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Affirmation of Humanity
Apr 23, 06:30 PM
Somehow in Western Christianity, we have gotten the idea that the flesh is evil and only the spirit within us is of any value. Certainly, there are Scriptures that might lead us to think like this.
“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
“The flesh profits nothing; it is the spirit that gives life.”
“The works of the flesh are plain: sexual immorality, impurity . . . . ”
But we have to be careful that this train of thought does not take us beyond what the Bible means in these verses. This mindset, if taken to its extreme would lead us to believe that everything associated with humanity is inherently evil. It is this way of thinking that has produced a kind of dark-self loathing in much of Christianity and cast a shadow of guilt over nearly everything of human origin. It would lead us to believe that sex is evil and the human body shameful. Even artistic creativity often has a kind of wary skepticism directed at it by people from the Christian faith community.
In many Christian circles, the faith has a certain pall over it – a dark foreboding of guilt associated with it. We do not embrace humanity; we are often afraid of it and go to great lengths to try to avoid it. Jesus did not avoid humanity, nor did He come to condemn it. He plunged Himself into the midst of human flesh, taking on its very form.
We are trying to reach this generation with the saving love of God in Jesus Christ. For the most part the people in this generation do not separate spiritual matters from matters of life and living. Those who have a spiritual yearning tend to see life as an extension of the divine. The world, fallen as it is, is still nonetheless the creation of God and His Divine nature is expressed in all of creation. Human beings were created in His image and endowed with His own creativity.
The incarnation of Jesus Christ is not a rejection of humanity, but an affirmation of it. God does not hate the world; God loves it and all the people in it.
So should we.