So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27
Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man
when they were created. - Genesis 5:2
Every time I see the media and others celebrating biological men winning in women's sporting events, I call it out as "the suppression of women and womanhood". There has been much in the news about this ridiculous but successful attempts to undermine women. The language of the media, the victim mentality of people confused about their own gender, the continued curses of politicians and celebrities definitely help with this suppression.
While there are some voices of both men and women decrying this discrimination and injustice, it does not seem loud enough. The voices and the forceful push to accept men who think that they are women and dress like them despite having the physique and genitals of a man is absolutely disgusting, shameful and wicked. And may I add, vice-versa.
Growing up, I never doubted that I am a female even though I had my 'tom-boy' moments. BOTH my lowly-educated dad and mum did right by ensuring that my sisters and I embraced our femaleness. They also did right when we engaged in sports in our schools, in the military and simply for fun. It did not make us more male. It made us more accepting of the fact that there was a difference in speed, strength and expectations between a man and a woman especially when we needed to use speed and strength in sports or in carrying out an activity.
For example, our platoon of women soldiers took more time in transporting heavy equipment by human strength than the same number of strong men. And yet, God has gifted the woman to bear the pain of child-birth with huge strength. He is fair, isn't He?
I am wondering why the larger body of Christ seems to be quiet about current issues related to gender confusion/dysphoria - could these be the reasons why there is no loud outcry and leadership?:
It is not happening in my country and I doubt men thinking they are women will be allowed to participate in sporting, beauty and other events meant for women.
This is too sensitive - I do not want to get involved or have anything to do with this suppression of woman or womanhood. In fact, I do not even recognise it as suppression. Let them fight their own battles.
I think the men thinking that they are women should be given the freedom to do whatever they want and think as they wish. And I am okay with women thinking the same.
It is a step forward that men thinking that they are women can participate and beat the women at their own events!
I am just here to follow Christ and fulfil the Great Commission.
I will pray about this and God will take care of this matter.
Women are not worthy - oh no, not even of leadership in the church - let us not waste time fighting for their freedom outside of the church.
I do not need the supporters of this ideology to hurt me, my family or my church. They are so violent.
I do not know how to handle this matter, so I have nothing to say.
I care about this terrible suppression of women but I am not anyone important and so I will just mind my own business.
Listen my readers, ANY man who thinks that he is a woman and still keeps his God-given genitals is still a man. Let us not fool ourselves over this issue. This kind of person poses a threat to the woman and one clear example is found in the testimony of Riley Gaines, a multiple-medalled American swimmer. Gaines and her female team-mates were witnesses to a man who was allowed into their changing room just because he identified as a woman. In fact, he competed in the swimming events meant for women and broke swimming records. There is no leadership in this whole process - who must hate women so much as to allow a man to steal the dignity of women? Gaines also testifies that this man's genitals were exposed to them. This is mental trauma, sexual abuse and clearly criminal. This man should be arrested and charged accordingly. Instead this foolishness is exalted by fools in the business world, by those in media and hardly spoken aloud by those so-called women rights movements or even addressed by pastors in the churches. In addition, the man who thinks and dresses like a woman swam against Gaines and became the "fastest female" in the said event's history. Shame!
When both men and women are not able to define 'woman', then it opens the doors to abuse, as seen in the incident above. Apparently, 'educated experts', both male and female, are not able to define or understand who 'a woman' is; the shame of their 'wokeness' is growing every day like a cancer cell. Here's a documentary-movie by Matt Walsh that every man and woman should see: What is a Woman?
Will the Bride of Christ stand up or will she shrug her shoulders at this 21st Century suppression of women which incidentally, has been happening for a long time in different ways? Does she even know how to manage or have the authority to address this matter when she is, generally, unaware of how women are also suppressed and limited in their calling, gifting and mandate to fulfil the Great Commission?
A Singaporean friend and brother and a theologian-in-training who read this blog before it was published stated, "I personally think one of the fundamental reasons is that the church has lost her missionary character, is indifferent to God’s redemptive purpose and has failed to engage Scripture as a missionary document. This non-missional character of the church gives rise to the many excuses for not confronting this suppression. I further reflected this issue from the perspectives of Christ announcing, embodying and demonstrating the Kingdom of God during his earthly ministry. Jesus' boundary-breaking ministry on earth included many women and his approach toward women challenged the values and status quo of the first-century world. Jesus’ first and highest concern and priority is the reign of God and he is inviting everyone who heard him to join in God's mission. Jesus' practices open the door to new roles and new freedom for women in service of the gospel movement. Jesus is making all things new and submission isn't thrown out but reimagined". (Gushee, David P, and Glen Harold Stassen. 2016. Kingdom Ethics : Following Jesus in Contemporary Context) *Note that Gushee has since become more liberal and supports the sexually perverted community which unfortunately continues the suppression of women and psychological emasculation of men.
I have also been thinking about how the suppression of women is directly related to the pyschological emasculation of men? They are like two bad bedfellows. Weak men suppress women by their actions, attitudes and policies. Weak women emasculate men by their actions, attitudes and policies too. The suppression of women and the psychological emasculation of men begins at the very moment of unsavoury implementations. The execution (pardon the pun) begins when men think that they are women and are allowed to continue in this direction, whether it is by other women or men; the psychological (and sometimes the physical) emasculation of men begins. This affects the 'real men' who do not take a stance for what is true and right before God. They become accomplices to the false femininity portrayed by other men or cheered on by other 'progressive' women. By 'real men', I am not referring to machismo; in fact, that is one of the worst disposition for a man to be in and it is totally unattractive to a 'real woman'. Real men know how to respect the 'other image of God so fearfully and wonderfully made; they know how to treat this 'other image of God' equally, with care and they will not suppress women but allow them to soar, to grow into all that God desires them to be, with a great understanding that God's plans are far higher than their own.
Conversely, the suppression of women begins when women think that they are men and dress or behave like them. In dressing, I am not advocating that all women should only be wearing long dresses and not wear the pants (pardon the pun). I am actually referring to the lengths that women go to bandage their breasts and adopt a false masculinity in dress-sense and behaviour. This suppression begins when women also allow themselves to be treated like door-mats, slaves in a relationship and accept the disrespect given to them by both men and women. The moment the woman mistreats or abuses a man or a fellow-female, she is already yielding to suppression. The man is psychologically emasculated, particularly if this occurs repeatedly. Still, even done once is wrong before God's eyes.
Real women who do not speak up and stand against this self-suppression of womanhood are also accomplices in the mega ideology that continues to shout, "Women are inferior; they are not equal to men; women are born to serve men but not the other way around". This sense of inferiority, inequality manifests in the disrespectful behaviour and abuse of other people. I am not saying that real women wave flags, banners and create a ruckus. Instead, there are ways to speak up and stand against this evil; find the way that would please God's original intention for women. Real women, like real men, also know how to respect the 'other image of God' so fearfully and wonderfully made; they know how to treat this 'other image of God' equally, with care and they will not emotionally castrate the man but allow them to soar, to grow into all that God desires them to be, with a great understanding that God's plans are far higher than their own.
The redemptive plan of God is so powerful that I, a convert from Hinduism, tend to think Christ came to save me from the Asian culture that lowers the status of women. Isn't this also a part of the salvation plan? I write about "Understanding Asian Society and Women" in the second chapter of my book, Unshamed Servant-Leadership (Langham, 2017). Since then, I have discovered that most cultures of the world tend to operate like Asia. So, even if first-world nations allow for women to rise up in equality, the suppression begins when these very break-the-glass-ceiling-type-of women or insecure women accept and allow for the moral decline in society as well as the increasing gender confusion among men, women, and now, even among children in this century.
It takes two hands to clap. The hand of the human and the hand of the world system (instigated by the Deceiver) to achieve this agenda of moral degradation. It takes two hands to clap. The hand of the redeemed human and the hand of a Loving God to achieve the agenda of moral development. The former is bad, the latter is good. What would be your choice and how would you exemplify and amplify your choice?
Every action has a basis in the mind of the man and/or woman. The fact that we will not call evil, 'evil' is related to the mind paralysed by fear of rejection by others. The body of Christ made up of both men and women is either voiceless or continues to whisper and whimper on these issues of suppression of women/womanhood and the psychological emasculation of men and/or demonstrates the machismo and feminism within the church culture. This makes a heart heavy with sadness. Truly, we need to repent as we have not shown or role-modelled the love of Christ to each other. We, Christians, are allowing the agencies and systems of the world to lead us instead of being the leader in demonstrating appreciation, acknowledgement and support in love, respect and equality. Fellow Christians, we need to roar loudly or we will lose our next generations.
Here's one more thing in my mind - you see, the physique, speed, physical strength, and all the Qs (IQ, EQ, SQ and AQ) of both men and women are not God's measurements of holiness. Standing in the true righteousness of Christ by faith alone, the holiness of God and being led by the Spirit of Christ into courageous obedience for His glory and mutual love, respect, and equality with others would please God. I am reminded of my former professor's thoughts in one of his unpublished paper, “God’s own ecstatic perichoretic life finds expression in the creation that he has brought into being, the creation that he unchangeably and unconditionally loves and blesses. Creation is open precisely because God himself is open; it is free…because God is free.” (Buxton, Graham. The Trinity, Creation and the Role of the Holy Spirit. p.5)
It takes a great deal of humility and faith to be able to accept and nudge each other to follow God in the image and identity which He has already ordained for us. Is it possible? Yes, it is. . . by God's grace and the help of the Holy Spirit, and by the carrying out of His actions to achieve His intentions.
We are currently paying the price for the weak leadership of both men and women as we see this generation and the next being susceptible to ungodly ideas about sex and gender. We are reaping the consequences of the seed called "cowardice" that was and still is being sowed. It has become more difficult to find real men and real women who are able to mutually show the love of Christ, mutually respect each other, and mutually support each other. We need to stand against the blatant mental and physical suppression and the psychological emasculation of the image of God.
My personal prayer is that I am not a contributor to this evil and may God forgive me if I have inadvertently contributed to the suppression of women and/or the psychological emasculation of men. I hope that this is your prayer too.
This game has been in play since The FALL. Both male and female continue to try to lord it over each other instead of submitting to the Lord of lords and King of kings. In this process, both try to be the other. Confusion about their own gender has creeped in and we know that our God is not a God of confusion. Our Creator God is absolutely certain of his design - both male and female are made in His image. We need to return to the Perfection that God created before the FALL and stop promoting the imperfection after the FALL within the Body of Christ. The souls of suppressed women and psychologically emasculated men are thirsting for some sanity in this confusion. It is the responsibility of the Body of Christ to offer this sanity. What would Jesus of Nazareth do? Condone this gender dysphoria propagated by evil forces or confront and commit to the healing that He readily gives?
Finally, would God be glorified to see the expansion of this suppression and psychological emasculation of women and men, respectively? I do not think so. His intentions have been and will always be to bless the world that He so loved. And the Body of Christ needs to, must lead the way towards sane and healing conversations "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." (2 Timothy 1:7)
Blessings of grace and love in Christ,
Rachel