Previous Reviews: Introduction
Ch. 1 "God Wears Lipstick"
Ch. 2 "Sexy on the Inside"
Ch. 3 "Angels and Animals"
This chapter goes through the idea that we are not animals nor angels, but human. What does being human mean? Rob tries to establish that here.
He begins with an assessment on what animals are like. He mentions the animalistic "urges" in observing lions while in Africa on a trip. He mentions that they are so primal, that the mating they're going to do is just part the cycle. Then he makes a humorous point on the difference between lions and humans:
"These animals are going to mate because it's in their DNA, their blood, their environment. They aren't lying out there in that field, thinking, 'I just really want to know that you love me for more than my body...Other than basic biological functions, there's nothing else going on." (p. 50)
He then compares this to a scene at Daytona Beach on spring break (you get an idea of what happens here). He mentions the slogan from Vegas, "Whatever happens in (choose a city), stays in (that city)." (p. 51)
He talks about how those moments seem to feel good, but what are the comments as they come back? "I can't believe I...We totally lost our minds...It was so out of control...The next morning I couldn't." (p. 51)
He says these questions and comments have to do with what it means to fully human. To participate in these types of things doesn't talk about a higher purpose, of sacrifice. These activities are pretty much acting like an animal. Rob asks of the phrases that get thrown around with this: "party animal," "we attacked each other," "she's a tiger," and "basic instinct." (p. 52)
We have these primal urges down deep, but we were made for much more than this.
He then delves into the first-century context, going through what "food for the stomach and the stomach for food" meant to its hearers. He said that most people then understood that a person was a collection of physical needs. You're hungry, eat food...you're tired...sleep. "They concluded that sex is just like food, so wen a man was 'hungry,' he would go to a prostitute saying, 'Food for the stomach.." (p. 52) Rob mentions how Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 6 regarding our bodies being temples of the Holy Spirit. "The writer specifically uses this image to challenge them with the idea that a human isn't just a collection of urges and needs but is a being whom God resides in." (p. 53)
So the "food for stomach" argument settles for a low view of human nature. It's still around isn't it? We are taught that people cannot go beyond their physical urges...which is very much like animals (p. 53). I always hear students and others say things like, "But I couldn't help it." That statement is buying into this idea. It's really a viewpoint of despair. (p. 54) Humans are not animals, there's something much more beautiful going on here.
Next he moves onto angels, which is the opposite of animals. How we deny or physical urges and our sexuality being central to what makes us human. He walks through an example of how many students have not talked about sex with their parents. Rob says, "How can a parent ignore something this big?" (p. 55)
Other examples are given about those girls who have sex with multiple men and their fathers are clueless, shocked when they find out. It's really being naive. I mean think about it. Adolescents get together, date, hook up, whatever...and you think all of those things aren't mingled in there? Rob then moves on to married couples who grew up with these kinds of environments and in turn they never talk about it either, which just drives people further apart. "Denying and stuffing and repressing never work because it's a failure to acknowledge what is central to being a human being." (p. 56) He gives more examples of this. So now what? We're not animals, and we're not angels...we're human. Is that somewhere in the middle?
Rob tries to resolve this. "We have a spiritual dimension to us that animals don't have...Have you ever seen a dog concerned that its life just isn't going anywhere? A cat reflecting? A horse not feeling centered?" (p. 57) It's okay to laugh! (On a side note I will mention that in the endnotes here he says regarding animals having physical bodies but no spirits: "I'm using the word spirit here in reference to the distinction made in Genesis between humans and the rest of creation, humans being made in the image of God. In the sense that the word for spirit is also the word for breath in both Hebrew and Greek, then obviously animals do have spirits as we read in Ecc. 3:21.") [p. 183]
He then moves to Psalm 8:5, in which the writer says that we are made "a little lower than the heavenly beings." "A spirit is a being with no body, no physical essence. Marriage and sex and procreation simply aren't part of their existence. An angel is a being with a spirit but without a body." (p. 58)
So if we deny the physical, we're acting like angels, and if we deny the spiritual, then we're like animals. We live in tension in the middle as human beings. He goes back to the church at Ephesus, where they struggle with this same issue. A group of people said that sex was dangerous and should be avoided. They also said some foods could also be dangerous because some of it was sacrificed to pagan gods. So they avoided it all. Isn't this just acting like angels? Rob mentions Paul's response to them in 1 Timothy 4:3 (Timothy was a pastor at Ephesus), 'those things God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth."
"Paul's point is brilliant. He makes a distinction between the inherent good of something and the abuse of it. People may have seriously distorted the good gift that sex is or offered food to gods that lead people into destructive ways of living, but that doesn't mean that sex or food are inherently wrong. He continues, 'For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the world of God and prayer." (p. 59)
Sound familiar? How many times do we teach avoidance? So we must talk about sex with our kids, about differences between angels and animals and humans. I was thinking how you can even push this further to a lot of other things today. Music, books, movies, etc...how many times do we simply dismiss something because it was misused? Does that it make it inherently evil?
He then goes through the opposite of denial, indulgence. He walks through the life of Hugh Hefner, of how his parents never hugged, kissed, or showed any sense of affection. So Hugh's pursuit was to the other side of the pendulum (pp. 60-61).
Rob says that humans were created to live in the tension in between. "One of the marks of someone who has experienced significant growth in their soul is their ability to live in the midst of tension." (p. 61) So we have to start talking about everything we're experiencing. We have to get it out of us.
On a side note, let me say how vital this is. I am part of a group of guys were we just let it all out...the things that are deep down inside of us, the deep struggles we have. The power in that is I need these other men to help me sort through what's good and what's not. It's harder for me to do it alone, and quite honestly, I'm not aware of it half of the time. If there are things that you are struggling with, you MUST find a group of people where you can air that openly and sift through it.
Rob mentions how xxxchurch.com is an example of people sharing their sexual struggles. Know that you are not alone.
One of the men in my group last night said that great thing about being a part of this Mars Hill community is two words, "Me too." Everybody is there. Staff included. I think it's what makes this church so powerful, that we commit to coming along aside each other and saying these two words. Rob echoed this sentiment as well (p. 62).
Lastly Rob talks about tohu va vohu, about the Hebrew phrase used in Genesis to talk about how the earth was formless and void. He mentions that each thing God creates moves away from this. It's a progression. "The first things God commands these people to do, then, involve the continuation of this ordering and caring for and for the ongoing progression away from chaos." (p. 63)
We're either contributing to the chaos or contributing to moving away from it. We were created after animals and angels, we are moving away from tohu va vohu. Acting like angels or animals is going back to the chaos. So Rob then makes a great statement: "Our actions, then, aren't isolated. Nothing involving sex exists independent of and disconnected from everything around it. How we act determines that kind of world we're creating." (p. 64)
Rob says our lives today matter because it's what makes us human. "Because God has left the world unfinished. And with every action, we're continuing the ongoing creation of the world. The question is, what kind of world are we creating?" (p. 64)
Up next, ch. 4 "Leather, Whips, and Fruit."
Recent Comments