Sex God

So did that get your attention? I thought so.

I've been reading a book by Rob Bell called Sex God. Bell's claim is that sexuality and spirituality are endlessly connected. And through reading his book and thinking through a lot of his teachings, I see his point. In fact, in the first chapter he explains the purpose of the book pretty clearly:

Sex. God. They're connected. And they can't be
separated. Where the one is, you will always find the other. This s a book
about how sexuality is the "this" and spirituality is the "that." To make sense of
the one, we have to explore the other.

And that is what this book is about.

I'm only about halfway through the book so far, but let me provide you all with some of the points from the book that have really been weighing on my heart and mind lately.

• "When Jesus talks about heaven and hell, they are first and foremost present realities that have serious implications for the future. Either can be invited to earth, right now, through our actions. It's possible for heaven to invade earth. And it's possible for hell to invade earth." (pg 22)--So my thoughts are: What kind of impact am I making? Am I introducing heaven here on earth to people? What kind of witness am I being?
• "Moments when all of the ways that we divide ourselves and rank each other and convince ourselves of how different, better, and unalike we are disappear and we are faced with the fact that first and foremost, we are humans. In this together. And not that much different from each other." (pg 26) Thoughts: How judgemental and insensitive can I be to a person's situation? How often do I fail to place myself in the shoes of others? And how many times do I feel inadequate compared to someone else? How unappreciative have I been of the life that God has given me?
• "We were born into a world, into a condition of disconnection. Things were created to be a certain way, and they're not that way, and we feel it in every fiber of our being...we're severed and cut off and disconnected in a thousand ways, and we know it, we feel it, and we're aware of it every day. It's an ache in our bones that won't go away...Our sexuality, then, has two dimensions. First, our sexuality is our awareness of how profoundly we're severed and cut off and disconnected. Second, our sexuality is all of the ways we go about trying to reconnect."(pg 40) Thoughts: I mean, think about it, how many times do you hear in movies or see on tv something along the lines of 2 individuals talking about how they feel closest when they're having sex. And how much of media is based on sexuality? We're just trying to connect. Because of the broken condition of humanity, we look for connections everywhere besides where we find the one true connection--God. And so undoubtedly, we are left unfulfilled and longing for something more when we fill the desire for connections with meaningless relationships, defining careers, a nonstop social life and more.
• "...we aren't angels and we aren't animals" (pg 64) Thoughts: When we allow ourselves to blame our actions on our animalistic nature, we discredit the order in which God created us. We discredit our ability to think, to reason, to feel, to love, to have any sort of emotion. We discredit our ability to have any say in our actions. But when we allow ourselves to believe we are angels, we are setting ourselves up for failure. For we have humanistic natures and we live in a world of sin. Bell talks about how, as humans, we were created after angels and after animals. As God created the world, he brought it more and more out of chaos. So for us to think we are angels or animals, we are going back towards chaos when we should be moving forward--continuing the creation.
• "Lust promises what it can't deliver...Lust comes from a deep lack of satisfaction with life. This is why we have to slow down and reflect on our lies before we'll ever begin to sort out the significance of this. Lust often starts with a thought somewhere in our head or heart: 'If I had that/him/her/it, then I'd be...' Lust is always built on a lie...Think about the head space we give to things and people we want. it's easy for our thoughts to be dominated by a craving. We're in a meeting, we're taking a walk, were studying, we're doing jobs around the house, and the whole tie our brain is miles away, trying to figure out how to get it...Lust is slavery...But freedom isn't being able to have whatever we crave. Freedom is going without whatever we crave and being fine with it." (pgs 73-75) Thoughts: Oh so many thoughts on this section. It's about so much more than sexual lust. By lusting for anything, whether it be a relationship, a job, a lifestyle, a body type, material goods, etc., we are telling God that what He has given us is not good enough. We are telling him that his plan which is Perfect is not good enough for us. Who are we to tell God it's not good enough??? And by living in lust, we are not allowing ourselves to live fully content lives of purpose. We are distracted from the task at hand by this thing that lurks in the back of our minds. It's a vicious cycle spurred on by our sinful nature, our broken condition, our culture, etc. Our only option to break this cycle, to gain freedom, is to be prayerful in asking God to help us be content and satisfied with what we have--asking for help in overcoming those urges and cravings for something more. Find "something more" in God.

So that's about where I'm at right now. The book has so much to say that I have to continuously go back and skim over sections. And so, go buy the book, start reading, and then start conversing with me about your learnings. Sex. God. Two words you never thought would be connected...until now.