Sex God (Provacative Title!)

Several months ago I chewed through Rob Bell’s Sex God. Believe it or not, it really lived up to its title: it was about Sex and God. And how they go together. Or how God invented Sex. Or maybe it was about strip clubs. I’m not quite sure anymore, but I did like a lot of what Rob had to say. A lot of it was conjecture, but what I like about Rob’s conjectures is that they don’t straddle the line. He says what he means. Even if what he means isn’t necessarily true all the time.

One Rob-truth especially stuck with me – perhaps because it’s a Truth-truth: it went something along the lines of “...something serious -- something hellish happens when people are treated as objects, and we should resist it at all costs. (p. 22)" In my words: every time we dehumanize someone we bring a little bit of hell to Earth.

If it’s a Truth-truth then I am guilty of bringing a hell of a lot hell to Earth:

Every time I judge someone’s importance based on what they do (or don’t do) to make a living I bring Hell to Earth. By doing so, I have deconstructed an entire identity down to a job. Jobs are not human.

Every time I look out for myself and glance past others I bring hell to Earth. Pretending that other people do not exist might just be the definition of dehumanization. Invisible people are not human.

Every time I flippantly discount someone’s importance because of what they’re wearing I bring hell to Earth. I have torn their worth down into some sewn together pieces of fabric. Fabric is not human.

Yes, it’s a Truth-truth. I think. Either way, I agree. In fact, an idea like that can really change the way you see people. And the way you view yourself. And the way you view the world. It’s one of those ideas that can shift your paradigm; it did all of those things to me. It affected the deepest parts of me because I know that I have brought Hell to a lot of people in my life – in my mind and in my actions.

Rob’s argument is that Heaven is a perfect relationship – with God, with one another. To God, relationship is of the utmost significance. He craves relationship with us and he wants us to cultivate relationships with one another. When we trample on that which God considers the most important, we have brought hell to Earth, because if Heaven is a perfect relationship, then hell is isolation. And isolation begins when we dehumanize someone, because we have deemed them unworthy of time, of attention, of relationship.

So what do we do with this? We ask God to make us painfully aware of when our hearts judge – and thus put distance between – one another. We ask God to heal those relationships that are busted up. We ask God to do these things, and then we act. We act as a sort of glue to a world where everything is broken by loving those who need love, by loving those who are impossible to love. Relationship by relationship it’s possible to bring a little bit of Heaven to Earth. I think what God is saying in Isaiah 58 in regards to sacrifice also applies here:

“…Share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, clothe him, and do not turn away from your own flesh and blood. Then your light will break forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.”