We will be having a book launch for SEEK this Wednesday at the Capstone Centre in Alness at 7:30pm. For those who are in the Highlands feel free to join us – books for teenagers will be 50% discount!
For those in in Australia – give me a shout if you would like to do a similar event when we return!)
And I am happy to discuss the book on podcasts etc if you want to invite me as a guest!
If you have any questions about the book please do get in touch (theweeflea@gmail.com)
SEEK 2 – What is a Woman?
Question: What is a woman? (And man).
Bible Reading: Proverbs 31:10-31
Text: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (Proverbs 31:30)
The wannabe Supreme Court judge in the US, Judge Jackson, was asked a question; which, in any other time before 2020, would have been considered a silly question: “Can you provide the definition of a woman?”. “No,”she replied, “I can’t –, not in this context, I’m not a biologist”. Australia’s Secretary of the Department of Health, Dr Brendan Murphy, was asked the same question, by a Senator. Professor Murphy was unable to answer and said that he would ‘take it on notice’ because it was a ‘very contested space’. The Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, when asked the same question, refused to answer, claiming that it would ‘oversimplify’ the debate over gender reform – yet at the same time she claimed to be defending women’s rights!
I’m not a biologist. I’m not a professor of health. And I’m not a senior politician. But I can tell you what a woman is. A woman is an adult, human female. It really is that simple. So why all the fuss?
I won’t repeat what I said on this subject in ASK questions 11 and 36 – but let me add some observations here.
The question itself is deeply misogynistic. By that I mean that when women have to continually defend what a woman is, they are under profound attack. Have you ever noticed that the question is never asked ‘what is a man?’. Women who believe that their biological sex is crucial to their being a woman are sometimes called ‘TERFs’ – that is Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists. I have yet to hear a man who also wants to defend their biological sex being called a TERM – Trans Exclusionary Radical Male! It is ironic that an idea that came out of people such as the feminist writer, Judith Butler, has now become something which is far more damaging to women’s rights than anything a man could come up with! Butler helped develop the whole idea of Queer theory which argued that gender was just a social construct (i.e., something that humans made up in society, and could be changed by society) and that it had nothing to do with biological sex.
The question (and answers) is also deeply confusing. In a school in Scotland a teacher was telling the primary school pupils about the birth of Jesus. “Mary was a pregnant woman…” “No!”, shouted one of the girls. “You can’t say that – she could have been a man!”. When children are taught that men can become pregnant, that they can be any gender that they want to be, and that there are over 100 plus genders – it is little wonder that they get confused. When judges, doctors and politicians can’t tell us what a woman is, how are you as a teenage girl supposed to know?!
The Bible really helps us here. It tells us that all human beings are made in the image of God – and that we are made male and female. If you are a female teenager you are equal to any male! Both men and women need to remember that.
When the rest of the world was created, we are told that God saw that it was good. It is only after man and woman were everything else, that he pronounced it ‘very good’. Human beings are the apex of God’s creation – the apple of his eye. That is why the devil seeks to destroy and harm humanity. I can hardly think of anything more harmful than the attempt to deconstruct human beings as male and female and turn us into a thousand meaningless genders.
The Bible gives us a clear answer to what a woman is. That gives us the basis for meaning, life and equality. If you are a girl or woman, you must never let that be taken from you. Likewise, if you are a boy or man. It means something. It is not just a social construct – something humanity made up. It is the very essence of being human.
None of this is to demean or to stigmatise those who struggle with GID – gender identity disorder. But the answer to that disorder is not to seek to reorder the whole world – but rather to seek wholeness and healing in Christ.
Consider: Are you ever confused about what it means to be your gender? What are the basic, foundational differences between male and female? What are only cultural? Do you see why it is important to have a clear understanding of how God made us?
Further Reading: What does the Bible Teach about Transgenderism? Owen Strachan and Gavin Peacock.
Irreversible Damage – Abigail Shirer (this book is not a Christian book but is especially helpful for teenage girls and shows how transgender ideology causes so much harm especially to you).
Prayer: Our Father in Heaven; we know that the devil is the father of lies confusion and deceit. We know that he wants to destroy your works – and especially those made in your image. Please protect us – and all your people. We pray for those who struggle with gender identity disorder – help us to love them and to enable them to see that their identity is to be found in you. We pray for women, men and children who have been confused and abused by this wicked, confusing and destructive ideology. Restore humanity to your image in all its glory, in Jesus’s name, Amen.
SEEK is available from all good bookstores….and on Amazon and other online retailers.
The Sunday Catechism 10 – How did God create Humanity?
Quantum 194 – Transgender Special – Part 1 – How Did We Get Here?
When God brought the world into being, we are told that he saw that it was good. It is only after….etc
Yes – I think so…
“A woman is an adult human female”
Now define female.
“of or denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes.”
The problem with any definition using features as you do here David — features such as ‘can bear offspring’, ‘(can) produce eggs’, ‘produces ova’ — is what to do with instances where these are not ‘present’ for whatever reason.
Dictionaries do not always help us to understand a word in context, so dictionary ‘definitions’ are traps for anyone actually learning or using a language.