Before I continue writing about my thoughts on a healthy life style for Christian men, I would like to spend some time explaining the doctrine that is the basis for these thoughts.
Some time ago I was introduced to a fellow Christian in another part of the world. He is very passionate about ministry and outreach and is organizing events to that effect. Through my contact with him I became aware of Voddie Baucham. Now brother Baucham as I will refer to him for the remainder of this post is a pastor and theological scholar specializing in “expository” apologetics.

Now I won’t go into what (Christian) apologetics is. For those who want to delve into that, here is a link to do some further research on the subject. What I do want to go deeper into is the postulation of the Four P’s as they regard to the concept of biblical manhood. The Four P’s being, Provider, Protector, Prophet and the Priest. These four characteristics are derived from the qualities of Christ in His relationship with His church. He is our King, our Priest and our Prophet. The role of King is simplified and split up in the Four P’s into the protector and provider, as those are the primary roles of a king.

Now one might think that the whole Four P thing is a stretch in helping us define our role as men in the Kingdom. Interestingly enough the world of men found the defining of the quintessential characteristics of a manly man of such importance, that it has come up with its own version of the Four P’s. The Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist and founder of analytical psychology Carl Jung, has developed the model of the four male archetypes, namely; the king, the warrior, the magician and the lover.

The pieces I write on maintaining our health as Christian men are based on my belief that we have been given certain responsibilities and we need to work to be able to carry these. The work we need to do consists of protecting the health of our body, our mind and our soul. I believe this protection is created by the physical, mental and spiritual work we do on a regular basis as ordained by God.

The characteristics captured by the concept of the Four P’s is the basis for my writing on the subject of Christian men health. It takes effort, discipline and commitment to be an effective provider, protector, prophet and priest in the complete sense of the words. The effort, discipline and commitment we put in are translated in the level of health we see in our character.

The concept of the Four P’s also illustrates that our health is not only confined to what happens to and in our physical bodies, but it expands to the realm of the mind and soul. I think everyone is familiar with the saying: ‘Sound mind, sound body’. One of the most direct ways to affect our mental health is by actively working on one’s physical health/shape. Likewise, I have experienced that the shape of your mind and its thoughts dictate the state of your soul and therefor your connection/relationship with God.

The Four P’s are the doctrine from which all future posts will be written and the central theme that will govern the topic selection even if the link is not immediately clear. Biblical manhood is an important, but for some reason seldom highlighted subject within the repertoire of sermons. I am not proposing my posts as an alternative for sermons, but more as food for thought for any man happening to read them.