Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 796 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
The Sanctity of Life – Loving Yourself (1) – Wisdom Wednesday
Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 796 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. We continue this Wednesday to explore our trek of interpreting life through a Biblical Worldview.
As a Christ follower, it is important to view all situations and events in life through the lens of the Bible. That is a view of the world that is aligned with what the Bible teaches us. We are exploring current issues that impact our world and society and comparing them through the lens of the Bible, instead of the lens of our society, culture, modern media, or social media.
I do not desire to tell you what to think, but to teach you how to think so that you may be able to filter current issues and events through your Biblical Worldview. I may explore opposing views and challenge you to think. You may not always agree with my view, and that is okay. I am open to any comments that you may have on the subjects that we explore.
We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. The past few weeks we discussed that a Biblical Worldview should incorporate within it the sanctity of all human life. My personal Biblical Worldview includes the strong conviction and belief that all life is precious regardless of whether it is an unborn child; someone who through advanced age, illness, or accident may be nearing the end of life; or are severely restricted in life.
One reason that modern society devalues life for certain segments of society is that we have a warped view of God’s love for us, our love for God, our love for others, and love for ourselves. A proper love for ourselves will include the realization that we were created to be bearers of God’s image. As a Christ follower, we must understand that our bodies are the dwelling place of His Holy Spirit. A proper love for self will include love and respect for others.
The entire #metoo movement stems from the fact that certain men and women don’t respect or love other persons, their bodies, or the sanctity of life. Because of this, they abuse others physically, emotionally, and mentally.
I recently came across a web interview in The Christian Post with Nancy Pearcey, a former agnostic who teaches at Houston Baptist University. Nancy recently published a book titled Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality. For this week and next, I will share some of the insights from this interview as it closely aligns with my Biblical Worldview on the core concept about the sanctity of life. If you would like an in-depth analysis of this topic, I recommend that you purchase Nancy Pearcey’s book I mentioned earlier.
So our topic today is…
The Sanctity of Life – Loving Yourself (1)
Arguably no subject divides Americans and most of the western world more passionately than what it means to be a human being, especially when it comes to sexuality, identity, and the body. What lies beneath the bitter cultural squabbles over physician-assisted suicide, abortion, same-sex marriage, and transgenderism is a secularist ideology that wages war against the human body.
Pearcey, who The Economist describes as “America’s pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual,” stresses in the book’s introduction, “We live in a moral wasteland where human beings are desperately seeking answers to hard questions about life and sexuality.”
But there is hope. In the wasteland, we can cultivate a garden. We can discover a Biblical Worldview of a reality-based morality that expresses a positive, life-affirming view of the human person — one that is more inspiring, more appealing, and more liberating than the secular worldview.
Human life and sexuality have become the watershed moral issues of our age. The daily news cycle bombards us with stories related to sexuality, abortion, assisted suicide, homosexuality, and transgenderism. A secular orthodoxy is being imposed through virtually all the major social institutions: academia, media, public schools, Hollywood, private corporations, and the law.
In Pearcey’s book, Love Thy Body, she moves beyond trendy slogans to uncover the worldview that drives the secular ethics. As a former agnostic she gives an insider’s roadmap to postmodern moral theories, showing how they devalue the human being and destroy human rights.
While to some people assisted suicide seems like the compassion course when someone has lost cognitive or physical capacity through illness or accident. We explored this topic in our last Wisdom Wednesday episode.
Assisted suicide is a good example of how secular ethics devalues the human being. Bioethicists defend assisted suicide by proposing a distinction between being biologically human and being a person. If you lose a certain level of cognitive awareness, so the argument goes, then you are no longer a person that is fit to live, even though you are obviously still human.
With a secular worldview, you can be unplugged from life-sustaining equipment, your treatment can be withheld, your food and water can be discontinued, and your organs harvested.
The implication is that being human no longer guarantees human rights. As Pearcey writes, the call to “love thy body” is a call to counter this drastic devaluation of human life. A Biblical Worldview says all humans are persons and are worthy of dignity and rights. It holds to the sanctity of all human life.
Another topic that has come to light recently is the casualness of physical relationships with someone who is not your spouse. In some circles, the hookup culture is now being broadly criticized in light of the #metoo movement. The sad fact remains though there is little conscious effort or movement to change this based on Biblical morality.
The hookup culture rests on the same devaluation of the body. The assumption is that sex is a purely recreational activity cut off from the whole person — without any hint of love or emotional attachment.
Young people know the script all too well. In her book, Pearcey includes poignant quotes from college students, like Alicia who says, “Hookups are very scripted…You learn to turn everything off except your body and make yourself emotionally invulnerable.” A senior named Stephanie chimes in, “It’s body first, personality second.”
The stereotype is that men are happy with the hookup culture. But British singer Sam Smith, in “Stay with Me,” sings about the pain and emptiness a guy feels after a one-night stand. The character in the song is begging the other person to “stay with me,“ longing for human connection that goes beyond just the physical.
The hookup mentality comes out of a Darwinian worldview that treats the human being as nothing but a physical organism driven by physical impulses. No wonder it’s creating a trail of wounded people. They are trying to live out a worldview that does not fit who they truly created to be. There will not be a genuine turnaround unless we address the underlying worldview.
A Biblical Worldview incorporates a sanctity of all human life and mutual respect and love between a man and a woman, but only within the union of marriage.
A physical relationship outside of marriage is a very slippery slope based on a secular worldview that is not grounded in God’s precepts. Marriage is a sacred union based on love for God, love for each other, and love for yourself, including your body. As we are told by Jesus in Matthew 19:4-6 “‘Haven’t you read the Scriptures?’ Jesus replied. ‘They record that from the beginning God made them male and female.’ And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”
Next week for Wisdom Wednesday we will continue with the subject of love for yourself and your body as we explore the concept of same-sex relationships through a Biblical lens. If you have any topics that you would like us to cover, please email them to me at guthrie@wisdom-trek.com.
Tomorrow we will continue with our 3-minute wisdom nugget that will provide you with a bit of wisdom that, if followed will allow you to grow healthier, wealthier, and wiser each day. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of our past 795 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe to iTunes or Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.
Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.
As we take this trek together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you tomorrow!