Do we have a duty to care for ourselves ?

I was thinking of the following :-
I take this to understand that we have a duty to look after our bodies - and not hurt others'; this would suggest that those of us who self harm are guilty of not observing this tennet - and therefore become liable to be 'destroyed by God'


1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

How do you all understand this ?

michel said:

I was thinking of the following :-
I take this to understand that we have a duty to look after our bodies - and not hurt others'; this would suggest that those of us who self harm are guilty of not observing this tennet - and therefore become liable to be 'destroyed by God'


1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

How do you all understand this ?

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I think it is too broad of a speach to mean any one thing. What does defile apply to? What if you fell in a cowpie? I wish we all had a duty to look after ourselves, but I don't think it is true.

It's a general responsibility for taking care of the resources God has entrusted to one and based on this premise we are like managers and caretakers responsible for other generations for their condition. The poorest condition would utimately be the destruction of these "temples" given to us.

*Shouts* .............Please may we have some Christian input here?:help:

michel said:

*Shouts* .............Please may we have some Christian input here?:help:

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I certainly agree that we have a duty to look after our own bodies. None of us can predict what it will do to us to mistreat our own body. It takes wisdom to realize that we do not want to feed certain dark parts within us, because inevitably those decisions will change who we are. There are many addictions in life that are more subtle and less obvious than smoking and heroine.

That is the problem with the creed live and let live. Using that creed, it is difficult to construct a moral argument as to why it is wrong to use drugs. Life is a team sport and it benefits the team as a whole if we keep our bodies fit and in good shape.

atofel said:

I certainly agree that we have a duty to look after our own bodies. None of us cannot predict what it will do to us to mistreat our own body. It takes wisdom to realize that we do not want to feed certain dark parts within us, because inevitably those decisions will change who we are. There are many addictions in life that are more subtle and less obvious than smoking and heroine.

That is the problem with the creed live and let live. Using that creed, it is difficult to construct a moral argument as to why it is wrong to use drugs. Life is a team sport and it benefits the team as a whole if we keep our bodies fit and in good shape.

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I wasn't so much thinking in terms of your theme in the first paragraph; I was thinking in terms of the fact that God's 'Gift' to us, of life is one that we would be rejecting, by not keeping ourselves 'fit' in body and mind.

michel said:

I wasn't so much thinking in terms of your theme in the first paragraph; I was thinking in terms of the fact that God's 'Gift' to us, of life is one that we would be rejecting, by not keeping ourselves 'fit' in body and mind.

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Yes, I agree. In a sense we would be rejecting God's want of how to use His gift of life. Our bodies are sacred and holy, and should be treated as such. Paul is clear that it is a sin that should be taken seriously.

atofel said:

Yes, I agree. In a sense we would be rejecting God's want of how to use His gift of life. Our bodies are sacred and holy, and should be treated as such. Paul is clear that it is a sin that should be taken seriously.

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Thanks; that was my understanding - but I wanted to make sure I was right.

"Do we have a duty to care for ourselve?"
-
Well, yea. If we don't know one else will. That is why we have a thinking, working mind....

I believe that within us we can find all the wisdom God has blessed us with. I often use the cells of the body to describe our relationship with God. And our physical body experiences the emotions that fuel our spirit.

But with everything else, we have a choice to be healthy and reap the rewards of these actions or to be unhealthy and pay consequences for those actions.

*Shouts* .............Please may we have some Christian input here?:help:

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*Puts on his Christian cap*

I think you have interpreted this passage completely correctly Michel, although in isolation it might be difficult to equate "defile" with "harm". However, when compared with other beliefs such as humans are made in God's image and God giving humans the gift of life, it is probably safer to make such a conclusion. Certainly suicide and capital punishment no longer look like viable options but it may be more difficult to argue against such things as self harming (as in cutting and the like) from a purely Biblical perspective.

as to the people who self harm im sure st paul was not refering to them being destroyers of gods holy temple,more like those who commited adultery or fornication and also it was a warning to those who sought to kill christians in those days

while i do not believe Paul was an apostle or a saint, he did occasionally speak the truth on the level of the material world. We have a duty of taking care of our physical bodies, that is why God gave all those laws to Moses, that is why so many of the prophets were pro vegetarian. unfortunately Paul said these laws(laws supported by Jesus and his real followers) were weak and useless, so christians no longer follow them. These laws concerning diet and actions were there for our benefit, to protect our physical bodies and our soul, things were forbidden for a reason.

john313 said:

while i do not believe Paul was an apostle or a saint, he did occasionally speak the truth on the level of the material world. We have a duty of taking care of our physical bodies, that is why God gave all those laws to Moses, that is why so many of the prophets were pro vegetarian. unfortunately Paul said these laws(laws supported by Jesus and his real followers) were weak and useless, so christians no longer follow them. These laws concerning diet and actions were there for our benefit, to protect our physical bodies and our soul, things were forbidden for a reason.

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WHAT??..st was not an apostle??................hes my chief and most favorite apostle,his epistles have stood the test of time in their power and ability to illuminate,very odd also that he went though all those beatings,whippings,stonings for a false cause

njcl said:

WHAT??..st was not an apostle??................hes my chief and most favorite apostle,his epistles have stood the test of time in their power and ability to illuminate,very odd also that he went though all those beatings,whippings,stonings for a false cause

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i find it odd that he was called "the Liar" in the dead sea scrolls, yet so many christians believe him. why would that be??? he was an outcast from the real followers of Jesus. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus told his followers to follow James the Just when he was gone, not Paul the Liar. James, the vegetarian, was called the "righteous teacher" in the oldest nonaltered documents available called the dead sea scrolls. He also followed the Torah that Paul said was abolished(at least he followed it until Paul's friends killed him). James also followed the teachings of the prophets, which Paul said were weak and useless. Paul was a self admitted deceiver, theif, and persecutor of the followers of Jesus.
You will know a tree by its fruits........

john313 said:

i find it odd that he was called "the Liar" in the dead sea scrolls, yet so many christians believe him. why would that be??? he was an outcast from the real followers of Jesus. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus told his followers to follow James the Just when he was gone, not Paul the Liar. James, the vegetarian, was called the "righteous teacher" in the oldest nonaltered documents available called the dead sea scrolls. He also followed the Torah that Paul said was abolished(at least he followed it until Paul's friends killed him). James also followed the teachings of the prophets, which Paul said were weak and useless. Paul was a self admitted deceiver, theif, and persecutor of the followers of Jesus.
You will know a tree by its fruits........

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im guessing your jewish so feel agrieved paul dismissed the old testament well i believe saul was a more fervent follower of judiasm than you,to the point of killing christians in fact,the old testament is a great book and i read it often,joshua being my fav prophet but paul was merely saying the deeds of the old testament,ie what jews observe are of no value next to following christ

**MOD POST**

Please stay on topic! The topic is whether we have a biblical duty to take care of ourselves.

my apologies

john313 said:

my apologies

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I was hoping to hear, to read, and to learn more on Paul from you guys other than those information provided on this link:
http://www.pbs.org/empires/peterandpaul/footsteps/index.html:jiggy:

Anyway, back to the thread, do we see animals hurting themselves or committing suicide? All living creatures strive to survive. Human being is the only species that has advanced (evolved) to such a state that, occasionally the genetic inbuilt of the 'force' to survival and to pass on the gene has somehow gone haywide and resulted in suicidal tendency etc.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/suicide/
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm
Or perhaps, those suicidal or self inflict injury are a sign of poor genetic heritage that signaled a poor product that will self destruct via suicide etc

Several other religions do consider suicide as being immoral and discourage the followers to ever contemplate the idea.
I do not think Christianity dealt much on suicide:help: , though I may be mistaken.
Current suicide 'terrorists' in the Muslim world is not considered as suicide by the believers performing that act. They truely believe they are on God's command. Similarly early Christian died for the cause of their belief, sometimes putting their own life in danger or being killed is just a wrong belief that what they did is what God commanded them to do. I think Jesus did not want anyone else to die for the church except He Himself. To suffer for the church, YES. To die, NO.