“Your body is a temple.”
A phrase that you are sure to hear if you attend a Christian church for a long period of time. This phrase is an answer you’ll get if you ask a “good Christian” if you ask to do something such as get a tattoo, another piercing, etc.
In the Christian church I see something that is bothersome. The more conservative settings that you investigate, the more they will use “your body is a temple” in a hypocritical matter.
A church potluck is an example of this. Growing up in a Messianic synagogue, I have grown up around very healthy families and individuals. Typically, a Jew has a healthy diet. Not just eating frozen vegetables with dinner, but more in the way of primarily eating fresh fruits and vegetables. At my synagogues congregational potlucks you will find lots of salads, healthy soups, fruits, vegetables, etc. You will never go to a congregational potluck and have a hard time eating a vegetarian diet.
Several months ago I was in a situation where I had to eat at a church potluck in a conservative Sunday church. I noticed that many dishes had cream of mushroom soup in them and was loaded with sodium, and hot dishes loaded with carbs, I finally got to the part of the line where the salads where. To my disappointment, about every flavor of Jello had been made into a “salad”.
I find that hardening because this kind of church would consider things such as smoking, drinking, and doing drugs a sin. If you ask about any member they would say, “your body is a temple.” What I absolutely do not understand is how are those things are a sin, but eating junk at the church potluck is not. In the end, what is the difference between smoking a cigarette and eating a cream of mushroom casserole. If you have a problem with someone else’s issues because thier body is a temple, I suggest you look at your own diet first.
If you go and look at this passage, it is talking about sexual immorality, but we take it out of context all of the time.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20
“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits is outside, but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you whom you have received from G-d? You are not your own;
You were bought with a price, therefore honor G-d with your bodies.”
Feel free to look up this scripture for yourself. Yesterday I was watching a Christain movie with someone and the main character was a smoker. My friend said, “Woe, he’s smoking but smoking isn’t actually a sin.” With my background my natural inclination was to say, “Your body is a temple…” But I couldn’t say anything because so often that is taken out of context.
I question why we take this out of context all of the time. It is because we are taught something but don’t go and look it up ourselves. I challenge you to not just listen to what others tell you, but go and discover the truth for yourself.
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