This article about a Maine school district’s decision to allow a “transgender” boy to use the girl’s restroom and the ensuing problems it created, is a harbinger of things to come as our culture foolishly tries to remove the God-given/mandated distinctions between male and female. Barring a dramatic reversal in our culture, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I have to admit that sometimes I just feel like throwing in the towel with respect to our culture, and moving to Bermuda and exercising my option for citizenship (having been born there.) But then I remember the wisdom articulated in the saying … “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

John Piper has a short blog on women in combat. I agree strongly with his position. As retired military, the snowballing trend to increase the combat role of women in the U.S. military increasingly alarms me. It signals a fundamental and frightening shift in our culture’s understanding of the roles of men versus women.

As Piper says in the related article Coed Combat and Cultural Cowardice, “A man who endorses women in combat is not pro-woman; he’s a wimp. He should be ashamed. For most of history, in most cultures, he would have been utterly scorned as a coward to promote such an idea. Part of the meaning of manhood as God created us is the sense of responsibility for the safety and welfare of our women.”

I’ve talked before in this blog about Wayne Grudem’s excellent and massive work on Evangelical Feminism. Inter-Varsity Press has an extract from the preface and the TOC on-line here.

Wayne Grudem’s massive 884 page Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth is now free to read on-line here. I have read it in entirety and it’s well worth the effort. You can also download the entire book as a PDF file. Wayne doesn’t shy away from the tough and controversial questions. Endorsements include John Piper and J.I. Packer:

“After the Bible, I cannot imagine a more useful book for finding reliable help in understanding God’s will for manhood and womanhood in the church and the home.” - John Piper

Tim Challies reflects on the the extraordinary value of women (part 1 and part 2).

He rightly points out that submission in marriage is a beautiful picture of the relationships within the Trinity. One who has an ugly perception of submission does not grasp the beautiful picture of submission painted in Scripture by the Son submitting to the Father. Submission has nothing to do with inherent worth - it’s a functional role. Americans, in particular, are handicapped in understanding this issue as we are proud about not “bending the knee” so-to-speak to anyone.