What An Olympic Boxing Gender Fiasco Teaches Us About Egalitarianism
Last week, social media erupted over a controversy with women’s boxing at the Olympics when Imane Khelif of Algeria dramatically defeated Angela Carini of Italy in only 46 seconds. After her defeat, Carini broke down in tears, saying, “I have never been hit so hard in my life.”
Khelif is not technically “transgender” in the way we usually use that word (though, to be clear, transgenderism is a fiction). But he isn’t like William Thomas, a male swimmer who one day decided he was “Lia” and demanded to swim against women. However, the International Boxing Association (IBA) disqualified Khelif from the 2023 women’s world championships because he failed to meet the “eligibility rules” for women contestants.
Sadly, the Olympics have much looser (or more woke) standards. According to National Review, “In 2015, the IOC effectively removed the ‘woman’ requirement for women’s sports by allowing male competitors who (1) ‘declared’ to be female, and (2) maintain testosterone levels at or below 10 nmol/L for one year, although such a threshold is well above the average female levels.”
Writing for The Times, Janice Turner explains that Khelif, and another controversial boxer, Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, “have a DSD (difference of sexual development), that wilfully misunderstood phenomenon. They are not ‘intersex’ — ie between or a ‘mix of’ the two sexes — because no one is. They almost certainly have 5-ARD: they are biological males with XY chromosomes but whose bodies lack the receptor that creates external male genitalia.”
This condition gives athletes like Khelif, who are biologically male, a determined competitive advantage over female competitors.
While the specifics of this controversy are more complicated than they first appeared, the entire episode once again highlights the confusion and hypocrisy of the feminist movement. The various “waves” of feminism have brought us to this point that “womanhood” is meaningless since anyone and everyone can be a woman if they identify as such.
Call yourself a woman, regardless of your chromosomes, and into the ring you go to beat up on biologically disadvantaged female opponents. And the world will watch and cheer.
Which brings me to my main point.
Women Preaching is Clerical Transgenderism. Change My Mind.
Unsurprisingly, the gender-bending tendencies wrought by feminism have infiltrated the church through progressive activists and their dupes as they have continued to push women to take on masculine clerical duties, most notably preaching (and, by extension, pastoring).
Two things need to happen for clerical transgenderism to occur.
First, Christians need to slowly succumb to the feminist idea that men and women are mostly interchangeable. This is the heart of the heresy we call egalitarianism: Other than the most obvious and incontestable biological differences, men and women are regarded as pretty much the same.
Kathy Keller, wife of the late pastor Tim Keller, once famously summarized her notion of complementarianism by saying, “A woman can do anything an unordained man can do.” That quote basically reflects thoroughly feminist assumptions and logic with an arbitrary, complementarian asterisk. In other words, she believes men and women are basically interchangeable in every way except for the explicit duties of pastors. It’s a dishonest statement that takes a feminist belief and labels it “complementarian.” You can put leftover chicken in a Tupperware container in the fridge and label it “pizza,” but that doesn’t make it so.
Once the logic of feminism has been soaking into every pore of the supposedly “complementarian” evangelical movement, it’s only a matter of time before they ditch the complementarian label and accept feminism outright.
Second, preaching expectations need to be modified in favor of soft, indirect, feminine-coded communication instead of masculine directness, boldness, and courage. I spoke to a church planter once who told me something he’d learned in his experience. He said there are two things you have to get right in order to attract new families to a church plant: 1) children’s ministry and 2) women’s bathrooms. I said, “Really?” And he responded, without a hint of embarrassment, “Yes, because women are the decision-makers in most Christian families.”
I’m convinced that the same mindset is at work in modern pulpits. Modern preaching is feminine-coded to avoid upsetting women because they are the decision-makers in the home.
The first preaching class I ever took was called “Gospel-Centered Preaching,” which focused on communicating the gospel effectively to a postmodern audience. Bryan Chappell wrote the textbook, and Tim Keller was one of its chief proponents. They said preaching the gospel to the heart was the key to reaching the emerging millennial generation. In that class, I discovered that “preaching the gospel” was built upon the premise of being maximally inoffensive.
According to this model, good preaching seeks to “put no obstacle in anyone’s way” (2 Cor 6:2). If someone is offended by a sermon, there’s a good chance the preacher had put an “obstacle” in their way, potentially alienating them from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, true gospel preaching should focus on applying the gospel to some aspect of the “fallen condition” the text addresses. When the preacher needs to correct some sin, it’s best to do so positively. Tell them their sin is a failure to trust and receive God’s best for them. Don’t be needlessly combative by rebuking them for rebelling against God. To me, it seemed like we were being taught to cuddle people under a warm gospel blanket, wrap them in God’s reckless love, using soothing tones and therapeutic language.
Preachers should not preach God’s law as a command to obey but try to change their affections so they want to obey without being commanded to do so. Preaching to the heart meant having their affections first transformed by the love of Christ. Any other motivation for obedience runs the risk of legalism, the blood-fanged boogeyman of gospel-centered preaching.
This sort of preaching particularly appeals to women because it’s less confrontational. In other words, “preaching that reaches the next generation” actually means “preaching that doesn’t upset women.”
In the years that followed this training, I’ve listened to many preachers who advocated this model and found it wanting. After a few sermons, I couldn’t listen anymore. It sounded so syrupy, emotive, and soft. In a word, it’s effeminate. When men are trained to preach in maximally inoffensive ways, they are essentially using feminine-coded speech that caters to the sensibilities of the preferred religious demographic. When churches are conditioned to expect this sort of effeminate preaching, then they’ll naturally be more open to a feminine preacher.
Preaching is War. War is a Job for Men.
I once heard a pastor say, “The reason God calls men to preach is the same reason God calls men to go to war.” Biblical preaching is masculine. It’s a “contact sport” because the stakes are high, and the enemy is formidable. The NT presents preaching as an act of spiritual war, where the preacher proclaims the victory of Christ over the world, the flesh, and the devil and applies these truths to the lives of the congregation.
Preaching is war, and women should not be sent to war. Paul’s charge to Timothy reads like a knighting ceremony for a soldier being sent to battle: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4:1-2).
After the Olympic opening ceremony debacle featuring mostly naked gay/trans people mocking Christianity by grinding on TV before literally the whole world, Elon Musk tersely posted, “Christianity has become toothless.” Despite being somewhat awkwardly worded (Christianity itself is not toothless, though the modern church may be), I think we all know what he was talking about. As expressed in our society, Christians project weakness, not strength. This is largely due to weak pulpits occupied by weak men, who yield them to women. In other words, the church becomes weaker as she accommodates herself to the tastes and preferences of women.
Churches that put women in the pulpit are the spiritual equivalent of putting a woman in the boxing ring with a man. There is no virtue to signal when sending women to the frontlines of a spiritual battle. Pastors who do so are cowardly and weak, though they may receive the deafening applause of thinly veiled feminists in their churches (and their husbands who hide behind their skirts).
The only antidote to effeminate, weak preaching is strong, masculine preaching. Perhaps a caricature pops into your mind of a mean-spirited, hellfire-and-brimstone preacher thundering over his congregation with self-righteous judgment. Wrong, that’s not at all what I’m saying. I’m saying strong preaching that has the courage and self-control to say what needs to be said and in a way that applies the appropriate force.
Godly preachers have the range to know when to speak tenderly and when to confront directly. Since men are naturally wired for aggression, good preachers learn to discipline their aggression so that it becomes a tool available when needed, not the default mode of every sermon.
Women are not naturally wired for aggression. When women try to operate in a naturally masculine mode, they typically feminize it to make it more palatable and agreeable to the feminine disposition. Even churches that only do a once-a-year “Mother’s Day” sermon where some woman gives a “this-is-not-preaching” inspirational message nevertheless signal a precedent built upon feminist logic that will certainly push the church further in that direction. Women who “preach” in the church are enabled by weak men who fail to protect them. They make the church weaker and more vulnerable to deception by saying through their actions that sexual differences don’t really matter.
The Scriptures do not shy away from the language of warfare and combat to describe pastoral ministry. Teaching and preaching in the church are not merely conveying information but are spiritual warfare. Gospel ministers are called to proclaim the light of God’s truth into the darkness.
The Olympics should have had the courage to tell Khelif that he couldn’t get in the ring to beat up women. But, pastor, you must have the courage to say “no” to women preaching in your church. This is a great way to demonstrate your love and protection for Christ and His church—and the women under your care.
