Tender Warrior but A Real Man

I had not heard of this book until I read Eric Blehm's Fearless which details the life of Adam Brown -- a Navy Seal who gave his life to Christ and, ultimately, gave up his life for the cause of freedom.  In that book, Adam mentions the book Tender Warrior; so when given the chance to read and review Stu Weber's classic work, I jumped on it.  If that Adam Brown, who was a rugged and inspirational soldier, could speak so highly of it, then I just had to explore its thoughts as well.

Normally, when I blog for books, I read through books quickly, underline them, and then blog about them.  For this book, however, I took a different approach.  I slowed down, read it thoroughly one chapter a day, answered all of the study questions, pondered its thoughts, studied other parts of Scripture, and gleaned as much as possible from this first read.

Weber challenges the cultural norms of manhood and says that real men follow the pattern revealed in Scripture.  When men are no longer godly men, the entire culture suffers.  In Scripture, the man is to lead the home but that does not elevate  him above a woman.  Weber says it well:  "function does not equate value."  Men are to head themselves first before they can ever expect to lead in the home.  Therein, though, lies the problem with our culture -- men have stopped leading themselves.  When a man acts like an adolescent, then why would a woman want to follow his leadership?  They would not.

Again, the Biblical version of manhood is not a tyrant but one that exudes a Christlike existence.  Lest we gloss over that fact, let's dig just a little and truly challenge your ideal of a man.  Jesus did the following:  lived a perfect life, loved others without a returned love, stood for the truth by rebuking error, acted sympathetically to those in need, poured His life into a small group, and surrendered His life to gain His bride (the church which consists of you and I).  As a man, do you live that way?  No, I don't either.  The power of this book is the Weber hammers away at you through the example of Christ and others in the Bible.

Simply, this book should be required reading for any man going through counseling in preparation for marriage.  It provides cogent insight for being a husband and a father.  Yet, the application does much deeper.  My son, when he becomes a teenager, will be given a copy of this book; and we will do a father/son book study to prepare him for the role that he will need to fulfill in God's world.

Men, get it and read it.  What a tremendous Father's Day present this would be to yourself!

 

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.  For additional details, please visit http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks.  I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 25:  “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.