So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them- Genesis 1:27 NKJV

The Alliance Defense League (ADL) has put out a list of tips for parents and schools concerning Halloween celebrations and costumes.  

I found one of the tips was quite helpful and even really compassionate:

The author pointed out that not every family celebrates Halloween and the costumes can get really pricey. Not every parent has the means to purchase elaborate costumes, as a result, Halloween can make a family’s financial situation painfully obvious to every kid in school. These two realities can easily lead to embarrassment and even bullying. It was a beautiful beginning. 

That was all downhill from there.

The heart of the article was all about encouraging parents and teachers to avoid gender stereotypes when choosing Halloween costumes. The ADL is encouraging parents to acknowledge and celebrate the “fact” there is no such thing as gender. 

The ADL wants parents and teachers to know the whole notion of biological gender is make-believe, like the Tooth Fairy and winged dragons. Only clueless numbskulls still believe in such things. Therefore, it is categorically not okay for adults to encourage children born with vaginas (formally known as girls) to dress up as princesses because children born with penises (formally known as boys) can also be princesses. Moreover, superhero costumes are especially problematic for those looking to have an inclusive Halloween. The ADL believes the manufacturers of superhero costumes are all regressive Neanderthals in desperate need of a good cancelling. This is confirmed by the fact that superhero costumes for children born with vaginas always come with skirts while the costumes for children born with penises come with pants. The writer helpfully advised parents to tell to children curious about why skirts are unsuitable for superheroes that skirts are simply not practical for crimefighting.

This is real.

At first glance this tip sheet appears to be just another hearty helping of woke silliness aimed at extracting the joy and pleasure out of life. It’s more than that: the attempt to eliminate gender is actually a brazen attempt to gaslight the whole world. Gaslighting is defined as “making a person or group of people question their perception of reality”. Gaslighting describes someone who puts forth a false narrative which leads another person or a group of people to doubt their own perceptions. Eventually the person or people being gaslighted become disoriented and/or distressed and agree to follow the “truth” the gas-lighter tells them is real. 

In this case gaslighting has deep spiritual implications. 

Think about it.

One of the first truth-statements God makes in the Bible concerns the existence of male and female. God even links the concept of gender to Himself, saying He made the differences between men and women in His “own image”. The Bible is clear: there are distinctive differences between men and women and those differences are actually unique reflections of God’s personhood in the human race (Genesis 1:26-27). 

If I were Satan I would be enthusiastic about the prospect of persuading the world that gender is construct rather than reality. If that view becomes the norm then every instruction God gave humanity regarding sexuality will become a nonissue because all those instructions are predicated on the existence of only two genders and differences between the genders.  Removing morality from sexuality has caused untold emotional, spiritual and physical harm to human beings.

Removing the reality of gender will have devastating consequences to the most vulnerable among in our world.   Deconstructing gender produces chaos in society, women no longer need to protected from men because there is no such thing as men (no more male/female bathrooms).  Women are no longer the natural caretakers of children because there is no such thing as women. Sex is no longer a sacred act between a husband and a wife because there is no such thing as husbands and wives. Most critically, if there is no male and female then everything God has said about everything automatically becomes suspect in the minds of thinking people. If we can’t trust what God said about male and female, how can we trust anything He said? 

Therefore. 

This attack on gender isn’t coming from the cultural elites, misguided educators or politicians. The attack on gender is coming from Satan Himself. Satan knows that if this one little entry-level truth can be ripped from the foundation then literally everything the Bible says about everything falls with it. If people believe this lie Satan has effectively prepped the world to believe any lie, no matter how outlandish because he’s already convinced us the Emperor has no clothes (metaphorically speaking). Once we stop believing what’s right in front of us we will believe anything. 

Couple of things in closing.

First, Christian leaders cannot allow this philosophy to infiltrate the church. If it does it will have a detrimental impact not just on how Christians view the issue of gender but also on how Christians view God. Second, this is not a place for believers to “stand their ground”. We must do more than simply stand in what we believe, we must go into the culture and tell the truth about gender. We must have loving conversations with our friends and neighbors where we use science and common sense to remind people that gender is real and assigned to us by loving God who knew us and loved us before we drew a single breath (Psalm 139).