Thanks for joining us for our June Fatherhood Month celebration series, Men Helping Sons Embrace Biblical Manhood. We begin this series with a look at a new phenomenon that is impacting young Christian men. Evangelical Pastor, Seth Troutt, ran into this phenomenon while speaking at a junior high winter camp. He saw eight eighth grade boys sitting in a circle in the woods during free time. He walked up to them and asked, “What are you gents talking about?” For a few moments, they resisted answering. But one caved and answered, “we’re watching an Andrew Tate video.” A few months later a pastor of a large church full of college students said to Troutt “We’re having an Andrew Tate problem, especially among our high school and college boys.”
For those unfamiliar with Andrew Tate, he is a former kickboxing champion-turned-social-media-influencer who has become popular among young men for his views on masculinity. Tate has become a phenomenon among young males including many Christians. He has over ten million followers on X. According to one U.K.-based market research consultant, in 2023, one in three 16 to 25-year-old men said they had a positive view of Andrew Tate. Regarding his influence on American Christian teen boys, Nancy Pearcey, author of The Toxic War on Masculinity, wrote recently on X: A former graduate student of mine now teaches at a high school, and she sent me an email saying, “All my male students are fans of Andrew Tate. They are even including quotes from Andrew Tate in the yearbook.” I asked, “Where do you teach?” She answered, “At a classical Christian school.” I believe that young Christian men are paying attention to Andrew Tate because he is pushing back against the cultural pressure that is emasculating men. This episode examines closely five identifiable components of that pressure, coming not only from the culture but from the church.
Let's begin by digging deeper into the Tate phenomenon. Shane Morris, of the Colson Center, puts his finger on the attraction of young males to Andrew Tate’s message. He writes, “Mainstream culture, under the influence of progressive and feminist ideas, has for years dismissed everything distinctive about men as “toxic.” Male strength, competitiveness, and physicality have been denounced in pop culture and medicated in schools. The idea of fathers leading a home has been mocked ceaselessly on television, and boys have been subtly taught there’s nothing they can do or aspire to that girls can’t do better” (Andrew Tate’s Counterfeit Masculinity, January 29, 2025).
As one Tate interviewer said, “Our culture’s message to young boys today is, ‘Stop being yourself. Sit still. Stop joking. Suppress your aggression. Share your feelings. Obey. Female qualities are virtuous, masculine qualities are oppressive.’” Many in the rising generation of males are tired of being emasculated. With no positive vision of manhood that matches their masculine shape, many boys and men turn to online gurus who assure them, contrary to the message they get everywhere else, that their masculinity is good. The attraction of Christian teens to the broken masculinity of Andrew Tate should be a wake-up alarm to the church. If we do not present our boys with a biblical call to masculinity, they will be attracted to broken ones. I want to say that again. If the church does not challenge our boys with a call to biblical manhood, they will be attracted to broken ones.
FIVE OBSTACLES TO BOYS EMBRACING BIBLICAL MANHOOD
A. The Reality of Toxic Masculinity. In 2017 the public was shocked and repulsed to learn that many high-profile men were acting as if they were sexually entitled to a degree that no one realized. The hedge fund billionaire, Jeffry Epstein, got away with trafficking young women for many years with the collusion of high level celebrities and politicians. USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar sexually abused hundreds of young girls. Following the exposure of numerous sexual-abuse allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, the #MeToo movement began and spread virally as a hashtag on social media. This exposure has been a welcome force for righteousness.
But the #MeToo movement was just a visible, culture-wide recognition of the awful abuse of women that has taken place in every culture of the world. Every Calvinist must agree that men have had the positions of power in every culture and because of their depravity, have abused women. Not only has the church been slow to address this evil in the culture, but it has also been slow to address this evil in the church, especially churches with all male leadership. In the past, extreme views of male headship have caused Bible-believing pastors to counsel wives to remain submissive to their husbands despite being abused, the church leadership being way too slow to demand repentance of abusers or else be excommunicated. Too often Christian wives have been counseled to “forgive” their husband’s unfaithfulness and take him back sexually, when she should never do that without strong evidence of his repentance. Forgiving does not mean trusting an untrustworthy man enough to give yourself to him. The harm that toxic male behavior and bad male leadership have caused to girls and women even inside the church is immeasurable. No wonder so many women object to Biblical teaching about masculine authority. No wonder so many women are driven into the feminist fold. Consider the story of Nancy Pearcey, author of The Toxic War on Masculinity. She writes,
I had two fathers, a Public one and a Private one. I loved and admired my public father. He was a respected university professor with a strong work ethic. He was willing to pay steep tuition costs for all six of his children to attend a Lutheran elementary school. On Sundays, he made sure we were all neatly lined up in church at the front of the sanctuary. Dad was ambitious, intelligent, and charming.
My Private father was a completely different man. At home he frequently went into rages that terrorized the entire family: shouting, punching and kicking. He would call us pigs and stupid idiots. He was open about his violence, saying, “Do this or I’ll beat you.” Then he carried through on his threats….He was careful to hit us where the bruises would be covered by our clothing, so that no one at school or church ever suspected. Watching my siblings get beaten was as traumatic as experiencing it myself…About halfway through high school, I abandoned my childhood religious upbringing. Not surprisingly, given my experience with my father, I was drawn irresistibly to the feminist movement, devouring all the classic books, from Betty Friedland’s, The Feminine Mystique to Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, to Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics, and many more.
I have yet to meet a feminist who has not been deeply wounded by a man. Men use their power to harm women. That fact has created a cultural and personal reaction to any traditional or biblical views that assign men authority or power.
B. The Influence of Critical Theory in Today’s Culture. Critical theory, also known as cultural Marxism, is rooted in Karl Marx’s worldview that the definitive lens for viewing culture is conflict between two classes, the oppressed, proletariat workers and the oppressor, rich, bourgeoise land and factory owners. Class struggle against the oppressing privileged class in this worldview justifies the murder of business owners and seizure of their property. Under Moa Zedong, Marxism enflamed violent hatred in Chinese peasants towards the wealthy, justifying the brutal annihilation of factory and land owners. History reveals that eventually 65 million Chinese lost their lives through Mao’s evil Marxist policies.
Cultural Marxism (critical theory) began with Italian Marxist Antonia Gramsci, who extended this oppressor/oppressed lens into every aspect of culture. Thus, not only are laborers oppressed by business owners, but the poor are oppressed by the rich, blacks are oppressed by whites, women are oppressed by men, homosexuals and transgendered oppressed by cisgendered people. Poor nations are oppressed by wealthy nations, immigrants wanting to cross our borders are oppressed by Americans citizens who want closed borders. Palestinian Muslims are oppressed by Israel giving Palestinians the right to be antisemitic and call for the annihilation of Jews “from the river to the sea.” Gramsci called the force that enables these oppressors to oppress “unjust, cultural hegemony,” which means the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group.
This ideology was embraced by the Frankfurt school, which in 1935 crossed the Atlantic and settled in at Columbia University, in NYC. These critical theory proponents expanded Marx’s oppressor/oppressed economic lens to every sphere of social injustice. All inequities are caused by the cultural power of the OPPRESSORS, which these OPPRESSORS cling to through their religious, political, social, and cultural structures. These structures, such as Christianity, the US Constitution, the free market, accurate history, and the structure of the family bestow unjust privilege and so, must be torn down to accomplish social justice. Any legitimacy given to the structures that give power to the oppressors to oppress, must be destroyed. Patriarchy is at the top of the list.
We’ve seen that individual fallen men have exhibited toxic masculinity. But part of the insidiousness of critical theory is that guilt is assigned not for individual acts of oppression but for simply belonging to critical theory’s determined “oppressor class.” By definition, males are the oppressor class of females. Nancy Pearcey recounts that a student of hers received a message from a female classmate that said, “You are a white, privileged male. You have nothing to say, so just shut up and listen.” Masculinity, according to critical theory, is, by definition, oppressive. And patriarchy, which gives males privilege must be torn down. The culture in which the rising generation of men swims daily tells them that their manhood is repulsive, automatically making them evil oppressors.
C. The Culture’s Widescale Embrace of Egalitarianism. For over fifty years, Second Wave Feminism has been teaching through social media platforms and woman’s studies curricula in colleges and universities that the Bible teaches an unjust patriarchy. It is argued that since Eve is created to assist Adam and since leadership in the home and church is assigned to men, the Bible reflects the oppressive patriarchy of unenlightened biblical writers. Here is a sample of accusations cited by Pearcey against the biblical teaching of complementary roles:
- “At its core, complementarian theology is one of inequality and hierarchy. And inequality breeds abuse” (The Huffington Post).
- “The theology of male headship, ‘feeds the rape culture that we see permeating Christianity today’” (cofounder of #ChurchToo).
- “Because complementarian theology promotes a power differential between men and women, it fosters the sort of abuse of power that devolves into sexual abuse” (The Huffington Post).
- “The inherent logic of patriarchy says that if men have the right to power and control over women and children, they also have the right to enforce that control. It is this control-over component of patriarchy which makes it vulnerable to violence and abuse” (Sexual Abuse in Christian Homes Churches).
The problem with these accusations is that they ignore the data from the social sciences. Objective data shows that it is the biblical view of godly manhood that causes flourishing. Pearcey cites irrefutable evidence. “Compared to secular men, devout Christian family men who attend church regularly are more loving husbands and more engaged fathers. They have the lowest rates of divorce. And astonishingly, they have the lowest rates of domestic violence of any major group in America" (Ibid).
D. The Assault on God’s Gender Design from Inside the Church. Here are a few examples:
- “It is no secret that abuse is prevalent in conservative churches that embrace headship theory” (Adventist Today).
- “Complementarian theology ‘is a breeding ground for abusive marriages.’ The problem is not just an occasional ‘rotten apple’ but a ‘rotten theological tree,’ giving rise to sexism and misogyny” (Religion Dispatches).
- “I believe that male headship theology makes abuse more possible and more likely. I believe that power differences between equals are emotionally, physically, sexually, and spiritually destructive” (Christians for Biblical Equality).
The most recent egalitarian attempt to undermine God’s design of masculinity and femininity is Beth Barr’s book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood. Here is a summary of her argument from Kevin DeYoung, writing for the Gospel Coalition. “The idea of ‘biblical womanhood’ is nothing other than Christian patriarchy, and the only reason it continues to flourish is because women and men blindly continue to support it (p. 216). For too long, Barr argues, the system of Christian patriarchy has place[d] power in the hands of men and take[n] power out of the hands of women" (The Making of Bibilical Womanhood: A Review Volume 46--Issue 2 Gospel Coalition).
Barr never even tries to refute clear biblical teaching that can't be ignored, texts like Ephesians 5: 22-24: Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Barr simply pushes these clear complementarian texts aside and attempts to discredit those who faithfully hold to them like John Piper. For example, she argues that Paul’s use of feminine images like a pregnant mother, a mother giving birth, and even a nursing mother “easily refute” Piper’s position. But as DeYoung points out, she never answers a single one of Piper’s arguments that:
"God has revealed himself to us in the Bible pervasively as King, not Queen, and as Father, not Mother. He argues that the Son of God came into the world as a man, that the priests in Israel were men, that the apostles were all men, that men are given the responsibility to lead, protect, and provide. Piper acknowledges that emphasizing a “masculine ministry” can be seriously misunderstood and misapplied. He also underscores several times that a “masculine ministry” is for the flourishing of women and that women contribute in fruitful partnership to the work of ministry. Again, Barr has every right to disagree with Piper’s vision for ministry, but that disagreement should deal with his specific arguments…Time and again, Barr quickly pushes aside any evidence that might challenge her thesis" (Ibid).
The egalitarian denial of gender roles in the home and church is serious.
- The author of egalitarianism is Satan, himself, whose rebellion was rooted in his refusal to submit to God’s order of creation desiring to be equal to God.
- When God cursed Adam for his rebellion, God began not with because you ate the fruit, but with the words, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree.” God begins with his displeasure at their reversal of the created order. Adam was to be Eve’s head. Eve was to rule over the reptile kingdom, exercising dominion with Adam over the earth. But in eating the forbidden fruit, Adam followed Eve and Eve followed the serpent. In Genesis 2:15, Adam was assigned responsibility to protect the garden and its inhabitants. But when the garden and Eve were attacked by Satan, he remained passive. Our rising generation of sons does not need the help of egalitarians to be passive. It is part of the fallen nature we inherited from Adam.
- Egalitarians set up a straw man of biblcal patriarchy. They substitute the concept of Roman patriarchy, which was literally, father rule (PATER ARCHOS) for what the NT teaches. Roman fathers had the power of life and death. If a Roman father did not like the look of his newborn child and turned his thumb down, the child would immediately be taken out and drowned. Such absolute power was NOTHING like the fatherhood descrubed in the OT and NT, which followed the rule of law. OT fathers were accountable to obey the Law of Moses. NT fathers were accountable to NT church elders to treat their wives and children with Christ-like love.
- Egalitarian efforts to set up a variety of straw men they can shoot down is made easy by our "sound bite" culture. How can we blame a teen girl who rejects what the Bible says about gender roles when she says, “The Bible says that Eve was made to be Adam’s helper, and I don’t accept the idea that my calling in life is to wash floors and clean toilets for men.” Full biblical gender-role teaching is extensive, glorious, and calls men to sacrificial love. But phrases and statements taken out of context are easily used to generate doubts about biblical gender teaching. The Hebrew word for helper is in fact EZER, which is used numerous times in the Psalms for God himself being mankind’s helper. There is NOTHING demeaning about the word—but that is not the way it comes across, especially when manipulated by egalitarians.
- Egalitarianism destroys the masculine motivation to lead.
E. The Silence of Complementarian Pastors. I understand that proclaiming the Word of God needs to be done pastorally and sensitively. In egalitarian Western culture, to speak about wives submitting to husbands will be offensive to many. And it can be reasonably argued that a sermon on countercultural topics like abortion, or God’s gender design risks causing the lost members of the audience to think they must adopt a pro-life political position or embrace complementarianism to come to faith in Christ. But this episode is a reminder to pastors, ruling elders, and fathers, that there is another group sitting in the pews on Sunday mornings, besides a few unbelievers. That group is young men, who are being crushed by the attack on their very identify as males. They need US to point them towards the glorious, biblical vision of godly manhood. They don't need us to be apologetic about God's gender design of male and female differently to complete one another; they need us to celebrate that design because God has chosen it to image himself. Is your church leadership committed to doing that?
This month you’ll be hearing about a new tool available on our website called, Men Helping Sons Embrace Biblical Manhood. It is an interactive, 5-week study designed for fathers, youth leaders, or men’s ministries to go through with their high school sons. From the perspective of creation, fall, redemption, restoration, it examines what Scripture says about masculinity, femininity, sex, and marriage in a format that is rich with questions to generate interact with high school guys.
The Andrew Tate phenomenon is real. It shows us our teen boys' desperate need to understand God’s design of themselves as they are about to become men. Whether or not your church preaches complementarianism from the pulpit or finds a way to use this new resource—please don’t be silent about God’s gender design. I think you will agree with Martin Luther’s observation that shrinking back from proclaiming all of Scripture, because part of it is counter-cultural, at some point becomes unfaithfulness to Jesus. Luther said, If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not CONFESSING Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Our boys need their church leadership to proclaim the whole counsel of God.
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- What are your thoughts about the growing popularity of Andrew Tate even among Christian men?
- Which parts of the secular culture’s attack on masculinity stood out most to you?
- Which parts of the church’s egalitarian attack on biblical teaching or Bible- believing church leaders reticence to celebrate the glory of God’s gender design bother you the most?
