mandatory; The dormitory was a barracks.
At age twelve, the young men were stripped of all clothes except a red cloak. They were to make their own beds from reeds and the cloak in order to make them comfortable with discomfort and to prepare them to be highly mobile in times of war. They were given only small portions of food, usually black broth and a small amount of bread. They would then be encouraged to steal food from the town in order to develop speed and stealth, but the young men would be flogged and beaten if they were detected.
Every year Sparta would hold a “Contest of Endurance” before one of their pagan temples. The Spartan men would tie two young Spartans-in-training to a post with their arms above their head and flog them until one passed out. This was known as the “Diamastigosis” Sometimes the young men being flogged would die from pain or blood loss while trying to outlast each other.
At age 20 or 21 the Spartan males were given the chance to graduate into the full army. These young men were expected to be lifelong soldiers. To reach retirement age (60) for a Spartan man would be embarrassing, as death in battle was expected. No other occupation for a Spartan male was allowed. Any tradesman, craftsman or farmer who lived in Sparta was not considered a Free Citizen. The only Spartan citizens who were allowed gravestones were the men who died in battle or the women who died in childbirth.
After graduation, the new Spartan soldiers would still be given insufficient food and would have to continue to steal what they needed. The provided diet was tasteless, but this would build character and the ability to eat on the road without the need for pleasurable flavored foods.
Physical fitness was highly prized in Spartan culture. Any man who was physically unfit would be openly ridiculed by Spartan men and women and even risked being banished from Sparta because of their fatness.
Very small amounts of wine were consumed in Spartan culture, but excess drinking was highly discouraged as it was a sign of great weakness and a gateway to stupidity. The Spartans would sometimes force their helot slaves to drink wine to the point of drunkenness in order to teach their children how stupid it was to drink wine to excess and lose control of themselves.
Men would not be allowed to marry until they were thirty years old, and the women until they were twenty. If an exception was made and a man and woman were married earlier, they would not be allowed to live together until they came of age.
Some historians think that Spartan couples were never allowed to live together, and that the men would have to sneak out of the barracks to meet their wives for sex.
Even in marriage, emotional “love” was discouraged, as attachments might create weakness in the hearts of the Spartan men. If there were couples who truly loved each other, they kept this a secret.
Surrender in battle was completely unacceptable, an absolute disgrace. The Spartans who surrendered often killed themselves later out of shame. Nothing mattered outside of combat, and Death in Battle was the highest honor a Spartan man could attain.
And now the Spartans are legendary, and their way of life is attractive to people, especially young men, who crave to be part of something masculine, hyper-aggressive and exclusive.
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We should be the same way about our faith. Rigorous training from a young age resulting in a Christian who knows that nothing in life matters outside of the exclusive Church of God. We do not have that culture in the modern age. We have castrated men teaching their castrated sons how to be acceptable in a feminine-centric society and in an overly feminized religion.
It is frustrating to be a young man in the modern Church because there are no masculine role models to look up to. No one wants to be a part of the Church because it seems to be a social club for eunuchs.
Reject this weakness and take on the title of “Spartan Christian”: a man who compromises nothing regarding his faith and who will defend it with a barbaric, warlike ferocity as the Spartans once did.
Be a man who knows that death is honorable and surrender is unacceptable.
Be a man who despises spiritual unfitness and generates positive peer pressure on his associates in order to improve them.
The Church needs men who will banish other men who remain spiritually unfit (i.e. live sinful lives).
Men should have no intention of retiring from the faith.
Men should shun fleshly attachments that would make them weak or compromise their faith.
The Spartan Christian is a man who has testicles still attached, and that alone makes him a rare individual in the modern Church.
Be the Man. Gird up the loins of your Mind and go to War.
