Christian View Of The Body

The body is our temple. That’s what many people say. That’s why we try to improve it, try to make it more beautiful, fit and appealing to others. We think that we rule our bodies, we control it and we use it as we want. But what if it is quite the opposite? What if our body rules over us and makes us do things that we might not want to do? All religions have their own interpretation of sin, body, and how it is connected. Christianity views the body as the source of sin from which we must be saved. And there are reasons for this. “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” (genesis 1:1) And it was good. There was no sin. Sin appeared after Adam and Eve ate a fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From that

Because people became ashamed of their bodies. They understood that they are naked and didn’t want God to see it, so they hid from him. Body started to come into its possession. It took the mind first.

However, to fully understand the connection between sin and body, we have to look at both of them separately. A sin is a free act in which one rejects God. So sin is a moral category of a free will. God gave people the freedom to make their own decisions and that was one of the main reasons why people have sinned. People were left alone and could do everything they want as long as they do not disobey God. So when people sin, they reject God’s rules and thus reject God himself. Body in Christianity can be seen more like flesh. So it is a physical aspect of a human as opposed to the spirit. Flesh is desire, lust, and selfishness. Flesh is something that makes us disobey laws of God. Christians always see a body as a threat. What body wants goes against sanctity. Christians saw it like this from time immemorial. Like in XIII-XIV century flagellant was very popular among the religious people. In the beginning, it was even encouraged by the church because it was seen as a part of asceticism, a lifestyle that promotes abstinence from worldly pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. People tried to punish their bodies, make it obey their spiritual needs. They saw a problem in the subordination

Christians believe that this salvation can be achieved through the training and disciplining of the body. They understand that salvation can’t happen without body subordination. Like in the movie “Passions of the Christ” Jesus had to go through all those tortures to become worthy of God. He had to be beaten up to death and walk like this through the city so people can see that without punishment of the body we cannot reach salvation. Jesus also showed humanity that trust in the Lord makes everything possible. Going through all the pain he still was strong in his faith to Lord. God has never left hi as He would never leave any of us. He showed that if God wants people to do something, whether it’s to obey moral laws or die for Him, they have to believe him. Also, according to the bible, the only thing that distinguishes us from God is a sin. Each and every of us is sinful. We also know that God has no body; he is a spirit. Human is a combination of body and spirit. So as a simple equation we see, that body is what causes