This mind/body dualism is actually a very low view of the body compared to the traditional Christian view, which says the body is inherently good, created by God, and part of who we are, not just a shell we inhabit. A lot of Christians today have lost this understanding, but this has been the historic Christian view since the beginning.
This presents a powerful way to reach those struggling with homosexual desires or similar issues (like transgenderism) with a positive message that their bodies are not irrelevant to who they are, but are good and integral parts of their being. Our bodies do have a lot to show us about who we are because they exhibit features that have a design. Behaviors that fit with our design are good and behaviors that violate our design are bad - not just morally bad, but bad for us as well.
Rather than a negative message that they are evil and twisted for having same-sex desires, we can present a positive message that their bodies are good. Our design tells us how we should live.
For example, we can study the digestive system to see what it is for and how it works. But that study also shows us good ways and bad ways of treating our bodies. If we eat nutritious food, then our bodies are helped. If we eat junk food or overeat or binge and purge or starve ourselves, these violate the way our bodies are supposed to work and cause harm. We can see that anorexia and bulimia are disorders precisely because they violate the way the body is designed to work.
It is exactly the same with the sexual organs. Our bodies have a way they were designed to work. They are designed as either male or female and the sexes are designed for their sexual organs to fit together and through that action to create new life. Our desires or attractions do not trump the design of our bodies. If we treat our bodies incorrectly, it causes harm.
This is a high view of the body that treats the body as an important part of who we are and which gives us valuable clues about how we should live so that we can flourish. Note that we do not have to rely on Christian moral teaching at this point. This is an argument from natural law, which is accessible to anyone, even if they don't believe the Bible. And that makes it easier to reach those who are not Christians.
It is worth noting at this point that Christian teaching, not coincidentally, is in line with what we can see in nature. This is good evidence for the truth of Christianity. Christian morality doesn't violate our design. It fits perfectly.
For more arguments like this about the design of human bodies and human sexuality, check out my new book The Bible and Science on Gender, Sex, and Marriage.
This is absolutely false and a load of garbage. There are 1500 species that are engaged biologically with the same sex. You're wrong as usual.
ReplyDeleteAnimals do all kinds of immoral and harmful things, like eating their young or killing their rivals. Surely you don't think animals are patterns for human behavior.
DeleteNatural law is teleological (goal centered). It means that things like animals and humans function according to a goal, one that is good. It does not mean that everything an animal does is good simply because an animal does it. Animals themselves violate their own teleos from same sex engagement (1500? really?), to dogs trying to ride a person's leg. But by looking at the very nature of a thing, you can see according to its design what a good use is. Sticking a pencil in your eye is a bad use of a pencil and a bad use of the eye. Just because many humans or animals or both desire to do so, for whatever reason, does not make the action good.
DeleteThis is sufficient to engage some of the other reasonable comments.
But you just said that Christian teachings lines up with what we see in nature. So if that is the case, than homosexual relationships are natural since homosexuality is seen in nature.
ReplyDeleteYou can't have it both ways.
Natural law here is talking about the nature of the human body, how it is designed to function, not saying anything seen in nature is good for humans. It's beyond ridiculous to think everything animals do is therefore good and proper for humans to do.
DeleteThat's not what you said. Stop moving goalpost. You're wrong. Period
ReplyDeleteThis entire post has been about the design of the human body. And nature in the context of natural law has always meant that design shows us how something should function. The nature of something is how it is designed to function, not necessarily how it is functioning in a broken world. Maybe you're not familiar with these concepts, but they go back many centuries.
DeleteAnd you're still wrong.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome to your unsubstantiated opinion. If you want other people to take it seriously, you have to provide some sort of argument, and ideally, some evidence.
DeleteLindsey, do you realize how dangerous this is? this is the reason why Gay people are disowned by their family and discriminated against in society
DeleteNothing that I said suggests treating homosexuals with hatred or disowning them or anything like that. In fact, it is loving to tell them when their behavior is harming them just like we should warn smokers that smoking causes lung cancer and can kill them. In both cases, those behaviors cause harm to people because they violate the way their body is designed to function.
DeleteYou are not helping the LBGTQ community at all by writing stuff like this, as a matter of fact it's stuff like this are contributing to the issues that the LBGTQ community are facing in society, I understand that you have a right to speak out against the LBGTQ community and I also have a right to speak out against you
DeleteBTW thank you for responding to my comments and having this conversation with Mr
Me*
Deletethe brains of homosexuals are wired to be attracted to the same sex, there is multiple evidence and research that confirms that.
ReplyDeleteWe wire our brains by our experiences - what happens to us, what we do, and what we think about. There's lots of evidence for brain plasticity. It's not like our brains control us. Our brains are partially a product of design, but also partly flexible to adapt to our behaviors and environment.
DeleteBut regardless of the desires we may have, we all have to choose moral behavior. We can say no to our desires.
Multiple studies have shown that the brains of homosexuals are structured different from the brains of heterosexuals, in other words people are born gay, it's just how the way they are
DeleteNo study has shown that anyone is born gay. Showing a difference in brain structure in adults doesn't prove they were born that way. They might have developed that brain structure in response to environmental conditions. And that actually fits the risk factors that predispose one to homosexual tendencies, which are environmental, not genetic. There is no genetic basis for homosexuality.
DeleteYes there is a genetic basis for people being gay And you're still wrong.
DeleteProve it.
DeleteEven if we assume that brains are "structured differently" from heterosexuals, such a structure could be a disorder. In the Christian view, it is a disorder leading to immorality. In a Darwinian view, it is a disorder leading to the weakening of the species. If human nature is one involving reproduction, then any disorder of brain or reproductive organs is not a good. It is at least a physical evil, and at worst leads to moral evil.
DeleteSo why do biological men have a g spot only accessible from the “behind” and biological women have a clitoris If sex is only for reproduction purposes? Obviously it’s not.
ReplyDeleteI didn't ever say that sex is only for reproductive purposes. Pleasure is also a purpose of sex, but it's intended to bond husband and wife together to be father and mother to any children they produce. Trying to only get the pleasure and not the marriage relationship or the offspring is disordered, just like trying to eat for pleasure, without the calories and vitamins food is intended to provide, is disordered.
DeleteGod absolute did give us erogenous zones for the purpose of sexual pleasure, but that doesn't mean they're intended to be used in homosexual acts. Sex is for marriage between a husband and wife.