these thoughts inspired by another blogger
In the interest of not being guilty of theological reductionism, I thought after running across this blog post, that I should throw my two cents into the discussion. Now once you’ve clicked the link and seen the painting I’ve got on the right you’ve got to wonder what does Jesus have to do with voluptuous women and self-esteem.
The author of the linked blog, Kate Harding, might call me a male chauvinist if she met me in person. But on the question of fat politics, she and I are in absolute agreement. I think we have a sick society when one standard of beauty is force-fed to an entire population, instead of understanding some basic things about attraction.
Speaking from the Bible, I would say this to all of the men that read this webpage. Whatever your wife looks like, that is beauty for you. So if your wife is short, then short is beautiful. If your wife looks like she stepped out of a painting by Peter Paul Reubens, then that is beautiful. Don’t ever, ever, make the mistake of trying to force that arbitrary standard of beauty on some other woman. It’s destructive in the end.
“So, Hutch,” you ask, “what exactly does this have to do with Jesus and Christianity?” Here’s your answer: I am convinced that if you want to reach your culture with the gospel, you have to exegete the culture. And in my exegesis of American culture, I’m forced to admit that my culture is sick. We have managed to convince a whole lot of women that being liberated means being a single mom with two kids, working 2 jobs, and obsessing about whether or not her dress size is small enough. Yes, there is a point of morbid obesity. And yes, reaching that point does put your health at risk. Yes, I agree that gluttony is a biblical sin. Yet to tell my now ex-girlfriend, Bri, that she’s not beautiful because she didn’t hit an arbitrary weight standard is cruel. Bri is a wonderful, beautiful girl whose bone structure will never let her hit anything less than a size 9 or 10 without looking dead. To get any smaller than that would put her health at risk.
Here’s the thing. In Genesis 1, God creates the world and calls it good, and then He creates man and woman in Genesis 2 and calls it very good. So why do we, as Christians, allow our culture to pronounce as “bad” what our great God and Savior has called very good?
Anybody got any answers?
I relate to this so much. I used to be depressed about how I look. Being in Christ changes things completely though. Starting with these verses:
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
~Isaiah 53:2-3
He was flogged and humiliated and crucified, made a public spectacle by the very people he came to love and save. Painful as it is to think about why Jesus had to die, the grace of God in allowing it to happen for our sakes is the most beautiful thing to a Christian.
People who meet these arbitrary weight standards that qualify them for being ‘beautiful’ are made by the same God as people who don’t meet these standards. But all hearts share a lot in common. Our hearts then have the potential to form links between all people, and should unite us. But the outward form, which is different for everyone, is what the world chooses, and there is division.
My fiance affectionately calls me “Motu” which is Hindi for “chubby one”. I LOVE THAT. It’s an amazing reminder of the trust between us, knowing that he doesn’t expect me to conform to any standard except God’s standard through Christ. It is also a reminder to put Jesus first in all things, to remember that it is He who makes all things beautiful. I feel beautiful because of him who sanctifies me.