By now everyone has heard about the neutered Bible. God is not to be referred to as our "Father." He is now our heavenly Parent. Jesus is the "child of God," not the Son of God. (So, we must, I suppose, be baptized in the name of the Parent, the Sibling and the Holy it.) It is high profanity. It was bound to happen. If God is nothing but a nebulous force or unexplained power, why call him a person? If God is simply and merely a word used to sum up what cannot be known, why refer to him by gender? If the Bible is only a collation and collection of the "superstitious fables of an ancient people," why accept its gender designations?

Actually, gender arguments are not the issue. The issue is one of truth and faith. What has to be established is the existence and nature of Deity, the Godhead. Also, the nature of man has to be resolved. Is man a mass of quivering protoplasm - that, and nothing more? What must be seen is the veracity, integrity and authenticity of the Bible. If a personal God exists, has He revealed Himself to His creation? If so, is the Bible that means of revelation and communication? Was God "manifested in the flesh"? Is man lost in sin? Is he accountable to his Creator? Is Jesus his Savior? Settle these matters and the gender question will not be raised. Unbelief manufactures issues that are the symptoms, not the disease. Our response must be to treat the malady, not the reaction.

Still, I feel like taking the neuterers out in the street so I can hit them over the head with a person hole cover!

Oral Profanity

Truly, profane language is rampant. It taints and stains the conversation of our society. Mouths have become dirty as a drain. Unless you are a monk or a hermit, I do not need to elaborate. Verbal profanity comes from the heart's depravity. "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things" (Matt. 12:34, 35). Purity of mind precedes purity of mouth. Therefore, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23).

Profanity reveals a lack of self-control. It is the essence of selfishness, the offspring of anger, the vile repudiation of decency. Profanity shows the leaven, the influence of the world upon us. Hence, we must teach and practice temperance and be aware of the danger of conformity to the world. Parents, are you setting a good example? Are you instructing your children in righteousness and true holiness? The consequences of your failure to do so are eternal.

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 13, p. 404
July 2, 1987