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Biblical Manhood and the Legacy of Athanasius · The Hall Hotline

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  Hey, welcome back to the podcast the hall hotline.
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  My name is Paul. I'm gonna be your host again
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  here for day three. I am a Just happy to be here
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  honored to be here. I'm a devout Christian serving
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  a Christ. I'm a husband a father Again just happy
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  to be here and you know welcome back to today's
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  podcast where We're going to talk about what
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  it means to be a man after God's own heart in
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  a world that is constantly trying to dismantle
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  the truth. When you look at Scripture, God doesn't
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  call men to be passive observers in their homes
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  or in their communities. He calls us to be guardians.
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  Look at 1 Corinthians verse 16 or chapter 16
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  verse 13. Be on your guard, stand firm in the
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  faith, be courageous, be strong, or let's look
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  at Joshua 24 -15. As for me and my house, we'll
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  serve the Lord. And from the beginning in the
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  Garden of Eden, man was tasked with guarding
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  and cultivating what God entrusted to him. But
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  what happens when men step back? There's a real
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  danger in male passivity. The greatest threat
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  to our family's spiritual health often isn't
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  an attack from the outside. It's passivity from
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  the inside, guys. So when Adam stood in the garden,
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  you know, while the serpent misled Eve, his sin
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  wasn't just action. It was silence. You know,
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  it was his passivity. And when men, you know,
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  to abdicate their responsibility as a spiritual
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  watchman, it creates a significant void. And
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  that void will always be filled by something.
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  It'll be filled by modern culture, secular ideologies,
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  false theologies. Passivity, especially in today's
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  day and age, it feels safe. you know, hey, I
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  don't want to get involved or I don't want to
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  be seen as cruel or mean or, you know, but it's
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  actually dangerous. You know, it lets the enemy
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  walk right in through the front door of our hearts
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  and our homes and it creates a foothold there.
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  And today we're going to look at, you know, a
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  man in church history who refused to be passive,
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  a man who stood virtually alone against the entire
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  world to guard the truth. And his name was Athanasius
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  of Alexandria. And to understand Athanasius,
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  we have to go back to the 4th century. The Christian
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  church, it just survived centuries of Roman persecution.
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  But now there was a far more dangerous threat
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  emerging from within the church itself. We looked
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  at Polycarp and the way he was persecuted by
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  the... the emperor by the early church, how they
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  were persecuted by Rome and the emperors. But
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  now we're gonna look at something that's gonna
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  come from within that may not seem as aggressive
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  or dangerous at first, but when you look at it
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  more closely, it's actually a greater threat.
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  And if we look back in time, we see the rise
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  of Aryan heresy. So around 319 AD, a popular...
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  church leader in Alexandria. He named Arius.
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  He started preaching a new, a very persuasive
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  idea. Arius taught that Jesus Christ was not
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  truly God, that he was merely a created being.
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  And he argued there was a time when the Son was
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  not, where Jesus wasn't there. This became known
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  as Arianism. And it sounded intellectual. It
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  made Jesus easier to explain to the locals, to
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  people who were not Christians at the time, and
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  it quickly spread like wildflower, you know,
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  or wildfire, excuse me. Powerful bishops, you
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  know, they backed it. Church authorities, not
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  all, but there were few that backed it and it
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  had enough traction to really start spreading.
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  And Roman emperors, they enjoyed it too because
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  it promised political unity back in the day.
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  So before long, we had a large part of the empire
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  leaning towards this false teaching. And the
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  early church fathers, some of them wrote against
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  this, they wrote, the whole world groaned and
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  it was amazed to find itself Aryan. And it would
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  have been easy for Christian men to just go along
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  with the crowd to compromise for the sake of
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  peace. or to stay silent out of fear. But, you
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  know, one young man refused to stay silent. And,
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  you know, and enter Athanasius, okay? He was
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  born around 296 AD in Alexandria. He was a well
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  -educated Greek. He was very well -educated in
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  Scripture. And, you know, at 27 years old, he
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  attended the famous Council of Nicea and 325
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  AD. You know, there the church affirmed that,
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  you know, that Jesus is the same divine substance
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  as the Father. So Jesus and the Father are one.
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  And then when Athanasius became patriarch of
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  Alexander three years later, he decided his entire
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  life or he dedicated his entire life to defending
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  the true deity of Jesus Christ. And, you know,
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  because he refused to compromise with false theology,
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  he paid a massive price. Okay, over his 45 -year
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  ministry, he was forced into exile five different
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  times by four different Roman emperors. He spent
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  more than 17 years in banishment hiding out with
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  desert monks, hiding in his family's tomb, and
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  he was constantly fleeing for his life. His enemies
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  framed him for murder, for treason, and financial
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  corruption, but he still never gave up, okay?
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  He earned the famous Latin title, Anathesias
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  contra mundum, Anathesias against the world.
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  So when everyone else compromised, this guy stood
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  like an iron pillar for the truth of God. And
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  men, Anathesias wasn't just fighting an abstract
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  theological battle. He understood that if you
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  compromise on who Jesus is, you destroy the gospel
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  itself. So what does Anathasius' conviction mean
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  for us today as fathers, as husbands, leaders?
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  It means we stop being passive. We start guarding
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  the gates of our homes. You know, the enemy doesn't
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  always come with a sword. He often comes like
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  with subtle lies disguised as progress, entertainment,
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  tolerance. Hey, where have we heard that before
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  in our culture that we need to be tolerant? of
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  things that 20 years ago would have been labeled
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  insane. Here are the three primary gates that
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  we must guard against. What content is flooding
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  in near into your living room? What streams through
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  your child's screens? Media is never neutral,
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  guys. It's always preaching a worldview. A spiritual
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  guardian doesn't passively hand his kids a smartphone
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  and hope for the best. He filters, he sets boundaries,
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  engages in constant conversation about what's
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  good, what's true, and ultimately what's beautiful.
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  I'm not saying that I have it perfect. My son
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  has a cell phone. He's 15. He does not sleep
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  with the cell phone in his room. My wife has
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  been very good to put blocks on the phone. We
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  see all his text messages. We see what he's looking
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  at. Again, kids are very smart. Our son's a pretty
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  good kid, but still he can find ways around it.
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  So there's constantly, you gotta be constantly
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  checking on that. The stuff that is available
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  on the internet, the stuff that's available from
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  other kids when they go to their house, their
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  phone may be blocked, but you need to check out
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  too, you know, what kids he's around because
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  their phones may not have blocks on them. And
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  the phone is really, the internet's a portal
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  to everything. And there's a lot of bad things
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  on the internet, okay? A lot of people that uh
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  want to influence your kids and they may come
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  as good but they're really uh they're really
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  the message that the learning is not good or
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  not in in check with your values okay so and
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  then we got to look at the educational and cultural
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  gate you know what values are your children being
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  taught about their identity about truth about
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  morality are they being disciplined by a culture
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  you know for 40 hours a week while getting only
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  one hour of church on sunday you know And I said
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  this in the last episode or maybe the first one
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  is, men, we are spiritually accountable for the
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  foundation of our families. We've got to be actively
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  involved in what they learn and how they think.
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  What they're around, there's a lot of good people.
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  I know public schools get a bad rep. There are
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  a lot of good teachers in there who want to do
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  the right thing, who want to do good. But it's
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  not all of them, just like in every profession.
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  And also... Their minds are very young. They're
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  very impressionable. So we have to be careful
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  about what they're taking in, okay? But we also
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  have to give them enough strength. We have to
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  give them enough courage. We have to give them
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  enough insight into being able to go out in the
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  world and defend themselves as well, okay? So,
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  you know, let's equip our children. And then
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  the final gate is that theological gate, okay?
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  False theology, it's not just a fourth century
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  problem. Today, ideas like moralistic, I guess
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  they call it moralistic therapeutic deism. God
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  just wants me to be happy. There's a huge billboard
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  on I -4 here. It says God's not angry. Universalism
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  or prosperity gospel. We've got a lot of that
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  on TV with... People that promise that if you
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  become a Christian, your income will increase,
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  your happiness will increase. Well, I mean, scripture
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  is very clear that you will lose friends for
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  chasing Christ. You will lose opportunities.
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  The Christian road is a difficult road. I think
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  I said something yesterday or the last episode
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  about it's Easy to practice Christianity in the
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  United States. It's not in other parts of the
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  world. You can you can literally get Get killed
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  for for preaching or being a follower of Christ
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  But there are there are certain things that that
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  make your life difficult here if you're gonna
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  become a follower of Christ more difficult. Okay,
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  so You know Anathasius he knew scripture inside
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  and out. Okay relying on it. He used at the spot
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  era, you know, he knew that when that false portrayal
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  of who Christ was that Christ was a created being
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  I don't even like saying that out loud out of
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  my mouth Okay, he knew God's word well enough
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  to protect himself and we need to get that way
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  to protect our families from Virtual spiritual
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  poison. Okay, you know as as we wrap up today.
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  I want you to leave you with two They're difficult
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  but necessary reflection questions. I encourage
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  you to turn off your device after this episode
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  and really think through these. What number one,
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  what influences or cultural ideas are currently
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  sneaking past the gates of your mind or your
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  home? Where have you become passive or allowed
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  convenience to replace vigilance? It's difficult.
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  It's difficult to be a husband. It's difficult
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  to be a father. You know, I'm 55 guys and I talk
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  from experience. So if there was mistakes, I've
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  made them. You know, but we have to be vigilant
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  about that and we can't be passive when it comes
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  to our children. It's the most important thing
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  next to Christ that we can do. Okay. It's be
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  good parents and be good stewards of our relationship
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  with our children and our spouses. Okay. And
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  then the second is I'd like you to think about
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  how can you actively shepherd your family's spiritual
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  walk starting today. Is it leading your family
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  in prayer? Is it establishing daily Bible reading?
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  Or just having an open conversation about culture.
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  Men, standing for truth when the world goes the
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  other way, it isn't easy. Anathasius spent 17
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  years in exile because he refused to bow to culture
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  or compromise the faith. But his legacy saved
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  the truth for generations to come. you know,
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  stand up in the tower, be on your guard, stand
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  firm in the faith. You know, guys, and just to
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  go back to, just to make a point real quick,
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  you know, when Eve ate the forbidden fruit, bringing
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  sin into the world, bringing original sin into
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  the world is something that we all have to cope
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  with today. I've got a question for the men out
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  there and for the ladies watching, what was Adam
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  doing? Adam was right there. He didn't stop her.
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  He didn't say, hey, I don't think this was a
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  good idea. He let Eve be tempted and he failed
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  his wife. He failed the helper that God gave
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  him and ultimately they failed the entire mankind
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  by bringing sin into the world, okay? So maybe
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  not everything's as dire as the Adam and Eve,
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  what Adam did not do for his wife Eve, but Listen
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  guys, small increments, small blocks, small little
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  compromises lead to big things. That's all I
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  have for today. If this episode challenged you,
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  share it with another brother who needs to hear
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  it. Until next time, stay vigilant, stay grounded,
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  stay firm. Why? Because it's the hallway. All
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  right, thanks guys. See you all later.