Real Talk

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)




"You know, we're not just staying pure, because we're afraid we'll get pregnant. Not as believers. The world, they don't do it because they fear circumstances. We don't just stay pure because we're afraid of getting a disease. Now these are things that you got to factor in. But that ain't the only reason we're not doing this. We're staying pure because we love God."

- Da Truth, from "Fourplay (Interlude)" off of his album, "Moment of Truth (2004)"


Peace and blessings,

While sitting in my public health course one day, I had an interesting revelation. During our many discussions and readings about the health issues facing us as humans (i.e. diseases, mental illness, physical illness), it hit me: to be a Christian is to be a health nut. As illustrated by Paul's letter to the church of Corinth, our bodies are temples purchased and set aside for use by God. Further, I am convinced that the extent to which God can use our bodies as vessels to do His will (e.g. spreading the love of Christ and thus changing the world) depends (at least in part) on how much we value and take care of our physical and mental selves. Now I must clarify that by taking care of our physical selves i'm not suggesting that we need to all be lean and/or thin, nor am I suggesting that for us to be overweight or have meat on our bones means that we are not taking care of ourselves. This is not what I mean at all. Instead, what I am saying is that as we ascribe to the Christian faith and doctrine, we are inevitably promoting our overall health.

A few examples of the behavioral requirements/implications of our faith serves to illustrate this point. Preserving sex until marriage has obvious health benefits on two levels. On a physical level, a sexual relationship within the context of a godly marriage reduces the chances of contracting a STD. If both spouses were virgins prior to getting married, then this risk is practically non-existent. On a more social level, I believe that because sex establishes just as much a spiritual connection as a physical connection, that bonding with someone on that level can potentially have negative consequences if we're not careful. For instance, engaging in many sexual relationships may make it difficult to have meaningful relationships, given how one may have to struggle with these physical and spiritual connections they have with all of these people. Therefore, it may be hard for us to recognize the person we are supposed to spend the rest of our lives with, when we are still connected to these other individuals from previous relationships. Other examples of health - promoting behaviors that we as Christians are required or at least encouraged to practice include avoiding "greedy" behaviors (gluttony, etc...) and avoiding the use of faculty-altering substances. I think that consuming our temples with greedy behaviors and faculty-altering substances also makes our temples too "cluttered" to be used by God.


The above quote by Da Truth makes an important disctinction regarding this issue. Although there are these and many other health benefits that result from walking the Christian walk, it is important to know that these benefits in themselves are not our motivation for engaging in health - promoting behaviors. First and foremost, engaging in health - promoting behaviors should follow from the gratitude for being redeemed by Jesus Christ, and the desire (via love) to live a life pleasing to God. Because God is like hecka smart, and thus He cares for us better than we care for ourselves, it "just so happens" that by serving Him, we are also promoting our physical and mental health.

On a related note, here's an article discussing the potential of

religious faith being linked to good health.

As another point of clarification, I do not wish to come off as judgmental or as if I don't have flaws, because Lord knows I do! I just want to put this topic in the open as it's been on my heart for a while, and I pray that it's received in good spirits. With that said, what do you think? Stay blessed, encouraged, and speekonit...

Labels: 1 Corinthians, Da Truth, God, health, Jesus Christ, mental health, Moment of Truth, Paul, physical health, spiritual

Peace and Blessings,

I'm going to start off this discussion like I do all of my "semi-important" thoughts, with a reflection on one of my favorite cartoons, lol. Even though the X-Men is my favorite contemporary (i.e. mid 1990s) cartoon, my all-time favorite cartoon is the

Classic Voltron Lion Force

This is my favorite cartoon because of its concept and its implications. I can talk about favorite cartoons and especially Voltron for days, but I'll give you the abridged version. The premise behind Voltron is the following: One cannot survive on one's own, therefore life is based upon and requires

UNITY

Voltron Lion Force consisted of 5 people, each of which were responsible for their own lion. As a team, they were responsible for promoting and maintaining peaceful relationships among those of other nations or planets, and defended the Universe ONLY WHEN THEY HAD TO. It seems like the Bush administration could learn a lesson from Voltron's "foreign policy." During those times when they had to defend the planet, it appeared as if the lions could not defeat the enemy own their own. Once the lions came together and formed Voltron, however, the team was unstoppable. Initially, I could not understand why on every episode the individual lions would get "mopped up." The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized that the individual lions' defeat is consistent with the cartoon's overall premise that one cannot survive on his or her own accord. It was only when the lions came together to form something greater than themselves that they were able to overcome all obstacles.

During his ministry, the Apostle Paul focused a great deal on the importance of unity. In Galatians 5:13-14 he states,

"For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self- indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"

I don't think that the word "slaves" as it is used here refers to being literally subserviant to and being treated as inferior by another. Instead, I am more than confident that it was referring to the idea that we must love each other in a way that puts their needs on par with, and sometimes before our own. Further, Paul's emphasis in 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 on individuals from different backgrounds and walks of life all being part of the Body of Christ suggests that for Christians, we cannot discriminate amongst each other based on gifts, status, or anything else. Because the body of Christ consists of a variety of different people, then it follows that an individual within the body of Christ is connected to and dependent upon everyone else in the body as well.

Before I end, I just wanted to introduce

an organization that embodies this essence of Unity

Some of the services they provide include providing food and housing, job and computer skills training, drug recovery, and other forms of ministry.
Not only does CityTeam Ministries represent unity with respects to its team members, their emphasis on transforming the lives of the marginalized suggests the realization that regardless of our background and position in life, we are all connected.

What do you think? What is your meaning of unity? What would it look like for this meaning of unity to be actualized in America? Throughout the world? Weigh in and speekonit...

Labels: cartoons, Christ, Corinthians, discriminate, foreign policy, Paul, relationships, team, unity, Voltron

// posted by Thoughtz @ 9:59 PM 3 Comments

Peace and Blessings,

I pray all is well with everyone. The verse I chose for this week is the following:

"There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
-Galatians 3:28 (NKJ AMP)

Although when Paul initially spoke these words he was primarily referring to the discrimination of Gentiles, this first demonstrates to me the power of Christ as not just a source of salvation, but a source of unification. It's not by chance that the impetus fueling the civil rights movement was justice for and unity among all peoples, and that Christianity provided the foundation and moral core of the movement. Whether the injustice is economic, gender-related, social, racial, or whatever, to be a Christian is to advocate for justice and unity. I pray everyone has a blessed week! Speekonit...

Labels: Bible, Galatians, Jesus Christ, justice, Paul, scripture, unity