What an interesting place Xanga was last week! It seemed like the inevitable had finally occurred; Xanga had become a back-alley porn site. I remember a few years back that it was not uncommon in the least to stumble across a blog that had a few unpleasant surprises. But recently I feel Xanga has done a good job of tucking all that junk away so that those who swim near the surface rarely come across it, while those who like to swim along the bottom can find it if they want to. How the heck did all that crazy stuff make it to the front page?
Rawr! I caught you digging in the Xanga muck!
I prefer to swim close to the surface and in the light. To jump in the water last week was to find oneself up to the neck in who-knows-whose-what and, frankly, it was sad.
Most of you who are familiar with my blog know that I hold to what many people today refer to as “old-fashioned,” “out-dated” or “medieval” standards and views, so what I am about to say likely won’t surprise anyone.
The genitalia of a human being is beautiful, absolutely; no argument here at all. In fact it would be absolutely foolish to argue to the contrary.
But the question that Playboy, Hustler, and fellow Xangans who want the most intimate parts of the human body for the viewing pleasure of others forget to ask is, “Why are these parts of us beautiful?”
Well, I’ll give you some of my thoughts.
First and foremost the human body–male and female–is created in the image and likeness of God, who is Most Beautiful. Part of God’s immense beauty (besides the fact we can’t even begin to comprehend it!) is mystery; He is absolutely veiled in it. I believe that part of the reason He created clothes for Adam and Eve after the Fall is to help guard against lust, which we can consider to be the sinful perversion of attraction that takes the human body as it is, instead of what it points to or reveals. Lust ignores the person behind the flesh and, in doing so, ignores the image of God inherent in the person. Pornography ignores the person entirely; I have never encountered a person who lusted after this or that other person, but rather lusted after their body. It is one thing to carve an idol of an animal or a person and worship it; can you imagine what a terrible idolatry it must be to idolize the image of God in a human being, making a god out of His image instead of worshiping God in His fullness?
Secondly, and this pertains particularly to the recent phenomenon on Xanga, when you seek out and display images merely of this genital or that one, you detract immensely from its beauty. Why? You have removed it from its context, from the very reality that makes it beautiful in the first place. Who would find a severed penis lying on the ground beautiful, or take a picture of it to later view for some pleasure? Likewise a vagina or even a woman’s breasts? It is one thing to idolize the human body in its wholeness, but to idolize a mere part? Some might argue that we do the same thing with hands and heads; this is entirely different. When there is a picture of a hand, it is often being employed to model something (jewelry for example) or convey a message (a hand outstretched expressing an opportunity to help); the hand isolated and pictured is rarely the main focus. With the image of a face or head we are not viewing it for its own sake but recognizing that the face, of all the parts of the human body, conveys the reality of the person in a way that we can connect with. Can you tell by looking at a leg what a person is feeling? In contrast, what can you tell of a person by looking at pictures of their genitals, save for perhaps a judgment as to why they may have chosen to exhibit this part of themselves, as opposed to something that is, of itself, beautiful?
The long and short of it (absolutely no pun intended) is this: our genitalia is limited and dependent when it comes to its own beauty. These parts of our human bodies serve a higher reality than what we find in them individually. It is by these parts, for example, that the human race continues onward and the image and likeness of God endures in this world. These parts of our bodies allow a husband and wife to express their love for each other in a way that cannot be fully expressed by any other. But nothing in these parts alone is beautiful; cut apart from the person they are just awkward bits of flesh. To idolize or to make pornographic the human genitalia is to greatly insult the beauty and dignity of each and every human being alive, whether they realize the insult or not.
Why am I choosing to blog about this when Christmas is only a few days away? Because that insult to humanity includes someone very near and dear to myself and many others: Jesus Christ. That all-beautiful God I mentioned earlier, the one veiled in mystery? He chose to unveil Himself, to show Himself in utter, complete and honest nakedness as had never been done before and will never be done again: the invisible, veiled God took flesh and dwelt among us as a man. God showed us as much as He possibly could of Himself, the height of that revelation occurring upon the Cross. The fact that we hold our very humanity–our entire existence–in common with God exalts and makes doubly sacred that humanity. When we ignore that dignity and sacred reality we not only insult our human brothers and sisters but also Jesus Christ who was, is and eternally shall be one of us.
So, in gentle retaliation I propose that we offer a counter example of exhibitionism, after the fashion of He whose birth we will soon celebrate.
I am going on retreat tomorrow afternoon and will be away from the Internet, telephone, television, etc. for three glorious days of prayer and silence. When I return I would be thrilled to have an inbox filled with the following:
If you are 18? No! If you are a human being, I want you to bare it all for me: SHOW ME YOUR HEART!
Please message me, in 300 words or less, something beautiful that tells the people of Xanga about who you are. It can be something sad, tragic, joyful, victorious, humorous, poetic, simple, angry; it all depends on who you are and what you want Xanga to know. I will post all the (appropriate!) replies anonymously, so please feel completely safe in sharing something that is personal; only I will know who you are and I won’t tell a single soul!
Let’s show Xanga what it means to reveal something private about ourselves; let’s show Xanga what beautiful is. Last week’s lusty romp may have surprised a great many people (myself included) but hopefully this will be doubly surprising, especially if it makes the front page!
God bless you all; please know that I will be praying for the people of Xanga during my retreat, and some of you by name.
