OK, for you who don't really know what Man Church is about, let me start with the serious stuff. We believe God is God - the one and only God. We believe Jesus is his son, God himself, who came to the earth from heaven, lived a while here, did miracles and taught ultimate truth, died to pay the price for our sins, then, from the grave, rose again, and now lives with God. He is our Lord, and our Savior. He cannot be one without the other. He cannot be just a good teacher - he's either who he says he is (God among us) or he's a lunatic, and we believe he's God. We believe after He left, He sent the third person of the Godhead - the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is God in our world - he lives is us, directing our steps, guiding us in all Godly ways, and moving in men to bring men closer to God.
We believe the church is the collection of God's people, spread out in the world, but as one in their love of God, and their desire that all should be saved. We believe the Bible is true - all of it. If it says it, we believe it. We believe the Bible is the primary way in which God talks to us, and that it is "alive and active," meaning that it can change our lives if we just listen. Want to talk to God? Pray - he'll listen. Want to hear God talk to you? Read the Bible.
We believe all are equal, and all are loved by God. Man is not better than women - just different. Ok, ladies. If you insist on reading this, just go right ahead, but don't call us sexist, 'cause the rest of this should be taken in the context of the previous statement, which will be repeated: All are equal in God's sight. Men are no better than women in God sight, nor in ours. Frankly, we love you, and appreciate you and how you make us better. Men were meant to lead. We have not done enough of that lately, and we apologize.
We believe that one can be a male without being a man. To be a man, one must:
1) Reject Passivity;
2) Accept Responsibility;
3) Lead Courageously;
4) Expect God's Reward for a job well done.
We believe that our natural self is sinful. We are selfish, egotistical, insecure. We are filled with greed, lust and a quest for power. We want to be self-sufficient, but recognize this is the opposite of that God wants. So, we find ourself in a constant struggle to live for God, and deny our natural urges. This is not easy. We relate to Brennan Manning's great work, "The Ragamuffin Gospel" (if you have not read this, do it today).
We believe a lot more stuff, but if you want to know it all, just read the Bible - it's all in there.
There are other things we hold dear (that sounds really serious, like the Constitution or something). This stuff isn't really biblical, but it works, so we like it. We love humor. We like to be funny. Lots of "religion" is serious. Lots of "religious" people are just sticks in the mud. We're not. We don't take ourselves too seriously, and don't mind laughing at ourself or each other. What's the big deal, anyway? Are some things serious? Absolutely. Are all things serious? No.
We believe we should be honest about who we are, what we're dealing with, and how to handle it. For way too long, church people have put on nice clothes, said all the right words, and tried to fake it. Faking it doesn't work. Better to say, "I've got real trouble," and deal with it, than try to hide it. Women wear make up to cover blemishes. That whole concept isn't manly, so we try to do the opposite.
We love sex. Yes, we said it. Sex is one of the best things God ever created. It is meant to be between a married man and his wife. No one else. That's not politically correct, but it's true. And we have to remind ourselves of this one fact often, because our mind (and other body parts) considers sex to be good with anyone. We don't - we just want to enjoy it with our wives.
We're going to end it here - we believe a lot of other things, too, but aren't you tired of reading? So our final belief is this: finish strong, but finish. Get started on time (we start 4:00 minutes early, just as a matter of principal, and we finish by 8:30 (we have never finished after 8:15). We can say all we can say in a limited amount of time, so why belabor the point. Mark Twain (or someone like that) said, "You can say anything in an hour. If you work long enough, you can say the same thing in five minutes." OK, he said something like that, but I don't have time to look for the quote, so, goodbye.
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