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Should Girls Be Allowed to Join a Wrestling Team?
On March 4, 2009 Elissa Reinsma became the first female to compete in the Minnesota state high school wrestling tournament.
You may wonder why this is such a big deal considering this is a site about living out our theology. The reason this is important because it raises all sorts of issues related to gender and how there are differences between men and women. John Piper expresses this very well in his response as he calls on fathers to stand up and be leaders:
Wrestling obliges you to grab, squeeze, and pull with all your might. If a boy tries not to touch or grasp a wrestler around the chest, or not to let his legs entwine with the other wrestler, or not to slam his full body length on hers, he will wrestle with a handicap. Of course, he is being taught that handicap is not a virtue.
Get real, dads. You know exactly what almost every healthy boy is thinking. If a jock from Northern Minnesota encircles her around the breasts and twists his leg around her thighs, trust me, he will dream about that tonight. Only in his dream she won’t have clothes on. And if he doesn’t dream it, half the boys in the crowd will. Wake up dads. You know this.
Manly gentleness is not an epidemic in our culture. Rap videos, brutal movies, fatherless homes, and military madness have already made thousands of women the victim of man’s abuse. Now we would make the high school version of feministic nature-denial a partner in this undermining of masculine gentleness.
When the apostle of Jesus tells us to live with our wives “in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel” (1Peter 3:7), he dumps a truckload of wisdom that fathers should build into their sons.
There is a way to honor a woman. That’s our job as men. This honor “understands” something. It understands that women are the “weaker vessel.” This has nothing to do with less personal worth and in many cases not even with physical stamina. It has to do with pervasive realities that shape the way healthy societies work.
It means that we should raise sons to think of themselves as protectors. Tell them they should lay their lives down to protect girls. Help them know that God designed them to grow up to be a picture of Jesus in their marriage. Nurture the instinct of a boy to fight for girls not against them.
I just watched a wrestling instructional video on line, illustrating some basic moves for the takedown and pin. These two guys are pressing and pulling on each other with unfettered and total contact. And it isn’t soft. It’s what we do not allow our sons to do to girls.
Okay, dads, here’s what you tell your son. You say, “There will be no belittling comments about her being ‘a girl.’ There will be no sexual slurs. If you get matched with her, you simply say to the judges, ‘Sir, I won’t wrestle a girl. My parents have taught me not to touch a girl that way. I think it would dishonor her. I hope you will match me with a guy. If not, I am willing to be disqualified. It’s that important.’”
Be a leader, dad. Your sons need you. The peer pressure is huge. They need manly restraints. They know this is wrong. But then they look around, and the groundswell of conformity seems irresistible. It will take a real man, a real father, to say to his son. “Not on my watch, son. We don’t fight women. I have not raised you that way.”
Is God a Hypocrite?
God tells us to love our neighbor which includes our enemies. However, we are also told that God chooses who will go to heaven. Does this make God a hypocrite? What are your thoughts?
The Right Way To Study Theology and Doctrine
Some of my favorite Christian books are by dead people. One them, Martyn-Lloyd Jones made a comment about the proper way to study end times doctrine.
This quote is from a book he wrote called The Great Doctrines of the Bible. The quote is specifically about studying Eschatology (end times) but I felt it was also applicable to the study of theology in general.
There is a right way and a wrong way to study this great doctrine, and if you want to be sure that you are doing it in the right way, this is an infallible test: if your study of it humbles you, your study is in the right way. If it inflates you or inflames your mind and your passion, you are studying it in the wrong way. If the study of it leads you to go down on your knees in worship and adoration and praise, it is the right way; but if it gives you a sense of self-satisfaction that you have understood it and, as it were, have encompassed the thing with your own mind, this it is utterly and absolutely wrong. If your study of it makes you realize that the time is short and you must be up and doing, that you must purify yourself and prepare yourself for it, then you are studying the right way. But if it is something purely intellectual, and it does not affect your spirit and your way of living, then you can be certain that your whole approach is wrong. This is not a subject for the mind only, it is for the whole person. It is the ultimate end of salvation. It is the completion of all that we have hitherto been privileged to consider together. May God give us grace, therefore, to approach this glorious truth in that way (emphasis added).
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Between Commercials Tell Them About Jesus
This video is one of the main reasons (and there are a few others) I do not like "drive-by" approaches to evangelism. And a lot of my non-Christian friends don’t like it either (which is another reason).
Are you a coward?
The new Attorney General Eric Holder (an African American) of the United States recently said the following: