There was definitely no distress signal from the men who woke up early on May Day to attend the second Men’s Conference of 2009. City Harvest Church’s (CHC) premises at 1, Jurong West St 91 was chock full of men all pumped up to receive the Word of God; from the B4 main auditorium all the way to the overflow rooms above.
Having woken up the mighty men within from the men’s meeting, this time round, it was about the men getting to know themselves better. The conference kicked off to a roaring start with a hotdog eating competition followed by a sumo wrestling competition, pitting contestants representing the different zones within CHC against one another.
Once everyone was warmed up, Dr Allan Meyer, guest speaker for the conference, wasted no time in getting to the meat of the matter: sexuality. Sharing from his book “From Good Man to Valiant Man”, Dr Meyer deftly combined truth from the Word of God with scientific research to give an all rounded, God-centered understanding on Men and their sexuality.
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| PHOTOS: Alvin Loh And Jason Lee |
Dr Meyer highlighted the need for men all over the world to be taught and discipled in the area of handling their sexuality, essentially learning to “control his body”, as the Bible commands in 1st Thessolonians. To begin tackling the problem, he expounded on why male sexuality is so problematic to begin with, citing figures on the percentage of sexual crimes committed by men. He identified several factors, including biological reasons, on how the male brain is wired, how testosterone works in a man as well as the negative influence that a highly sexualized and eroticized environment can bring. Distortions from the correct view of sexuality and how it is to be handled bring about consequences, impacting a man’s sense of dignity, his spirituality, endangering women and children in the process.
In conclusion, he gave the men three succinct points to take home from the session. Firstly, that it was normal for men to find managing their sexuality a challenge. Secondly, that there is a need to deeply examine the media’s portrayal of sexuality and acknowledge the distortions that exist. Finally, Dr Meyer declared that it was possible for men to re-discover sanctified sexuality. More than ever before in today’s 21st century society, there needs to be a new vision for manhood where men need to adopt the ‘ewe-lamb principle’, drawing from Nathan’s rebuke of David over his adultery. David had treated Bathsheba as an object of lust, commoditized to be acquired through vulgar means when men should treat women as “ewe-lambs”, to be honored and protected.
At the end of the day, the men came out of the Men’s Conference better prepared to serve God and ready to take control of their sexuality in a God honoring manner.
