In Genesis 1:27 we read: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
The woman’s creation out of Adam is the basis for her equality. The Puritan Matthew Henry said: “She is not made out of his head to top him, not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” So here it is: Eve was taken out of Adam so that he might embrace with great love a part of himself.
Kent Hughes said: “The woman was stunning. She was the prototype of all women fresh from the well of creation. Every aspect of her was perfect. She was perfect in body and perfect in soul. She was perfectly sinless. And as she stood on the arm (so to speak) of her Father God she was there for Adam to see.”
In Genesis 2:23 Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” John Calvin puts these words in Adam’s mouth: “Now at length I have obtained a suitable companion, who is part of the substance of my flesh, and in whom I behold, as it were, another self.” Here Adam found his companion and his longed-for love. He was no longer alone. Her name woman celebrates their relationship.
Today we are doing our best as a society to remove the gender differences God gave us. For example University of Tennessee at Knoxville is asking students to use “ze, (she or he) hir, (her or him) hirs, (hers/his) and xe, (they) xem, (them) xyr” (their). No, those words are not another language. According to the university, they are the gender-neutral, singular versions of pronouns.
The University of Tennessee Office of Diversity and Inclusion is asking students and faculty to use the pronouns in order to create a more inclusive campus. They say it alleviates a heavy burden for people expressing different genders or identities.
Donna Braquet the director of the University of Tennessee’s Pride Center said: “We should not assume someone’s gender by their appearance, nor by what is listed on a roster in student information systems. Transgender people and people who do not identify within the gender binary may use a different name than their legal name and pronouns of their gender identity, rather than the pronouns of the sex they were assigned at birth.”
She is also asking teachers in the first few weeks of classes to ask everyone to provide their name and pronoun instead of calling roll. “The name a student uses may not be the one on the official roster, and the roster name may not be the same gender as the one the student now uses,” ze said.
Braquet said, “These may sound a little funny at first, but only because they are new. The she and he pronouns would sound strange, too if we had been taught ze when growing up.” She said if students and faculty cannot use ze, hir, hirs, xe, xem, or xyr, they can also politely ask “O, nice to meet you (insert name). What pronouns should I use? is a perfectly fine question to ask,” ze said.
One state representative said this is taking things too far.
In I Corinthians 11:14-15 Paul said: “Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a cover.”
Kim Riddlebarger said: “Paul’s point is that men are not to dress nor wear the hairstyles of women, because He creates us male and female… Part of being a divine image bearer is to be either male or female, and to deny our gender is to adopt a pagan conception of being human (with a confused sexuality) which brings shame to Christ.”
Not only are we battling same-sex marriage and transgender people, we must now defend the gender that God gave us.
See you Sunday.
Dick
Grace Presbyterian Church 