Is it my right to do with
my body as I choose?
By Connie Elliott, The Layman, September 23, 2009
Innumerable politically liberal female friends of mine reiterate the phrase that “No one can tell me what to do or not do with my body. It is mine and I should have the right to make my own choices, without any interference from anyone.” This comment is usually made in the context of the abortion debate, but it is one that is pertinent to a much wider discussion of what is involved in the care and use of our individual bodies as Christians. 
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What is our responsibility in being good stewards of this most precious earthly material blessing, and how is it applicable to the thorny issue of health care reform in the United States today?
First and foremost our bodies are a gift from God. Created by Him, according to Scripture, they are intricately designed machines on the one hand, yet machines that are imbued with a mind and a spirit as well. He looked at what He had made and pronounced it good, and as the beneficiaries of this marvelous gift we have the responsibility to use it well. Machines come with a set of operating instructions that are meant to keep them running at an optimal level and our bodies are no exception. Proper food, drink, sleep and exercise are some of the instructions designed for us and without these regular, preventative habits, breakdown will occur.
A recent Wall Street Journal article entitled “Saving Your Bones: Hard Choices” stated that ultimate responsibility is ours to get enough calcium in our diets, enough accompanying Vitamin D, and enough weight bearing exercise. Further it said that building strong bones well in the beginning of life is key, using the example that 90 percent of bone mass in females is built by the age of 18. Yet it also stated that few adolescent girls are getting the recommended amounts of calcium and Vitamin D. This is a small but instructive commentary from a totally secular source that speaks directly to the issue of stewardship of not only our own lives but those of our children, one of God’s most treasured gifts.
The American Heritage Dictionary lists as the first definition of a steward “one who manages another’s property.” As God’s creation we are His property, so to speak, and we are called to manage that property to the very best of our ability; our physical bodies are part of that management. As followers of Christ, we are not our own but have been bought with a price, the price of the death of the Son of God on a cross.
It is easy to forget that this was not just a spiritual price that was paid nor was it just our souls that Jesus saved, but that all parts of us have been redeemed. If we have been bought at such a cost, and we want to be meaningfully involved in public conversation about health care, we need to be living proof of a healthy physical lifestyle. Do you see evidence of this kind of proof in the Christian community? In many cases there is much evidence; yet in many other places obesity, for example, is readily condoned and Christians can be heard to say that they simply don’t have time to eat right and exercise because they are too busy … serving the Lord. But is treating the gift of health so blithely actually serving the Lord or is it self-deception and indulgence and a lack of respect for what God has declared good? These same believers may be radically pro-life, but a true pro-life agenda begins with being pro-life with one’s own body.
Among the most intimate passages in the New Testament on the subject of the responsibility Christians have for their bodies are ones from Romans and I Corinthians. Here Paul speaks with utter frankness about the fact that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; he says that we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. He implies that we are therefore not to defile the body, but what does that really mean?
He goes on to give specific examples in the area of sexual immorality, which in today’s culture is often considered a subject too hot to discuss and certainly to speak out against. He speaks of our bodies being members of Christ Himself and that hence we shouldn’t be willing to join them with a prostitute or, in fact, anyone outside the bounds of marriage. He gives a command to flee from sexual immorality and to consider that other sins that a man or woman commits are outside his or her body, but that he who sins sexually sins against his own body. These are very strong, contentious words for a culture that is as saturated with sexual promiscuity in all its forms as ours is today.
Though drugs are not mentioned specifically by Paul, drinking alcohol in excess is spoken of repeatedly in his letters as something not to be condoned. Likewise, smoking is not singled out by name but as the medical community acknowledges, there is nothing positive about ingesting nicotine in any form, and together alcohol and tobacco are our most acceptable drugs of choice. The bottom line couldn’t be clearer and that is Paul’s admonition to honor God with our bodies; to do this we must not indulge in destructive physical behaviors that have been proven to take life, not give it.
So where does all of this Biblical advice and admonition leave us in relation to the health care reform debate that swirls around us? How does stewardship of the bodies with which we have been blessed by God relate to healthy engagement in a political issue, which has the potential to change our lives as Americans as much as anything in the past 65 years?
It is not the purpose of this commentary to lay out a political strategy for Christians, but as part of the Lay Committee’s effort to challenge your thinking, I would encourage you to examine the ways in which you currently care for your body to see if they are meeting the operating requirements of the Manufacturer.
See if there are any ways in which you are defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit with unhealthy lifestyle choices, which are by definition unholy. And then prayerfully allow God to grow you into the most faithful, credible of witnesses to His love in Jesus Christ for all of you – body, mind and spirit.
Gatherings of such like-minded Christians, whether at town hall meetings, churches, schools, the workplace, neighborhood block parties, or casual dinners with friends, can become powerful tools for engagement and change.
Connie Elliott is a member of the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Lay Committee. She is a member of City Church of San Francisco, Calif.