We officially canceled Wednesday night activities last night but since I live half a second away I decided to go ahead and have our group meet. For those who risked their lives to attend it was good to see you. For those who couldn’t come I wanted to give you a brief recap so we’re all up to speed when we look at Chapter 4 “Leather, Whips, & Fruit” next Wednesday.
Started by watching a clip from the movie “Sicko.” Here is the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlDAUKSh9CQ
I know many people disagree with Michael Moore’s message but the clip we watched was to remind us of how we allow human beings to be treated. In the clip a woman who can’t afford to pay for her hospital stay is put in a cab and dropped off at the Rescue Mission on Skid Row in Los Angeles, CA. They have the video of the woman being dropped off and she has no shoes on and is still wearing the hospital gown. Also the name of the hospital was scratched off the identity bracelets. Needless to say the hospital didn’t want people to know which hospital kicked her out. The next day another woman was dumped by the hospital. The question is asked “Who are We?” Is this what we want to be known for a society who kicks poor people out of hospitals and dumps them on street corners like garbage. After that it goes into how some who were volunteers at ground zero after 9/11 have developed serious medical issues. Many were not employed by the state/government so they don’t qualify for medical coverage. The people who felt compassion and risked their lives to try and save others are denied basic health coverage. Here we are the richest country in the world and we can’t take care of the poor or our wounded heroes. Who do we take care of?
Chapter three of “Sex God” is titled “Angels and Animals.” In it Rob talks about how living like either an angel or animal is ”destructive, because God made us human.” According to the book living like an animal is “to give in and let our cravings/desires rule us…” In 1 Corinthians 6 there is a statement ”Food for the stomach and the stomach for food.” This idea influenced human action “They understood a person to be a collection of physical needs – you’re hungry and there’s food to satisfy your hunger, you’re tired and there’s sleep…” sex was just another physical need. Paul talks about how ”the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,” this image challenged the idea that being human is just a collection of urges and needs. Earlier in the chapter we read “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial…” which leads us to living like an angel.
Living like an angel is “the denial of the physical and the failure to acknowledge that our sexuality is central to what makes us human.” In 1 Timothy 4 we read about a group who forbid people to marry and eat certain types of food. We know from Genesis that what God creates is good so why forbid people to marry or eat certain types of food. As Rob points out this group saw sex as dangerous and marriage gives people free licence to have sex. So to avoid that evil you forbid people to marry. Some food was offered up as a sacrifice to other gods in worship rituals. “The leaders of this religion decided that if something had been offered to a god they didn’t believe in, they wouldn’t eat it.” In both these cases Paul says that these things should not be banned “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” The abuse of sex and food are wrong but sex and food in of itself is not evil because God created them good.
The question is how do we live? Are we the type of people who live by just whatever feels good, we live by impulse and we allow our desires/cravings to rule us or do we live by avoiding conflict and tension, we repress our feelings/cravings/desires. Both ways deny what it is to be human and in that case deny what God made us to be. “When we deny the spiritual dimension to our existence, we end up living like animals. And when we deny the physical, sexual dimension to our existence, we end up living like angels. And both ways are destructive, because God made us human.”
How can we move away from living like an animal or an angel and live more like who God created us to be and become?
There are a few Greek words to point out that can help us.
“aànwqen:” Anothen- “from above, from a higher place; anew, over again.”
“Pneuma:” Nooma- “a life giving spirit; movement of air (a gentle blast) of the wind, hence the wind itself, breath of nostrils or mouth.”
Both of these are found in a story in the Gospel of John
John 3: 3-8
“In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again (anothen).” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water (physical birth) and the Spirit (pneuma). Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit (pneuma) gives birth to spirit (pneuma). You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again. (anothen) The wind (pneuma) blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born (anothen) of the Spirit.” (pneuma)
Here we see Jesus talking to Nicodemus. In it Jesus tells Nicodemus “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” The word is anothen and it has two meanings. One is from above and the other is anew/again. Jesus is teaching that there are two births. One is the physical one (which Jesus is alluding to when he says “born of water” we normally attach that to mean baptism but Jesus meant the physical birth) and the other is being born of the Spirit. That word Spirit is pneuma in Greek. It has several meanings wind/breath/spirit. Jesus is teaching Nicodemus that to be in the Kingdom we must be born from above/again/ by the wind/breath/spirit of God.
The book talks about the Hebrew phase tohu va vohu. This phrase means wild and waste/void/chaos.
Genesis 2
“The earth was formless and void (Tohu Va Vohu), and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit (Ruach- Wind/Breath/Spirit) of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”
“Each thing God creates and sets in motion is a step, a progression away from the chaos and disorder toward order and harmony…When we act like angles or animals, we’re acting like beings who were created before us. We’re going backward in creation. We’re going the wrong way.”
To be where God wants us to be we have to know what God create us to be. God created us in his image, to be people who reflect his image in the world. To live with a higher calling than fulfilling our own desires but also not avoid the tension that our desire causes. What God created us to be/to become is good. Our abuses of it are what we call sin. Those who choose to be born anothen are choosing to let God’s Spirit guide them. God in the beginning breathed his Spirit in us to give us life. Now until our last breathe we have the choice to follow the Spirit that is in us or choose our own path. Being human, being who God create us to be is to be a person who protects the image of God in everyone by loving others as Jesus did/does and doing the hard work of learning from/praying to/wrestling with/following God. We must go beyond knowing what to do (we tell people and ourselves that we should love people as we love ourselves, we should give it to God, love enemies, ask for forgiveness and learn to forgive.) We must go beyond that and through the hard work of following God connect what, to how, to actually doing something! As Tyler said last night “Connecting what we feel, to what we think, to what we say, to what we do.”
Hope to see you next week when we discuss Chapter 4 “Leather, Whips, And Fruit”
Peace,
Nate
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