Author

Weak Man’s Grace – The Wallower

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9

“You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”
James 2:24

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
James 2:17

Weak men emphasize grace far more than they emphasize action.

The religious world is plagued with the weak man’s mindset. Every Christian understands the necessity and importance of grace, but the weak man uses grace as an excuse to do evil. The weak man uses grace as a way to justify his lack of spiritual progress. He wallows in his “brokenness” and begs God to do all the work for him. God does save us by His will and by His grace, He does all the heavy lifting of removing our sins, but we still have a duty to behave as men and not use grace as a reason to avoid behaving righteously or the work of improving.

The beta focuses on his emotions, how he feels and how “church” makes him feel instead of focusing on the work he needs to do for the God of heaven and earth. He sings songs to make himself feel good rather than to serve God. The weak man uses grace to justify his weakness. He mistakenly thinks if he actually improves that there will be no place for grace to fill his life and make him feel warm and fuzzy inside. This man is a disgrace. Christians already have a reputation for looking weak and pathetic, and these men who are constantly emotional and effeminate do not help this perception.

Over-emphasizing grace relieves us of the responsibility to work on our character flaws and be obedient to difficult commands.

Many men think they do not have to do anything besides accept grace and then they are good to go. This is the foundation for the sinner’s prayer or “accepting Christ as our savior”, or any other concepts of salvation that oppose the Bible, are found nowhere in the Bible, and do nothing for our salvation. These are the concepts of weak men. Pathetic men want to say a one-lined prayer or theatrically call out to Jesus and “invite him into their hearts”, because that definitely works and you see that in the Bible. Have you ever seen a highly masculine man invite Jesus into his heart? This is weak man’s grace.

Mantra

Grace is sufficient, but my work is also required.

Application

Christianity is not just about grace. It is founded on grace, and would be nothing without the grace of God, but there is still a great deal of work that we as men are still required to do. We cannot sit around and wallow in emotions and talk about how ‘bad’ we are – that is weak man’s grace. Contrary to popular belief, we do not need to go forward to repent at every youth rally. Boys who go forward at those events are more interested in having girl’s breasts pressed against their chest when they hug than they are about changing their actions.

Men are interested in action, taking action and avoiding unnecessary or detrimental emotions because they know that emotions delude reality and are not a reflection of it. If a man is not firmly grounded in his principles of logic, he has the responsibility to first set aside all emotion and uncover the truth of who he is and what he believes. Once he is firm in these facts, he can then add back emotion to supplement the logic if he wants.

We must tone down our emotions because of the fact that emotions do not equal reality.

Emotions are not to be trusted or built upon, they are unstable and weak when used as foundations. Emotions are good fuel for your vehicle, but you have to make sure you are driving in the right direction first.

Catch yourself when you are getting too emotional about some event or situation and ask yourself a few questions.

In worship: “Is it right to be this emotional right now? Is this emotional momentum about me or about God? Am I thinking about grace, or merely feeling about grace? Are these emotions improving the worship to God, or merely improving how I feel about the worship to God?”

When You Become Angry: “Is this emotion productive for this situation? Can I control myself with a hot emotion like this? Would I make better choices if I wanted and cooled down before moving forward?”

When You Become Fearful: “Am I behaving like a man when I panic? Is this situation that important in the long-term? If the worst-case scenario happens, what will I lose? Can I think of situations that are far worse than mine currently? Can I detach from this emotion?

These are important questions to just a few situations where emotions rush into the mind. These questions also differentiate between usefulness and selfishness of emotion. Do not focus on your feelings because they are not always indicative of righteousness. Emotions do not automatically equal sincerity. The only way to prove sincerity is through actions, and sincerity is especially proven when you take action without emotional backup.

Reject your feelings and force them into submission until you know what you believe.

Weak man’s grace is selfish, and you must be reject the desires of the self at times.

Focus your thoughts on action.

Control emotions.

Keep rationality and wisdom with you always.

Conduct yourselves like men.

Chemical Aid – Drugs

What is your opinion on using chemical aid? Are drugs tools or problems or both? Leave your comment at the bottom.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
1 Peter 5:8

I can almost guarantee you are consuming some type of psychoactive substance. The extent to which the element is psychoactive is the only thing that varies and is the only way Christians justify its consumption. The most basic debate is caffeine versus amphetamines. “Caffeine is completely fine for the Christian to consume”, so they say, even though it is a chemical brother to amphetamines that include meth.

Because caffeine has arguably milder psychological effects, Christians can justify consuming it. I enjoy caffeine as much as the next guy, but I am not going to pretend that caffeine is as different from amphetamines as many people would like to suggest. Amphetamines just have a lower overdose point. Every substance has its own lethal overdose point. For caffeine the overdose point is around 10 grams, as far as we know. Everything is a poison, it is only a question of dosage.

Caffeine’s chemical effect still stimulates the body like a mild form of meth, just to a lesser degree and with less damaging side effects as far as is currently known.

Obviously smoking or snorting something made with battery acid is going to be more damaging than a well-researched substance like caffeine.

What exactly do you think your doctor is giving you when he prescribes Adderall or Ritalin? “Amphetamines are bad, unless my doctor gives them to my under-disciplined ADHD child. At that point it is totally okay”.

And before everyone jumps to the, “But Coffee is natural” argument, let me remind you that Hemlock poison, Lily of the Valley Berries, several various mushrooms and cyanide producing sudangrass or sorghum are all natural plants that produce lethal poisons. Natural does not automatically equal safe.

Chemicals are on the earth to be used to our advantage.

Most Christians just have to run a cost-benefit analysis to determine if a certain drug is okay for them to take. As long as the drug does not damage the body too much, and does not alter the state of the mind to an excessive degree, it is okay for most people to consume.

I think this philosophy is cowardly and ridiculous. These same Christian who would be angry at people who “try to find where the line of God’s commands is” so they can get as close to the line as possible without going over it are making the same arguments when it comes to what they put in their bodies. Weak-minded Christian people simply want to see how much they can experience of a drug without sinning. Just like weak-minded Christians want to see how much they can do sexually without actually having penis-in-vagina intercourse. It is the same delusional justification scheme.

Caffeine is approved by Christians because it does not damage the body in small doses, and only alters the mind slightly, giving it more energy but also a sense of great anxiety and impending doom. Caffeine is an anxiogenic compound, meaning is causes anxiety.

But wait: if a substance induces anxiety, something the Bible tells us explicitly to avoid (Matt 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6), how can it be right to consume it?

No one can answer this without excessively justifying their own behavior. Furthermore, most Christians discussing the effects of various drugs have no scientific knowledge whatsoever and no ability to think rationally or scientifically. The lack of scientific thinkers in the religious world is a plague that has contributed to the growth of radical liberalism and buttressed the emotionalistic propaganda of weak thinking beta-males. Note: There are many more religious scientists than there are religious scientific thinkers – there is a difference between the two.

The absence of scientific thought in the religious world regarding drugs is clearest when you observe someone accepting or refusing to consume something based on whether or not there are any “chemicals” in it. People are never more stupid than when they accept this blind-faith line of thinking, because they are conceding to their own ignorance. They refuse to consume something because they are ignorant of it. Furthermore, everything you see is a chemical! Everything you lay eyes on is composed of chemicals in various arrangements and structures. So to say that you do not consume chemicals means that you do not consume anything, neither can you even breathe the air, because you would be taking in various chemicals into your lungs.

What most people mean is that they do not want to consume any artificial, man-made chemicals.

This is also insipid because it assumes that what chemicals occur naturally are better for you than what is created by man. This mode of reasoning is faulty at the core. See the previous paragraph where a few natural but lethal plants are discussed. Antibiotics are synthetic, man-made, artificial compounds and can save your life if you need them. That is just one example that shows that what is natural is not necessarily “healthier” than what is unnatural. There is a difference in feeling healthy and actually being healthy.

What about other chemicals that aid in the war against anxiety and depression?

These are tremendous inventions, but they also can promote lethargy in people who take them. Taking antidepressants can cause weight gain and avoidance of exercise, but they also prevent us from having our faith damaged while it is brought under siege by our emotions and depression. Anti-anxiety medications can bring peace of mind to those who never experience it, yet they can encourage gluttony. There may be no clear cut answer to the questions about many different drugs, and there are very few circumstances in Christianity that have any gray area.

All this to say that we are not attacking the use of caffeine, what we are attacking is a behavior and a pattern of thought manifested by many religious people. The same religious people who condemn drugs use drugs.

Mantra

Think rationally about faith at all times.

Application

You have to decide for yourself what you think about chemical aid. This section is not meant to condemn certain drugs or encourage others. The sole purpose of this section is to get you to think critically about why some drugs/chemicals are fine to consume while others are not. You must get in the habit of thinking critically and must also avoid mindlessly swallowing the traditions and doctrines of men. You must understand all sides of a debate if you truly want to find out the truth of a matter, and this applies to drugs also.

There will always be debate in the church about what drugs you can and cannot take.

You have to use your own mind and think logically about what everyone in the church is saying about drugs. Ask yourself: “Are they speaking based on the Bible or based on their emotions? Is what they are saying simply the passing down the traditional thought they have heard all their lives? Are my teachers thinking critically, or do they want to avoid critical thinking in favor of more passive forms of thought like tradition and blind acceptance?”

Once you ask yourself these questions, begin to reject philosophies of people who speak from emotions rather than logic. Emotions have no place in the discussion of religion, faith and drugs. You will inevitably encounter someone who has lost a family member to an illegal drug overdose and therefore rejects every single form of mind altering chemical. The loss of a family member is tragic, but it does not confer expertise in any area related to the death of that family member. Meaning if you lose a family member to drugs, it does not immediately make you an expert on drugs, nor does it give you the right to promote your agenda regarding drugs. You must exclusively use logic in every aspect of your faith.

Additionally, all chemical drugs have a spectrum of use: some men use them moderately, others abuse them by chronically taking high doses.

It tends to follow that any drug that is abused will have negative effects on the body. Too much caffeine can start to wear out hormone producing glands or wear out the circulatory pathways of the body. Too much alcohol kills you instantly, yet we constantly use various microdoses of alcohol as medicines. Interesting to note, too much water can kill you as well

Any chemical compound whose name ends in “-ol” is an alcohol compound. It will not make you drunk, and it helps other compounds dissolve and absorb in the body. This is the difference between use and abuse: abuse pushes so far past ‘use’ that excessive negative effects ensue. Even the threshold of abuse will vary from person to person. So many variables make the spiritual question of chemicals and drugs difficult, and are the reason why so many Christians want to avoid the question all together, because asking the questions would require them to think long and hard about what they believe, and no one wants to do that.

There are also two primary logical fallacies you will want to avoid when thinking about drugs:

Fallacy 1 – Avoid using 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 as a trump card that alleviates you of the responsibility of thinking.

When most Christians cannot make a rational argument against a drug or compound or even a behavior, they result in using God as a tool for their own agenda. They claim that because the body is a temple of God, we should not be putting these chemicals into our body.

“Because the body is the Temple of God, you should be a vegan”-
Person taking Scripture out of context.

This argument is irreverent because this passage is taken out of context. In 1 Corinthians 6 the apostle Paul is talking about sexual integrity, which means you cannot take that passage and make it apply to every single question of the physical body. The Christian who uses this argument is not rational enough to think through his faith logically, so he resorts to using scripture quoted out of context to justify his generic, commonplace and ignorant thinking about an issue.

If you are going to make a case against a chemical of some kind, you need to do more than twist the Scripture to suit your own narrative – this isn’t mainstream politics.

Fallacy 2 – You must ask the question, “Does this compound affect my sobriety?”

The only rational, scripture based argument against various chemical compounds is the fact that some of them reduce sobriety and lead us to other sins.

If we are drunk, we are not watching for temptation and we are exponentially more likely to do something stupid. If the compound I want to take reduces my ability to conduct myself like a man, I should avoid it. However, if the compound increases my sobriety, who could argue against it?

These are dangerous waters of thought for the rational Christian, as other weak Christians may call it ‘heresy’. You may want to argue for DMT or other psychedelics because they supposedly increase sobriety and allegedly put you in contact with God directly. No one knows what really happens with these compounds, and no Christians speak about them openly which is why there will be eternal debate about it. Again, this paragraph is not encouraging or arguing for the use of any of these drugs, it is only encouraging you to apply rational thought to every one of your philosophies instead of simply swallowing what your parents day.

You will have to decide for yourself what you think of drugs.

Think through your faith.

Use your mind.

Fortify your belief.

Use every available weapon against the adversary.

Conduct yourselves like men.

Sources
1. Association of the anxiogenic and alerting effects of caffeine with ADORA2A and ADORA1 polymorphisms and habitual level of caffeine consumption

2. How can someone die from drinking too much water?

3. Understanding the Dangers of Alcohol Overdose

4. Antidepressants and weight gain: What causes it?

5. When Your Antidepressant Makes You Tired

6. Caffeine Toxicity

7. Anxiety

8. Crush Anxiety

9. Secular Reasons To Avoid Drunkenness

Determination – Discipline Maintained

The mind must be firmly centered on the goal. The thoughts must be focused on what we are aiming to achieve. We are trying to live as Men of principle and integrity and this is not going to happen magically or passively. We must be determined to be the type of men who can be respected and looked up to in the community. This takes an investment of work and energy and a focused purpose of mind.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Purpose begins with improving ourselves before we ever attempt to improve or coach anyone else. We cannot teach others what we ourselves do not know, and no one would listen to us even if we did know. No one listens to a nutritionist who is obese, or a music teacher who cannot read sheet music. Everyone must first prove that they practice what they are trying to teach before people will listen to what they have to say. The same principle applies to determination. If we are not determined in our own lives, we cannot help people be determined in theirs.

Determination rejects fatigue, weariness and lack of focus.

It obliterates laziness and weakness of the will. Determination is a function of how well defined your visions and goals are. Without crystal clear goals for the improvement of the self, you cannot hope to be consistently determined. You might be able to stay focused for an hour, a day or a year, but eventually you will falter because your vision is not clear enough. This must be changed, men must have goals from which they derive their determination.

Determination is also a form of grit that allows us to progress even in dire circumstances. It keeps us moving when our emotions tell us that we deserve some rest. You deserve nothing. You must earn everything. Determination is a mindset that results in aggressive action taken in the pursuit of our goals. Without a firm determination, we fall off the path of discipline and we lose the grounding of focus that we have in our minds.

Mantra

My goal is before me, and I will achieve it at all costs.

Application

What is your vision for your life? How determined you are depends on the clarity of that vision. How clear are your goals? The ability to stay disciplined in your life depends on how rock solid your goals are. Therefore, the first step to a determined and rock hard, determined personality is to establish goals and a vision for your life. It is hard to improve when you do not know where you want to go.

Focus your mind intensely on your goals and dreams.

The vision creates the motivation and discipline.

The motivation creates the action.

And the discipline maintains the action.

We continue on this path until we accomplish our goals. Once our goals are achieved, we must instantly make new goals or we will become complacent and begin to decay. Continuing to add new goals and visions allows us to maintain our determination. Determination creates progress, and progress creates happiness and a form of satisfaction in life.

Create your vision.

Form your goals.

Construct a character of impeccable architecture.

Conduct yourselves like men.

Absolution – Removal of Unnecessary Guilt

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”
1 John 1:9

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
Romans 5:1

Absolution is the freedom from guilt of past wrongdoings.

The guilt is removed from the mind, never to be seen again. Absolution is possible through our faith, yet so many Christians are obsessed with feeling guilty because they think that emotional guilt or feeling bad about themselves somehow makes them more righteous or that God will have more compassion on them. Nothing they think is logical. The average church goer in the 21st century knows nothing about the God he claims to obey.

We have been given the freedom from guilt so that we will not be negatively affected by that guilt in our lives. God remembers our sin no more, it is completely forgotten, and we should view our evil in the same way. What weak people tend to do is focus so much on how “bad and evil” they are that they never actually improve their lives by changing their actions. They think it is enough to simply feel guilt, but action is also necessary. They are addicted to the emotional feeling of guilt. Guilt is worthless if we are not moving to improve ourselves constantly.

Absolution is a mental tool for improvement as well as a spiritual tool for salvation.

It is a mental tool in that we use it to avoid becoming bogged down in our guilt and shame, and instead we can turn our minds to the measurable progress of character. We are not constantly obsessed with what we did wrong but rather we are obsessed with improving. Absolution gives men the freedom of mind and conscience to work on their character instead of becoming paralyzed by their mountain of sin.

Mantra

My guilt is washed away and I feel it no more.

Application

Reject the lie propagated in the religious world that you need guilt, regret and shame in order to “be a good Christian” or improve. Christ did not die so that you could sit around feeling sorry for yourself. God has freed us from these negative, destructive and unproductive emotions.

No Christian man is ever required to have specific feelings and emotions in order to be righteous, that would be too much to ask of humanity. Not everyone is emotionally happy about all the commands of God, but that is the point, these commands must be kept regardless of how we feel.

We have been freed from the guilt of our sin. Therefore, if guilt remains it is because we have not conquered it in the mind. We must turn our minds to thoughts that will slowly chip away at the remainder of our unnecessary guilt. We have to consciously think, “There is no need to feel guilt. What is this guilt accomplishing in and of itself? Nothing. Therefore, I reject my own guilt. I am absolved from guilt and have no obligation to entertain it in my mind any longer”.

Over time the guilt will fade as we realize the truth of absolution. Once we are no longer wasting time by having regular guilt trips and pity parties, we can begin construction on the character we must possess as men. Guilt without action is worthless. So remove all guilt from your mind.

Center your thoughts on manhood.

Do not entertain unnecessary emotions.

Control your thoughts.

Conduct yourselves like men.

Discretion – Social Wisdom

“Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.”
Proverbs 11:22

“My son, do not lose sight of these— keep sound wisdom and discretion,”
Proverbs 3:21

“Discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you.”
Proverbs 2:11

Before we begin, let’s define terms. Discretion is the “quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offense or revealing private information.” Another definition of discretion is “the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation.” Based on these definitions, it is easy to see why discretion is a valuable character trait of an individual.

A man who avoids unnecessary conflict is wise and strategic.

This is not to say that we should avoid all conflict or shy away from telling truths that will cause offense, but we should be wise about how and when we present those truths. Truths should not be sugar coated, but they also should not be forced down the throat of people, even if they desperately need to hear them. You must slowly work on the minds of others instead of ramming your philosophies into their head with warlike attacks. To behave with discretion is to be diplomatic and wise. While there is certainly a time for attrition warfare, maneuver warfare is typically preferred when strategizing and engaging in small-scale social wars.

Discretion used righteously is one of the many fruits of wisdom.

Unrighteous discretion is a tremendous evil, and it operates under the illusion that no one will find out about the sin. Prostitutes offer “discrete services”, yet you still have a certain probability of getting caught by the police and being a sex offender for the rest of your life. Evil is never fully discrete, there is always the possibility that your evil will find you out. This indiscretion would then cause a massive stir in your church and in your community, causing offense and eliminating all semblance of past discretion. This small possibility should not be merely a source of fear, but it should be an additional motivator for righteousness.

Mantra

Be conscious of every action taken.

Application

It is hard to be discreet while running on mental autopilot. We must be cognizant of the way we act and of the situations around us if we are to behave with wisdom and discretion. The discrete man does not gossip and spread rumors, for he knows those rumors could circle back to him and bring him shame.

The discrete man does not reveal secrets and spread the sins of others. He does not deceive others, because he knows that he himself can be deceived by others as well. The discrete man is quiet, he does not actively seek out occasion to open his mouth, for he understands that the more words he speaks, the greater the chance that he will say something wrong.

The discrete man is conscious of his reputation at all times, taking into account how his deeds will alter the way others think of him because he knows that reputation is everything.

This man prepares his responses to all queries in advance, so that he reduces the chance of being caught off guard. The discrete man conducts himself with the utmost of masculinity at all times. Men must use discretion as a tool, as an instrument of wisdom.

Be aware of your actions.

Be mindful in all your interactions with other people.

View yourself as a man.

Conduct yourselves like men.

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