Let me first look with you at monism, and then let me do an extended comparison between monism and Christianity.  First, let's look at monism together.  Monism believes the following five things:  Monism, m-o-n-i-s-m, which really just means "oneism"; it believes that all is one.  Monism believes, first, that all is one.  That's the first point of monism.  Monism believes that all is one.  Have you heard Elton John sing, "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King?  Welcome to monism.  All is one.  What's the key point in the story of The Lion King?    It's when the young lion prince looks up and realizes the stars are his father.  See, it's all connected.  It's all part of the circle of life.  He's part of this great river of being.  There are no distinctions.  We're all part of this tremendous circle of life.  You get a taste of monism in Star Wars too, though.  Do you remember when Obi-Won Kenobi, and this is way, way long ago, folks, long before "Attack of the Clones," this is all the way back in the first Star Wars movie in 1976.   Obi-Won Kenobi explains to young Luke Skywalker that there's a force that pervades the universe, and we're all a part of it.  Monism. In contrast, Christianity believes in a Creator/creature distinction.  God created this reality: He is not part of this reality.  This reality did not emanate out of Him.  He is distinct from it.  He spoke it into being.  He is Lord over it--over against monism that sees the divine suffused through created reality in you, in me, in the pews that you're sitting on, in the rocks, in the stones, in the trees, in the wind, in the ocean, in the air.

And then, of course, there's the battle over the traditional view of male/female role relationships: the husband as spiritual leader, the man in the role of protector, all male elders and ministers.  And over against this we find the women's movement, the feminist movement.  We see things like issues regarding women in combat and women's ordination in the churches challenging these traditional views of male/female role relationships.  But behind this set of issues...and these issues I want to suggest to you are bellwether issues.  Pick up Geoffrey Satinover's book, The Politics of Truth, his book on homosexuality, a Baker publication.  He does a good job of showing how this cluster of issues around defining sexuality and marriage and family is the bellwether issue of our culture.  The way this issue goes will let you know how the totality of the culture is going to go over the next 25 to 50 years. 

INTRODUCTION Children learn at a very early age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society. Through myriad activities, opportunities, encouragements, discouragements, overt behaviors, covert suggestions, and various forms of guidance, children experience the process of gender role socialization. It is difficult for a child to grow to adulthood without experiencing some form of gender bias or stereotyping, whether it be the expectation that boys are better than girls at math or the idea that only females can nurture children. As children grow and develop, the gender stereotypes they are exposed to at home are reinforced by other elements in their environment and are thus perpetuated throughout childhood and on into adolescence (Martin, Wood, & Little, 1990). Related Results Children's media skew... The recalled childhood... GENDER QUESTION AND... Gender stereotyping... Gender differences in... Most Popular Articlesin Health The, six best ...Soothe a dry, itchy ...Cocktails and ...The sour truth about ...Fuel your workout: ... More » A child's burgeoning sense of self, or self-concept, is a result of the multitude of ideas, attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs to which he or she is exposed. The information that surrounds the child and which is internalized comes to the child within the family arena through parent-child interactions, role modeling, reinforcement for desired behaviors, and parental approval or disapproval (Santrock, 1994). As children move into the larger world of friends and school, many of their ideas and beliefs are reinforced by those around them. A further reinforcement of acceptable and appropriate behavior is shown to children through the media, in particular, television. Through all these socialization agents, children learn gender stereotyped behavior. As children develop, these stereotypes become firmly entrenched beliefs and thus, are a part of the child's self-concept. Figure 1 illustrates some of the factors involved in parental influence on a child's self concep

Where Do Gender Roles Come From? A person's sexuality comes from within him or her, making a person heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or asexual, depending on the partners he or she is(or is not) attracted to. Unlike sexuality, however, gender roles are imposedfrom without, through a variety of social influences. Formed during the socialization phases of childhood and adolescence, gender role issues influence people throughout their lives; conflict can arise when some one does not feelat ease with his or her gender role. The first and one of the strongest influences on a person's perceived genderrole is his or her parents. Parents are our first teachers--not only of suchbasic skills as talking and walking, but also of attitudes and behavior. Someparents still hold traditional definitions of maleness and femaleness and what kind of activities are appropriate for each. Parents start early in treating their baby boys and baby girls differently. Although baby boys are more likely to die in infancy than girls, and are actually more fragile as infants than girls are, studies have shown that parents tend to respond more quickly to an infant daughter's cries than they are to those of an infant son. Parents also tend to cuddle girls more than they do boys. They are also more likely to allow boys to try new things and activities--such as learning to walk and explore--than they are girls; parents tend to fear more for the safety of girls.