T
thessalonian
Guest
The body can be said to be a theology because a theology speaks to us of who God (theos) is.
Genesis
[26] Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."
[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Man was made in the image and likeness of God. Therefore what was man reflected the glory and the beauty of God. The man looked upon the woman as someone who reflected God's glory and the woman upon the man in the same manner. Both had the power to create life as instruments of God for this purpose. They were told to "be fruitful and multiply" before the fall and so they had the life-giving character of God himself. The love between them reflected the love between the three persons in the Holy Trinity. Their ability to create and to care for God's creation and affect it reflected God's creative abilities and his dominion over creation.
But as we know something happened on the way to eternity. Man sinned. We see the results of this sin throughout scripture. Jesus tells us of one catastrophic result when he speaks of marriage "in the beggining it was not so" with regart to Moses allowing of divorce. We are told in Micah I believe it is "God hates divorce". Yet it was allowed because of "the hardness of" men's hearts. It does not reflect the image of God for God is unity and man and woman should be unity. Adam and Eve were intended to be unified throughout their lives and this unity was to bring forth fruit in the children they bore. Sin goes against unity. Divorce is the result of sin and does not present the image of man that reflects God.
Homosexuality also can be demonstrated by this way of thinking to be against what in us shows the image and likeness of God, for God brings forth life and homosexual relationships are not able to do this. Therefore they are a result of our corrupt natures and are not a part of God's image and likeness that he planted in us. Homosexual tendancies are a result of the corruption of human nature. To act upon them is an abomination. God wishes to heal and restore that nature.
Lust also and fornication outside of the marrital union are akin to having false God's in scripture. Fidelity to one spouse is as fidelity to the one true God, as he is in fidelity to his trinitarian union. Lust for man causes him to view the woman as something to satisfy his out of balance desires, which are good in and of themselves if they are in tune with how God created them, but if controlled by passions of the flesh cause us to be enslaved by them. Lust causes the man to see the woman as an object, rather than seeing in her the beauty that reflects that image and likeness she was created in in Genesis 1, quoted above, and vice versa. Violations of the other commandments can also be shown to be a covering or wounding of that image and likeness that God created us in. God wishes to heal these inordinate desires within us so that in balance we reflect his image and likeness as he originally created us. This is what the scriptures mean when they say we are to be the light of the world. We are to reflect Christ who is God to the world. That is why he wishes to heal us and restore us.
Jesus Christ, the ultimate expression of what the body is to be gave his life for us in service and to redeem us from our sins. He wants to restore us to that perfect of the first man and woman in the garden of Eden in Genesis 1 where we perfectly reflect the image and likeness of God by his grace, earned for us in his most perfect use of the human body as a gift to mankind, by his death on the cross. Like him we must take up the cross in life and be a gift for mankind in our using our bodies in service of others in whatever way God calls us. Dying to our own desires, so that we may follow Christ daily.
John Paul II gave a series of talks over 5 years on what he called Theology of the Body. This is just the tip of the iceberg on it. If you wish to study more, please go to: http://www.christopherwest.com/
Mr. West is this countries leading authority on understanding JP II's theology of the body.
Much more to say on this but if anyone has any questions please state them.
Genesis
[26] Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."
[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Man was made in the image and likeness of God. Therefore what was man reflected the glory and the beauty of God. The man looked upon the woman as someone who reflected God's glory and the woman upon the man in the same manner. Both had the power to create life as instruments of God for this purpose. They were told to "be fruitful and multiply" before the fall and so they had the life-giving character of God himself. The love between them reflected the love between the three persons in the Holy Trinity. Their ability to create and to care for God's creation and affect it reflected God's creative abilities and his dominion over creation.
But as we know something happened on the way to eternity. Man sinned. We see the results of this sin throughout scripture. Jesus tells us of one catastrophic result when he speaks of marriage "in the beggining it was not so" with regart to Moses allowing of divorce. We are told in Micah I believe it is "God hates divorce". Yet it was allowed because of "the hardness of" men's hearts. It does not reflect the image of God for God is unity and man and woman should be unity. Adam and Eve were intended to be unified throughout their lives and this unity was to bring forth fruit in the children they bore. Sin goes against unity. Divorce is the result of sin and does not present the image of man that reflects God.
Homosexuality also can be demonstrated by this way of thinking to be against what in us shows the image and likeness of God, for God brings forth life and homosexual relationships are not able to do this. Therefore they are a result of our corrupt natures and are not a part of God's image and likeness that he planted in us. Homosexual tendancies are a result of the corruption of human nature. To act upon them is an abomination. God wishes to heal and restore that nature.
Lust also and fornication outside of the marrital union are akin to having false God's in scripture. Fidelity to one spouse is as fidelity to the one true God, as he is in fidelity to his trinitarian union. Lust for man causes him to view the woman as something to satisfy his out of balance desires, which are good in and of themselves if they are in tune with how God created them, but if controlled by passions of the flesh cause us to be enslaved by them. Lust causes the man to see the woman as an object, rather than seeing in her the beauty that reflects that image and likeness she was created in in Genesis 1, quoted above, and vice versa. Violations of the other commandments can also be shown to be a covering or wounding of that image and likeness that God created us in. God wishes to heal these inordinate desires within us so that in balance we reflect his image and likeness as he originally created us. This is what the scriptures mean when they say we are to be the light of the world. We are to reflect Christ who is God to the world. That is why he wishes to heal us and restore us.
Jesus Christ, the ultimate expression of what the body is to be gave his life for us in service and to redeem us from our sins. He wants to restore us to that perfect of the first man and woman in the garden of Eden in Genesis 1 where we perfectly reflect the image and likeness of God by his grace, earned for us in his most perfect use of the human body as a gift to mankind, by his death on the cross. Like him we must take up the cross in life and be a gift for mankind in our using our bodies in service of others in whatever way God calls us. Dying to our own desires, so that we may follow Christ daily.
John Paul II gave a series of talks over 5 years on what he called Theology of the Body. This is just the tip of the iceberg on it. If you wish to study more, please go to: http://www.christopherwest.com/
Mr. West is this countries leading authority on understanding JP II's theology of the body.
Much more to say on this but if anyone has any questions please state them.
