Penis

Are you shocked by the use of this word?

The penis is the whale in the room in the scriptures, starting with circumcision, if not before (e.g the apron of fig leaves and Noah's nakedness). Why was a cut on the penis the key symbol of a covenant relationship with God? Why was the sign of this covenant only applicable to men? What does Paul mean when, decrying fornication, he asks us to make our members instruments of righteousness? Why did Moses ban eunuchs and mutilated men (i.e. men with their penises cut off) from the sacrifices of the temple. What does Christ mean when he suggested that men who make themselves eunuchs (for the kingdom of heaven's sake) are blessed? Why does almost all of Christianity believe that Mary was inseminated without a penis?

The penis is paradoxical. It is absolutely necessary for the fulfillment of God's plan for families, yet it is the instrument of lust. Metaphorically and physically it is connected to every other aspect of our emotions and spirit both good and evil. It is a symbol and even a metaphor for power and potency. Yet it is also a figure of cruelty and corruption. See Genesis 34 on the rape of Dinah.

Christ said, if thy right hand offend the cut it off. So if our penis offends us are we to cut it off? It is clear from observation and history that emasculated men have a narrower range of emotions. It has been observed that men who take testosterone supplements have more volatile emotions. So literally cutting it off could help us subdue emotions. However, I think that what Christ means is that we are to control the emotions that cause the offense.

Suppressing a discussion of the penis and only talking around it is an obfuscation that makes it difficult to understand what the godly function of the penis is and how we can consecrate this primary manifestation of the natural man. Yet in talking about it we don't want to provoke inappropriate emotions.

Our doctrine invests intelligence into the soul and the spirit. Our intelligence appears to exist independently of our body and brain. What then is the function of the body? To live and die? The body is frequently used in scripture as a synecdoche for the penis. The problem of the body is managing the lusts of the body which which all are directed to the perpetuation of the body but risk overwhelming the mind and the spirit.

This blog is an attempt to demonstrate the need for mastery of the appetites of the body and, to put it bluntly, mastery of the penis. In our behavior and teaching we need to shamelessly address the problem of the penis and restore it to a godly role in the plan of happiness.