Sex.God. – Chapter One: God Wears Lipstick

Genesis 1:27 says God created us "in his own image" thus making us image bearers of our perfect creator. Everybody. Everywhere. We were all created to reflect the image of the one who delicately designed us.

In this chapter, Bell speaks of the "hell on Earth" that comes when people choose to treat God's creation in inhumane ways. This ranges from ignoring the physical needs of others to treating God's creatures as objects [Bell refers to the sexual objectification of women]. Bell argues that our anti-human actions not only degrade and devalue the subject of our abuse but also cause the abuser to lose some of his/her own humanity.

To avoid this, Bell asserts, we must become part of "The New Humanity." No, it's not some creepy cult where you have to wear Nikes and drink Kool-Aid. The New Humanity refers to a mindset where we understand that having been created in God's image, we are more alike than we are different. "The New Humanity is about seeing people as God sees them." It's about realizing that although you may see somone as vastly different from yourself, we are all image bearers of Christ. So, the Jew and the Gentile, the Pastor and Prostitute, the Marine and Iraqi - the humanity that unites them comes from being image bearers of Christ thus making these odd pairs more similiar than different.

The most profound, yet obvious and simple, part of this chapter hit me like a ton of bricks. Bell writes:

"How you treat the creation reflects how you feel about the creator. When a human being is mistreated, objectified, or neglected, when they are treated as less than human, these actions are actions against God. Because how you treat the creation reflects how you feel about the creator."

He goes onto write that "To be a Christian is to work for The New Humanity" and that "A church exists to be a display of The New Humanity."

I am so proud to be a part of a church [C3 Church] that embodies "The New Humanity." A church that is committed to meeting both the spiritual and physical needs of others - because to ignore either is to be anti-human and thus anti-God. A church that recognizes we are all image bearers and embraces the similarities in all of us instead of letting the differences divide us. A church that values the Pastor as much as the Prostitute and the Marine as much as the Iraqi. A church that doesn't discriminate on who is welcome to worship with us and guards against those who try to ruin and discourage "The New Humanity" attitude among us.

Graceful Barbarians. The New Humanity.