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Grill a Christian  (13+) Can the Bible be trusted? #2327636 by LightinMind

As the official Judge of this contest, I have the following comments to offer for "The Image in the Mirror "  You are the winner this month, though the other entry was also a strong one and addressed my question more comprehensively. It was your positive hymn like focus that swayed me, maybe because the grimy details of this discussion, though necessary, do not really address the central issue of how gender is a part of the created design and has a life giving value.

Did you answer the question?

Yes with a more positive, poetic, upward focus that centered on God's original gender design and considered all man's efforts to change that in that light.

Use of quotes, proof-texting or AI - could I hear your voice?

You are regular poet and this reads as humanly authentic with a depth of reflection that aligns more with human craftsmanship than typical AI generated content.

How consistent was your argument?

This was more a hymn of praise and a prayer than a scientific analysis of the issues. In essence your argument was that God made us one way that is written into our biology. That man's pursuit of a phantom grace for the praise of dust is an ultimately futile and self-defeating goal that renders a person pale and weak and a seed that dies upon unfertile soil.

My thoughts on the substance of what you said

This was a Christian poem and one with which I was in broad agreement. It was also a beautifully crafted poem with memorable lines and phrasing. In short I loved it. This kind of poem is harder for me to critique. So I will break things down by how you answered the question.

My first thought was that your answer was much better than the way I phrased the question. You focused on the original design and God's intention rather than on the problem of mutilated gender, of the psychological choice to push the artificial onto the natural and the exceptional cases of biological deformity where no gender can be determined in the natural configuration. You phrased the result of our mutilations of Gods design in terms of deep inauthenticity to our created identities and in terms of the creation of a seed that dies on infertile soil. Is it a reduced form of life if the potential for reproduction has been sliced out or chemically neutered?

The only thing the poem did not really cover were the extreme outsiders and there are rare examples. These are those for whom, from birth, no clear gender can be determined and not even a predominant one from the cards that nature dealt them. From a Christian viewpoint this can be explained in terms of a fallen and broken world. There will always be a neutered and infertile set of exceptions to the male and female separation in a fallen world. Because whether by mutilation or by birth some people simply do not fit the gender model. It would have spoilt the flow of your poem to address this issue and most people do not want to think about these. I guess the easy answer is that only God in His wisdom and with his healing grace can address their status and so in the meantime we simply need to respect them as children of God who are open to receive the same grace and mercy that the rest of us have access to.

Another thought I had about the approach you adopted was that it was quite an individualizing description of gender identity rather than one determined through a lens of relationship. It also looked backward to creation rather forward to the model of Jesus and His church. We have the model of our created identity in scripture and we also have a redeemed gender identity that is modeled on the interaction of Christ with his church. The groom and the bride is the symbol of gender relations in Ephesians 5 and in Revelation. In that picture of gender relations the identity of each gender is expressed in terms of how Christ and the church relate. The call on masculinity here is to initiate relationship, sacrifice for the good and sanctification of the other, to be responsible for and to protect the beloved and to a creative generosity with them. While the call on the feminine is to be open to receive love and life, to be fruitful, nurturing and transforming what is given and bringing it to fullness, to hand on what she receives, in her beauty and adornment to reflect back glory to the giver just as the church reflects the glory of Christ. The biblical version unites the genders as the masculine gives toward the feminine and the feminine receives and returns that gift, multiplied by love. This giving and receiving itself mirrors the eternal internal life of the Trinity. The bible in short has a sacramental understanding of gender that expresses the image of God in both male and female in a communion of love. Love gives, love receives, love bears fruit.

Mechanical issues

A poem really works here as there is a sacramental mystery to gender relations that is, to a considerable extent, far beyond the scope of scientific descriptive or prescriptive functionality.

My only mechanical question was related to the use of unfertile rather than barren. Your choice works but maybe the barren would be better here.

“A seed that dies upon the barren sand.”


Thanks again for entering.
LightinMind

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My Philosophy of Rating and Reviewing  (E) How do I assess people's work when reviewing? #2259390 by LightinMind

My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!" .