all of which is to say I think that songs like Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve and The Manuscript and illicit affairs do a lot to demonstrate what we mean by “xyz is wrong”. not “this thing you’re chasing is fun, and that makes it inherently evil and therefore forbidden” and not “this thing you’re chasing is beautiful, but if you pull it out of its proper context you’ll be punished for it in some abstract future eternity”, but “this thing you’re chasing is beautiful, but if you pull it out of its proper context it, itself, will be completely destroyed and transformed into something ugly, and that will tear you up inside, right here and right now, and it will not be worth it.”
nothing is forbidden that’s good for you. nothing is wrong that will make you happy. if there’s a very specific set of circumstances under which something is allowed, then those are the only circumstances where it can survive.
@justanawesomeowl I’m going to try to write something up for you but in the meantime this is the video I assign to my students as make-up work when they miss the TOB lecture. it’s ten minutes, and it breaks down the theology of the body into a few simple points:
- God made this world (and you) on purpose and out of love.
- God made humanity in His image and likeness.
- God made human beings a body-soul composite—you are your body.
- What you do with your body matters.
- God is love—therefore your deepest identity is in and for love.
- Jesus came to restore our brokenness.
it’s not going to immediately answer the question, but I think it can be really helpful to keep this framework in the back of your mind when you’re having these kinds of conversations. particularly you always have to keep coming back to “you ARE your body (it is not a neutral tool), so what you do with your body MATTERS (not just what your intention is), and what you do with your body will be most fitting for who you are when it is in accord with LOVE because that is your deepest identity!