“Becoming one flesh” <–> “one spirit with Christ”

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1. What does it mean when God said that Adam and Eve would become “one flesh”.

2. How does this understanding relate to our being “one spirit” with Christ.

Igzy asked me to give my understanding of “becoming one flesh” in Post #216 Good Lee/Bad Lee. To do that I will be using scientific references.

So I think I should start with crystal structure. The molecular structure of an element determines the crystal shape it grows into. It is an amazing concept to me since you can make almost any shape out of Lego’s yet we can look at a large crystal and tell precisely what the crystal shape is of the molecule that formed that structure. My favorite example is Pyrite, better known as Fool’s Gold. Pyrite forms big giant cubic crystals. Since the molecular structure of Pyrite is not a cube one would think that this example disproves the law. However, if you look closely at the cubes you can discern little lines on each face. These lines show that one face is not symmetrical with another. As a result you can still determine the symmetry of the Pyrite molecule and it is indeed identical to the actual symmetry. Pyrite is called a pseudo morph, rather rare. The reason I like this so much is that the actual crystal structure of Gold is a cube, so fool’s gold doesn’t just mimic the color, it also mimics the crystal structure.

Likewise I believe that the reason we see so many types and shadows of the spiritual reality in the Bible, in human history, and in creation is somewhat akin to this. All of creation springs from God’s word, the reality we see in the natural realm is built on and based on this word. In the same way that I can determine the symmetry and shape of a molecule by looking a crystal, we can determine spiritual realities by looking at types and figures.

Therefore, the things that make Adam and Eve one flesh are types and figures of spiritual realities because all things were made by the word and apart from the word nothing was made that is made. So that answers question 2, all I have to do now is answer question 1.

First, I believe something special happens when a man and woman are joined together and this special union is referred to by God as “becoming one flesh”.

A few years ago I read an interesting study. They put a female mouse into a cage with two male mice. Each of the males was tied up and kept in separate “rooms” of the cage. The female mouse could travel freely between the two rooms. The female mouse mated with both mice but in the end spent all of her time with the first mouse she had mated with. I think the Bible refers to this as “first love”. Apparently the biologists have determined that experience is imprinted on the brain in such a way that you prefer that first love. I think this is part of what God is referring to, something special happens in that first love, fornication is therefore contrary to the design of God. I think this is also something that Paul was referring to. Going to a prostitute or committing fornication prior to marriage would damage the relationship, likewise going afterwards would confuse the relationship. Likewise in the Bible there is a lot of warnings and commandments to avoid idols. Idolatry is something that is very damaging spiritually. This can also explain why people who were saved in the LRC and then subsequently left the LRC continue to talk about the LRC on sites like this.

However, there is another process that takes place that doesn’t really become apparent for many years. The brain has “mirror neurons” which cause us to mirror in our brain facial expressions and body movements that we see, voices we hear, mannerisms, expressions, etc. So if you are married and spend a lot of time with your spouse you will unconsciously mirror expressions. This will literally be etched into your face. We have all seen boys that seem to unconsciously mimic their dad, or an old couple whose faces look remarkably similar. Paul talks about beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord. Therefore I think it is very reasonable to think there is a spiritual reality to mirror neurons. This shows that spending time in the presence of the Lord will change you, it will change your expressions, your mannerisms, your words, your speech.

But the act of sex has far more consequences than fornicators wish to admit. Half of all the DNA in your body does not belong to you. Our Body is a host of a myriad number of organisms. Many of these we could not live without which is why taking antibiotics can have very negative consequences. I don’t know how to categorize them as to are they my body or not, but I would certainly say that these organisms are part of my flesh. Now when I have sex with my wife these organisms in me and the ones in her have an opportunity to mingle and to also create new organisms. As a result, STDs can be transmitted by sex, but also, after years of marriage I and my wife are host to pretty much the same organisms. Certainly this is part of becoming one flesh, this also explains Paul’s use of this rule to forbid fornication. In a monogamous society it is impossible to have epidemics of AIDS. You might have a couple who through their union created the HIV virus which subsequently killed them both, much to the confusion of the medical world. But how would this be transmitted? The virus would kill itself when they died. On the other hand a prostitute can be viewed as a laboratory in which every day organisms are being mingled with other organisms creating new organisms. Each prostitute would represent the sum total of all unions she had ever had. Add to this that many of her partners had gone to other prostitutes and the numbers quickly become mind boggling. So the person who goes to a prostitute and says “it was only one time” Paul would respond to and say “what, know ye not that your are one flesh with her?” If she represented 100 unions you didn’t do it once, you did it 101 times. If some of her unions were with people who had visited other prostitutes then maybe it is 1,000 unions or 10,000 unions. With the invention of “sex tours” it is not unreasonable to think that a prostitute could represent 1,000,000 unions. Your flesh expresses and makes a record of everything you do. Likewise I think that your spirit also expresses all that you have done spiritually. Hence the “new age” stuff about everyone worshipping the same God just with different names is to my mind, extremely dangerous.

There was an interesting study done on the brain. They put two test subjects into two rooms about 20 feet apart. The rooms were completely isolated from one another in both sight and sound. However each person wore a funny hat with a unique magnetic field. They were both connected by the same magnetic field. Both were put in the dark for 20 minutes while their brain waves were monitored. In one room a light was shined on the subject from the left after 5 minutes for only a few seconds. Then 10 minutes later it was shined on the same subject from the right. At these two instances the brain waves of this subject spiked, but strangely, they spiked for the other person as well. When asked what they were thinking about they said they had seen a light, first from the left, and then later from the right. The point is that there is a magnetic field over the whole world and brain signals are electrical. There is some anecdotal evidence that our brain can literally be tuned to those around us. No doubt, talking with someone, sharing interests, living together could all cause us to be “tuned” together, but even unconsciously at an organic level it seems the body does this. The Bible says “we have the mind of Christ”. No doubt reading the word helps tune our minds to Christ, but I have had other strange experiences of “tuning my mind” to Christ. When I was first saved I was spending hours a day reading the Bible. I remember during this time I was fellowshipping and someone asked where a particular verse was. I was able to very precisely tell them the chapter and verse. What was weird is that I had not read that book of the Bible yet. The verse had been mentioned in a previous meeting, but the memory was not from the meeting. The only way I was able to explain this to myself was that the word of God is a person, if you spend time with that person you get to know them, the whole person.

In conclusion I believe that God’s use of this expression “become one flesh” and Paul’s use of this expression both refer to something that is far more than “like minded” or “united”.