Excerpts from recent
radio broadcasts of The Missler Report with Chuck Missler, host John Loeffler
and guest Leone Podles, author of The Church Impotent, concerning THE
OVER-FEMINIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
"In your new book, The Church Impotent
, you have launched the concept that there is an overbearing quantity of
feminized love in the church. When did that begin to happen?" - John
Loeffler
"I think people have been noticing that there
are more women than men in church and that the typical church go-er is a middle
aged or older woman and the typical non-church go-er is a young male.
While no one ever surveyed this in time and space, I was surprised to discover
that this goes back much further than 20th century America and more widespread
than most would imagine." - Leone Podles
"The most feminized denominations are the
liberal denominations while the largest male attendance is in evangelical and
fundamental churches. Also in the mainline denominations the seminary
enrollment is mostly female. In the years ahead the mainline
denominational pastors will be predominantly women. What's wrong is that
men are not responding to God. Also, the actual teaching in the church has
been affected by this phenomenon. The church doctrines such as judgment,
sin and repentance are more masculine in characteristic and if neglected, easy
universalism (everyone is saved) takes its place." - Leone Podles
"As boys grow up, some are 'mommy's boys' and
do not want to leave the safety of boyhood and the protection of their mothers
and go out into the challenging and competitive male world. These types
are drawn to the nice, safe environment of the church where they will mostly
deal with women. Other young men who become pastors, because they are
dealing mainly with women, tend to adopt the mentality and even the body
language of women." - Leone Podles
"You are the first person to verbalize what I
have suspected and observed for years. I have always said that pastors are
usually the non-aggressive types." - John Loeffler
"One pastor, after reading my book, The
Church Impotent , said he had been ordained in the mainline
Presbyterian denomination. Upon entering seminary, he had to take
personality tests along with an interview with a psychiatrist. The first
question he was asked was, 'Are you a homosexual?' His answer was, 'No&
why do you ask?' The physiatrist said, 'well, your personality profile
matches that of a homosexual, but don't worry, all the pastors in your
denomination have this... meaning a lack of masculinity!'" - Leone Podles
"Your book has answered questions I've had
for a long time. I maintain that the feminization of Christianity has been
one of the biggest problems of the church. That's why the church doesn't
want to confront or deal with the issues. Pastors don't wish to confront
error or allow debates over different subjects. I challenge the Scripturalness
of that.
"With over 30 years of observing pastors
I've noticed two different types: The first type is the pastor who came
out of a successful business world career and has a heart for ministry.
These know and understand what their flock is going through, the challenges they
face and they also understand the concept of organizing for the purpose of
achieving something. The second type is the pastor who goes
right from high school to college to seminary. They have never functioned
in the real world and are somewhat disconnected. Not having experience in
confrontational situations, this type avoids confrontation rather than resolving
the issue. They will go to great lengths to avoid confrontation rather
than do what needs to be done...the resolution of the confrontation with a
constructive end result. These are two different approaches...one works,
the other doesn't." - John Loeffler
"One of the sources of this problem is the
piety of the church. This occurred in the Middle Ages and the church
became very feminized. Men were taught that you had to be 'feminine in
attitude' to be a good Christian. This, of course, is not true.
"Even today among evangelicals there is a
language problem, words like "falling in love with Jesus." In fact,
when people say you should have a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus
they often mean a romantic relationship with Jesus! Most men feel very
uncomfortable with this as it implies a homosexual one for them and many men shy
away from this. Even some of our old hymns have words like "Oh how I love
Jesus." Songs like this implies that men must have a relationship with a
man like a woman wants. But men relate to other men in a comrade or
brother-type relationship.
"The Answer? The church simply needs to
return to the message of the Gospel. The Jesus presented in Scripture was
a masculine Jesus. He was not a wimp, nor was He feminine. The
masculine, assertive Jesus of the Gospels is one who confronted evil and
suffered for it in order to resolve it. He destroyed sin in Himself... He
does not condemn the sinner but He also does not ignore the sin. This
important distinction has been lost in the church." - Leone Podles
