Won't wrestle girl: "As a matter of conscience and my faith I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner."

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Iowa high school wrestling standout refuses to face girl, relinquishing shot at championship Northrup’s father, Jamie Northrup, is a minister in the Believers in Grace Fellowship, an independent Pentecostal church in Marion that believes young men and women shouldn’t touch in a “familiar way,” said Bill Randles, the church’s pastor. “We believe in the elevation and respect of woman and we don’t think that wrestling a woman is the right thing to do. Body slamming and takedowns, that full contact sport is not how to do that.”
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Discussion

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Aaron Blumer
Fri, 02/18/11 6:37 am

a little sanity

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

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JobK
Fri, 02/18/11 10:15 am

He stood up against the androgyny mob. I wonder, however, if this family and church applies its views to ecclesiology (whether they are egalitarian or complementarian) in addition to sports. If “wrasslin’ girls” is wrong but female preachers and pastors are OK, then they are majoring in the minors.

Solo Christo, Soli Deo Gloria, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura http://healtheland.wordpress.com

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Aaron Blumer
Fri, 02/18/11 3:45 pm

I’d love to talk to the guy and get more info. Is he thinking mainly of the contact involved, or more a sense of chivalry? Or more theologically?
If it were me, I would simply not be able to bring myself to put out my best effort to physically defeat a woman. (Of course, most women in decent physical shape would probably beat me anyway ! I’m not an athlete. But that’s not the point. Good men grow up feeling that they are not supposed to physically overpower women. So it should feel deeply wrong. Are we sure we want a society where that instinctive gentleness toward women is a thing of the past? I’m glad some of it still survives.)

So if I was in the match and won, I’d feel terrible and if I was in the match and lost I’d feel terrible—not sure which would feel worse.

Call me old fashioned. I’m absolutely OK with that.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Profile picture for user JobK
JobK
Sun, 02/20/11 7:20 am

His father is the pastor of an independent Pentecostal church who teaches that unmarried males and females should not have the sort of physical contact with each other that wrestling requires. Of course, that is the 100% Biblical position.

Solo Christo, Soli Deo Gloria, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura http://healtheland.wordpress.com

Profile picture for user Aaron Blumer
Aaron Blumer
Sun, 02/20/11 9:43 pm

Well, he’s got a point when it comes to wrestling. Probably not the sort of contact that’s going to encourage a “relationship,” but still… I’ll call it the 100% sensible position. ;)

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.