sex and spirit

A man named Richard Carson came and spoke to us a few weeks ago during one of our weekly chapels. He said some things that I really agreed with about sexuality and everything that comes with it. His ideas were similar to what Rob Bell talks about in his book Sex God, a great read if you haven't picked it up yet. I was refreshed and inspired, because the more this topic comes up, the more I want to tell everyone about it. The old way of thinking needs to be thrown out. We need a transformation of the mind and soul.

I'm going to give you some of the highlights from the one hour chapel that day.

First of all, we have to get rid of the default assumption that all Christians are going to marry. Marriage is elevated falsely in the Christian world. What if we thought of this differently?

Marriage is wonderful and a great way to glorify God, but it is not the only way, and it is not necessarily the best way for everyone.

singleness does not take away your sexuality. You are sexual. but sexual does not equal the act of having sex.

It is so so much deeper.

“Conservative churches have only themselves to blame that
they failed to communicate a biblical vision for sex to post-war young adults. It takes a quite extraordinary degree of skill to take a vision of satisfying, wonder-filled sex, and the possibility of intimate committed friendship and make it all sound miserable. But that is precisely what many pastors, nuns and youth workers somehow achieved.”
(Mike Starkey in God, Sex and Generation: A Search for Lost Wonder)

What a great quote! Sad but true.

Richard talked about the link between sex as body-mind-spirit.
Sexuality--spirituality. They are extremely close to being the same thing.



wait ----------------------------------- reorder/redirect
abstain ------------------------------- adventure
starve --------------------------------- live
stay pure ----------------------------- become pure
purity=absence of sex -------------- purity=presence of life
wedding is the end ------------------ wedding is the beginning
celibacy is asexual ------------------- celibacy is sexual.
Jesus, sexual? what?! --------------- Jesus is the most sexual person ever


see the difference in these two perspectives? On the left we have the standard way sex is taught in the church, which humorously is more of a Buddhism method of suppression. But on the right we have a radically different view that parallels with what Christianity really is about.

sex is a perfect gift saved for marriage, or sex is a journey during marriage?

Sexuality can't be reduced to sex.