The Goodness of Distinctions: The Beauty of Boundaries
How creation itself reveals the necessity of distinctions.
"He spoke, and a vision was shown to them, and they saw a new World made visible before them, and it was globed amid the Void, and it was sustained therein, but was not of it. And as they looked and wondered, this World began to unfold its history, and it seemed to them that it lived and grew."
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
This quote from “The Silmarillion” evokes the sense of wonder the angels must have felt as they watched God create our world. He divided and determined then filled his creation with purpose. Since that time humanity has warred against God’s design and the angels of darkness have eagerly aided our rebellions.
Never before has this rejection of purpose been so clear. We are told that gender is a spectrum—yet, somehow, distinct from sexuality, which is also a spectrum. Reality itself is denied in favor of fluidity, confusion, and contradiction. This seems less like a spectrum and more like a slippery slope to me.
This post is the first in a series I’m calling “The Goodness of Distinctions.” Throughout this series, I will explore both the obvious and the subtle distinctions God has established that both atheists and modern Christians now resist. I will also discuss how we can fight to restore these good and righteous distinctions in our own lives and the world around us.
To do that we need to go back to the very beginning. We have to go back to the moment God brought the world into existence and ordered it for his glory.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”
— Genesis 1:1-2 CSB
At first creation was formless. Void of light and purpose. God spoke and turned the void into a bustling place full of beauty and meaning. The creation account follows a clear pattern of separating, naming and filling. This is what God does. He separates the land and sky, fills it with plants and animals and gives them a purpose through their created form.
A bird is not simply “a creature that happens to fly”. A bird is a creature designed to fly, and this purpose can easily be seen by its form. Its hollow bones, wings and very shape testify it’s purpose. A fish is not simply an animal that lives in the water. It is a creature built for it with gills to breathe and fins to move.
Humanity is no different.
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
So God created man
in his own image;
he created him in the image of God;
he created them male and female.”
— Genesis 1:26-27 CSB
Man is not simply a soul trapped within a physical form. We are both body and spirit. Formed of the dust, given life through the breath of God. Our physicality indicates, at least part of, our purpose.
When God creates something, He gives it a form that allows it to fulfill God’s will. Like a tree is meant to bear fruit, a lion hunts, and rivers flow within their bounds, both men and women are created with distinct roles.
Yet today, we are told that form has no meaning. We are told that our bodies do not reveal anything about who we are or what we are meant to do. Instead, we are encouraged to mold ourselves into whatever we desire, untethered from nature, reality, or truth.
God’s design is not arbitrary. It is not a prison, though many seem to think it is. Instead of being an obstacle, our design is a blessing. The distinctions between men and women are not flaws to overcome but rather gifts that allow us to live as He intends.
Rejecting God’s order does not lead to freedom. It leads to confusion, disorder, and ultimately destruction. But when we embrace what He has made, when we accept the purpose given to us through our form, we align ourselves with what is right, and true. And that is very good.
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.”
— Genesis 1:31 CSB
You only touch on it briefly here, and I hope maybe you get into it more in a later post, but I think it's so important for modern Christians to understand the theology of body and spirit. To think the two are separate can lead to all sorts of heresies, most especially about Jesus and the nature of the incarnation. Inevitably we begin to think one is good and the other is evil, or at least unimportant, and that mindset influences everything about how treat and think about the physical world and our own selves. If it's only our "inner self" that matters than why not alter or even mutilate the outer to suit whatever emotions or ideologies we have?