The Attack Against God-Ordained Binary Gender Distinction

BINARY GENDER: ONE OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF CREATION

binary: something made of two things or parts; compounded or consisting of or marked by two things or parts (Webster’s)

“If the foundations be destroyed,

what can the righteous do?”

(Psalm 11:3)

One of the foundations of the original creation is binary gender. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them” (Gen. 1:27).

Male and female gender exists not only in humans. It also exists in the many various species of fish, birds, insects, and land animals. Even plant life bears the imprint of binary gender. If you do not believe that, read about plant life in an encyclopedia or botany textbook. There you will read about male stamens and female pistils in flowers. You will see that plant reproduction is described with many of the same words that describe human reproduction and binary gender - words like seed, ovum, impregnate, fertilize, fruit, etc.

Except for a few species of lower life forms that reproduce asexually, male-female gender is foundational to all created life.

THE WAR AGAINST BINARY GENDER

Anyone who follows the news has probably heard about some of the insane ideas that are now being presented as “progressive” by the so-called nonbinary/genderless crowd.

Mister Potato Head should just be called Potato Head, without the “Mister.”

In retail stores in California, toys and clothing for boys and girls cannot be separated by gender, unless you want to pay a fine for affirming differences between boys and girls.

Gender-distinct words should be replaced with non-gendered terms. Don’t say “brother” or “sister”; say “sibling.” Don’t say “dad” or “mom”; say “parent.” Don’t say “uncle” or “aunt”; say “my parent’s sibling.”

The gender-distinct pronouns he/him/his and she/her/hers should be replaced by non-gendered pronouns, either the non-gendered plural form they/their/theirs, or the recently invented non-gendered pronouns ze/zir/zirs.

A few years ago I heard on the news (real news on the radio, not fake news on the internet) about a university that informed the students that they could be referred to by whatever pronoun they preferred, whether the traditional he/she, or the plural they, or the made-up ze, or a pronoun of their own invention. The professors would be required to refer to the student by any pronoun the student preferred. One clever young man wrote that he wanted all his professors to refer to him as “His Majesty.”

This madness would be funny if there were not so many people taking it seriously. If it were just a small handful of non-influential perverts hiding away in obscurity playing these foolish word games, it could be ignored. But unfortunately it is the educators of our nation’s children and youth who are pushing this bizarre nonsense.

I just recently learned that in the 2019 Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the pronoun they no longer refers exclusively to the third-person plural pronoun. Now they is also “used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is non-binary.” So now, according to this dictionary, it would be grammatically correct for me to say the following:

“Biff wants a job as the boys’ swimming coach at a private Christian school. Biff was interviewed for the job, but they is a sodomite and a pedophile, so they does not have the job. They is going to report this prejudice to the dean of the school. The dean will do something about it, because they is also secretly a sodomite and pedophile.”

WHAT HAPPENED?

Yeshua (Jesus) said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). Since Satan is the Thief of all thieves and since binary gender is one of the primary foundations of creation and of life and of civilization, it should come as no surprise that Satan, through his deluded disciples, is attacking and denying the very idea of biological binary gender. If you destroy the foundations of life and of creation and of civilization, the whole building crumbles.

The Devil is behind this attempt to destroy the foundations, but how did all this happen? What did the Devil use to spawn such incredible insanity among the academic elites and their deluded disciples? If I had to record in a Bible-like manner the genealogy of this present push to abolish binary gender, I would write it this way:

“The Feminist Movement begat Lesbianism, Lesbianism begat the Gay Movement, the Gay Movement begat the Bisexual Movement, the Bisexual Movement begat the Transgender Movement, and the Transgender Movement begat the Non-Binary Movement. And all this perversion brought forth a monster and called its name LGBTQ, which being interpreted is Abomination. Thus the Thief of all thieves came to steal and to kill by destroying the God-ordained distinctions of male and female, one of the foundations of creation, of life, and of civilization” (1 Perversions 1:1-3).

WHAT CAN WE DO?

In the verse quoted at the beginning of this article, the psalmist not only speaks about the foundations being destroyed by the wicked. He also follows this by asking “What can the righteous do?”

In other words, what should be our response when the Enemy attempts to destroy truths that are so foundational, truths that have been universally believed and upheld for 6,000 years of human history in every civilization, and even among primitive, uncivilized people?

It is not enough to just wring our hands and complain to each other and post our shock and outrage on Facebook. It is not enough to just write articles like this one that I am writing right now. We need to do something more than “preaching to the choir.”

What can we do? My answer to that question is this: If the Devil pushes against a foundational truth, then I say we push back by affirming and strengthening that particular truth more than we ever have before. In the case of the Devil attacking the foundational truth of binary male and female gender, I say we must emphasize the distinctions of male and female more than we ever have before.

PUSHING BACK: AFFIRMING THE DISTINCTIONS OF MALE & FEMALE ROLES

IN THE FAMILY & IN THE ASSEMBLY

How can we push back? Start by admitting that men and women have different God-given roles in the family and in the assembly. Throughout the Bible, male headship is the Biblical norm.

Women make up half the population and are equally important, but women are not called to lead men. Men are called to lead, both in the family and in the assembly. Women have equally important roles to fulfill in God’s plan, but leading men is not one of those roles.

Look at and pursue the Biblical norm, not the very rare exception to the norm. Throughout Israel’s history, we see male headship as the norm. The families of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were led by men. The heads of the twelve tribes were all men. All of Israel’s priests were men. The leaders of Israel’s armies were all men. All but one of Israel’s Judges were men, and even then it was a man, not a woman, who led the men of Israel into battle. The twelve Apostles were all men. Ruling elders in the New Testament assemblies were all men. How do we know this? Because one qualification required to be a ruling elder is that he must be “the husband of one wife” (1 Tim. 3:2), something that a woman cannot be.

Men need to be the leaders in their families, loving their wives like Messiah loved the church. Women are commanded to follow the example of Sarah (not of Deborah), who “obeyed Abraham, calling him lord” (1 Pet. 3:6).

Women can be very involved in fruitful ministry work of a spiritual nature. There are many kinds of ministry work that can be done without needing to be in a leadership position over men. Leadership in the assembly and in the family is a role for men, not women.

“Daniel, that sounds like patriarchy!” Yes, it is patriarchy. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Patriarchy is just another word for male headship, something that is the Biblical norm throughout the Bible. If you have a problem with that, then you have a problem with the Bible and with the One who inspired the writings of the Bible.

PUSHING BACK: AFFIRMING DISTINCTIONS OF MALE & FEMALE BEHAVIOR

Throughout history there have been and still are many jokes and funny stories based on stereotypes of men and women. Stereotypes can be used in a cruel or unfair way, but not all stereotypes are bad. Some stereotypes are simply observations of common character traits within a group, with no ill intention. We observe differences between men and women, and those differences sometimes provide us with some good-natured humor. For example:

Men refuse to ask for directions when they get lost on a road trip. Men think they are smarter than their wife about everything. Men procrastinate when work needs to be done on the house. Men are insensitive. Men think they are macho bigshots.

Women talk too much. Women nag their husbands to quit procrastinating and take care of the work that needs to be done on the house. Women are emotional and overly sensitive and they overreact. Women are vain.

I am not suggesting that all these stereotypes are true of all men and of all women, or that we should affirm these stereotypes. I am just saying that stereotypes like these are usually just extreme exaggerations based on an element of truth.

What I am suggesting we do is to affirm that generally speaking, men and women think and behave differently. And there’s nothing wrong with that. This world would be a boring place if men and women all thought and behaved the same way. The nonbinary, genderless crowd want to deny gender differences. I say we should celebrate our gender differences and even occasionally laugh at them, in a respectful way, of course.

PUSHING BACK: AFFIRMING DISTINCTIONS OF MALE & FEMALE APPEARANCE

The way to affirm distinctions of male and female appearance is to outwardly appear like a male if you are a man, and like a female if you are a woman. That means distinctively male clothing for men and distinctively female clothing for women.

If we were still living in the Garden of Eden, naked and not ashamed, it would be immediately obvious whether a person was male or female. But our original ancestors sinned and then realized that they were naked. They were driven out of the Garden and clothed by God.

One purpose of clothing is to cover our nakedness. Another purpose of clothing is to show a distinction between males and females. We know this because God gave a commandment regarding gender-specific clothing:

“The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination to the LORD thy God” (Deut. 22:5).

This commandment to wear gender-specific clothing proves that in Moses’ time, gender-specific clothing existed. If men and women had worn the same kind of garments, this commandment would have been meaningless.

Whenever Deuteronomy 22:5 is quoted, what is the predictable response? Usually someone says, “Are you saying women should not wear pants?” (Curiously, I have never heard anyone ask, “Are you saying men should not wear a bra?”)

The main question here is whether or not pants are a man’s garment, because if they are, then pants on women would be a violation of this commandment, unless the pants are covered with a long tunic or skirt. Is the notion of “pants-on-men, dresses-on-women” just an old-fashioned, outdated cultural idea? Or is it an international, universally-recognized norm in all civilized cultures? To answer that question, go to any international airport in the world and look at the signs on the men’s and women’s restrooms.

Some years ago I went to the library and studied about clothing styles in a few encyclopedias. The World Book Encyclopedia has several pages of pictures of traditional garments from over 50 different nations and cultures. The universal norm in civilized cultures is obvious to anyone who has eyes to see. The norm is pants on men only. Even in the less-civilized, somewhat primitive cultures, the norm is there. Even in the cultures where women wear some sort of leggings or slacks, these are always worn under a long skirt or dress or tunic to cover the hips and thighs. Only men are shown wearing uncovered pants.

“But clothing styles have changed,” some people say. “Pants are no longer considered exclusively for men.”

It’s true that clothing styles have changed, but the important question is whether or not our changeless God approves of these changes. According to articles in encyclopedias, changes in clothing styles is a relatively recent phenomenon, and it developed in the Western world. Grollier’s states: “In the West the tradition developed that change and experimentation in clothing styles were to be admired. Only in the history of Western dress, therefore, has there been great variety and change.”

The New Grollier’s Student Encyclopedia says: “Until a few decades ago, women never wore shorts or pants. Now women can wear pants or stylish suits to work, just as men do.”

By using this phrase “just as men do,” this secular encyclopedia is affirming that when women wear pants, they are dressing “just as men do.” In other words, they are wearing that which pertaineth unto a man.

If you want to read more about the question of pants on women, see my article “Pants on Women: Modest or Immodest?” in GOE 8-5, Sept.-Oct. 2002. You can find it on the GOE website in the Archives. If you do not have internet and want to read it, send me a SASE and I’ll mail you a photocopy.

Even if you disagree with my conclusions about pants on women, consider wearing a dress just to push back against the non-binary genderless agenda.

Another way to push back is for men to wear beards if they are able to grow a beard, and for women to have long hair. I know it is easier to take care of short hair, but it still saddens me to see women get their hair cut short, because the Bible says “if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her” (1 Cor. 11:15). Why would a woman want to hack off her God-given glory? The longer the hair, the more glorious it is.

I say the same thing about men who dye their hoary heads a dark color, because the Bible says “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness” (Prov. 16:31). Why would you want to hide your God-given glory by covering it with dye? Besides, you’re not fooling anyone - especially if you accidentally stain the skin on your forehead during the dyeing process, like one macho cousin of my brother-in-law did when he dyed his hair in a public restroom with no mirror, then confidently strode out of the restroom, unaware of his blackened forehead.

RISE UP!

Bible believers have let themselves be pressured by the world to conform to the Devil’s agenda to blur the male-female gender distinctions that God decreed in the very beginning. It is time to push back in the exact opposite direction by clarifying, establishing, and affirming gender distinctions in our families and in our assemblies.

I urge men to rise up and behave like men of God. Love your wife as Messiah loved His Bride, like the Bible commands you to do. Ask the Lord to make you into the husband and father He wants you to be in your family, and the man of God He wants you to be in the assembly.

Just as I urge men to behave like men of God, I likewise urge women to behave like women of God. Submit to your husband’s authority and obey him, like the Bible commands you to do, and let him lead the family. You can respectfully express your concerns and wishes to him, but let him lead. Ask the Lord to make you into the wife and mother He wants you to be in your family, and the woman of God He wants you to be in your local assembly. And let the men lead in the assembly.

TRUST THE LORD & CONTINUE TO SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE

I introduced this article by quoting David. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” David expresses frustration in this psalm, but not despair. The remainder of the psalm gives us assurance that regardless of what happens, the LORD is on His throne. He is in charge. His eyes behold everything that is happening.

The threats we see to the foundational truths of the Bible are allowed for the purpose of testing and trying us. “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth” (vs. 5).

God will eventually punish the wicked. “Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup” (vs. 6).

The LORD has His loving eye upon us. “For the LORD loveth righteousness; His countenance doth behold the upright” (vs. 7).

Therefore we need not despair. We need to trust the LORD, remain faithful to Him and to His Word, and continue to speak the truth in love.

| DB

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Image: The Beloved Rests, Protected by Her Lover – The Song of Solomon. Chapter 2.