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Our Bodies Tell God's Story

Discovering the Divine Plan for Love, Sex, and Gender

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Our Bodies Tell God's Story

By: Christopher West
Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
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About this listen

In response to a world awash in sexual chaos and gender confusion, this book offers a bold and thoroughly biblical look at the meaning of the body, sex, gender, and marriage.

Best-selling author, cultural commentator, and popular theologian Christopher West is one of the world's most recognized teachers of John Paul II's Theology of the Body. He specializes in making this teaching accessible to all Christians, with particular attention to evangelicals. As West explains, from beginning to end the Bible tells a story of marriage. It begins with the marriage of man and woman in an earthly paradise and ends with the marriage of Christ and the church in an eternal paradise.

In our post-sexual-revolution world, we need to remember that our bodies tell a divine story and proclaim the gospel itself. As male and female and in the call to become "one flesh", our bodies reveal a "great mystery" that mirrors Christ's love for the church (Eph. 5:31-32). This book provides a redemptive rather than repressive approach to sexual purity, explores the true meaning of sex and marriage, and offers a compelling vision of what it means to be created male and female.

©2020 Christopher West (P)2020 Baker Publishing Group
Christian Living Christianity Gender Studies Personal Development Sex Instruction Marriage

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Amazing book but not indepth enough

What is the purpose of the book?
To tell us Gods plan for sexuality, marriage, gender etc

Does the book fulfil its purpose? What is the main theme?
it gets about 75% there and misses about 25% of depth that its should cover for a good understanding of TOB, while it is still an absolutely excellent book. Its main theme is that we are made in the image of God by the love od God and are called to share in his divine life, and a way we share in his divine life is through the marital union of sex. God calls us to love as Christ loves the Church, Christ loves the church faithfully, fully, fruitfully and totally, so should we to our partners, and that is what marriage is, anything deviating from this love misses the mark. This explains the Christian teachings on sexuality and shows that it is to intensify our love and satisfaction of our desires rather than suppress it. there are some things that it should go into more detail, such as sexuality for celibate people, homosexuality, masturbation, porn and much much more, it does not go into depth enough to truely answer peoples questions on these topics, hence people should probably read a more indepth book such as JP2’ “man and woman he created them” 700pgs +, or something, or “Theology of the body explained” 500 pages + or “Good news about sex and marriage”. 200 pgs+


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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

TW: Transphobic, anti-LGBTQIA+, body shaming

I came into this read as a white passing cisgendered heterosexual female who regularly attends church, hoping to understand what has (& remains to be) the mystery of an all loving creator God with caveats. I truly desired to grasp an understanding of the theological basis upon which these exclusionary & harmful beliefs came from, albeit with an ulterior motive to equip myself to better advocate & dispel mistruths when the opportunity arrises However, for many reasons, this became impossible;

1. Right from the get go the book goes out of its way to say "man & woman", the narrator often even putting a little extra emphasis on the phrase, it's repetative & banal, becoming fingernails on a chalkboard after just the first chapter

2. It is twice as long as the source material it espouses.

3. The irony of a man who took a vow of celibacy preaching on the subjective experience of sex is more than a little baffling.

4. Its tone frequently contradicts it's messages; themes of bodily self-acceptance & the body being a vessel for communication/signs from God & yet it feels ominous & left me waiting for the jump scare.

5. Its depiction of the bibles use of metaphor & allegory regarding marriage & and individuals' relationships with God is shared in a way that's just downright creepy & predatory. Mentions of the growth of breasts & hair signifying the marker for marriage to God. Obviously inferring that God, a genderless being themselves, is male & those to whom he marries female. So what about the men, how do they come into union, become one flesh, with God?

I could go on, but the reality is I don't need to by this point you've made your opinion of me & my opinions & will proceed however you choose. But if you are someone who's queer, questioning, or has ever felt excluded by the church, I'd caution you against reading this as an act of self care. You are right, whole, worthy, loved, healthy, spiritual, valued, valuable, needed, wanted, desired even & a plethora of other positive descriptors. I know this to be true for you because it's true for me even when I don't believe it, so please please surround yourself with people, things, & institutions that give you life, love, freedom & all the other good things Jesus's came to deliver. May you carve out your own peace of heaven on earth. 💚

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