Guests:
Crystal Frank, Tim Funk, Blake Widmer

Show notes:

• We need to look to the Bible for how to be godly men & women, not our culture.
• Two teams looking at this: one team of brothers and one team of sisters.
• Additional communications planned.
• Teams contain brothers & sisters from various ages, cultural contexts, urban/rural, & linguistic environments.
• 5 stages to be investigated (1-what it means to be human? 2-how do we represent the image of God? 3-what does it mean to be created male & female? 4-living as godly men & women. 5-interactions with evangelism & discipleship)
• Being human is more than physical; also includes thoughts, soul, spirit.
• Be careful not to elevate one aspect of humanity above another.
• There is a part of us that is of the earth and a part of us that is of God.
• Benefit of study: Our God-given body is good.
• Implications of viewing human as whole, both body & soul: God wanting to dwell with us is an embodied reality in the incarnation.
• What happens if we separate body & soul or elevate one above another? We struggle with self-worth instead of seeing ourself as a tabernacle; we struggle to resolve the tension we feel when we think of ourselves as only body or soul (we don't need to feel bad that we have a body); we might say 'my body doesn't really matter that much', when actually it is very valuable, especially knowing that Jesus will return with a body; we may tend to minimize the body when the body dies, when the reality is that our body will be resurrected.
• Other important discoveries of this study: humanity is one (male & female) - this is significant especially for those that struggle with their identity, value and worth.
• This study should lead us to worship God.
• Plans for additional studies and podcasts on this topic.