I was going to sift through some web sites this morning for some pictures of beautiful men, hunky, glorious, examples of the beautiful male body to adorn this blog entry. In many it would engender disgust, some lust, others simply a beautiful appreciation of what God has created. I'd confess I might lean towards a combo but disgust would not be among them.
We tend to see things in black and white. We love to make decisions and judgments that make our own life easier. Perhaps more accurately, easier to navigate if we put things into an order that we like or that coincides with an agenda we align with. Still there are other situations where someone would be heavily disgusted and say, "but let me see that pictuer again" perhaps hiding an inconvenient truth about themselves. There are all sorts of things that go on in our brains. We do whatever we can on the surface to make things easier, to deny, to capitulate to the status quo. Sex is probably one of the big ones for us as humans.
I refer to a section of Leviticus that is often used for gay bashing. It involves the townsmen of Sodom and Gomorrah who want to "know" ( that is: rape ) two visitors to the home of Lot. The two visitors are Angels of the Lord and Lot sets himself up as their host to protect them. The potential rape of these angels is set forth as an injunction that homosexuality is a sin. Certainly rape of angels would be a sin. But then the most curious of things happens for those who do not cherry pick scripture. Lot hands over his two daughters to the townsmen for them to have their way with. That seems to me as much an example of rape as the previous one and yet we do not have anyone who admonishes us from this passage that heterosexual sex is a sin. That's because a healthy normal sexual, committed sexual relationship is completely different that the act of sexual aggression that rape is. You can see how the interpretation of this passage has been totally miscast. In fact, the "sin" of Sodom and Gomorrah was forever known to be the sin of selfishness, self indulgence and arrogance. Then came along groups of religious ( with considerable power ) who determined to alter the exegesis of the passage to make homosexuality a sin. Rape and homosexuality are not synonymous just a rape is not a part of any good relationship of any kind, gay or straight.
The differences in the way we see and read things often has to to do with what we want to see or helps our own agenda. Today's passage speaks about sins of the flesh and fornicators. This is not an injunction against healthy normal sexual relations or relationships. The definition of fornication involves extramarital sex, extramarital relations, adultery, infidelity and unfaithfulness. It doesn't argue against decent loving relations with mutual respect and consent, it argues against unhealthy, non-consensual, 'loose' sexual relations.
I think I would be ok to place that picture of an absolutely beautiful naked man here for all to see. What would you do with that image? Would your mind run from appreciation and respect or to lust or an unhealthy fulfillment of one's urges.
During Lent I promote special attention to owning up to who you are, an attempt to a greater realization of your humanity and of course a deeper spirituality all consistent with the person God created us to be. I believe that part of that is the respect for our sexuality, not perverting the blessed gift of sexuality God has graced s with. We need to look deeply into passages and not cherry pick or interpret Holy Scripture as a means to our own ends and agenda. A healthy sexuality is as much a part of the realization of our humanity as anything else is. Perhaps another time we can look at the sexuality of Jesus himself. Food for thought.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful for me’, but I will not be dominated by anything. ‘Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food’, and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’ But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
No comments:
Post a Comment