· Lose the Church?s ?I?m in therapy for ever? feel.  Yes, yes, we?re all a work in progress but the co-dependant, extended womb the Church has wrongfully created has allowed congregants to not get a life because of some difficult doo-doo in their lives.  Sure life?s hard, little Sally, and the sooner, we celebrate the struggle the quicker we will draw men back to our houses of worship.

If the Church wants to recover its losses, we?ve got to draw the knuckle draggers back to church.  Masculine men are pretty easy.  Toss in reason, competition, initiation, struggle, fun and a problem to spiritually throttle, and we?ll be there like stink on a monkey.  Blow off, suppress, and spiritually emasculate the environment of these holy testicular necessities and your church, as far as men go, will be more empty than an Oktoberfest in Hialeah.

My ClashPoint is this: if concerned conservative Christians want to improve our nation biblically, then the Church has got to eliminate its effeminate drift and re-establish a masculine base.  Our times demand strong men: the Church must produce them, not repel them.  The Church needs men, who start a ministry, start a business; get involved in politics, the arts and education, and who are not afraid of the secular thugs and pimps who try to keep Christians marginalized in a religious ghetto. 

One last word for the young Christian man: Do you want to grow up quickly? Then leave mommy?s familiar, safe haven and venture out into the danger zone.  As Leon Podles said, ?Go find your Holy Grail; go meet the strange, meet the unfamiliar.?  Protect people; lead people; rescue people.  Fight inequities and absurdities.  Beware, young man, of parents and pastors who want to ?mother? you.  Avoid the secure; Fear over-protection; and happily accept the masculine task of the patriarch, the prophet, the warrior and wild man. 

Get to a place, young warrior, where pain is not a big deal, where you embrace resistance.  And by your example, you will encourage others to resist self-doubt, squeamishness, indecision and the impulse to surrender and withdraw into the warm, wet womb of Wussville.

Doug Giles? latest book, ?Ruling in Babylon?, is available via Amazon.com .  He pastors a church in Miami and hosts two award winning radio programs [www.clashradio.com].