{"id":218,"date":"2012-02-29T12:41:03","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T17:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/askandy.fbclafayette.org\/?p=218"},"modified":"2014-07-25T13:40:07","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T17:40:07","slug":"should-a-boy-wrestle-a-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/should-a-boy-wrestle-a-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"Should a Boy Wrestle a Girl?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This question was raised last year due to the Iowa High School State Wrestling trournament.\u00a0 For the first time in history, girls competed in the\u00a0Iowa state wrestling tournament.\u00a0 Joel Northrup, a\u00a0home-schooled\u00a0sophomore who wrestles for Linn-Mar High School, made a decision, based on his faith, not to wrestle Cassy Herkelman, a female.\u00a0 Who knew this would ever cause such a chaotic buzz? People make decisions every day.\u00a0 Why was this one so newsworthy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joel chose to base his decision on an unchanging standard of truth: God’s Word.\u00a0 Like three Hebrew young men (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) before a powerful king (Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon) chose not to bow and worship an idol (anything or person other than the living God), Joel chose not to bow to the idol of public approval<\/strong> or personal desire for gaining a great name (Gen.11).\u00a0\u00a0 I thank God for a young man with such spiritual strengh.<\/p>\n

In short,\u00a0“no”,<\/strong> boys should not wrestle girls<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Now, let’s wrestle with the reasons why<\/em> the answer is “no” biblically:<\/p>\n

The Right Source of Truth<\/h2>\n

Many in the news argued back and forth based on emotion, experience, societal acceptability, political correctness, and personal desire.\u00a0 Wouldn’t it be nice to have an unchanging<\/em> standard that comes from an authority that knows man and his greatest needs, despite what man’s latest and greatest minds and emotions can concoct?\u00a0 God, as the Creator of all living things\/people, has graciously provided that standard by writing for us His love story to us – the Bible.<\/p>\n

A correct view of “equality” that impacts daily decisions and policy<\/h2>\n

<\/strong>

“Equality” does not automatically mean equality of\u00a0role<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0function<\/em>, but rather in\u00a0value<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>“Equality” does not automatically mean equality of\u00a0role<\/em> and function<\/em>, but rather in\u00a0value<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Genesis 1-2 outlines\u00a0the Creation\u00a0account.\u00a0\u00a0God clearly established between that one man, Adam, and that one woman, Eve, the sameness of coming from one Creator.\u00a0 However,\u00a0God also established the uniqueness of the man and the woman in their roles and functions in the marriage and\u00a0in\u00a0society.\u00a0\u00a0Ephesians 5\u00a0outlines some of the uniqueness of a\u00a0husband’s role and a wife’s role. Neither spouse is less valuable, but they have different roles designed by God.\u00a0 True\u00a0and lasting fulfilment comes in fulfilling the role God designed for each spouse.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0teen\u00a0males and females will find their greatest\u00a0fulfilment in living out\u00a0God’s designed role for them (part of which is outlined in these three\u00a0reasons to the subject at hand).<\/p>\n

Morality<\/h2>\n

Moral guidelines established by God’s Word (as\u00a0one’s\u00a0\u00a0source of truth) provide direction and protection<\/strong> in times of question, temptation, and decision-making.\u00a0 Two issues arise here:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Men have been given the moral responsibility to protect, not harm, women.<\/li>\n
  2. Men have the responsibility to view woman respectfully as woman, not as objects.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Putting a male and\u00a0female\u00a0on the wrestling mat together, especially into or beyond puberty, goes against God’s design for them both. Unfortunately our world seems more and more comfortable and desirous of gender and moral \u00a0confusion instead of clarity.<\/p>\n

    A\u00a0few\u00a0solutions to the situation of a boy not wrestling a girl<\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Learn to say “no”\u00a0as parents, coaches, schools, and organizations.\u00a0 In this situation, help the girls to find other sports that enable them to excel while maintaining the points made above.<\/li>\n
    2. Boys\/men – Out of respect for the ladies and in seeking to protect and value\u00a0them,\u00a0refuse to wrestle them.<\/li>\n
    3. Re-direct that energy to a different sport or activity.<\/li>\n
    4. I’m not saying I agree, but at least go the route of\u00a0an all-girls wrestling club.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      (For more on this topic, see Al Mohler’s post, Should Boys Be Forced to Wrestle Girls?<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      This question was raised last year due to the Iowa High School State Wrestling trournament.\u00a0 For the first time in history, girls competed in the\u00a0Iowa state wrestling tournament.\u00a0 Joel Northrup, a\u00a0home-schooled\u00a0sophomore who wrestles for Linn-Mar High School, made a decision, based on his faith, not to wrestle Cassy Herkelman, a female.\u00a0 Who knew this would… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[26],"tags":[5206,13,14,8244,191,8243,8239],"yoast_head":"\nShould a Boy Wrestle a Girl? - 4:Twelve - Student Ministries Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/should-a-boy-wrestle-a-girl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should a Boy Wrestle a Girl? - 4:Twelve - Student Ministries Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This question was raised last year due to the Iowa High School State Wrestling trournament.\u00a0 For the first time in history, girls competed in the\u00a0Iowa state wrestling tournament.\u00a0 Joel Northrup, a\u00a0home-schooled\u00a0sophomore who wrestles for Linn-Mar High School, made a decision, based on his faith, not to wrestle Cassy Herkelman, a female.\u00a0 Who knew this would... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/should-a-boy-wrestle-a-girl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"4:Twelve - Student Ministries Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-25T17:40:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/20170523133356\/Should-a-Boy-Wrestle-a-Girl.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"759\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"448\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andy Woodall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andy Woodall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/should-a-boy-wrestle-a-girl\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/should-a-boy-wrestle-a-girl\/\",\"name\":\"Should a Boy Wrestle a Girl? 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