85% of Catholics Believe THIS Ancient Heresy.

Summary

This video from the Theology of the Body Institute addresses a prevalent misconception among Catholics regarding the relationship between the body and the soul. The speaker, a representative from the institute, discusses a misbelief held by 85% of parishioners that the soul is liberated from the body upon death, which contradicts fundamental Christian teachings. Instead, Christianity emphasizes the unity and sanctity of body and soul, embodied in the incarnation of Christ. The video further explores how this misconception leads to discomfort with the physical nature of existence and highlights the theological importance of understanding the body as dignified and divinized through Christ.

Highlights

• Many Catholics mistakenly believe the soul's destiny is freedom from the body 🙅‍♂️.
• Christian doctrine values both spiritual and physical realms ✨.
• Discomfort with bodily functions stems from a misunderstanding of incarnation 🤔.
• Christ's humanity was essential for divine and human intersection 🤲.
• The ultimate goal is participation in the divine nature, body included! 🌟

Key Takeaways

• 85% of Catholics believe in an incorrect understanding of the soul's relationship to the body.
• Christianity values the union of body and soul; it's not about escaping the physical!
• The body is dignified through the Incarnation, not something to be shunned.
• Redemption is about embracing bodily existence, not avoiding it.
• The soul without the body is incomplete according to Christian teachings, as affirmed by the resurrection.
• Misunderstanding the body-soul relationship can disrupt fundamental Christian doctrines.
• Theology of the body's essence is seeing God's work in the physical realm!

Overview

The video by the Theology of the Body Institute shines light on a concerning theological error believed by many Catholics: the notion that spiritual life is separate and superior to the physical life. The speaker highlights this misconception using insights from his interactions with numerous priests, emphasizing how pervasive this belief is despite being contrary to Christian teaching.

Through engaging narratives and relatable analogies, the video delves into the essence of Christianity, which embodies the unity of body and spirit. This misaligned belief that the soul must escape the body is countered by examples from the Incarnation and resurrection, showing that the faith celebrates the divine's embrace of human nature, not separation from it.

Finally, the discussion reaches the heart of Christian belief - the resurrection not only of spirit but of the body. The speaker calls viewers to challenge misconceptions and embrace the true teachings of Christianity, wherein our bodies are seen as dignified conduits for divine engagement. An intriguing invitation to further explore these themes provides a chance for deeper understanding and connection.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction and the Prevalence of an Ancient Heresy The chapter discusses the surprising popularity of a YouTube short that gained significant traction. The speaker shares an experience of attending a priest convocation where he poses a thought-provoking question to the priests: what percentage of their parishioners, specifically those who attend mass, believe that their soul is freed from the body's prison upon death.
• 01:30 - 03:00: Understanding the Error: Dualism vs. Christianity The chapter "Understanding the Error: Dualism vs. Christianity" addresses a significant error believed by a large percentage of parishioners, as observed by the author through years of dialogue with various priests. The core issue is a dualistic belief that undermines the foundations of the faith, positing that spiritual matters are the only important aspects of existence, while physical things are deemed less significant or irrelevant.
• 03:00 - 05:00: The True Nature of Christianity: Unity of Body and Spirit The chapter titled 'The True Nature of Christianity: Unity of Body and Spirit' outlines the misconception that Christianity supports a dualistic view of spirit and body. It emphasizes that such beliefs align more with other ideologies, such as manism, puritanism, gnosticism, Jansenism, and dualism, rather than true Catholicism. The chapter underscores the Catholic faith's rejection of these dualisms, affirming instead the unity of body and spirit as fundamental to Christian doctrine.
• 05:00 - 07:00: Challenges in Embracing the Incarnation This chapter explores the deep connection between the physical and the spiritual realms, as illustrated by the concept of incarnation. Father Alexander Schmean, an Orthodox theologian, highlights that through incarnation, any perceived opposition between the spiritual and material worlds is dismantled and shown to be a falsehood concerning the nature of God and humanity.
• 07:00 - 09:00: Overcoming Discomfort in Our Bodies This chapter challenges the notion that one must disconnect from their physical body to attain spirituality. It argues against the idea that divorcing oneself from the body is necessary to reach God, highlighting Christianity's belief in God becoming embodied to connect with humanity. Rather than fleeing from the physical to access the spiritual, this chapter advocates for embracing the body as a vital part of spiritual experience.
• 09:00 - 11:00: Redemption of the Body, Not From the Body The chapter, 'Redemption of the Body, Not From the Body,' discusses the concept of the body as a vessel for the divine and spiritual. It uses the image of Pregnant Mary as an icon to symbolize the fusion of the divine and the human. According to the chapter, Christianity embodies the union of the divine and human through Mary, indicating that redemption involves embracing this union within the physical body rather than escaping from it.
• 11:00 - 14:00: The Dignity and Divinity of the Flesh The chapter explores the theological concept of God coming to humanity in human form, particularly focusing on the idea of a divine being born from a woman, illustrating the challenges and discomfort this notion often presents to human spiritual and religious sensibilities. It discusses the difficulty some faiths, such as Islam, have with this concept, highlighting a sense of disbelief and skepticism surrounding the idea of the divine incarnate.
• 14:00 - 16:00: The Great Exchange: Humanity and Divinity The chapter explores the concept of divinity and humanity coexisting, focusing on the perception of God in human form as described in Christian theology. It questions the vulnerability and dependency shown by God when incarnated as a human, suggesting a contrast between Islamic and Christian viewpoints. The chapter also discusses the courage required for Christians to honestly confront these theological ideas.
• 16:00 - 18:00: Conclusion: Embracing the Foundation of Christianity The chapter "Conclusion: Embracing the Foundation of Christianity" delves into the concept of the Incarnation in Christianity and challenges readers to reconsider their perceptions of divinity and humanity. The discussion highlights the discomfort around acknowledging the human experiences of Jesus, such as being born from a woman, nursing, and having bodily functions. This discomfort is mirrored in people's unease with their own humanity and physicality. The chapter urges a deeper engagement with these ideas to fully grasp the foundation of Christian theology.

85% of Catholics Believe THIS Ancient Heresy. Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 We recently posted a YouTube short that got a lot of traction in the hundreds of thousands of views and it was a little curious to me. I was explaining how when I go to a priest convocation, I will ask the priests this question. I'll say best guess, what percentage of your parishioners, and here I mean the people who actually come to mass. What percentage of your parishioners believe that when they die, their soul is finally liberated from the prison of the
• 00:30 - 01:00 body? I've asked countless priests this question over many years, and usually I get between 75 and 95%. So, let's just go in the middle there. Let's say it's 85% of parishioners believe an error that attacks our faith at its very foundations. And the error is this. It's the idea that spiritual things are what matter and physical things are
• 01:00 - 01:30 inconsequential. Right? spirit good body maybe it's bad and you know it just returns to dust this is not our faith this is manism this is puritanism this isnosticism this is Jansenism this is all kinds of isms dualism it is not Catholicism Catholicism Christianity
• 01:30 - 02:00 itself is the religion that wed weds the body and the spirit that weds physicality and materiality. Listen to this from father Alexander Schmean. He's an orthodox theologian from the east. He says this. Through the incarnation, the opposition of the spiritual and the material is denounced, abolished, and revealed as a monstrous lie about God and man and the
• 02:00 - 02:30 whole world. This is a monstrous lie. If we think we have to divorce ourselves from our bodies to reach God, we can make no sense out of a God who has wed himself to our bodies to reach us. This is Christianity. Not a flight from the body to reach the spiritual realm, but
• 02:30 - 03:00 an opening of the body so that the divine and the spiritual can enter. Pregnant Mary. We have an image from a statue here in our slide. Pregnant Mary is the icon of what Christianity is. Right? There is a marriage of the divine and the human. And the marriage between the divine and the human happens in her
• 03:00 - 03:30 womb. This is our faith. Now, it poses a great challenge to what we might call our spiritual sensibilities. We are not really in the end often times comfortable with the idea of a God who comes to us in the flesh. I think if we're honest, we can relate to the sentiments of this Muslim who said this. Imagine believing that a woman gave birth to God, the most high,
• 03:30 - 04:00 and that he needed to be breastfed and taken care of by his own creation. Imagine believing that God used to defecate and urinate upon himself and had to be cleaned by his mother. Exalted is Allah above their lies. Now, I don't think Christians would have the courage to be as honest as he's being, but I think a lot of Christians
• 04:00 - 04:30 would share these sentiments. We kind of accept the idea of the incarnation as an abstract theological idea. But when we really press into it as he's doing, we're like, a a god who urinates and defecates, a god who was born from a woman, a a god who sucked at the breast. I don't know what to do with that. And we don't know what to do with that because often times we're really uncomfortable in our own skin. We're own
• 04:30 - 05:00 uncomfortable with our own bodies. here. I love this line of Jesus. Blessed are those who take no offense at me. To the degree that we are offended by our own bodiliness and its functions, we are also offended by Christ who took on a body with all of its functions. Here we have
• 05:00 - 05:30 an image from Rhdan, the artist, of this deep discomfort we all have with our bodies ever since the fall. And I say here, ever since the fall, we've been tempted to think the flesh undignified and to blame and shame the body and the sexual difference itself for those sharp and painful
• 05:30 - 06:00 indignities that we often experience in our bodies in this fallen world. These indignities that we experience take us into some of the most painful, uncomfortable realities of being human. And so here I would say it's understandable that we tend to imagine that salvation lies in some kind of flight from the body and
• 06:00 - 06:30 sexuality in some kind of escape from the flesh in order to live a purely spiritual life. I get it. I get why we go there. I've gone there. I've thought that's the solution. I've been so uncomfortable in my own body. I've been so uncomfortable with how my bodily desires get me in trouble and cause me pain and shame and cause other people pain and shame that we can be tempted and I get it to just say, "Forget the
• 06:30 - 07:00 body. Reject the body. The body gets me in trouble. Sexuality is nothing but a a a a danger field of problems and shame and pain. It brings me pleasure on the one hand, but man, I feel so shameful about it on the other. I I'm just going to reject it all and live a spiritual life. This is not Christianity. Christianity. The essential truth of Christianity, as I put it here, is that
• 07:00 - 07:30 Christ invites us to experience the redemption of our bodies, not redemption from our bodies. And this includes our sexuality. Right here we have an image of the woman caught in adultery. And what is happening here is not redemption from her body and sexuality. It's redemption of her body
• 07:30 - 08:00 and sexuality. And how does it happen? It happens through her seeing him seeing her in all of her shame, in all of her pain. She's being seen with eyes of redeeming love. Again, whenever we are tempted to seek redemption from the body, from
• 08:00 - 08:30 sexuality, we need to have the courage, like the woman caught in adultery, to let Jesus see us right in that pain, right in that shame, so that we can experience the redemption of our bodies and our sexuality. in our temptation to think the flesh undignified. And again, we have this image of Rodan on the one hand, but on the other hand, we have this image of
• 08:30 - 09:00 pregnant Mary. In our temptation to think the flesh undignified, we are invited to rediscover what Christianity is. And what is it? The incarnation has not only dignified the flesh. The incarnation has deified the flesh. Raised it to the
• 09:00 - 09:30 level of the deity, the divine. We could put it this way. God was humanized so that man, all of us might be divonized. This is the end goal of Christianity. Not just the forgiveness of our sins, as beautiful and wonderful as that is, but the forgiveness of our sins is only the necessary preerequisite
• 09:30 - 10:00 to get to the really good news of Christianity. Why we call the Christianity gospel that is good news is not merely God forgives our sins. Thank you God. I've got plenty of them. Thank you God for forgiving our sins. But that just clears the slate so that we can enter into the really good part which is nothing short of participating in the divine nature. As the first pope St. Peter said in one of his letters, we are called to participate in the divine
• 10:00 - 10:30 nature. God participates in human nature so that man can participate in divine nature. This is the great exchange. We give God our humanity and God gives us his divinity. And this brings us full circle now back to that error, right? that death is not the liberation of the soul from the prison of the body. The souls
• 10:30 - 11:00 that are in heaven right now, St. Thomas Aquinas says, are in an inhuman state until what? Until the resurrection of the body. This very flesh will return to dust. But that dust is destined to be divonized. We're not just dust destined to return to dust. We are dust destined
• 11:00 - 11:30 to be divonized. And to believe otherwise is to rupture Christianity at its very foundations. It's to rupture Christ himself from the physical realm. It's to rupture Christ himself from the body. and is to rupture our bodies from Christ's body. And so I turn to this quote from one of my mentors, the late great manscior Lorenzo Albete. Look him
• 11:30 - 12:00 up on YouTube, read every book he's ever written. He'll change your life. He puts it this way. He says, "From the very beginning, the greatest enemy of Christianity has been the attempt to separate Christ from the flesh. How can I distinguish a good spirit and a bad spirit? It's very simple. According to St. John, everything that affirms Christ in the flesh is of God.
• 12:00 - 12:30 Everything that ruptures Christ from the flesh comes from the Antichrist. Everything that detaches the spiritual from the physical is not only uncchristian, it's anti-Christian. It's attempting to destroy Christianity at its very foundation. So, we have this image here of the dragon and the pregnant woman, Mary,
• 12:30 - 13:00 pregnant with Christ. What does the dragon want to do? He wants to devour the child the moment it's born. Right? The Holy Spirit is always moving in the direction of giving flesh to the word of God. Mary says, "How will this happen? How will I conceive the second person of the Trinity, the son of God? The Holy Spirit will come upon you." The Holy Spirit is always bringing the eternal word and the flesh together. The unholy
• 13:00 - 13:30 spirit works in the exact opposite direction to rupture the word from the flesh, to rupture the spiritual and the physical. There's a name for the separation of body and soul. It's called death. And that separation is not normal. It's not natural. If we understand normal and natural according to God's original plan, it was never meant to happen. This is not liberation. This is
• 13:30 - 14:00 tragedy. And Christ came into the world not to solidify the separation of body and soul. He came to reunite body and soul. He came to give us life and life to the full. And so Christianity is always a theology of the body. It is always a revelation of God in and through the body. If you want to
• 14:00 - 14:30 go on that integrating journey of rediscovering what your body reveals about these divine mysteries and how the resurrection of your body is is not some dismissible footnote in the Christian life, but brings us to the very heart and center and foundation of the Christian life. Then I invite you to text to O to this number. It's in the description, but I'll read it to you now.
• 14:30 - 15:00 4046477682. Text to o to that number. And because of the generosity of our patrons, we are able to give you a $149 video series at no cost to you. High five to all our patrons out there. Very grateful to you. They enable us to give this to you at no cost. It's a great introductory video series to some of the themes. We're just scratching the surface on here. Take the next step. You will not regret it.