Imagine with me for a moment.
Imagine a future that radically changes in the next 20 years. Gigantic and magnificent medical advances are made, technology making things you would think are impossible become possible. You find yourself in this future, where due to our state of the art medical system, people are living long lives. You are married, your spouse and yourself are deeply in love, feeling like a newlywed couple, with a new lease in on life, so many years together before you.
Then life happens. Tragedy strikes. Your spouse is severed from you, literally. To save your spouses life they have to separate their head from their body!! Of course you think they can't possibly survive apart from each other, but with medical advances the way they are, they are able to allow their head or body to stay alive as a separate entity, that can function recognizably as the person you fell in love with. And, it's the only way to keep your spouse alive. And you have to make the choice, do they live as just a head, just a body, or do you lose them completely.
If you choose they live as a head, the doctors assure you they can create a self-sustaining bubble for their head, with necessary organs transplanted into the brain, everything set up to allow them to live in this bubble. They explain that your spouse will live a life similar to being paralyzed from the neck down, without the hassle of bodily functions, they will be able to see, hear, think, talk, and relate to you. But, their disability will hinder sharing of any physical household needs, and even communication may be hard because there is no body language. And, you will never again be able to touch their skin or feel them touch you, there is no physical relationship of any kind.
If you choose they live as a body, the doctors assure you they can place part of their brain in their body, enough to control the body but higher functioning thinking will be affected. They explain that your spouse will live a life similar to being deaf, blind, mute, but at least you have a physical presence, you can hold each other, kiss each other, share the small touches that communicate so much without speaking. But, their disability will hinder sharing in household decision making, and communication can be learned but their ability to relate to you intellectually on the same level would most likely be affected.
So, do you choose to lose your spouse all together, or choose only part of them. And which part of them do you choose since either way your relationship will feel incomplete. Choosing which half of your spouse's body to keep alive just to have some semblance of a relationship left seems quite ridiculous. It's just about impossible to have a successful romantic relationship with someone in only a mental capacity or only a physical capacity. Most rational people would realize you no longer would have the whole person, or whole relationship.
Guess what though? There are likely millions of brides doing that very thing. Christ's brides often choose to have a relationship just with Christ and not His body. I would bet there are hundreds of thousands of people who feel all they need is Christ, that they don't need and don't want and can't benefit from a relationship with His body. And I would also bet there are hundreds of thousands of people who go to Church, they love being part of that community, and yet they do not interact with Christ at all, they don't read their Bible, don't pray, and aren't affected by the teachings taught at Church.
What they aren't seeing is that Christ and the Church are a package deal, you can't really have a true relationship with God if you don't have a relationship with both. Christ gave us the Church to be His arms to hug, and His lips to comfort, and His feet to serve, how can you have a close, loving relationship with someone without the opportunity to 'feel' them. And how can you have a close, loving relationship with someone without the opportunity to relate intellectually and spiritually, without speaking to them, without getting to know and understand them, without working together to create your future.
Only one or the other is just not enough, it will leave you unsatisfied, like it is not whole or complete. You would want more than that from a spouse, why wouldn't you want more than that with God?
Imagine a future that radically changes in the next 20 years. Gigantic and magnificent medical advances are made, technology making things you would think are impossible become possible. You find yourself in this future, where due to our state of the art medical system, people are living long lives. You are married, your spouse and yourself are deeply in love, feeling like a newlywed couple, with a new lease in on life, so many years together before you.
Then life happens. Tragedy strikes. Your spouse is severed from you, literally. To save your spouses life they have to separate their head from their body!! Of course you think they can't possibly survive apart from each other, but with medical advances the way they are, they are able to allow their head or body to stay alive as a separate entity, that can function recognizably as the person you fell in love with. And, it's the only way to keep your spouse alive. And you have to make the choice, do they live as just a head, just a body, or do you lose them completely.
If you choose they live as a head, the doctors assure you they can create a self-sustaining bubble for their head, with necessary organs transplanted into the brain, everything set up to allow them to live in this bubble. They explain that your spouse will live a life similar to being paralyzed from the neck down, without the hassle of bodily functions, they will be able to see, hear, think, talk, and relate to you. But, their disability will hinder sharing of any physical household needs, and even communication may be hard because there is no body language. And, you will never again be able to touch their skin or feel them touch you, there is no physical relationship of any kind.
If you choose they live as a body, the doctors assure you they can place part of their brain in their body, enough to control the body but higher functioning thinking will be affected. They explain that your spouse will live a life similar to being deaf, blind, mute, but at least you have a physical presence, you can hold each other, kiss each other, share the small touches that communicate so much without speaking. But, their disability will hinder sharing in household decision making, and communication can be learned but their ability to relate to you intellectually on the same level would most likely be affected.
So, do you choose to lose your spouse all together, or choose only part of them. And which part of them do you choose since either way your relationship will feel incomplete. Choosing which half of your spouse's body to keep alive just to have some semblance of a relationship left seems quite ridiculous. It's just about impossible to have a successful romantic relationship with someone in only a mental capacity or only a physical capacity. Most rational people would realize you no longer would have the whole person, or whole relationship.
Guess what though? There are likely millions of brides doing that very thing. Christ's brides often choose to have a relationship just with Christ and not His body. I would bet there are hundreds of thousands of people who feel all they need is Christ, that they don't need and don't want and can't benefit from a relationship with His body. And I would also bet there are hundreds of thousands of people who go to Church, they love being part of that community, and yet they do not interact with Christ at all, they don't read their Bible, don't pray, and aren't affected by the teachings taught at Church.
What they aren't seeing is that Christ and the Church are a package deal, you can't really have a true relationship with God if you don't have a relationship with both. Christ gave us the Church to be His arms to hug, and His lips to comfort, and His feet to serve, how can you have a close, loving relationship with someone without the opportunity to 'feel' them. And how can you have a close, loving relationship with someone without the opportunity to relate intellectually and spiritually, without speaking to them, without getting to know and understand them, without working together to create your future.
Only one or the other is just not enough, it will leave you unsatisfied, like it is not whole or complete. You would want more than that from a spouse, why wouldn't you want more than that with God?
3 comments:
Yes, yes, YES!!!! GREAT post, Lori!! A brilliant parallel and sobering thoughts.
Nice. Great thoughts. I am going to link this on my blog.
Great analogy L! Love it - and sadly, so true.
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