What is a Man?

God created man, and He is the One who knows best how we should live. As created beings, we do not own ourselves, but we belong to Him who made us, loves us, and died and rose again for us. What is a man? Whatever He says we are.

By Mark D. Harris

I was called upon to speak at our recent men’s prayer breakfast at Memorial Baptist Church in Beckley WV. As I was thinking and praying about what to discuss, God brought to mind a recent incident at the US Capitol. Senator Marsha Blackburn asked Ketanji Jackson, who was hoping to become a Supreme Court Justice, “please define woman.” Ms. Jackson replied, “I can’t, I’m not a biologist.”[1]

My first reaction on hearing that story for the first time was laughter. The progressives, to whom-Justice Jackson now belongs, argue that transgenderism is possible because gender is not biologically determined. Justice Jackson’s answer reveals that she, at heart, believes that gender is biologically determined. In six words, this paragon of the progressives undermined their entire case.

My second reaction was to ask the complementary question, what is a man? The internet has a variety of answers:

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Rejection of Authority in the Human Heart

Why don’t we have good leaders? Why don’t we have a moral society? Why do the good, the true, and the beautiful seem so scarce in our society? Why do we have so few good men and women? What can we do about it?

By Mark D. Harris

The conscience that God has placed in the heart of each man, and the Law that He has revealed to His people, tell us how He commands us to live. We don’t like it, preferring to go our own way. As a result, we often despise anyone who keeps God’s commands. We pretend that universal moral standards do not exist. We scream and cry that no one can make us do what we don’t want to do. We resent and tear down those sent to help us. Finally, in our rejection of godly authority, and often any authority, we destroy ourselves, and cause terrible suffering to others.

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Saving for Retirement

People are living longer while dark economic and political clouds approach from the horizon. What can individuals and families do to help protect their financial future? How can we best care for ourselves and those we love?  

By Mark D. Harris

America and the world are aging. In almost every land, the number of workers is falling relative to the number of retirees. Fewer workers result in less revenue from profits and taxes. Corporate and government pension systems (such as Social Security in the United States) try to maintain payments to retirees, so governments incur more debt and private pension funds become underfunded. As fewer men and women marry, and fewer couples have babies, the workforce continues to shrink, and economies begin to fail. The entire financial system becomes less stable.

Meanwhile, inflation is over 7% and interest rates make your eyes water. Experts predict financial gloom, and no one seems to know how to dodge or divert the coming storm. For many governments, cost cutting is politically impossible, and their main solution is to print (create) more money. Furthermore, politicians shift more costs to retirees themselves. For example, Medicare is charging the aged more and more for health insurance, at just the time that the elderly need it the most.

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Accuse at Your Own Risk

Accusations are necessary for justice, but false accusations are a miscarriage of it. It is increasingly easy to accuse in our modern American culture. The penalties are small, and the payoff often big. But false accusers must beware. In the fullness of time, they will pay for their lies. Meanwhile, those accused must forgive as they have been forgiven.

By Mark D, Harris

“Buy me another servant” the sultry wife told her wealthy, older husband. Within a few days, she noticed an unfamiliar young man carrying a large sack of topsoil in the garden. He tossed the sack to the ground as if it were filled with feathers. Over the weeks, she noticed that his tasks were always done quickly, imaginatively, and well, leaving time to help other servants with their responsibilities. Everyone liked and respected him, despite his youth.  Her husband noticed too, and within months put him in charge of the other servants. Soon, the young man was the administrator of the whole household.

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Posture in Prayer

Posture includes the condition of our spirit and the position of our body. We will not have adequate power in prayer if we do not get our posture right.

By Mark D, Harris

The heart of Christianity is that God, not man (individually or corporately), is the center of existence. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and of all things. God contains within Himself all power, glory, knowledge, truth, goodness (righteousness, morality), and ultimately everything that is real inside and outside the created order. He is both near and far away. The One who made space and time is not bound by space and time. God does not hold Himself, and He is certainly not held by someone else, to a standard outside Himself. God is the standard.

The Illusion of Independence

Humans, vain and mortal creatures, yearn to be masters of our own world. We convince ourselves that we are. Our self-righteous protestations of personal power and independence sound funny to anyone with a modicum of insight:

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