Sex God Introduction is here.
OK, so I said previously that this book was a book on the new humanity. I think that's partly right.
It is a progression on how deep sex really goes. I am through chapter eight and loving it.
"God Wears Lipstick"
Rob opens up with an account of a concentration camp called Bergen-Belsen, describing the horrific scenes there. All of us agree that those types of scenes (go see Schindler's List if you haven't yet) are just as Rob says, "anti-human." (p. 19)
Rob goes onto say that anything anti-human is anti-God (p. 19). He takes us back to the ancient near East where encounter the gods of the day required looking at that god's king. However, the Hebrew account is much different in the fact that human beings are not god's, but there is something of God put into them. The bearer of the divine image.
He ventures into something that many people do...the rating system. He starts with high school boys giving ratings to female body parts, but you can really see this everywhere right? I see it on the Internet. People posting pictures and then someone comes along and rates them and you see how high of a score you can get based on a picture.
I remember hearing students say things like, "Break me off a piece of that."
Rob says that it's everywhere and that "the problem is that "that" is actually a "she." A person. A woman. With a name, a history, with feelings. It seems harmless until you're that girl--and then it hurts. It's degrading. It's violating. It does something to a person's soul." (p. 20)
Rob starts walking through Jesus' teaching on lust from the sermon on the Mount, where He says "if your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away." Rob questions, "How did we get from lust, which is so common and doesn't seem like that big of a deal, to having your body thrown into hell in just a couple of sentences?"
Oddly enough, Rob says we must go back to the first-century Jewish understanding of heaven to go behind the text. Many get frustrated when Rob does this kind of thing, which seems unconnected to the subject at hand. But as usually Rob would say, "I've got a lot to cover, and it's going to feel like you have no idea where I'm going, but stay with me, okay?" This is one of those moments.
To the Jewish mind, heaven is not a place somewhere else separate from this place, it is "where things are under the rule and reign of God. And that place can be anywhere, anytime, with anybody." This is extremely important to understand. I can write more extensively another time on this. If this is the case, then Rob says there also a realm where things aren't as God intended to be...hell.
He walks through the phrases "for the hell of it," and "living hell." I'll let you read it in the book.
Essentially, he argues that if heaven and hell can happen anytime, anywhere, and to anybody, could there be hells on earth? Concentration camps are just that (p. 22).
So back to the lust...Jesus' point is that something "hellish...happens when people are treated as objects, and we should resist it at all costs." (p. 22)
He even pushes it further, with these invading realities in front of us, we need to respect the divine images in other not just because we want to celebrate their humanity, but because it also says something about our humanity as well (p. 23).
Rob then goes into Ephesians, in which Paul talks about the "new humanity." It is "this commonality, this new bond, (that) is simply bigger than all of the things that previously kept them apart (which was ethnicity, genders, backgrounds, wealth, world views, religion, and socio-economic status). He talks about how in the beginning we were one and it took a long time for it to turn into those people from that place. Ironically, we start at the opposite side, with all of the diversity. It's when we start looking about what we have in common--"that we are fellow image-bearers with the shared task of caring for God's creation." (p. 24)
On a side note, think about how some Christians view others from other religions. How we use the name of Christianity as a religious billy-club to beat down others into submission, or quite honestly, maybe they just run away at the sight of us. What happens we look past of all of that to realize that we are all image-bearers. Do you believe that all humans are made in the image of God? If that's the case, do you think there are things people do who don't profess to be followers of Jesus that are in sync with what God wants? Just a thought...
Rob goes further to tell a couple of stories on when "they" become "we." Have you had these moments. The person you are fighting against, the person you hate, the person you try to avoid, when push comes to shove, you see yourself in them? When soldiers become sons, when prostitutes become mothers, when "we are faced with the fact that first and foremost, we are humans. In this together. And not that much different from each other." (p. 26)
In the next section Rob says, "How you treat the creation reflects how you feel about the Creator."
I want you to think about that. Not just regarding the environment, but in this case, other human beings.
Keep thinking...
"To be a Christian is to work for the new humanity. Jesus commands his followers to feed and clothe and visit and take care of those who need it. They're fellow image bearers...A church exists to be a display of the new humanity. A community of people of honor and respect the poor and rich and educated and uneducated and Jew and Gentile and black and white and old and young and powerful and helpless as fully human, created in the image of God." (p. 28)
Because when we "respect the image of God in others, we protect the image of God in us. (p. 28)
What happens is that every decision we make have deeper consequences. We can either bring heaven to earth or we can bring hell to earth. (p. 29)
What are things that bring heaven to earth? What are things that bring hell to earth? Don't just think big...think very small, everyday decisions.
Rob closes with the original story about the concentration camp, in which a large quantity of lipstick had arrived when the British Red Cross came in. People were maimed, but with scarlet-red lips. Those who died were seen even clutching onto that red lipstick. "At last someone has done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm." (p. 30).
Rob says, "Because sometimes, the difference between heaven and hell may be a bit of lipstick." Honestly, I thought it was kind of strange that the title was "God Wears Lipstick" because it felt like those particular words didn't connect with the rest of the chapter.
But the even bigger question I'm sure many people are asking are, "What does this have to do with sex?" Oh just wait...you think it's going to be explained in one chapter?
On another side note, I can't tell you how many times I've seen young female students crippled by trying to live up to this false reality that your looks determine your worth. We live in a culture that just puts it in neon lights all of time. Think about the phrase, "Check that out." Think about what you're saying. She becomes a "that." He becomes a "that."
It feeds into the dating culture too. I should do another post on what I think of dating, but in short, let me say that our current dating culture really sets up people for divorces. Most teens that I've looked at want the deep connection, but without the commitment, sacrifice, and millions of other things it takes to experience love. (Rob speaks on these things later of course).
Take time to reflect on all of the times you say "those people," or "that" when referring to a person. What are we doing here? So many times we argue to ourselves "we're not like them." But we do have this in common, they are fellow image-bearers of God, and how do you treat them? How you treat "them" is how you treat the One who created them. Think about it...love you neighbor...Matthew 25, 1 John 3 and 4...the 10 Commandments...how we treat our fellow humans is a reflection on how we treat God. How we love them is how we love God.
This is very important to understand as we go further. Sex is a much deeper mystery than we give it credit for.
Up next, ch. 2, "Sexy on the Inside."
bought it today. i'm through the second chapter. watch what you say about hot or not ;). sanchez was amazing btw.
Posted by: chris | February 14, 2007 at 09:50 PM
http://dumbjock.blogspot.com/2007/02/happy-valentines-day.html this is from my high school bible teacher's blog. i laughed at this for like 5 minutes. it gets funnier the more you think about it. the blog it's from is pretty good too, it's basically a blog dedicated to poking fun at the worst of christian merchandise and propoganda.
Posted by: chris | February 14, 2007 at 10:06 PM