I recently finished No More Christian Nice Guy by Paul Coughlin. This is an excellent book for the modern Christian man. Coughlin’s book has a forward by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Dr. Laura, she’s a radio talkshow psych who pushes tough love and esposes many of the viewpoints that we talk about here. The thing that made me pay attention to her is the fact that she is Jewish, and she gave a great forward for a book written to Christian Men.
In No More Christian Nice Guy, Coughlin uses a systematic approach to the “Nice Guy” problem. In 13 chapters and just over 220 pages, Coughlin first shows the damage that the Church is causing by raising boys to be Christian Nice Guys (CNGs) and a way to reverse this damage. By examining the causes of this phenomenon, Coughlin helps the reader to understand the mistakes in the ways Christian boys are raised. One of the chapters which stood out to me quickly was “We’re Men, Not Eunuchs.” Overall, the message of this book is that Christian Men have been warped and twisted from the image that Jesus shows us in scripture into weak echoes of what God intends. We as men must stand up and reverse this trend.
Reading this book helped me to better understand the hurdles that I face as a man in the Church today. THere are two main types of men in the Church today, the weak CNGs, and the manipulative ones that aren’t so easy to identify. As we teach our boys to avoid conflict and run from confrontation, the manipulators move in to take over. The CNGs overwhelming need to avoid problems and be nice means that they won’t stand up for themselves, thier families, or thier beliefs. You and I both know the feeling, and I’ve been the CNG. It’s the reason I left the Church. I returned because I learned the Jesus was not the bearded woman that I was taught about as a kid, but that Jesus is The Man that I want to follow. Paul Coughlin tackles this very subject. He gives guidance on how to escape the CNG mold and become the powerful and assertive man of God that you were created to be.
Coughlin’s in depth exploration of the subject helps shed light on the subject that many have avoided. I encourage No More Christian Nice Guy to anyone who battles with being a Christian Nice Guy or anyone who wants to help break the mold.
http://www.amazon.com/No-More-Christian-Nice-Guy/dp/B0013L4DP8
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