A Brief Survey of what it Meant to be a Man in the Traditional Life, and what it means Now

The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. Mat 4:16  

And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. Luk 16:15  

 The definition of what constitutes a man is a long and tedious one when one is a traditionalist. But it is a very short one when one is a Christian, for then it can be summed up in only one verse: ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new’ (2Co 5:17). 

The Heart of Darkness

Yes, some of our old traditions were really good. But few tended towards depravity, as any reader of literature books can testify (Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Fox’s White Mischief, Blixen’s Out of Africa). In short an eruption of violence (physical, moral and temperamental) ruled the past traditions of men, as even the Bible testifies:

‘This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness’ (Eph 4:17-19).  

‘For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries’ (1Pe 4:3). 

Typically a traditional man went to war to fight his enemies – and his enemies were other tribes… he ambushed them, he speared them to death, and lastly he stole their animals and women as spoils of war. These he took back to his tribe, where he was crowned as a warrior and a true man. He was then celebrated in long rituals lasting months or weeks (see chapter one of the book of Esther), where they indulged in eating, drunkenness, sexual orgies, and where they sacrificed to the fertility gods in dances and trances which sometimes bordered on the black magic (Kongi’s Harvest, Soyinka).

But then Christianity, the Great Social Upheaval of all Time, Arrived on the Scene, and it Continues to Annoy loyal Traditionalists by its Radical teachings

‘The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him’ (Joh 12:19).   

The traditions glorified outward strengths, but they knew little about the inner life… or the silences which speak louder than words. A man was praised for valour – but of the battles that raged inside his own heart he knew nothing about. Emotions awed them, and it would seem that was the preserve of witchdoctors. So whereas a man found nothing but praises from his fellow men ‘at the gate’, but at night and alone in his bed, voices which he could not discern condemned him to death! It is only Christianity with its heritage of education which has brought these things to light.

 It is no strange that those men died early. Anger killed them. And when they died it was on the sour note that they had been bewitched. A lot of the men actually blamed their wives for their death. Witchcraft was the bogey word for explaining all sorts of misfortunes, including emotional traumas. A witch doctor was a god, as the power of life and death was presumably vested in him.

A traditionalist might become a Christian, as some did, but he never quite relinquished his manly pride. And so typically he would be one person at church and a completely different person in his homestead.  ‘Come unto me all ye that labour...’ was church language, but to a stoic traditionalist that was an insult. Why should a man run to a fellow man (Jesus) for help? To love your enemy and to pray for him was insane. And not to revenge against your enemy was the preserve of Christian ‘foolishness’. These were some of the insults the Christian missionaries endured every day of their lives. The devil was unknown in these shores, and neither was the God of Abraham. His exploits among the gods of Egypt had not yet reached here. But thank God for the Bible! He is truly Ebenezer, for this far he has brought us!

The darkness described in the Bible is real. But so is the light… ‘he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound’ (Isa 61:1). 

·      ‘And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.’ 1Pe 1:25b. 

·      ‘Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life’ (Joh 8:12).  

·      ‘And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us’ (Act 17:26-27).   

·      ‘And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent’ (Act 17:30). 

·      And so from the beginning the gospel has found a ready home among the poor… among those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness… and where God has readily filled them all (Psa 107:9).

·      ‘But the anger of the Lord is toward the proud, the haughty and arrogant; (Pro 8:13). ‘Those that walk in pride he is able to abase’. Dan 4:30.

Precious friend, are you tired of all the traditional conventions competing for your attention in the world? ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,’ says Christ, ‘and I will give you rest.’ And ‘If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed’ (Joh 8:36). Let us pray: Lord I have tried to be a man by my own strength in all my life but in vain. Father, give me this rest I pray.