Note some facts about depression:

(1) It is universal. It is no respecter of persons. It touches the poor and the rich, the weak and the mighty, the educated and the uneducated. It hits everyone because, ultimately, it is not caused by circumstances, possessions, or position, but rather by the way one handles life.

(2) No profession is exempt from it. It reaches out and grabs doctors, lawyers, businessmen, cab drivers, construction workers, pastors, missionaries, nurses, secretaries, housewives, moms and dads, farmers, truck drivers, athletes, etc.

(3) Depression has nothing to do with one’s IQ. If anything, people with higher IQs are more susceptible.

(4) Age is not a defense against it. It attacks the young and old alike. Each decade of age has its own special susceptibility to depression. This is often referred to as the cycles of depression.

(5) Depression ranges from mild mood swings (which we all face) to deep psychosis.

(6) It may of course have physical causes. A lack of sleep, improper diet, vitamin deficiency, exhaustion are among the more simple causes. It may also be caused by such things as drugs, low blood sugar, glandular disorders, allergies, brain tumors, and chemical imbalances.

(7) One of the most common causes, however, is in the area of the spiritual, mental, and emotional. This can also affect the physical (Prov. 14:30; 17:22). In other words, while there are physical causes, and these should be checked out, the most common causes are spiritual. Some of these causes are:

Disappointment or failure. We tend to become depressed when our expectations are not met. Timothy LaHaye says, “of the hundreds of depressed cases I have examined, without exception they began with a disappointment or an experience in which the individual was displeased.”31 People tend to become depressed when they become disappointed in their performance, in another’s performance, or when something they were expecting did not materialize.
An Unbiblical Self-concept. Thinking wrongly about ourselves can be a terrible downer. This involves disappointment in ourselves, which may be the result of a wrong self-image of who we are in Christ. It also may be the result of false and unrealistic expectations or unresolved guilt, real or unreal. In other words, seeking happiness, security, and significance from our success or performance rather than from the Lord is a real downer–a big cause of discouragement or depression.
Covetousness. This is the strong desire for things–position, power, prestige, possessions, privileges, etc., in the belief that they will meet our needs, that they will give us happiness or security. When these things don’t meet our needs (and they won’t) depression sets in.
Rejection by Others. We all have a basic need for the ABC tripod of stability–acceptance, belongingness, and competence. When any one of these suffer, it can cause depression. Again, however, the root cause is our failure to find this tripod of emotional and mental stability in God’s evaluation and declarations regarding our lives. In Christ, we have acceptance. As God’s children, we belong to the family of God and we have the capacity He gives us to live the Christian life.
Elijah had experienced a great victory on Mount Carmel with a long-time goal accomplished. Yahweh was proven to be the true God, the people had worshipped the Lord as the true God, and the Baal prophets had been put to death. But this was also a very vulnerable time; a time where anyone could easily let down. Elijah had expended a great deal of energy–both physical and spiritual. It was truly a mountain-top experience, but now he needed to watch for the valleys that always follow.

As soon as Jezebel heard of the victory of Elijah, she sent her threat and his expectations for revival and reformation were dashed into pieces like a china cup on a concrete floor. Being disappointed, Elijah got his eyes off the Lord, became fearful, and ran for his life down to Beersheba and then beyond into the desert. He was alone, having left his servant behind. He was tired, exhausted, and in the wilderness by himself without food and water. Of course, he was not alone because the Lord was there, but he felt totally alone, helpless, fearful, hurt, a failure, and he wasn’t thinking with the viewpoint of the Word.

In such a state, what do we do? We become apathetic and faithless. We seek escape, feel sorry for ourselves and think irrationally (biblically speaking). We lose our perspective. The situation becomes a mountain and the Lord becomes in our sight like a mole hill. We stop enjoying life, we forget our goals, lose ground, and withdraw from God and people–the very ones we need the most. With this in mind, let’s note some of the causes for Elijah’s discouragement or depression:

Psychological Reason: There is generally a natural let down after victory and the accomplishment of a goal or a large task. https://bible.org/seriespage/crisis-elijah-1-kings-194-14

Tenga en cuenta algunos datos sobre la depresión:

(1) Es universal. No hace acepción de personas. Toca al pobre y al rico, al débil y al poderoso, al educado y al ignorante. Golpea a todos porque, en última instancia, no es causado por las circunstancias, las posesiones o la posición, sino por la forma en que uno maneja la vida.

(2) Ninguna profesión está exenta de ella. Alcanza y agarra a médicos, abogados, empresarios, taxistas, obreros de la construcción, pastores, misioneros, enfermeras, secretarias, amas de casa, papás y mamás, granjeros, camioneros, deportistas, etc.

(3) La depresión no tiene nada que ver con el coeficiente intelectual. En todo caso, las personas con un coeficiente intelectual más alto son más susceptibles.

(4) La edad no es una defensa contra ella. Ataca a jóvenes y adultos por igual. Cada década de edad tiene su propia susceptibilidad especial a la depresión. Esto a menudo se conoce como los ciclos de depresión.

(5) La depresión varía desde leves cambios de humor (que todos enfrentamos) hasta psicosis profunda.

(6) Por supuesto, puede tener causas físicas. La falta de sueño, la dieta inadecuada, la deficiencia de vitaminas, el agotamiento se encuentran entre las causas más simples. También puede ser causado por cosas tales como drogas, niveles bajos de azúcar en la sangre, trastornos glandulares, alergias, tumores cerebrales y desequilibrios químicos.

(7) Sin embargo, una de las causas más comunes está en el área espiritual, mental y emocional. Esto también puede afectar lo físico (Prov. 14:30; 17:22). En otras palabras, si bien existen causas físicas, y estas deben verificarse, las causas más comunes son espirituales. Algunas de estas causas son:

Decepción o fracaso. Tendemos a deprimirnos cuando no se cumplen nuestras expectativas. Timothy LaHaye dice, “de los cientos de casos de depresión que he examinado, sin excepción comenzaron con una decepción o una experiencia en la que el individuo estaba disgustado”. , o cuando algo que esperaban no se materializó.
Un autoconcepto no bíblico. Pensar mal sobre nosotros mismos puede ser una terrible decepción. Esto implica una desilusión con nosotros mismos, que puede ser el resultado de una autoimagen equivocada de quiénes somos en Cristo. También puede ser el resultado de expectativas falsas e irreales o de culpa no resuelta, real o irreal. En otras palabras, buscar la felicidad, la seguridad y el significado de nuestro éxito o desempeño en lugar del Señor es una verdadera decepción, una gran causa de desánimo o depresión.
Codicia. Este es el fuerte deseo de cosas: posición, poder, prestigio, posesiones, privilegios, etc., en la creencia de que satisfarán nuestras necesidades, que nos darán felicidad o seguridad. Cuando estas cosas no satisfacen nuestras necesidades (y no lo harán), aparece la depresión.
Rechazo de los demás. Todos tenemos una necesidad básica del trípode ABC de la estabilidad: aceptación, pertenencia y competencia. Cuando cualquiera de estos sufre, puede causar depresión. Una vez más, sin embargo, la causa raíz es nuestra incapacidad para encontrar este trípode de estabilidad emocional y mental en la evaluación y las declaraciones de Dios con respecto a nuestras vidas. En Cristo, tenemos aceptación. Como hijos de Dios, pertenecemos a la familia de Dios y tenemos la capacidad que Él nos da para vivir la vida cristiana.
Elías había experimentado una gran victoria en el Monte Carmelo con una meta a largo plazo cumplida. Se demostró que Yahvé era el Dios verdadero, el pueblo había adorado al Señor como el Dios verdadero y los profetas de Baal habían sido condenados a muerte. Pero este también fue un momento muy vulnerable; una época en la que cualquiera podía defraudar fácilmente. Elijah había gastado una gran cantidad de energía, tanto física como espiritual. Fue realmente una experiencia en la cima de la montaña, pero ahora necesitaba estar atento a los valles que siempre siguen.

Tan pronto como Jezabel se enteró de la victoria de Elías, envió su amenaza y sus expectativas de reavivamiento y reforma se hicieron añicos como una taza de porcelana sobre un piso de concreto. Estando decepcionado, Elías apartó los ojos del Señor, se asustó y corrió para salvar su vida hasta Beerseba y luego más allá en el desierto. Estaba solo, habiendo dejado atrás a su sirviente. Estaba cansado, exhausto y en el desierto solo sin comida ni agua. Por supuesto, no estaba solo porque el Señor estaba allí, pero se sentía totalmente solo, impotente, temeroso, herido, fracasado, y no estaba pensando con el punto de vista de la Palabra.

En tal estado, ¿qué hacemos? Nos volvemos apáticos y sin fe. Buscamos escape, sentimos lástima de nosotros mismos y pensamos irracionalmente (hablando bíblicamente). Perdemos nuestra perspectiva. La situación se convierte en una montaña y el Señor se vuelve a nuestra vista como un topo. Dejamos de disfrutar la vida, olvidamos nuestras metas, perdemos terreno y nos alejamos de Dios y de las personas, precisamente las que más necesitamos. Con esto en mente, notemos algunas de las causas del desánimo o depresión de Elías:

Razón psicológica: generalmente hay una decepción natural después de la victoria y el logro de una meta o una gran tarea. https://bible.org/seriespage/crisis-elijah-1-kings-194-14

Stress Takes a Toll Sin the Workplace: Stressed people

are:

Less likely to eat healthily

30%

============

Less likely to exercise

25%

============

More likely to fail at weight loss programs

200%

============

Get half as much sleep
as people reporting low levels of stress

50%

tress affects over 100 million Americans and is a driver of many chronic diseases. But, stress in the workplace isn’t all bad. It can help us get things done. In fact, some amount of stress is essential for productive performance. But too much stress too often takes its toll. In the same way that one cup of coffee can make you productive and

focused, but five or six cups spin you out of control, chronic stress makes people unproductive, foggy, unable to control emotions, and ultimately ill.

When the balance tips from just enough stress to too much stress it becomes the biggest impediment to behavior change. This leads to a serious no-win situation: the more stressed your employees are, the less able they are to make lifestyle changes and adopt the very wellness programs you’ve already put in place.

According to the 2012 American Psychological Association (APA) study, Stress in America, highly stressed people are:

• LESS LIKELY TO EAT HEALTHILY (30%)
• LESS LIKELY TO EXERCISE (25%)
• MORE LIKELY TO FAIL AT WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS (200%)
• GET HALF AS MUCH SLEEP AS PEOPLE REPORTING LOW LEVELS OF

STRESS.

 

According
to the 2011 APA Stress
in America Survey ===============

44%
of Americans say they do only a poor/fair job of preventing stress

39% report doing only a poor/fair job of managing stress

31% report a poor/fair job of fully recovering or recharging from being stressed

===============

===============

===============

Bottom Line: Stress Is Costing Organizations a Fortune

One estimate is that stress and the related illness, absenteeism, and presenteeism, costs organizations as much as $300 billion a year. Stress contributes to unhealthy behavior which contributes to health care costs and lost productivity.

   ===========================================

According to the APA, 60% of workers reported losing productivity due to stress while at work during the past month.

   ===========================================

Stressed workers suffer from fatigue, make more mistakes, and are more likely to be absent than non-stressed employees.

   ===========================================

According to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health: Workers who report being stressed incur healthcare costs that are 46% higher than their less stressed counterparts.

   ===========================================

An estimated one million employees miss work each day because of stress – and this costs companies an average of $702 per employee per year. https://www.mequilibrium.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/3-1-13-FINAL.pdf

El costo del estrés

El estrés cobra un precio en el lugar de trabajo
Estresado
gente

son:

Menos probabilidades de comer sano

30%

Menos probabilidades de hacer ejercicio

25%

Más probabilidades de fracasar en los programas de pérdida de peso

200%

Duerma la mitad que las personas que reportan bajos niveles de estrés
50%
El estrés afecta a más de 100 millones de estadounidenses y es un impulsor de muchas enfermedades crónicas. Pero, el estrés en el lugar de trabajo no es del todo malo. Puede ayudarnos a hacer las cosas. De hecho, cierta cantidad de estrés es esencial para el desempeño productivo. Pero demasiado estrés con demasiada frecuencia pasa factura. De la misma manera que una taza de café puede hacerte productivo y
concentrado, pero cinco o seis tazas te hacen perder el control, el estrés crónico hace que las personas sean improductivas, confusas, incapaces de controlar las emociones y, en última instancia, enfermas.
Cuando la balanza se inclina de suficiente estrés a demasiado estrés, se convierte en el mayor impedimento para el cambio de comportamiento. Esto conduce a una situación grave sin salida: cuanto más estresados ​​​​estén sus empleados, menos capaces serán de hacer cambios en el estilo de vida y adoptar los mismos programas de bienestar que ya ha implementado.
Según el estudio de la Asociación Americana de Psicología (APA) de 2012, Stress in America, las personas muy estresadas son:

• MENOS PROBABILIDAD DE COMER SALUDABLE (30%)
• MENOS PROPUESTA A HACER EJERCICIO (25%)
• MÁS PROBABILIDAD DE FRACASAR EN LOS PROGRAMAS DE PÉRDIDA DE PESO (200%)
• DUERME LA MITAD DE LAS PERSONAS QUE INFORMAN NIVELES BAJOS DE
  ESTRÉS.

Según la encuesta Stressin America de la APA de 2011 ===============
El 44% de los estadounidenses dicen que solo hacen un trabajo deficiente/regular para prevenir el estrés.
El 39% informa que solo hace un trabajo deficiente/regular en el manejo del estrés

El 31% informa un trabajo deficiente/regular para recuperarse o recargarse por completo del estrés

===============

Conclusión: el estrés les está costando una fortuna a las organizaciones
Una estimación es que el estrés y las enfermedades relacionadas, el ausentismo y el presentismo cuestan a las organizaciones hasta $ 300 mil millones al año. El estrés contribuye a un comportamiento poco saludable que contribuye a los costos de atención médica y la pérdida de productividad.
===========================================
Según la APA, el 60% de los trabajadores reportaron pérdida de productividad debido al estrés en el trabajo durante el último mes.
===========================================
Los trabajadores estresados ​​sufren fatiga, cometen más errores y es más probable que se ausenten que los empleados no estresados.
===========================================
Según el Instituto Nacional para la Seguridad y Salud Ocupacional: Los trabajadores que informan estar estresados ​​incurren en costos de atención médica que son un 46 % más altos que sus contrapartes menos estresados.
===========================================
Se estima que un millón de empleados faltan al trabajo todos los días debido al estrés, y esto le cuesta a las empresas un promedio de $702 por empleado por año. https://www.mequilibrium.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/3-1-13-FINAL.pdf

Todo

Ver sinónimos de: totalidad / totalidad en Thesaurus.com

adjetivo

comprendiendo la totalidad de su cantidad, cantidad, extensión, número, etc., sin disminución ni excepción; entera, completa o total:

Se comió todo el pastel. Corrieron toda la distancia.

que contiene todos los elementos que le pertenecen propiamente; completo:

Tenemos un juego completo de porcelana antigua.

indiviso; en una pieza:

tragarse una cosa entera.

Matemáticas. integral o no fraccionario.

VER MÁS

sustantivo

el conjunto completo de partes o elementos pertenecientes a una cosa; la cantidad total, cuenta, extensión o número:

Aceptó algunas de las partes pero rechazó el todo.

una cosa completa en sí misma, o que comprende todas sus partes o elementos.

un conjunto de partes asociadas o vistas juntas como una sola cosa; un sistema unitario. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/wholeness

An early life full of neglect, deprivation and adversity leads to people growing up with smaller brains, a study suggests.

The researchers at King’s College London were following adopted children who spent time in “hellhole” Romanian orphanages.

They grew up with brains 8.6% smaller than other adoptees.

The researchers said it was the “most compelling” evidence of the impact on the adult brain.

The appalling care at the orphanages came to light after the fall of Romania’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

“I remember TV pictures of those institutions, they were shocking,” Prof Edmund Sonuga-Barke, who now leads the study following those children, told the BBC.

He described the institutions as “hellholes” where children were “chained into their cots, rocking, filthy and emaciated”.

The children were physically and psychologically deprived with little social contact, no toys and often ravaged by disease.

The children studied had spent between two weeks and nearly four years in such institutions.

Previous studies on children who were later adopted by loving families in the UK showed they were still experiencing mental health problems in adulthood.

Higher levels of traits including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a lack of fear of strangers (disinhibited social engagement disorder) have all been documented.

There were 67 Romanian adoptees in the study and their brains were compared to 21 adoptees who did not suffer early life deprivation.

“What we found is really quite striking,” Prof Sonuga-Barke told the BBC.

First the total brain volume – the size of the brain – was 8.6% smaller in the Romanian adoptees on average.

And the longer they spent in the Romanian orphanages, the greater the reduction in brain size.

However, the impact on the brain was not uniform.

Prof Mitul Mehta, one of the researchers, said: “We found structural differences between the two groups in three regions of the brain.

“These regions are linked to functions such as organisation, motivation, integration of information and memory.”

The researchers say these findings could help explain lower IQ and higher rates of ADHD in these adults.

What the study cannot explain is what exactly about early life neglect and deprivation has this effect on the brain.

It means it is hard to work out the effect of other early life traumas such as abuse or being a refugee.

However, the study is clear that the impact on the developing brain goes far beyond just poor nutrition.

Prof Sonuga-Barke said: “This study is important because it highlights for the first time, in a compelling way, the power of the early environment and early adversity to shape brain development.

“It drives impairments over this long period of time – over 20 years – even when children have received top-notch care in loving adoptive families.” https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51010388

 

Una vida temprana llena de abandono, privaciones y adversidades hace que las personas crezcan con cerebros más pequeños, sugiere un estudio.

Los investigadores del King’s College London estaban siguiendo a niños adoptados que pasaban un tiempo en orfanatos rumanos “infiernos”.

Crecieron con cerebros un 8,6 % más pequeños que otros adoptados.

Los investigadores dijeron que era la evidencia “más convincente” del impacto en el cerebro adulto.

El espantoso cuidado en los orfanatos salió a la luz después de la caída del dictador comunista rumano Nicolae Ceausescu en 1989.

“Recuerdo las imágenes de televisión de esas instituciones, fueron impactantes”, dijo a la BBC el profesor Edmund Sonuga-Barke, quien ahora dirige el estudio que sigue a esos niños.

Describió las instituciones como “infiernos” donde los niños estaban “encadenados a sus catres, meciéndose, sucios y demacrados”.

Los niños estaban privados física y psicológicamente con poco contacto social, sin juguetes y, a menudo, devastados por enfermedades.

Los niños estudiados habían pasado entre dos semanas y casi cuatro años en dichas instituciones.

Estudios anteriores sobre niños que luego fueron adoptados por familias amorosas en el Reino Unido mostraron que todavía tenían problemas de salud mental en la edad adulta.

Se han documentado niveles más altos de rasgos que incluyen autismo, trastorno por déficit de atención con hiperactividad (TDAH) y falta de miedo a los extraños (trastorno de compromiso social desinhibido).

Hubo 67 adoptados rumanos en el estudio y sus cerebros se compararon con 21 adoptados que no sufrieron privaciones en la vida temprana.

“Lo que encontramos es realmente sorprendente”, dijo el profesor Sonuga-Barke a la BBC.

Primero, el volumen total del cerebro (el tamaño del cerebro) era un 8,6 % más pequeño en promedio en los adoptados rumanos.

Y cuanto más tiempo pasaban en los orfanatos rumanos, mayor era la reducción del tamaño del cerebro.

Sin embargo, el impacto en el cerebro no fue uniforme.

El profesor Mitul Mehta, uno de los investigadores, dijo: “Encontramos diferencias estructurales entre los dos grupos en tres regiones del cerebro.

“Estas regiones están vinculadas a funciones como la organización, la motivación, la integración de la información y la memoria”.

Los investigadores dicen que estos hallazgos podrían ayudar a explicar un coeficiente intelectual más bajo y tasas más altas de TDAH en estos adultos.

Lo que el estudio no puede explicar es exactamente qué tiene este efecto en el cerebro sobre el abandono y la privación en la vida temprana.

Significa que es difícil determinar el efecto de otros traumas de la vida temprana, como el abuso o ser un refugiado.

Sin embargo, el estudio deja claro que el impacto en el cerebro en desarrollo va mucho más allá de la mala nutrición.

El profesor Sonuga-Barke dijo: “Este estudio es importante porque destaca por primera vez, de manera convincente, el poder del entorno temprano y la adversidad temprana para dar forma al desarrollo del cerebro.

“Produce discapacidades durante este largo período de tiempo, más de 20 años, incluso cuando los niños han recibido atención de primer nivel en familias adoptivas amorosas”. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51010388

The Human Brain Can Create Structures in Up to 11 Dimensions

SIGNE DEAN
21 APRIL 2018
Last year, neuroscientists used a classic branch of maths in a totally new way to peer into the structure of our brains.
What they discovered is that the brain is full of multi-dimensional geometrical structures operating in as many as 11 dimensions.

We’re used to thinking of the world from a 3-D perspective, so this may sound a bit tricky, but the results of this study could be the next major step in understanding the fabric of the human brain – the most complex structure we know of.
This brain model was produced by a team of researchers from the Blue Brain Project, a Swiss research initiative devoted to building a supercomputer-powered reconstruction of the human brain.
The team used algebraic topology, a branch of mathematics used to describe the properties of objects and spaces regardless of how they change shape.
They found that groups of neurons connect into ‘cliques’, and that the number of neurons in a clique would lead to its size as a high-dimensional geometric object (a mathematical dimensional concept, not a space-time one).
“We found a world that we had never imagined,” said lead researcher, neuroscientist Henry Markram from the EPFL institute in Switzerland.
“There are tens of millions of these objects even in a small speck of the brain, up through seven dimensions. In some networks, we even found structures with up to 11 dimensions.”

Just to be clear – this isn’t how you’d think of spatial dimensions (our Universe has three spatial dimensions plus one time dimension), instead it refers to how the researchers have looked at the neuron cliques to determine how connected they are. 
“Networks are often analysed in terms of groups of nodes that are all-to-all connected, known as cliques. The number of neurons in a clique determines its size, or more formally, its dimension,” the researchers explained in the paper. 
Human brains are estimated to have a staggering 86 billion neurons, with multiple connections from each cell webbing in every possible direction, forming the vast cellular network that somehow makes us capable of thought and consciousness.
With such a huge number of connections to work with, it’s no wonder we still don’t have a thorough understanding of how the brain’s neural network operates.
But the mathematical framework built by the team takes us one step closer to one day having a digital brain model.
To perform the mathematical tests, the team used a detailed model of the neocortex the Blue Brain Project team published back in 2015.

 

The neocortex is thought to be the most recently evolved part of our brains, and the one involved in some of our higher-order functions like cognition and sensory perception.
After developing their mathematical framework and testing it on some virtual stimuli, the team also confirmed their results on real brain tissue in rats.
According to the researchers, algebraic topology provides mathematical tools for discerning details of the neural network both in a close-up view at the level of individual neurons, and a grander scale of the brain structure as a whole.
By connecting these two levels, the researchers could discern high-dimensional geometric structures in the brain, formed by collections of tightly connected neurons (cliques) and the empty spaces (cavities) between them.
“We found a remarkably high number and variety of high-dimensional directed cliques and cavities, which had not been seen before in neural networks, either biological or artificial,” the team wrote in the study.
“Algebraic topology is like a telescope and microscope at the same time,” said one of the team, mathematician Kathryn Hess from EPFL.

“It can zoom into networks to find hidden structures, the trees in the forest, and see the empty spaces, the clearings, all at the same time.”
Those clearings or cavities seem to be critically important for brain function. When researchers gave their virtual brain tissue a stimulus, they saw that neurons were reacting to it in a highly organised manner.
“It is as if the brain reacts to a stimulus by building [and] then razing a tower of multi-dimensional blocks, starting with rods (1D), then planks (2D), then cubes (3D), and then more complex geometries with 4D, 5D, etc,” said one of the team, mathematician Ran Levi from Aberdeen University in Scotland.
“The progression of activity through the brain resembles a multi-dimensional sandcastle that materialises out of the sand and then disintegrates.”
These findings provide a tantalising new picture of how the brain processes information, but the researchers point out that it’s not yet clear what makes the cliques and cavities form in their highly specific ways.
And more work will be needed to determine how the complexity of these multi-dimensional geometric shapes formed by our neurons correlates with the complexity of various cognitive tasks.

El cerebro humano puede crear estructuras en hasta 11 dimensiones

SIGNO DECANO
21 ABRIL 2018
El año pasado, los neurocientíficos utilizaron una rama clásica de las matemáticas de una forma totalmente nueva para escudriñar la estructura de nuestro cerebro.
Lo que descubrieron es que el cerebro está lleno de estructuras geométricas multidimensionales que operan en hasta 11 dimensiones.

Estamos acostumbrados a pensar en el mundo desde una perspectiva tridimensional, por lo que esto puede sonar un poco complicado, pero los resultados de este estudio podrían ser el próximo gran paso para comprender la estructura del cerebro humano: la estructura más compleja que conocemos. saber de.
Este modelo de cerebro fue producido por un equipo de investigadores del Blue Brain Project, una iniciativa de investigación suiza dedicada a construir una reconstrucción del cerebro humano impulsada por una supercomputadora.
El equipo utilizó la topología algebraica, una rama de las matemáticas que se utiliza para describir las propiedades de objetos y espacios independientemente de cómo cambien de forma.
Descubrieron que los grupos de neuronas se conectan en ‘camarillas’, y que la cantidad de neuronas en una camarilla conduciría a su tamaño como un objeto geométrico de alta dimensión (un concepto dimensional matemático, no uno de espacio-tiempo).
“Encontramos un mundo que nunca habíamos imaginado”, dijo el investigador principal, el neurocientífico Henry Markram del instituto EPFL en Suiza.
“Hay decenas de millones de estos objetos incluso en una pequeña parte del cerebro, hasta siete dimensiones. En algunas redes, incluso encontramos estructuras con hasta 11 dimensiones”.

Para que quede claro, no es así como pensarías en las dimensiones espaciales (nuestro Universo tiene tres dimensiones espaciales más una dimensión temporal), sino que se refiere a cómo los investigadores han observado las camarillas de neuronas para determinar qué tan conectadas están.
“Las redes a menudo se analizan en términos de grupos de nodos que están conectados todos a todos, conocidos como camarillas. La cantidad de neuronas en una camarilla determina su tamaño, o más formalmente, su dimensión”, explicaron los investigadores en el documento.
Se estima que los cerebros humanos tienen la asombrosa cantidad de 86 mil millones de neuronas, con múltiples conexiones de cada red celular en todas las direcciones posibles, formando la vasta red celular que de alguna manera nos hace capaces de pensar y ser conscientes.
Con una cantidad tan grande de conexiones con las que trabajar, no es de extrañar que todavía no tengamos una comprensión profunda de cómo funciona la red neuronal del cerebro.
Pero el marco matemático construido por el equipo nos lleva un paso más cerca de tener algún día un modelo de cerebro digital.
Para realizar las pruebas matemáticas, el equipo utilizó un modelo detallado de la neocorteza que el equipo del Proyecto Blue Brain publicó en 2015.

 

Se cree que la neocorteza es la parte de nuestro cerebro que ha evolucionado más recientemente y la que está involucrada en algunas de nuestras funciones de orden superior, como la cognición y la percepción sensorial.
Después de desarrollar su marco matemático y probarlo en algunos estímulos virtuales, el equipo también confirmó sus resultados en tejido cerebral real en ratas.
Según los investigadores, la topología algebraica proporciona herramientas matemáticas para discernir los detalles de la red neuronal tanto en una vista de primer plano a nivel de neuronas individuales como en una escala mayor de la estructura del cerebro en su conjunto.
Al conectar estos dos niveles, los investigadores pudieron discernir estructuras geométricas de alta dimensión en el cerebro, formadas por colecciones de neuronas estrechamente conectadas (camarillas) y los espacios vacíos (cavidades) entre ellas.
“Encontramos una cantidad y una variedad notablemente altas de camarillas y cavidades dirigidas de alta dimensión, que no se habían visto antes en las redes neuronales, ya sean biológicas o artificiales”, escribió el equipo en el estudio.
“La topología algebraica es como un telescopio y un microscopio al mismo tiempo”, dijo uno de los miembros del equipo, la matemática Kathryn Hess de la EPFL.

“Puede hacer zoom en las redes para encontrar estructuras ocultas, los árboles en el bosque y ver los espacios vacíos, los claros, todo al mismo tiempo”.
Esos claros o cavidades parecen ser de importancia crítica para la función cerebral. Cuando los investigadores dieron un estímulo a su tejido cerebral virtual, vieron que las neuronas reaccionaban a él de una manera altamente organizada.
“Es como si el cerebro reaccionara a un estímulo construyendo [y] luego demoliendo una torre de bloques multidimensionales, comenzando con varillas (1D), luego tablones (2D), luego cubos (3D) y luego geometrías más complejas. con 4D, 5D, etc.”, dijo uno de los miembros del equipo, el matemático Ran Levi de la Universidad de Aberdeen en Escocia.
“La progresión de la actividad a través del cerebro se asemeja a un castillo de arena multidimensional que se materializa en la arena y luego se desintegra”.
Estos hallazgos brindan una nueva imagen tentadora de cómo el cerebro procesa la información, pero los investigadores señalan que aún no está claro qué es lo que hace que las camarillas y las cavidades se formen de formas altamente específicas.
Y se necesitará más trabajo para determinar cómo la complejidad de estas formas geométricas multidimensionales formadas por nuestras neuronas se correlaciona con la complejidad de varias tareas cognitivas.
Pero esto definitivamente no es lo último que escucharemos de i

A milestone is marked in our understanding of the brain with the recent acceptance, contrary to early dogma, that the adult nervous system can generate new neurons. One could wonder how this dogma originally came about, particularly because all organisms have some cells that continue to divide, adding to the size of the organism and repairing damage. All mammals have replicating cells in many organs and in some cases, notably the blood, skin, and gut, stem cells have been shown to exist throughout life, contributing to rapid cell replacement. Furthermore, insects, fish, and amphibia can replicate neural cells throughout life. An exception to this rule of self-repair and continued growth was thought to be the mammalian brain and spinal cord. In fact, because we knew that microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes all normally divide in the adult and respond to injury by dividing, it was only neurons that were considered to be refractory to replication. Now we know that this long accepted limitation is not completely true, because there are two rather discrete areas of the brain, the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation and the subventricular zone and its projection through the rostral migratory stream to the olfactory bulb, which can generate new neurons. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/3/612

Plasticity is the ability of the brain to change and adapt to new information. Synaptic plasticity is change that occurs at synapses, the junctions between neurons that allow them to communicate.

The idea that synapses could change, and that this change depended on how active or inactive they were, was first proposed in the 1949 by Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb. Because of synaptic plasticity’s probable contribution to memory storage, it has since become one of the most intensively researched topics in all of neuroscience.

What is the function of synaptic plasticity?

Synaptic plasticity controls how effectively two neurons communicate with each other. The strength of communication between two synapses can be likened to the volume of a conversation. When neurons talk, they do so at different volumes – some neurons whisper to each other while others shout. The volume setting of the synapse, or the synaptic strength, is not static, but rather can change in both the short term and long term. Synaptic plasticity refers to these changes in synaptic strength. https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-basics/brain/brain-physiology/what-synaptic-plasticity

A milestone is marked in our understanding of the brain with the recent acceptance, contrary to early dogma, that the adult nervous system can generate new neurons. One could wonder how this dogma originally came about, particularly because all organisms have some cells that continue to divide, adding to the size of the organism and repairing damage. All mammals have replicating cells in many organs and in some cases, notably the blood, skin, and gut, stem cells have been shown to exist throughout life, contributing to rapid cell replacement. Furthermore, insects, fish, and amphibia can replicate neural cells throughout life. An exception to this rule of self-repair and continued growth was thought to be the mammalian brain and spinal cord. In fact, because we knew that microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes all normally divide in the adult and respond to injury by dividing, it was only neurons that were considered to be refractory to replication. Now we know that this long accepted limitation is not completely true, because there are two rather discrete areas of the brain, the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation and the subventricular zone and its projection through the rostral migratory stream to the olfactory bulb, which can generate new neurons. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/3/612

Se marca un hito en nuestra comprensión del cerebro con la aceptación reciente, contrariamente al dogma inicial, de que el sistema nervioso adulto puede generar nuevas neuronas. Uno podría preguntarse cómo surgió originalmente este dogma, particularmente porque todos los organismos tienen algunas células que continúan dividiéndose, aumentando el tamaño del organismo y reparando el daño. Todos los mamíferos tienen células que se replican en muchos órganos y, en algunos casos, especialmente en la sangre, la piel y el intestino, se ha demostrado que las células madre existen durante toda la vida, lo que contribuye a un reemplazo celular rápido. Además, los insectos, los peces y los anfibios pueden replicar las células neurales durante toda la vida. Se pensaba que una excepción a esta regla de autorreparación y crecimiento continuo era el cerebro y la médula espinal de los mamíferos. De hecho, debido a que sabíamos que la microglía, los astrocitos y los oligodendrocitos normalmente se dividen en el adulto y responden a la lesión dividiéndose, solo las neuronas se consideraban refractarias a la replicación. Ahora sabemos que esta limitación aceptada durante mucho tiempo no es del todo cierta, porque hay dos áreas bastante discretas del cerebro, la circunvolución dentada de la formación del hipocampo y la zona subventricular y su proyección a través de la corriente migratoria rostral al bulbo olfatorio, que puede generar nuevas neuronas. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/3/612

La plasticidad es la capacidad del cerebro para cambiar y adaptarse a nueva información. La plasticidad sináptica es el cambio que ocurre en las sinapsis, las uniones entre las neuronas que les permiten comunicarse.

La idea de que las sinapsis pueden cambiar, y que este cambio depende de cuán activas o inactivas estén, fue propuesta por primera vez en 1949 por el psicólogo canadiense Donald Hebb. Debido a la probable contribución de la plasticidad sináptica al almacenamiento de la memoria, desde entonces se ha convertido en uno de los temas más intensamente investigados en toda la neurociencia.

¿Cuál es la función de la plasticidad sináptica?

La plasticidad sináptica controla la eficacia con la que dos neuronas se comunican entre sí. La fuerza de la comunicación entre dos sinapsis se puede comparar con el volumen de una conversación. Cuando las neuronas hablan, lo hacen en diferentes volúmenes: algunas neuronas susurran entre sí mientras que otras gritan. La configuración del volumen de la sinapsis, o la fuerza sináptica, no es estática, sino que puede cambiar tanto a corto como a largo plazo. La plasticidad sináptica se refiere a estos cambios en la fuerza sináptica. https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-basics/brain/brain-physiology/what-synaptic-plasticity

Neural Plasticity

The brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life is called neural plasticity. Neurons (nerve cells) compensate for injury and disease adjusting in response to new stimuli or environment.

Brain reorganization takes place by processes like axonal sprouting in which undamaged axons have been proven to grow new nerve endings to reconnect neurons whose links were damaged. Axons can sprout nerve endings and connect to other undamaged nerve cells, forming new neural pathways. Axons can also prune or disconnect when chemical activity decreases. Neural plasticity is the science behind hemispherectomy surgery. When brain seizures threaten the mortality of a patient, surgeons remove the entire unhealthy hemisphere and the empty cavity fills with spinal fluid. Patients tend to recover quickly and resume normal  functioning with moderate impairment. Neural plasticity functions with such efficiency, some neuroscientists believe the brain may begin rewiring before surgery (Cleveland Clinic, 2021).

Plasticidad Neural

La capacidad del cerebro para reorganizarse mediante la formación de nuevas conexiones neuronales a lo largo de la vida se denomina plasticidad neuronal. Las neuronas (células nerviosas) compensan lesiones y enfermedades ajustándose en respuesta a nuevos estímulos o entornos.
La reorganización del cerebro tiene lugar mediante procesos como el brote axonal en el que se ha demostrado que los axones no dañados desarrollan nuevas terminaciones nerviosas para volver a conectar las neuronas cuyos enlaces estaban dañados. Los axones pueden generar terminaciones nerviosas y conectarse a otras células nerviosas no dañadas, formando nuevas vías neuronales. Los axones también pueden podarse o desconectarse cuando disminuye la actividad química. La plasticidad neural es la ciencia detrás de la cirugía de hemisferectomía. Cuando las convulsiones cerebrales amenazan con la muerte de un paciente, los cirujanos extirpan todo el hemisferio enfermo y la cavidad vacía se llena con líquido cefalorraquídeo. Los pacientes tienden a recuperarse rápidamente y reanudar el funcionamiento normal con un deterioro moderado. La plasticidad neuronal funciona con tanta eficiencia que algunos neurocientíficos creen que el cerebro puede comenzar a reconfigurarse antes de la cirugía (Cleveland Clinic, 2021).

Neurogenesis/Neurogénesis

The term neurogenesis is made up of the words “neuro” meaning “relating to nerves” and “genesis” meaning the formation of something. The term therefore refers to the growth and development of neurons. This process is most active while a baby is developing in the womb and is responsible for the production of the brain’s neurons. https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Neurogenesis.aspx

“The birth of new neurons (neurogenesis) was only recently discovered in regions involved with ongoing learning, such as the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the frontal and temporal lobes" (Eriksson et al., 1998; Gould, Reeves, Graziano, & Gross, 1999; Gould, Tanapat, Hastings, & Shors, 1999; Gross, 2000). 

Cozolino, Louis (2010-06-21). The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy: Healing the Social Brain (Second Edition)  (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) (Kindle Locations 412-415). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition.

Neurogénesis

El término neurogénesis se compone de las palabras "neuro" que significa "relacionado con los nervios" y "génesis" que significa la formación de algo. Por lo tanto, el término se refiere al crecimiento y desarrollo de las neuronas. Este proceso es más activo mientras el bebé se desarrolla en el útero y es responsable de la producción de las neuronas del cerebro. https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Neurogenesis.aspx

"El nacimiento de nuevas neuronas (neurogénesis) se descubrió recientemente en regiones involucradas con el aprendizaje continuo, como el hipocampo, la amígdala y los lóbulos frontal y temporal" (Eriksson et al., 1998; Gould, Reeves, Graziano, & Gross, 1999; Gould, Tanapat, Hastings y Shors, 1999; Gross, 2000).

Pastoral licensing affirms a faith based person has the ability and competence for pastoral ministry including counseling, teaching, and performing rituals of the church. These rituals include but are not limited to weddings, funerals, dedications, baptisms, hospital and prison visitation, and communion. 

Accreditation simply means institutional quality assessment by a non governmental organization. With this accreditation the government can grant access to student loans.

Accreditation  ensures institutions of higher education have an acceptable level of quality.  Accreditation in the United States includes  non-governmental accrediting organizations and  federal and state government agencies known as the Triad. Quality assurance is one of three elements governing the Higher Education Act’s (HEA’s) federal student aid programs. In order for students to receive federal student aid from the U.S. Department of Education the institution must be accredited by a “nationally recognized” accrediting body. 

Accrediting agencies are private associations which  develop assessment criteria with peer evaluations to create accountability and quality control.  Institutions and/or programs that request an accreditor’s evaluation and that meet an accreditor’s criteria are then “accredited”. https://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation.htm

The constitution grants educational institutions and specifically faith based programs considerable independence and autonomy. The United States has no centralized federal authority exercising control over the quality of postsecondary educational institutions, and states vary control over education. As a consequence, American educational institutions differ in the character and quality of their programs. To ensure a basic level of quality, accreditation arose in the late 19th century as a means of conducting nongovernmental, peer review of institutions and programs. With the passage of the HEA in 1965, Congress expanded the role of accrediting agencies by entrusting them with assessing academic quality of educational institutions at which federal student aid funds may be used. Although accrediting agencies promote standards for institutional quality, agencies have no legal control over institutions or programs. https://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation_pg2.html 

Certification means a person can competently complete a job or task, usually by the passing of an examination and/or the completion of a program of study. Some certifications require practical experience in a related field before the certification is awarded. Some professional certifications are valid for a lifetime, while others expire after a period of time and must be maintained with additional education and/or assessments. Certifications may or may not be accredited.

I have three earned degrees with accreditation by non governmental organizations. They are a Bachelor of Art, Masters of Theological Studies, and Doctor of Ministry.  I have a license to practice mental health counseling accredited by the State of Washington.

I have an earned PhD including dissertation, exam, and supervision both individual and group. I have four certifications in sex addiction treatment, multi addiction treatment, clinical sexology, and traumatic stress.  

I am an ordained minister with pastoral licensure.

Three degrees and one license are accredited by state and or federal organizations and the balance have been granted by non accredited agencies.

As I review the accredited degree programs and non accredited in my resume, the only difference in my experience is the ability to acquire funding granted by the 1965 HEA Act. The content of the non accredited in many ways was more rigorous, demanding, and practical than the accredited. Degree programs and licensing can be subject to bureaucracy, politics, and institutional irrelevance accredited or not.

Accreditation simply means institutional quality assessment by a non governmental organization. With this accreditation the government can grant access to student loans for the curricula. 

My licensure and certifications have included over 3000 professional clinical counseling hours serving thousands of clients.  I have had over 160 hours of individual and group supervision of case studies. I have written two doctoral projects totaling over 500 pages and thousands of hours of research with clinical practicums.

The purpose of non accredited degrees and certifications ensures quality with positive treatment outcomes for clients. Many accredited institutions do not support the theoretical foundations of specific client populations. For example, faith based clients reporting problematic sexuality seek spiritually based counselors able to use Scripture in treatment. Psychotherapeutic accredited treatments are at the foundation non faith based. If an accredited institution does not support faith or spirituality in the curricula then the treatment approach will fail to meet the client need, context, and culture. If institutions do not treat sex addiction with spiritual protocols, then a client suffering from problematic sexuality most likely will not identify with the treatment. Therefore, non accredited degrees, licenses, and certifications can be as essential and helpful as accredited.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse the relapse rate of drug and alcohol parallels other diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma. Addiction recidivism ranges from 40-60%.  https://nida.nih.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/frequently-asked-questions/how-effective-drug-addiction-treatment

Alcoholics Anonymous reported over 90% success rate in the formative years of the program. Clients within my private practice report similar treatment results. Of a number of reasons for treatment success I believe spirituality and relevance for specific client needs are at the core. (Baldwin, 2004)

A program or therapist may have accreditation, but at the same time may practice irrelevant treatment resulting in low success rates with high recidivism. 

What I have attempted in my professional education is to achieve a balance of accredited degrees and licensing, and at the same time accumulate certifications which produce positive treatment results for clients. Some of these certifications are non accredited, but at the same time achieve positive treatment results within a therapeutic culture often reporting poor outcomes.

My Sex Therapy certification is granted by the Sex Therapy Training Institute. Its coursework has been approved by the Florida Board of Nursing, Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling, and the Florida Board of Psychology. The certification training has been approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors as an Approved Continuing Education Provider. The certification involves 20 supervision hours in clinical sex therapy with completion of 150 educational hours in Human Sexuality Education and Sex Therapy Training.

This table diagram helps to tell our story of recovering from addiction. On the timeline can you write out your birth date, what happened 0-4, then 5-8? Around the edge of the table can you write your family member’s names and 2 or 3 things about each one like addictions, personality, etc.? In the middle of the table can you write out how this group made you feel between the ages of 5-8? Please use 8.5 x 14 copy paper.

Introduction

Compassion for children can inspire cultural change. Care for little children fueled Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream that

“…my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” (NPR, 2010).

 Moved by compassion in 1968 MLK gave his life for the freedom of…little children.

MLK’s namesake, Martin Luther, passionately defied abuse with 95 theses.  One of Luther’s many 16th century salvos challenged institutional pedophilia.  He took exception with clergy assaulting children in pastoral care (Wilson, 2007).The sexual health and safety of little children played a significant role in Martin Luther’s  1517 culture changing insurrection.  Christ’s first century reformation also touched sexual health. The entire chapter of Matthew 18 dedicates to elevating the status and protection of little children.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the king- dom of heaven?”  He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will nev- er enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

  If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people (children) to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:1-6)

Christ’s two millennia rebellion still places safety and sexual health of children at the message center. Jesus, consistent with the Book of Genesis, blessed children with clear protective boundaries guarding both their spiritual and sexual health.  In the same way, the first blessings by God in Genesis targeted sexual health for families (Genesis 1:22, 28). Christ’s passion for the safety of children parallels the first 11 chapters of Genesis in what the author calls, the big picture of sexual health for children. Genesis teaches families and children about intimacy with God and human sexuality. Specifically chapters 1-5 mirror positive sexual health and chapters 6-11 reflect decline from intimacy with God resulting in abuse. 

Caregivers for nearly four millennia have told sexual health stories incorporated into the Bible to their children and grandchildren about the compassion of God.  Bowlby (1969) and Harlow (1960) proved caregiver nurture physically changes the structure of a child’s brain.  Young minds shaped for love and kindness assist the child to calm herself. Healthy caregivers  sharing stories of God’s compassionate presence alter brain chemicals so he can reason, make meaning of pain, and soothe anxious thoughts.  

The parents of history’s revolutionaries connected to the same Bible stories of God’s intimacy with humankind. Jesus’ mother, Mary, and step-father Joseph, nurtured the compassion of Christ with Old Testament stories of a benevolent God liberating oppressed Israel.  Known for her ability to communicate spiritual matters with excellent language skills, historians credit Martin Luther’s mother, Margarethe Lindemann, for the reformer’s eloquent speech. MLK’s parents and grandmother, Jennie, told, exciting stories from the Bible giving shape to the non violent rebellion of the 60’s (Oates, 1983). Cultural transformation rarely takes place within political institutions,  genesis of social change historically begins within the warm embrace of nurturing caregivers. The result? Culture and history change.

The rebellions of MLK and Martin Luther connect to a bigger picture or what literary artists call a meta narrative. Each reformer found Christ’s compassionate non violent revolution the base for their movements. Specifically, the big picture of sexual health in Genesis has guided caregivers teaching their children about spiritual intimacy and human sexuality for over three thousand years. The Bible mandates that caregivers take primary responsibility to teach children about life and sexuality.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

(Deuteronomy 6:4-10; 4:9-10; 11:19; Psalm 34:11; 78:5)

 The parents and grandparents of history’s rebel leaders seemed to follow this track.

Genesis paints the beautiful picture of graceful symmetry transforming chaos (Genesis 1-2). This cosmological connection between Maker and the created reflects beauty, pleasure, compassionate presence, balance, reconciliation, and sexual health.  Genesis declares that both creation and human sexuality are not only good but “extremely good” and without shame in every conceivable way (Genesis 1:31). Christ too moved through the early first century embracing these truths. Jesus, single, celibate, and without sex scandal held sexual health in high regard connecting to the Genesis big picture. 

Every Biblical covenant, or God’s intimate connection with humankind, begins with the sexual health-positive phrase, “be fruitful and increase”. Sexual health language and images weave through the entire Bible except the single page documents of Obadiah, and John 2 and 3. All books of the Bible with developed themes convey specific connection to the sexual health-positive big picture of Genesis 1-11. The Bible treats sexual health as foundation for God’s intimacy with humankind.  

The big picture of sexual health flows from the omni benevolence of God. Human sexuality is only good, and in fact excellent in every way according to Genesis 1-5.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (excellent in every way). And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:28-31)

Christ’s preaching career began with the Beatitudes, the blessing of God for humankind. His first sermon series in Matthew 5-7 threads blessing and sexual health throughout. He blesses those who have survived abuse, forms sexual health boundaries, and directs the early Christian community to live life without spiritual condemnation of others’ sexuality (Matthew 5-7).

Sexuality as evil, dirty, or shameful does not appear in the first two chapters of the Bible. Jesus follows this same pattern by never declaring sexual health sinful or shameful. Sexual shame occurs in Genesis 3 as human perception rather than divine intention. No data indicates reproductive systems changed in form or function in the Fall of humankind.  Erotic violence does not appear until chapters 6-11 emerging as loss of intimacy between God and humans.   Jesus’ interaction with sexual abuse survivors shows only compassion and hope (John 4; John 7). No contradiction appears in the sexual health positive big picture of Genesis 1-5 throughout the Old Testament, the life of Christ, and the first century church.

Part One of this work features the Genesis big picture of sexual health in chapters 1-11. Intimacy with the Creator and sexual health-positive images frame chapters 1-5. Chapters 6-11 contrast sexual health with the decline of intimacy between God and humankind leading to abuse. One can think of Genesis 1-5 as foundation for teaching sexual health to children and Genesis 6-11 as boundaries to protect children from abuse.  Part Two follows the sexual health big picture through the family of Abraham to Joseph.  Part Three summarizes the sexual health big picture of Genesis for clergy and counselors in light of Biblical theology, neuroscience and clinical sexology.  

The method uses Biblical theology or the “Scripture interpreting Scripture” model for translation of sexual health texts. Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, Koine Greek and Classical Greek with other Near Eastern languages are useful in defining sexual health vocabulary. In addition to Biblical theology current neuroscience and clinical sexology explain reproductive science and sexual function. All Bible citations come from the The New International Version (NIV). Unless otherwise stated the NIV is the current preferred English translation of the Bible (Rainer, 2021). The Hebrew text reflects the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) and the Greek New Testament bases on the Morphological Greek New Testament (MGNT).

The term “big picture” defines sexual health themes in Genesis chapters 1-5 and 6-11. The author uses the words “snap shot” to discussion smaller stories within the “big picture”. The reader will find  this work organizes and highlights all sexual health images with vocabulary as the terms appear. Biblical passages appear in italics. The purpose both honors The Bible and alerts the reader to alternate reflections of the text.

In this post modern era chapter headings, indentation of paragraphs and punctuation organize literature.  Ancient texts have neither punctuation nor chapter headings. Biblical authors utilized one of many literary devices called, inclusio to organize their thoughts (Abrahamson, 2018).  One can think of the inclusio as the start and stop of a snap shot highlighting a complete thought. Dorsey (1999) in his book, The Literary Structure of the Old Testament, calls the snap shots, “literary units…arranged by a sandwich structure called the inclusio” (Dorsey, pp. 21-26). The inclusio features repetition, identical vocabulary, images, or themes linking a snap shot with “beginning and end markers” rather than punctuation (Dorsey, pp. 21-22) The inclusio appears not well known to the translators who edited the Bible with  chapter headings. Therefore, artificial chapter headings crafted by translators may not represent original author intent. This work attempts to identify the inclusio with beginning and end markers to assist the reader with original organization and author intent.

Unmatched global unrest revolves around this work.  A worldwide pandemic threatens to annihilate the very old and weak. Politicians, court justices, and clergy stand accused of sexual misconduct on historic scales.   Anti facist insurrection,  decades of escalating opioid fatalities, and political hatred intensify with shared global trauma. 74% of males and 41% of females within faith communities regularly use pornography for sexuality education.  Since the dawn of the internet, the primary instructional model for children has been the porn industry often featuring coercive sex with erotic violence. Research shows that pornography use worldwide  increased as much as 25 percent during the isolation of quarantine mandates (Zattoni, 2020).  This may mean that children  follow the pandemic trend with escalation in exposure to coercive violent sexual content as primary sexual health educator.

This virulent era however, may offer hope. What if the next rebellion ushers not pandemic terror,  but dissidents take up arms for children? What if cohorts of caring parents, clergy, and counselors weaponize sexual health for the sake of the small child?  What might the next generation become if human sexuality reflects spiritual intimacy with God rather than shame and fear?

This work humbly attempts to usher a quiet revolt of sexual health for caregivers, clergy, and counselors.  The rebellion takes up arms of compassionate narratives prayerfully hoping to inoculate sexual health with “content of character” for the sake of little children (Martin Luther King Jr., 1962).

Part One

The Genesis Big Picture of Sexual Health: Chapters 1-11

Sexual health positive education for children begins with Genesis 1-11. The themes found in this “meta narrative” or big picture connect throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Sexuality and its reproductive science reflect the image of God at creation. The organization, intricacy and beauty of sexual health mirror the Author who declares the artwork, most excellent (Genesis 1:31).

Be Fruitful and Increase

The sexual health-positive big picture takes shape in Genesis 1-2. All vocabulary and images paint a positive view of human sexuality. Unhealthy sexuality does not exist within these chapters. The education of children begins with the mandate for earth to “bring forth” (Genesis 1:11). Then, the command directs at all creation with  “be fruitful and increase” appearing seven times in the book of Genesis (Genesis 1:22, 28; 8:17; 9:1,7; 17:20; 35:11). Seven often appears as a perfect or complete number in ancient culture reflecting spiritual wholeness.  One can see the explanation of Hebrew numbers and specifically “seven” in the Biblical literary device section of Part Three.  The sexual health phrase “be fruitful and increase” affirms sexually reproducing animals, the families of  Adam and Eve, Noah, and finally the family of Abraham to Joseph. No negative images connect to the “be fruitful and increase” sexual health statements throughout the entire Bible.  Every intimate relationship God formed with humans in Genesis begins with this sexual health affirmation.  The reader may see connection between  spirituality and human sexuality. The blending of spiritual intimacy with physical sexuality forms an ongoing thread through this work.  

Within Genesis 1-5 the “be fruitful and increase” sexual health-positive phrase appears twice. Genesis 1:22 reveals the first pronouncement of God in the Bible blessing sexuality of the animal kingdom. The second blessing directs at humans, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28)  The first blessing for humankind emerges as a sexual health-positive mandate.  No unhealthy sexual images appear in Genesis 1-5 except for the sexual shame humankind experienced in loss of intimacy with God.  The hiding of genitalia and distancing from God may foreshadow the loss of intimacy with decline to sexual abuse of Genesis 6-9.

Genesis 2 moves from the sexual health positive images in chapter 1 to specifics of sexual intimacy.  Before genital sexual intercourse occurs, the big picture paints broad brush strokes of God connecting to humankind.  The Creator sees, talks, and walks with the first family. The attachment of God with creation mirrors spirituality, beauty, pleasure, compassion, balance, sexual health, and reconciliation.   Spiritual intimacy with physical sexuality is unique among all ancient literature.

Seven Types of Intimacy with God and Sexual Health

Spiritual intimacy forms a composition of love greater than divine mandates or human emotion. While Creator transforms matter, Spirit hovers over chaos darkness as a mother tenderly nurtures her young (BLB, Genesis 1:2, ,רחף Strong’s, H7363). The Creator “sees” and declares the creation “good” seven times in Genesis 1-2. This use of the number seven may mean  completion or wholeness. Spiritual wholeness sets the foundation for sexual health as one piece of intimacy with God and humans. Creator sees humankind and the creation experiences God. Sexual health with spiritual intimacy weave unbroken design throughout.

Intimacy reflects beauty. This world can stun senses with chromatic panoramas, balanced eco systems, and tenacity of reproduction.  The Psalmist states in 139:14 that, humankind and the beautiful orb they dwell upon are “fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  The connection of the Maker to the creation reflects graceful allure.  Seven times in Genesis 1 the Creator claims the created is  good, טוֹב, pronounced TOVE (Strong’s, H2895). The meaning of TOVE spans beautiful, best, better, at ease, fine, glad, gracious, kindness, loving, pleasant, pleasure, precious, and healthy.  When the text reads “good”,  the meaning captures the richest sense of beauty, pleasure, and health.

Intimacy balances relationship with rest. God blesses six creative snap shots with repose from labor (Genesis 2:3). Scripture treats human anxiety, with the Sabbath rest, or שבת, in Hebrew (Strong’s, H7673). From the sexual health big picture of Genesis, to the Ten Commandments with cessation from labor, through the life of Christ who “rests” the weary, and finally to the New Heavens and Earth snap shots of Revelation, God intends humankind to regulate neurological balance by resting. One theory in this work proposes that intimacy regulates the anxiety of human sexuality, an essential feature of relationships. The reader can find detailed conversation in the Neuroscience and Clinical Sexology section on anxiety reaction for the sexual health of children.

The architecture of intimacy appears pleasurable. The word for “Eden”, עדן, means “pleasure” (Strong’s, H5731, Genesis 2:8).  When God speaks to Christ at baptism, the fatherly declaration states, “This is my beloved son, in whom I take pleasure” (Matthew 12:18; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 2 Peter 1:17).  Eden mirrors the omni benevolent image of God and is only beautiful and pleasant. The intent seems to be pleasure of connection to both world and one another. Theologians have not always disdained pleasure. The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins with the question, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever” (Bible Presbyterian Church Online, 2019).  Bessel van der Kolk states that from a neural scientific perspective, no true neurological learning takes place without…pleasure (van der Kolk, 2016). When the Hebrew term TOVE meaning “good” is used with the garden name Eden, does this mean that the world of humankind is extremely good? Perhaps Eden as “pleasure” shapes the understanding of a child that procreation is not the only purpose for human sexuality? Can these snap shots mean that sexual intimacy is extremely good fashioned in the image of God?

Intimacy between God and humankind reflects compassionate presence.  The first evil  emerges at Genesis 2:18,  “It is not good (evil) for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable helper for him.” Merciful God commutes the sentence of isolation with compassionate presence. The words “suitable helper” may need definition for some readers. The word “suitable” describes the helper as one who becomes the object of affection and nurture (Strong’s, H5048, Isaiah 49:16, Jeremiah 49:5). The word helper appears throughout the Old Testament as a name for God (Strongs, H5828). The “suitable helper” phrase may seem demeaning to the casual reader. The original intent perhaps brought humankind out of the first evil, isolation, into compassionate intimacy of relationship.  A more accurate translation may be, “I will make a creative nurturing partner for you.” The word, EZER or helper, never minimizes women in the Bible. Intimacy reflects an affectionate presence delivering humankind from the slavery of isolation’s pain. 

Intimacy frees the object of love with forgiveness. One boundary separated God and humankind. Creator desired creation to be free.  This monolithic boundary prevents pursuit of  “being like God” resulting in loss of intimacy with its freedom. Slavery is not the opposite of freedom. A prisoner can transcend barbed wire bonds with the consciousness of compassion. Antithesis of freedom may instead be hardness of heart.  Hegel the philosopher believed world history reduces to pursuit of the consciousness of freedom (Heschel, p.191).  The Biblical theologian, Abraham Heschel might reflect that Adam and Eve’s fall is more the pursuit of hardening of heart.

“Freedom is not a natural disposition, but God’s precious gift to man.  Those in whom viciousness becomes second nature, those in whom brutality is linked with haughtiness forfeit their ability and therefore their right to receive that gift.  Hardening of heart is the suspension of freedom.  Sin becomes compulsory and self destructive.  Guilt and punish- ment become one” (Heschel, p. 191).

Humankind yields under the anxious urge to be like God and falls.  Shame then drives the first family to isolate. In this shame state humans make vegan clothing for themselves covering pain hiding from the presence of God. Intimacy suspends.  

Creator restores the fallen family, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).  God sacrifices an animal exchanging a life for the pain of sin. The Creator, now tailor, crafts “royal robes” with leather skins to cover shame (Strong’s, H3801). Perhaps this forms an inclusio with the sacrifice of Christ and the covering of shame at Golgotha?  The word for “royal robes” appears as the identical term for Joseph’s pricey princely garment of Genesis 37:3.   Shame hides by isolating.  Intimacy with God restores relationship covering sexual shame. The immediate context following this passage references the first specific act of genital sexual intercourse in the Bible, Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel (Genesis 4:1). Eve sees spiritual connection with God stating that the “Lord helped” her conceive and deliver a son. Perhaps this snap shot foreshadows the birth of Christ? Mary, the mother of Jesus, exudes similar enthusiasm in the conception snap shot in what Luke simply calls, Mary’s Song.

Mary’s Song 

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.  From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name…He has helped his servant Israel,  remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descen- dants forever,  just as he promised our ancestors.” (Luke 2:46-56)

Mary, too was helped to become a mother.  Mary like Eve saw the Creator’s presence in the birth of her son who would one day offer to reverse hardness of heart. 

The big picture of Genesis 1-5 reflects sexual health as one aspect of relationship with God. This intimacy emerges as spiritual, beautiful, pleasurable, compassionate, balanced, sexually healthy, and reconciling relationships. 

Little children learn visually and the images of Genesis speak with pictures.  The first sexual health Genesis snap shot paints a kind canvas for children.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was soGod saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:26-31)

 Neither negative language nor unhealthy image connect to the design and function of human sexuality in chapters 1-2. 

Sexual health education includes the reflection of essential being or image of God. Skilled teachers use repetition to educate children.  The Genesis narrator emphasizes the essential being or image terms four times in two verses.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:27-28).  Immediately following these declarations Genesis introduces the sexual health-positive phrase, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it’” (Genesis 1:28). These positive images may wire young brains to perceive how human sexuality reflects the goodness of God.  The first pictures of sexual health in Genesis feature neither sexual act nor genitalia, but rather the benevolent consciousness of God, the character of Creator for the created. A child may learn from these opening words that sexuality emerges in safe connection with compassionate Creator.

One Flesh, Naked Without Shame, Give Birth To

Genesis 2 again illustrates specifics of intimacy with God and humans.  

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.The man said,“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.  Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. (Genesis 2:22-25)  

Children eventually ask caregivers, “Where do babies come from?” These Genesis sexual health-positive images craft a teaching-learning process based on the essential being of God rather than sexual performance. Before caregivers unpack the explanation of reproductive acts Genesis paints a compassionate picture of human sexuality showing spiritual connection with God, beauty, pleasure, compassion, balance, and reconciliation. Human sexuality seems safe from coercion or violence within these images.  Children may begin to build a belief system that sexual health is not only good, but safe. 

Two images teaching children about sexual shame form an inclusio in Genesis 1-3.  “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.  Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” (Genesis 2:25) In this piece sexual intercourse mirrors spiritual oneness between partners.  Human sexuality and the naked body bare no shame.  Piaget (1929) calls the development of a child’s brain, the schema.  Bowlby (1969) identifies this neurological upgrowth as the attachment system.  According to Piaget between the ages of two to seven, a child’s value system shapes according to the nurture of caregivers. Bowlby takes this theory a step further demonstrating that a child’s brain volume physically grows and shapes according to caregiver intimacy.  It seems reasonable that a child’s sexuality can form both structure and function on the intimacy of spirituality, beauty, compassion, balance, and healthy relationships. On the other hand can shame and fear also shape the sexual system of the brain in specific ways? If shame and fear shape the schema or attachment system of the brain, then sexuality may trigger fear based responses.  Genesis 1-5 may have potential to wire a child’s sexual health schema or attachment system with compassionate boundaries, reason, and social awareness.

Shaping the sexual schema of a child, or attachment system can involve subtle yet neurologically powerful messages. Reproductive science labels the bundle of axons connecting genitalia to the brain the pudendal nerve. This neural pathway receives and sends electrochemical signals to external genitalia, perineum, and the tissue around the anus. The term “pudendal” comes from a late 14th century Latin word, pudendum.  This modern medical term means male and female external genitalia.  The original literal Latin usage however is, ”the thing to be ashamed of.”  Pudendum also has a primitive Indo European meaning, “to punish or repulse.”  The Old English version of this word translates as scamlin or “shame limb” (Etymonline, 2021). These messages of shame, punishment, and repulsion may shape the schema and attachment system of children to respond to sexuality with fear.

When caregivers communicate to children that compassion of benevolent Creator formed sexual health, this wiring instantly sprouts new connections in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The PFC governs and regulates the entire biological system. When a child thinks about sexuality, the response based on this PFC wiring can be healthy, compassionate, and regulated.  If shame shapes a child’s brain so sexuality is feared, punished for, or repulsed from, then neural connections form from the fear or shame center of the brain. This can mean that if a child believes male genitalia is scamlin, or a shame limb, then she may have a different neurological experience than a child who views anatomy as most excellent creation in the image of omni benevolent God.

  The snap shot bringing the sexual shame inclusio to an end pictures the covering of shame (Genesis 3:21). Shameless sexuality appears in Genesis 1:28 beginning the snap shot and 3:21 ends the scene with the covering of shame.  The result of humans seeking equality with God is loss of freedom. Reproductive systems with dopamine arousal, adrenaline, and hormone transfer do not appear to change in the Fall. Perception of sexuality shifts. Instead of seeing genitalia as bearing the image of God humans assign fear to body parts.   In response, the first family covers genitalia with self made vegan clothing hiding from the presence of God.  After awareness of and consequence for their sin, Creator gives humankind gifts of meaning making, pain, labor, and childbirth. Then the climax of the snap shot appears, The Maker tailors leather clothing, majestic royal garments, to replace the vegetable attire. Shame diminishes. Following this immediate context the first mention of genital sexual intercourse in the Bible records. The word used to paint the first sexual intimacy snap shot is YDA, genital sexual intercourse, the intimate knowing of body, mind, and spirit. The inclusio at 1:28 begins the snap shot with shameless sexuality and the 3:21 inclusio ends the scene with the covering of shame followed by the intimacy of sexual health, YDA.

The Intimacy of Genital Sexual Intercourse

Genesis 4:1 introduces for the first time the sexual health term, genital  sexual intercourse, YDA, ידע, pronounced ya-DAH ( Strong’s, H3045). The word YDA, sexual intimacy, appears three times within the big picture of sexual health in Genesis 1-5 (Genesis 4:1,17, 25).  Nine times the sexual health use of  YDA  appears in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 4:1,17, 25; 19:5, 8, 33, 35, 24:16, 38:26).  The range of usage includes: sexual intimacy between Adam and Eve of 4:1, 25, Cain’s intercourse with his wife in 4:17; the threat of gang rape of 19:5, the description of virginity 19:8 and 24:16,  the incestuous intercourse of Lot’s daughters in 19:33, 35, and as the narrator explains Judah ceased intercourse with his daughter-in-law, Tamar in 38:16.

Heschel (1962) affirms the depth of the term, YDA , as not only the primary Semitic terms for genital sexual intercourse, but also,

“…mental and spiritual activity.  In Hebrew YDA means more than the possession of ab- stract concepts. Knowledge encompasses inner appropriation, feeling, a reception into the soul. It involves both an intellectual and emotional act” (Heschel, p. 57).

YDA as the premier Genesis term for genital sexual intercourse carries the spiritual intimacy nuance of sharing inner awareness. YDA more than any other Biblical term connects the physical pleasure of sexuality with the beauty of spirituality. In other words, the neuroscience of sexual health connects genitalia with the executive function of  compassion, awareness, reason, and gratitude within the pre frontal cortex. The earliest Biblical iterations of human sexuality merge higher consciousness with genital sexual intercourse.

YDA appears within the sexual health positive big picture of Genesis 1-5 with neither prohibition nor negativity.  The Sodom gang rape snap shot of Chapter 19 may be the use  of YDA as a literary device called paradox (Giordano, 2017).  The Biblical Theology section explains the many uses of literary devices in the Bible. Paradox seems to be a favored tool by literary artists to emphasize deeper meaning.  Chapter 19 uses the word, YDA, sexual intercourse four times. The Genesis author may be contrasting the sexual health-positive term, YDA, of chapter 4 with a paradox of unhealthy sexuality. Specifically chapter 19 uses YDA within the threatening assault of gang rapists. YDA, then describes Lot’s daughters intent on incest who dope their father, then sexually assault him on two occasions. So with the use of Biblical literary device,  chapter 19 may be communicating a paradox contrasting sexual health of Genesis 4 with sexual abuse. Finally chapter 36 reflects the use of YDA in a sex trade seduction scene of Judah with his daughter-in-law, Tamar. The word, YDA, as a sexual health term is used nine times in Genesis breaking down this way:

1. Sexual health: 5 x’s
2. Sexual abuse: 4 x’s

Another Biblical inclusio begins Genesis 5. Chapter one paints the image of God in creation. All flows from this benevolent act including sexuality. The entirety of creation reflects only good. Sexual health too is exceptionally good.  God blesses healthy sexuality as Creator intimately walks and talks with humanity.  In the same way Genesis 5 begins with the image of God in creating humankind. The writer details the record of families. In this piece Enoch walks with God as Adam and Eve walked in the garden.   The sexual health big picture syncs chapters 1 with 5 using precise themes and vocabulary bringing this section to conclusion. All images in the big picture of sexual health reflect intimacy with God and humankind. Even though humankind fails and falls, sexual health does not suffer sin’s effect until the pathogenesis or decline of intimacy in Genesis 6. The sexual health context according to Genesis 1-5 is spiritual, beautiful, pleasurable, compassionate, brings balance, and reconciles relationship.

Sexual Health Creation Stories in the Ancient Near East

When the Genesis sexual health creation story emerged, competing creation accounts with sexual health narratives existed. These stories taught the children of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece about the origin of life and human sexuality.  The creation stories of the ancient Near East wired the schema or attachment system of children in the same way as the Genesis big picture of sexual health can form neurology of children. The sexual health creation stories of the ancient Near East merged together in approximately the era. The Merneptah Stele or Israel Stele is an ancient Egyptian inscription credited to the Pharaoh Merneptah circa 1213-1203 BCE (Redmount, 1998; Sparks, 1998).  The text speaks of Merneptah’s military victories over the people and allies of both Libya and the region of modern day Israel. The stele not only mentions specific geographical locales in Palestine, but the name of Israel appears within the final six lines. It seems reasonable the Genesis big picture of sexual health emerged pre 13th century as an oral tradition.

The princes are prostrate, saying, “Peace!”
Not one is raising his head among the Nine Bows.
Now that Tehenu (Libya) has come to ruin,
Hatti is pacified;
The Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe:
Ashkeon has been overcome;
Gezer has been captured;
Yano’am is made non-existent.
Israel is laid waste and his seed is not;
Hurru is become a widow because of Egypt (Redmount, 1998; Sparks, 1998).

Mesopotamian Sexual Health Creation Story

The Mesopotamian Enuma Elish appears to be the oldest creation story from approximately 7th century BCE.  This sexual health narrative features 1,000 Sumero Akkadian cuneiform lines written on seven clay tablets of 115-117 lines on each. This is the approximate number of lines for the Genesis big picture of sexual health in the Hebrew text. The name, Enuma Elish means, ”When on High,” found in the opening phrase. The account features two creative deities: Apsu the male fresh water god combines fluids with the female sea goddess, Tiamat, to generate creation. Other deities form ensuing chaos. When Tiamat’s husband is murdered,  the snake goddess wreaks revenge by creating titanic monsters to put down divine insurrection. Tiamat mobilizes 11 weapons of mass destruction including fanged serpents, hell hounds, she monsters, and scorpion men.  In the following battle the god Marduk vanquishes Tiamat in a violent act of erotic rage. Tiamat’s defeat has been interpreted by some scholars as a murder-rape narrative. Their logic follows the ancient storyline; Marduk blows a mighty wind bursting Tiamat’s uterus. He pierces her internal viscera up to the heart. Casting her body down, Marduk smashes the goddesses’ serpent skull cleaving the corpse. With half of her dismembered body Marduk creates the heavens, and with the other half he makes the earth. The final act of Marduk forms humankind sounding much like Genesis,

Blood to blood I join,

Blood to bone I form,

an original thing, its name is MAN,

Aboriginal man is mine in making (NWE, 2021).

Egyptian Sexual Health Creation Story

Egyptian supernatural deities attest as early as the Predynastic Period in Egypt circa 6000-3150 BCE. Scholars generally agree oral traditions are much earlier than written (Mark, 2016).

Sexual health themes for Egyptians often orbited adultery and incest. The purpose of marriage fidelity preserved royal blood lines. Punishment for adultery resulted in emasculation or death in some cases (Baber, 1935).  Numerous Egyptian deities married biological family members. A few of the incestuous unions were: She and Tefnut; Geb and Nut; Osiris and Isis; Seth and Nephthys. One thread in this work highlights the ancient use of creation stories in the teaching of children about sexuality. A 2010 DNA study of sixteen Egyptian mummies demonstrates that King Tutunkhamen’s parents were biological brother and sister. The researchers believe at least two successive generations may have intermarried contributing to the poor health of King Tutunkhamen with early death (Hawas et al., 2010). These findings may support the idea that the Egyptian sexual health stories contributed to the practice of incest by royals. 

Greek Sexual Health Creation Story

The Greek sexual health creation story appears to be the youngest of the Near Eastern origin narratives. The Hellenic god Zeus is mentioned in Biblical literature three times (Acts 14:8-13; Acts 28:11; 2 Maccabees 6:1).  Zeus is the sky deity in ancient Greek mythology, represented by lightning bolts and the eagle. Bearded Zeusbiologically fathered half the pantheon of Greek gods and humankind. The earliest manuscript citing Zeus is called the Derveni Theogony.  In 1962 in Derveni near Salonica, Greece within funeral pyre remains archeologists discovered a papyrus scroll.  Some of the text attributes to Orpheus dating from 340-320 BCE.  The text itself may be from as early as 500-400 BCE.  The Derveni Theogony is the earliest manuscript containing the Zeus sexual health origin story (Bernabe, 2002).  If  Zeus were presented as a case study to clinicians, his sexual history might look like this. 

The chief complaint of his wife, Hera, was partner infidelity. Zeus groomed Hera’s priestess, Lo, for sex.  When Hera stalked her promiscuous husband, Zeus turned Lo into a white cow avoiding Hera’s rage. Hera was no fool she had been gaslighted many times. She intuited the bovine to be Zeus’ lover. When Hera took possession of the paramour,  Zeus sent Hermes to rescue Lo from his enraged wife. Hera returned the favor by inflicting a gadfly to chase and torture Lo around the globe without rest. 

Zeus impregnated Semele, a lovely mortal princess. When Hera discovered this new sexual betrayal, the enraged partner disguised herself to coerce the princess to believe that the father  may not in fact be the lightning god, Zeus. Semele, feeling the threat of a possible deception, asked Zeus to appear in the fullness of his glory proving his divinity.  When Zeus appeared, Semele, the mortal, burst into flames at the sight of a deity. He then sewed the fetus, Dionysus, into his thigh until birth.

In Homer’s version, Zeus and Dione produced Aphrodite, the goddess of love. On the island of Cyprus Zeus, overcome by his daughter’s beauty, attempted to rape Aphrodite. She escaped the assault at the expense of the earth mother goddess, Gaia. When Aphrodite pulled out from the violent rape of her father, Zeus’ semen spilled on the earth goddess Gaia who then gave birth to bizarre offspring. Later Aphrodite herself repeats the seduction narrative by having a sexual affair with her own father. As punishment, Hera cursed Aphrodite with hideous mutant offspring.

Zeus coerced Leda the queen of Sparta for sex by disguising himself as a swan. After his  seduction success, the queen returned to Sparta to make love to her royal husband, King Tyndareus. Swan seduction produced royal confusion. Leda became pregnant with quadruplets. The Greek sexual health narrative explains that two offspring belonged to Zeus-Pollux and Helen, and the other two children-Castor and Clytemnestra-belonged to Tyndareus.

Zeus coerced his sister, Demeter, for intercourse. After she rebuffed this seduction, Zeus raped Demeter by shape shifting into a bull or a snake depending on the version.  The incestuous offspring from this assault produced Persephone. Later, Zeus appearing in the form of a serpent seduced his virgin daughter Persephone. The Titans first murdered then dismembered their incestuous son, Zagreus. Persephone was then forced to marry Zeus’ brother, the underworld god, Hades. After the coerced marriage to his brother, Zeus stalked his daughter once again for sex.  Becoming enraged at the incestuous relationship, Demeter threatened to destroy all humankind if Zeus did not return Persephone to her mother. 

When Zeus impregnated Leto, a Titan goddess, his enraged partner Hera exiled her, and she wandered the earth searching for a safe place to give birth to her offspring gods, Artemis and Apollo (Putri, 2020).

The ancient Near Eastern sexual health stories reflect coercion, incest, and erotic violence by their deities.  The Genesis sexual health positive big picture differs. Sexuality forms one piece of spiritual intimacy with God and humankind reflecting beauty, pleasure, balance, and reconciliation. All deities of the ancient Near East have sexual intercourse with other gods and or humans.  The Creator of Genesis desires compassionate connection rather than sexual intercourse with humankind. The spiritual connection of the Creator seems to reflect in the sexual intimacy of humankind rather than deity participating sexually with humans. The ancient Near Eastern narratives feature deities coercing sexual intercourse with humans. The Genesis narrative promotes both the goodness and excellence of human sexuality and at the same time maintains sexually safe boundaries between the Creator and created.

All four sexual health creation accounts describe a snake in chaos.  Ancient Near Eastern snake narratives often have sexual overtones of erotic violence and abuse.  The Genesis sexual health  big picture features a snake as antagonist violating God’s boundaries. Although no sexual component can be overtly seen in the Genesis snake snap shot, the immediate response of the first family is to cover genitalia hiding in shame.  TheEnuma Elishsnake appears as Tiamat, the warrior sea goddess. The creation story of Genesis uses the similar sounding Hebrew word TOHUM for the salt waters of chaos over which the Spirit hovers (Genesis 1:2). The Egyptian origin snake, Nehebkau,  devoured his parents along with the Hehu chaos deities. Hehu sounds similar to the Hebrew creation terms TOHU and BOHU meaning formless and void.  Early Egyptian myths describe the snake as an evil agent guarding the gates of hell and devouring human souls in the afterlife.  The Egyptian snake’s incestuous sex partner is Serket, his rage filled biological mother.  Zeus shape shifts into a snake for the incestuous seduction of his sister, Demeter, and daughter Persephone (Hendology, 2021). 

The Greek sexual health creation story features exile by an enraged marriage partner. Hera excommunicates Lo and Leto because of their sexual relationship with her husband, Zeus. Sarah exiles Hagar for a forced surrogacy. Partner infidelity, revenge, exile, and rage form common themes among  the ancient Near Eastern sexual health narratives. Enraged by the incest of her daughter and Zeus, Demeter threatened to destroy all humankind if Zeus did not return Persephone to her mother. Genesis 6-9 too features global extinction for sexual abuse.

The Genesis big picture of sexual health may have been given to counter the threat of erotic violence of the ancient Near East. The Genesis account, not only a sexual health guide for families,  may help form boundaries protecting children from sexual abuse specifically incest. The healthy boundaries of Genesis contrast all other ancient narratives promoting  sexual intercourse with close family members. The teaching goal appears to be, “the Genesis Creator is sexually safe”. The deities of Mesopotamia violently assaulted one another in bloody dismemberment scenes. The Egyptian pantheon modeled incestuous sexuality producing genetic mutations with high mortality among Egypt’s elite. Zeus the Greek originator relentlessly preyed upon and seduced his own children for sex. The Creator of Genesis does not sexually coerce the created. Genesis is the only ancient literary source framing human sexuality with intimacy terms. The sexual health big picture of Genesis reflects spiritual intimacy with God and humans as beautiful, pleasurable,  compassionate in presence, balanced, and reconciliatory. 

Noah and the Flood: Pathogenesis or Decline of Sexual Health; Genesis 6-11

After the Genesis 1-5 big picture of sexual health, chapters 6-11 contrast with the pathogenesis or decline to unhealthy sexuality perhaps to prevent child abuse.  This too may be a literary device of paradox highlighting the stark contrast of sexual health with sexual assault. The flood account of Noah and his family paints loss of intimacy between God and humankind. Spiritual distance from God parallels decline of sexual health.  Genesis 1-5 sets the sexual health-positive big picture and chapters 6-10 detail the pathogenesis to the incestuous sexual assault of Noah’s wife by their biological son, Ham. The Flood snap shot pictured as an unhealthy sexuality teaching piece is new technology and may be counter intuitive for the reader. The teaching learning theory thus far looks like this: Genesis 1-5 teaches children the foundations of sexual health with kind positive images.  Genesis 6-11 teaches children about boundaries for sexual health. The decline of sexual health to abuse in chapter 6 shows the impact of loss of intimacy with God. This can be thought of as not only a boundary statement for children warning about coercive sexuality but also may teach children the origin of sin and sexual abuse.  Chapters 1-5 teaches foundational principles and chapters 6-11 frame boundaries preventing abuse specifically incest.

Pathogenesis or Decline From Intimacy with God-HLL, Coercive Sexuality

The pathogenesis section or decline of sexual health, begins with the Hebrew word, HLL    (Strong’s, H2490).  HLL, חָלַל, pronounced ha-LAL, means to profane, defile, pollute, desecrate, to begin, to defile oneself sexually, to wound, to pierce. The majority of uses for the Hebrew word HLL connect to decline of intimacy with God.  HLL can mean “to begin”, but the majority use of the word appears as a term of pathogenesis or the decline of intimacy with God. As a term of decline, HLL can mean profaning, defiling, polluting, desecrating, wounding, or unhealthy sexuality. HLL as a word signaling decline of sexual health adds clarity to the flood snap shot of Genesis 6-9. The Biblical Theology section treats all the sexual health uses of HLL in detail.

When human beings began (HLL) to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,  the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.  Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:1)

The passage does not make coherent sense without the translation of HLL as decline of sexual health.  Why would God lament the mortality of humans and exterminate the human race without cause? The reason for global judgement ? The decline to sexual abuse.

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4)

This translation struggles. The term Nephilim, נְּפִלִים, pronounced nu-fil-EEM is the Hebrew word  meaning “to fall upon or attack” with alternate meanings of “ to bully” or “tyrant” (Strong’s, H5303). The Greek text uses the word, gigantes, γίγαντες, pronounced GEE-gan-tays. The gigantes were Greek mythological snake-footed giants born of the blood spatter from the castration gore of Uranus, the heaven deity (Mussies, 2021). The most ancient Greek origin stories cite Uranus’ wife Gaia as his incestuous mother. Hesiod states in the Theogony that Gaia the mother-wife of Uranus coerced Cronus to castrate her husband for imprisoning her children. Cronus ambushed the unwary Uranus then violently castrated him throwing the testicles into the sea. Aphrodite emerged from the bloody sea foam (Hesiod Theogony). Perhaps the Hebrew to English translators of Genesis purposely used the back story of the gigantes? Could it be that Uranus’ incestuous relationship with his mother Gaia and the bloody castration add depth to the Nephilim snap shot ending with the incest of Ham and his mother?  The term in Genesis 6:4 for sexual intercourse, BO, always means unhealthy sexuality in Genesis.  The word, heroes, too is unfortunate and can also mean, “warrior tyrants”. An Arabic equivalent for heroes, _{جَبَّارً} , means one who acts proudly, magnifies himself, or an audacious bold-tyrant  (Strong’s, H1368).  Men of renown may not have the flattering intention of the author, but rather may mean,  “infamously bad reputation.”

The Book of Enoch is a non canonical ancient Near East text dating from 200 BCE to 100 AD which gives helpful insight into this pathogenesis text.  

“And it came to pass that the children of men had multiplied in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of heav- en, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children… ’ [They] took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught tyrants… And there arose much godlessness, and they com- mitted fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways” (Enoch, Book 6.1-2).

The NIV translation uses warm words like “going into”, “beautiful women”, “marriage to heroes of renown”. These terms seem to craft a romantic narrative perhaps?  Enoch sets the tone for a more accurate translation based on context and language study.  Enoch uses the words “lusted”, “defile”, “charms and enchantments” meaning perhaps the use of sorcery, “tyrants”, “godlessness”, “fornication”, and “corrupt”. These unhealthy sexuality descriptors are dramatically different than the NIV’s Hallmark movie rendition.

The following reflects a possible translation based on Hebrew textual analysis and the ancient source of Enoch with the big picture of sexual health in Genesis.  The alternate Biblical theological translation appears without italics so the reader can compare the (NIV) text with the proposed translation. 

“When (unhealthy sexuality increased, HLL) among human beings on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and married any of them they chose.  Then the Lord said, “My Spir- it will not (fight) with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.  (Sexual predators coerced, BO) the daughters of humans and impregnated them. They were the (infamous tyrants of history).” (Genesis 6:1-4) 

The reader can note that HLL, unhealthy sexuality, of verse one can connect to form an inclusio with verse four, “sexual predators coerced.”  This proposed translation not only connects more closely to the Enoch version but seems to make coherent transition to the next section.

The Lord saw how great the (violent abuse, RA, רע) of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only (coercive sexuality, RA, רע) all the time.  The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.  So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:5-8)

Sexual Nihilism, Evil

The cause for terminating the human race?  Loss of spiritual intimacy leading to sexual nihilism with abuse.  This pathogenesis or decline of sexual health snap shot starting in Genesis 6:1-8 forms a fitting inclusio with the assault of Noah’s wife by her son Ham in Genesis 9:21-25. Sexual nihilism underlies the philosophy that sexuality has no values and nothing can be truthfully known or communicated. Nihilism connects with extreme pessimism and radical skepticism condemning existence. True nihilism trusts nothing, possesses neither loyalty nor purpose and anarchy is impulse. Nihilism associates with Friedrich Nietzsche who projected nihilism’s destructive effects would undermine  moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions creating the greatest crisis in human history (Nietzsche, 2010). In the 20th and 21st centuries nihilistic value destruction and purposelessness preoccupy politics, arts, and sexual media.  By the beginning of the 21st century, existential despair transitioned to indifference, as seen in escalating suicide statistics across all age groups, school shootings without national policy, political insurrection, and multi trillion dollar indebtedness.  A sexual nihilist then may have no boundaries, no loyalties, no purpose, and present a “nothing matters” destructive pattern in sexual relationships  (Pratt, 2021). Global sexual nihilism with abuse seems to be more just judgement for the flood sequence of Genesis 6-9 than a regretful deity who arbitrarily annihilates humanity on whim.

The word for wickedness and evil, RA, רע in Genesis 6:5 is the same word used in the Genesis creation snap shot of 2:17 (Strong’s, H7451). Evil, RA, in Genesis 2:17 forms the one boundary statement God draws for humankind, “You must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil (RA) for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil according to von Rad (1967)  means omniscience, to be like God in knowledge. Perhaps another possible translation may be, “You must not confuse intimacy with coercion, for when you do, you will no longer be free.” What immediately follows this boundary is the coercive temptation of the snake with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, Cain’s premeditated ambush murder of his brother in Genesis 4, and the sexual assault snap shots of Genesis 6-9. Trace each of these events to the pathogenesis of decline and the reader may see that loss of intimacy with God begins the movement from sexual health to abuse with loss of freedom. The idea of evil in the first 11 chapters of the Genesis sexual health big picture has clear connection to sexual coercion with decline from intimacy with God.

Covenant Intimacy of Relationship, Incest Boundaries

The Noah inclusio snap shot ends in chapters 9 and 10. The ark maker’s family survives the pathogenesis. The text reads, 

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil (RA, רע) from childhood (NAR, נער). And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. “God blessed Noah and his sons saying to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth.’”  (Genesis 8:20)  

The Creator reconciles distance with humankind through intimacy of forgiveness mirroring the covering of sexual shame in Genesis 3:21. Sacrificial life once again exchanges for the pain of unhealthy sexuality.

The statement, “even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood”  may need clarity. The term childhood is the Hebrew word, NAR, נער, pronounced, NAH-ar (Strong’s, H5271).   This word appears 46 times in the Hebrew Old Testament for pubescent adolescents and once for little children in this passage.  The usage of NAR may not permit the translation to be “childhood” found only in this verse. Perhaps a more accurate translation could be, “sexually mature young adults” connecting to the introduction with the abuse of the tyrants. This statement “even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” too forms an inclusio at the opening of chapter 6 with the decline of sexual health.   A more contextual translation may be, “even though every inclination of the human heart can be coercive from onset of puberty.”

The repetition of the “be fruitful and increase” phrase  of Genesis 8:20 mirrors the first blessing of God in Genesis for humans reconnecting to the big picture of sexual health. The word for covenant or intimate relationship, BRT, appears seven times in chapter 9. Seven is a perfect number in Hebrew numerology and the author may be emphasizing the point for God’s comprehensive compassion toward humans. The Creator once again takes responsibility for the distance of humankind with intimacy of reconciliation.

Immediately after the “be fruitful and increase” sexual health reconciliation snap shot, the story picks up the sexual abuse theme from the introduction of chapter 6. This forms a succinct literary inclusio.  

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.  But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their fa- ther’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him,  he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!
    The lowest of slaves
    will he be to his brothers.”

He also said,

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!
     May Canaan be the slave of Shem.

May God extend Japheth’s territory;
  may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
    and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died. (Genesis 9:18-29)

So, the English translation reads that God eternally cursed Canaan because his father, Ham, saw his naked grandfather, Noah, blacked out from a binge drinking bender.   A more accurate version leans on another Hebrew literary device called euphemism.  Jewish writers used words carefully, more comfortable speaking of bodily functions in terms of “covering the feet or watering the feet” instead of defecating or urinating. Today incest is a difficult topic not spoken of lightly. So it was with the Biblical writers. In Leviticus 18 laws prohibiting sexual intercourse between family members appear. Each time the word for incest occurs, a Hebrew euphemism softens the conversation perhaps protecting young ears. The words used for incest are “to uncover the nakedness of” beginning with Leviticus 18:6.  The literal translation of this Hebrew verse is “Oh man, oh man, do not come near to any of your blood relatives to uncover the nakedness, I am the Lord.”

The prohibitions which follow Leviticus 18:6 address uncovering the nakedness of or genital sexual intercourse with one’s mother, stepmother, sister, grand daughter, half sister, aunt, uncle’s wife, daughter in law, and sister in law.  Ham’s sexual assault of his biological mother seems to be a better explanation for the curse against the incestuous offspring, Canaan. The territory belonging to Canaan along with its inhabitants will be a source of pain and conflict for the family of Israel throughout the Old Testament. The negative undertone of the Land of Canaan may connect to the incestuous assault of Ham with his mother.

The Genesis 6-10 pathogenesis snap shot ends with a genealogy of Noah, the ark maker’s family. The Noah snap shot transitions with reconciliation and reconnection to the big picture of sexual health in chapters 1-5. Noah’s family is blessed by God. The Creator repeats the command for human beings to be “fruitful and increase” connecting with the opening passages of Genesis. Genesis 1-5 paints the picture of foundation for sexual health and Genesis 6-11 illustrates boundaries protecting children from abuse.  Now humankind has awareness of not only the intimacy of sexual health from Genesis 1-5, but clarity on the pathogenesis or decline to unhealthy sexuality of Genesis 6-11.  When humans move away from intimacy with God and one another, sexuality trends toward coercion, violence, and nihilism. When humans engage God intimately, sexual health appears spiritual, beautiful, pleasurable, compassionate, balanced, and reconciliatory.

Introduction

Compassion for children can inspire cultural change. Care for little children fueled Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream that

“…my fourlittle children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” (NPR, 2010).

 Moved by compassion in 1968 MLK gave his life for the freedom of…little children.

MLK’s namesake, Martin Luther, passionately defied abuse with 95 theses.  One of Luther’s many 16th century salvos challenged institutional pedophilia.  He took exception with clergy assaulting children in pastoral care (Wilson, 2007).The sexual health and safety of little children played a significant role in Martin Luther’s  1517 culture changing insurrection.  Christ’s first century reformation also touched sexual health. The entire chapter of Matthew 18 dedicates to elevating the status and protection of little children.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the king- dom of heaven?”  He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will nev- er enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

  If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people (children) to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:1-6)

Christ’s two millennia rebellion still places safety and sexual health of children at the message center. Jesus, consistent with the Book of Genesis, blessed children with clear protective boundaries guarding both their spiritual and sexual health.  In the same way, the first blessings by God in Genesis targeted sexual health for families (Genesis 1:22, 28). Christ’s passion for the safety of children parallels the first 11 chapters of Genesis in what the author calls, the big picture of sexual health for children. Genesis teaches families and children about intimacy with God and human sexuality. Specifically chapters 1-5 mirror positive sexual health and chapters 6-11 reflect decline from intimacy with God resulting in abuse. 

Caregivers for nearly four millennia have told sexual health stories incorporated into the Bible to their children and grandchildren about the compassion of God.  Bowlby (1969) and Harlow (1960) proved caregiver nurture physically changes the structure of a child’s brain.  Young minds shaped for love and kindness assist the child to calm herself. Healthy caregivers  sharing stories of God’s compassionate presence alter brain chemicals so he can reason, make meaning of pain, and soothe anxious thoughts.  

The parents of history’s revolutionaries connected to the same Bible stories of God’s intimacy with humankind. Jesus’ mother, Mary, and step-father Joseph, nurtured the compassion of Christ with Old Testament stories of a benevolent God liberating oppressed Israel.  Known for her ability to communicate spiritual matters with excellent language skills, historians credit Martin Luther’s mother, Margarethe Lindemann, for the reformer’s eloquent speech. MLK’s parents and grandmother, Jennie, told, exciting stories from the Bible giving shape to the non violent rebellion of the 60’s (Oates, 1983). Cultural transformation rarely takes place within political institutions,  genesis of social change historically begins within the warm embrace of nurturing caregivers. The result? Culture and history change.

The rebellions of MLK and Martin Luther connect to a bigger picture or what literary artists call a meta narrative. Each reformer found Christ’s compassionate non violent revolution the base for their movements. Specifically, the big picture of sexual health in Genesis has guided caregivers teaching their children about spiritual intimacy and human sexuality for over three thousand years. The Bible mandates that caregivers take primary responsibility to teach children about life and sexuality.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

(Deuteronomy 6:4-10; 4:9-10; 11:19; Psalm 34:11; 78:5)

 The parents and grandparents of history’s rebel leaders seemed to follow this track.

Genesis paints the beautiful picture of graceful symmetry transforming chaos (Genesis 1-2). This cosmological connection between Maker and the created reflects beauty, pleasure, compassionate presence, balance, reconciliation, and sexual health.  Genesis declares that both creation and human sexuality are not only good but “extremely good” and without shame in every conceivable way (Genesis 1:31). Christ too moved through the early first century embracing these truths. Jesus, single, celibate, and without sex scandal held sexual health in high regard connecting to the Genesis big picture. 

Every Biblical covenant, or God’s intimate connection with humankind, begins with the sexual health-positive phrase, “be fruitful and increase”. Sexual health language and images weave through the entire Bible except the single page documents of Obadiah, and John 2 and 3. All books of the Bible with developed themes convey specific connection to the sexual health-positive big picture of Genesis 1-11. The Bible treats sexual health as foundation for God’s intimacy with humankind.  

The big picture of sexual health flows from the omni benevolence of God. Human sexuality is only good, and in fact excellent in every way according to Genesis 1-5.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (excellent in every way). And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:28-31)

Christ’s preaching career began with the Beatitudes, the blessing of God for humankind. His first sermon series in Matthew 5-7 threads blessing and sexual health throughout. He blesses those who have survived abuse, forms sexual health boundaries, and directs the early Christian community to live life without spiritual condemnation of others’ sexuality (Matthew 5-7).

Sexuality as evil, dirty, or shameful does not appear in the first two chapters of the Bible. Jesus follows this same pattern by never declaring sexual health sinful or shameful. Sexual shame occurs in Genesis 3 as human perception rather than divine intention. No data indicates reproductive systems changed in form or function in the Fall of humankind.  Erotic violence does not appear until chapters 6-11 emerging as loss of intimacy between God and humans.   Jesus’ interaction with sexual abuse survivors shows only compassion and hope (John 4; John 7). No contradiction appears in the sexual health positive big picture of Genesis 1-5 throughout the Old Testament, the life of Christ, and the first century church.

Part One of this work features the Genesis big picture of sexual health in chapters 1-11. Intimacy with the Creator and sexual health-positive images frame chapters 1-5. Chapters 6-11 contrast sexual health with the decline of intimacy between God and humankind leading to abuse. One can think of Genesis 1-5 as foundation for teaching sexual health to children and Genesis 6-11 as boundaries to protect children from abuse.  Part Two follows the sexual health big picture through the family of Abraham to Joseph.  Part Three summarizes the sexual health big picture of Genesis for clergy and counselors in light of Biblical theology, neuroscience and clinical sexology.  

The method uses Biblical theology or the “Scripture interpreting Scripture” model for translation of sexual health texts. Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, Koine Greek and Classical Greek with other Near Eastern languages are useful in defining sexual health vocabulary. In addition to Biblical theology current neuroscience and clinical sexology explain reproductive science and sexual function. All Bible citations come from the The New International Version (NIV). Unless otherwise stated the NIV is the current preferred English translation of the Bible (Rainer, 2021). The Hebrew text reflects the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) and the Greek New Testament bases on the Morphological Greek New Testament (MGNT).

The term “big picture” defines sexual health themes in Genesis chapters 1-5 and 6-11. The author uses the words “snap shot” to discussion smaller stories within the “big picture”. The reader will find  this work organizes and highlights all sexual health images with vocabulary as the terms appear. Biblical passages appear in italics. The purpose both honors The Bible and alerts the reader to alternate reflections of the text.

In this post modern era chapter headings, indentation of paragraphs and punctuation organize literature.  Ancient texts have neither punctuation nor chapter headings. Biblical authors utilized one of many literary devices called, inclusio to organize their thoughts (Abrahamson, 2018).  One can think of the inclusio as the start and stop of a snap shot highlighting a complete thought. Dorsey (1999) in his book, The Literary Structure of the Old Testament, calls the snap shots, “literary units…arranged by a sandwich structure called the inclusio” (Dorsey, pp. 21-26). The inclusio features repetition, identical vocabulary, images, or themes linking a snap shot with “beginning and end markers” rather than punctuation (Dorsey, pp. 21-22) The inclusio appears not well known to the translators who edited the Bible with  chapter headings. Therefore, artificial chapter headings crafted by translators may not represent original author intent. This work attempts to identify the inclusio with beginning and end markers to assist the reader with original organization and author intent.

Unmatched global unrest revolves around this work.  A worldwide pandemic threatens to annihilate the very old and weak. Politicians, court justices, and clergy stand accused of sexual misconduct on historic scales.   Anti facist insurrection,  decades of escalating opioid fatalities, and political hatred intensify with shared global trauma. 74% of males and 41% of females within faith communities regularly use pornography for sexuality education.  Since the dawn of the internet, the primary instructional model for children has been the porn industry often featuring coercive sex with erotic violence. Research shows that pornography use worldwide  increased as much as 25 percent during the isolation of quarantine mandates (Zattoni, 2020).  This may mean that children  follow the pandemic trend with escalation in exposure to coercive violent sexual content as primary sexual health educator.

This virulent era however, may offer hope. What if the next rebellion ushers not pandemic terror,  but dissidents take up arms for children? What if cohorts of caring parents, clergy, and counselors weaponize sexual health for the sake of the small child?  What might the next generation become if human sexuality reflects spiritual intimacy with God rather than shame and fear?

This work humbly attempts to usher a quiet revolt of sexual health for caregivers, clergy, and counselors.  The rebellion takes up arms of compassionate narratives prayerfully hoping to inoculate sexual health with “content of character” for the sake of little children (Martin Luther King Jr., 1962).

Part One

The Genesis Big Picture of Sexual Health: Chapters 1-11

Sexual health positive education for children begins with Genesis 1-11. The themes found in this “meta narrative” or big picture connect throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Sexuality and its reproductive science reflect the image of God at creation. The organization, intricacy and beauty of sexual health mirror the Author who declares the artwork, most excellent (Genesis 1:31).

Be Fruitful and Increase

The sexual health-positive big picture takes shape in Genesis 1-2. All vocabulary and images paint a positive view of human sexuality. Unhealthy sexuality does not exist within these chapters. The education of children begins with the mandate for earth to “bring forth” (Genesis 1:11). Then, the command directs at all creation with  “be fruitful and increase” appearing seven times in the book of Genesis (Genesis 1:22, 28; 8:17; 9:1,7; 17:20; 35:11). Seven often appears as a perfect or complete number in ancient culture reflecting spiritual wholeness.  One can see the explanation of Hebrew numbers and specifically “seven” in the Biblical literary device section of Part Three.  The sexual health phrase “be fruitful and increase” affirms sexually reproducing animals, the families of  Adam and Eve, Noah, and finally the family of Abraham to Joseph. No negative images connect to the “be fruitful and increase” sexual health statements throughout the entire Bible.  Every intimate relationship God formed with humans in Genesis begins with this sexual health affirmation.  The reader may see connection between  spirituality and human sexuality. The blending of spiritual intimacy with physical sexuality forms an ongoing thread through this work.  

Within Genesis 1-5 the “be fruitful and increase” sexual health-positive phrase appears twice. Genesis 1:22 reveals the first pronouncement of God in the Bible blessing sexuality of the animal kingdom. The second blessing directs at humans, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28)  The first blessing for humankind emerges as a sexual health-positive mandate.  No unhealthy sexual images appear in Genesis 1-5 except for the sexual shame humankind experienced in loss of intimacy with God.  The hiding of genitalia and distancing from God may foreshadow the loss of intimacy with decline to sexual abuse of Genesis 6-9.

Genesis 2 moves from the sexual health positive images in chapter 1 to specifics of sexual intimacy.  Before genital sexual intercourse occurs, the big picture paints broad brush strokes of God connecting to humankind.  The Creator sees, talks, and walks with the first family. The attachment of God with creation mirrors spirituality, beauty, pleasure, compassion, balance, sexual health, and reconciliation.   Spiritual intimacy with physical sexuality is unique among all ancient literature.

Seven Types of Intimacy with God and Sexual Health

Spiritual intimacy forms a composition of love greater than divine mandates or human emotion. While Creator transforms matter, Spirit hovers over chaos darkness as a mother tenderly nurtures her young (BLB, Genesis 1:2, ,רחף Strong’s, H7363). The Creator “sees” and declares the creation “good” seven times in Genesis 1-2. This use of the number seven may mean  completion or wholeness. Spiritual wholeness sets the foundation for sexual health as one piece of intimacy with God and humans. Creator sees humankind and the creation experiences God. Sexual health with spiritual intimacy weave unbroken design throughout.

Intimacy reflects beauty. This world can stun senses with chromatic panoramas, balanced eco systems, and tenacity of reproduction.  The Psalmist states in 139:14 that, humankind and the beautiful orb they dwell upon are “fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  The connection of the Maker to the creation reflects graceful allure.  Seven times in Genesis 1 the Creator claims the created is  good, טוֹב, pronounced TOVE (Strong’s, H2895). The meaning of TOVE spans beautiful, best, better, at ease, fine, glad, gracious, kindness, loving, pleasant, pleasure, precious, and healthy.  When the text reads “good”,  the meaning captures the richest sense of beauty, pleasure, and health.

Intimacy balances relationship with rest. God blesses six creative snap shots with repose from labor (Genesis 2:3). Scripture treats human anxiety, with the Sabbath rest, or שבת, in Hebrew (Strong’s, H7673). From the sexual health big picture of Genesis, to the Ten Commandments with cessation from labor, through the life of Christ who “rests” the weary, and finally to the New Heavens and Earth snap shots of Revelation, God intends humankind to regulate neurological balance by resting. One theory in this work proposes that intimacy regulates the anxiety of human sexuality, an essential feature of relationships. The reader can find detailed conversation in the Neuroscience and Clinical Sexology section on anxiety reaction for the sexual health of children.

The architecture of intimacy appears pleasurable. The word for “Eden”, עדן, means “pleasure” (Strong’s, H5731, Genesis 2:8).  When God speaks to Christ at baptism, the fatherly declaration states, “This is my beloved son, in whom I take pleasure” (Matthew 12:18; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 2 Peter 1:17).  Eden mirrors the omni benevolent image of God and is only beautiful and pleasant. The intent seems to be pleasure of connection to both world and one another. Theologians have not always disdained pleasure. The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins with the question, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever” (Bible Presbyterian Church Online, 2019).  Bessel van der Kolk states that from a neural scientific perspective, no true neurological learning takes place without…pleasure (van der Kolk, 2016). When the Hebrew term TOVE meaning “good” is used with the garden name Eden, does this mean that the world of humankind is extremely good? Perhaps Eden as “pleasure” shapes the understanding of a child that procreation is not the only purpose for human sexuality? Can these snap shots mean that sexual intimacy is extremely good fashioned in the image of God?

Intimacy between God and humankind reflects compassionate presence.  The first evil  emerges at Genesis 2:18,  “It is not good (evil) for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable helper for him.” Merciful God commutes the sentence of isolation with compassionate presence. The words “suitable helper” may need definition for some readers. The word “suitable” describes the helper as one who becomes the object of affection and nurture (Strong’s, H5048, Isaiah 49:16, Jeremiah 49:5). The word helper appears throughout the Old Testament as a name for God (Strongs, H5828). The “suitable helper” phrase may seem demeaning to the casual reader. The original intent perhaps brought humankind out of the first evil, isolation, into compassionate intimacy of relationship.  A more accurate translation may be, “I will make a creative nurturing partner for you.” The word, EZER or helper, never minimizes women in the Bible. Intimacy reflects an affectionate presence delivering humankind from the slavery of isolation’s pain. 

Intimacy frees the object of love with forgiveness. One boundary separated God and humankind. Creator desired creation to be free.  This monolithic boundary prevents pursuit of  “being like God” resulting in loss of intimacy with its freedom. Slavery is not the opposite of freedom. A prisoner can transcend barbed wire bonds with the consciousness of compassion. Antithesis of freedom may instead be hardness of heart.  Hegel the philosopher believed world history reduces to pursuit of the consciousness of freedom (Heschel, p.191).  The Biblical theologian, Abraham Heschel might reflect that Adam and Eve’s fall is more the pursuit of hardening of heart.

“Freedom is not a natural disposition, but God’s precious gift to man.  Those in whom viciousness becomes second nature, those in whom brutality is linked with haughtiness forfeit their ability and therefore their right to receive that gift.  Hardening of heart is the suspension of freedom.  Sin becomes compulsory and self destructive.  Guilt and punish- ment become one” (Heschel, p. 191).

Humankind yields under the anxious urge to be like God and falls.  Shame then drives the first family to isolate. In this shame state humans make vegan clothing for themselves covering pain hiding from the presence of God. Intimacy suspends.  

Creator restores the fallen family, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).  God sacrifices an animal exchanging a life for the pain of sin. The Creator, now tailor, crafts “royal robes” with leather skins to cover shame (Strong’s, H3801). Perhaps this forms an inclusio with the sacrifice of Christ and the covering of shame at Golgotha?  The word for “royal robes” appears as the identical term for Joseph’s pricey princely garment of Genesis 37:3.   Shame hides by isolating.  Intimacy with God restores relationship covering sexual shame. The immediate context following this passage references the first specific act of genital sexual intercourse in the Bible, Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel (Genesis 4:1). Eve sees spiritual connection with God stating that the “Lord helped” her conceive and deliver a son. Perhaps this snap shot foreshadows the birth of Christ? Mary, the mother of Jesus, exudes similar enthusiasm in the conception snap shot in what Luke simply calls, Mary’s Song.

Mary’s Song 

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.  From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name…He has helped his servant Israel,  remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descen- dants forever,  just as he promised our ancestors.” (Luke 2:46-56)

Mary, too was helped to become a mother.  Mary like Eve saw the Creator’s presence in the birth of her son who would one day offer to reverse hardness of heart. 

The big picture of Genesis 1-5 reflects sexual health as one aspect of relationship with God. This intimacy emerges as spiritual, beautiful, pleasurable, compassionate, balanced, sexually healthy, and reconciling relationships. 

Little children learn visually and the images of Genesis speak with pictures.  The first sexual health Genesis snap shot paints a kind canvas for children.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was soGod saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:26-31)

 Neither negative language nor unhealthy image connect to the design and function of human sexuality in chapters 1-2. 

Sexual health education includes the reflection of essential being or image of God. Skilled teachers use repetition to educate children.  The Genesis narrator emphasizes the essential being or image terms four times in two verses.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:27-28).  Immediately following these declarations Genesis introduces the sexual health-positive phrase, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it’” (Genesis 1:28). These positive images may wire young brains to perceive how human sexuality reflects the goodness of God.  The first pictures of sexual health in Genesis feature neither sexual act nor genitalia, but rather the benevolent consciousness of God, the character of Creator for the created. A child may learn from these opening words that sexuality emerges in safe connection with compassionate Creator.

One Flesh, Naked Without Shame, Give Birth To

Genesis 2 again illustrates specifics of intimacy with God and humans.  

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.The man said,“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.  Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. (Genesis 2:22-25)  

Children eventually ask caregivers, “Where do babies come from?” These Genesis sexual health-positive images craft a teaching-learning process based on the essential being of God rather than sexual performance. Before caregivers unpack the explanation of reproductive acts Genesis paints a compassionate picture of human sexuality showing spiritual connection with God, beauty, pleasure, compassion, balance, and reconciliation. Human sexuality seems safe from coercion or violence within these images.  Children may begin to build a belief system that sexual health is not only good, but safe. 

Two images teaching children about sexual shame form an inclusio in Genesis 1-3.  “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.  Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” (Genesis 2:25) In this piece sexual intercourse mirrors spiritual oneness between partners.  Human sexuality and the naked body bare no shame.  Piaget (1929) calls the development of a child’s brain, the schema.  Bowlby (1969) identifies this neurological upgrowth as the attachment system.  According to Piaget between the ages of two to seven, a child’s value system shapes according to the nurture of caregivers. Bowlby takes this theory a step further demonstrating that a child’s brain volume physically grows and shapes according to caregiver intimacy.  It seems reasonable that a child’s sexuality can form both structure and function on the intimacy of spirituality, beauty, compassion, balance, and healthy relationships. On the other hand can shame and fear also shape the sexual system of the brain in specific ways? If shame and fear shape the schema or attachment system of the brain, then sexuality may trigger fear based responses.  Genesis 1-5 may have potential to wire a child’s sexual health schema or attachment system with compassionate boundaries, reason, and social awareness.

Shaping the sexual schema of a child, or attachment system can involve subtle yet neurologically powerful messages. Reproductive science labels the bundle of axons connecting genitalia to the brain the pudendal nerve. This neural pathway receives and sends electrochemical signals to external genitalia, perineum, and the tissue around the anus. The term “pudendal” comes from a late 14th century Latin word, pudendum.  This modern medical term means male and female external genitalia.  The original literal Latin usage however is, ”the thing to be ashamed of.”  Pudendum also has a primitive Indo European meaning, “to punish or repulse.”  The Old English version of this word translates as scamlin or “shame limb” (Etymonline, 2021). These messages of shame, punishment, and repulsion may shape the schema and attachment system of children to respond to sexuality with fear.

When caregivers communicate to children that compassion of benevolent Creator formed sexual health, this wiring instantly sprouts new connections in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The PFC governs and regulates the entire biological system. When a child thinks about sexuality, the response based on this PFC wiring can be healthy, compassionate, and regulated.  If shame shapes a child’s brain so sexuality is feared, punished for, or repulsed from, then neural connections form from the fear or shame center of the brain. This can mean that if a child believes male genitalia is scamlin, or a shame limb, then she may have a different neurological experience than a child who views anatomy as most excellent creation in the image of omni benevolent God.

  The snap shot bringing the sexual shame inclusio to an end pictures the covering of shame (Genesis 3:21). Shameless sexuality appears in Genesis 1:28 beginning the snap shot and 3:21 ends the scene with the covering of shame.  The result of humans seeking equality with God is loss of freedom. Reproductive systems with dopamine arousal, adrenaline, and hormone transfer do not appear to change in the Fall. Perception of sexuality shifts. Instead of seeing genitalia as bearing the image of God humans assign fear to body parts.   In response, the first family covers genitalia with self made vegan clothing hiding from the presence of God.  After awareness of and consequence for their sin, Creator gives humankind gifts of meaning making, pain, labor, and childbirth. Then the climax of the snap shot appears, The Maker tailors leather clothing, majestic royal garments, to replace the vegetable attire. Shame diminishes. Following this immediate context the first mention of genital sexual intercourse in the Bible records. The word used to paint the first sexual intimacy shot is YDA, genital sexual intercourse, the intimate knowing of body, mind, and spirit. The inclusio at 1:28 begins the snap shot with shameless sexuality and the 3:21 inclusio ends the scene with the covering of shame followed by the intimacy of sexual health, YDA.

The Intimacy of Genital Sexual Intercourse

Genesis 4:1 introduces for the first time the sexual health term, genital  sexual intercourse, YDA, ידע, pronounced ya-DAH ( Strong’s, H3045). The word YDA, sexual intimacy, appears three times within the big picture of sexual health in Genesis 1-5 (Genesis 4:1,17, 25).  Nine times the sexual health use of  YDA  appears in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 4:1,17, 25; 19:5, 8, 33, 35, 24:16, 38:26).  The range of usage includes: sexual intimacy between Adam and Eve of 4:1, 25, Cain’s intercourse with his wife in 4:17; the threat of gang rape of 19:5, the description of virginity 19:8 and 24:16,  the incestuous intercourse of Lot’s daughters in 19:33, 35, and as the narrator explains Judah ceased intercourse with his daughter-in-law, Tamar in 38:16.

Heschel (1962) affirms the depth of the term, YDA , as not only the primary Semitic terms for genital sexual intercourse, but also,

“…mental and spiritual activity.  In Hebrew YDA means more than the possession of ab- stract concepts. Knowledge encompasses inner appropriation, feeling, a reception into the soul. It involves both an intellectual and emotional act” (Heschel, p. 57).

YDA as the premier Genesis term for genital sexual intercourse carries the spiritual intimacy nuance of sharing inner awareness. YDA more than any other Biblical term connects the physical pleasure of sexuality with the beauty of spirituality. In other words, the neuroscience of sexual health connects genitalia with the executive function of  compassion, awareness, reason, and gratitude within the pre frontal cortex. The earliest Biblical iterations of human sexuality merge higher consciousness with genital sexual intercourse.

YDA appears within the sexual health positive big picture of Genesis 1-5 with neither prohibition nor negativity.  The Sodom gang rape snap shot of Chapter 19 may be the use  of YDA as a literary device called paradox (Giordano, 2017).  The Biblical Theology section explains the many uses of literary devices in the Bible. Paradox seems to be a favored tool by literary artists to emphasize deeper meaning.  Chapter 19 uses the word, YDA, sexual intercourse four times. The Genesis author may be contrasting the sexual health-positive term, YDA, of chapter 4 with a paradox of unhealthy sexuality. Specifically chapter 19 uses YDA within the threatening assault of gang rapists. YDA, then describes Lot’s daughters intent on incest who dope their father, then sexually assault him on two occasions. So with the use of Biblical literary device,  chapter 19 may be communicating a paradox contrasting sexual health of Genesis 4 with sexual abuse. Finally chapter 36 reflects the use of YDA in a sex trade seduction scene of Judah with his daughter-in-law, Tamar. The word, YDA, as a sexual health term is used nine times in Genesis breaking down this way:

1. Sexual health: 5 x’s
2. Sexual abuse: 4 x’s

Another Biblical inclusio begins Genesis 5. Chapter one paints the image of God in creation. All flows from this benevolent act including sexuality. The entirety of creation reflects only good. Sexual health too is exceptionally good.  God blesses healthy sexuality as Creator intimately walks and talks with humanity.  In the same way Genesis 5 begins with the image of God in creating humankind. The writer details the record of families. In this piece Enoch walks with God as Adam and Eve walked in the garden.   The sexual health big picture syncs chapters 1 with 5 using precise themes and vocabulary bringing this section to conclusion. All images in the big picture of sexual health reflect intimacy with God and humankind. Even though humankind fails and falls, sexual health does not suffer sin’s effect until the pathogenesis or decline of intimacy in Genesis 6. The sexual health context according to Genesis 1-5 is spiritual, beautiful, pleasurable, compassionate, brings balance, and reconciles relationship.

Sexual Health Creation Stories in the Ancient Near East

When the Genesis sexual health creation story emerged, competing creation accounts with sexual health narratives existed. These stories taught the children of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece about the origin of life and human sexuality.  The creation stories of the ancient Near East wired the schema or attachment system of children in the same way as the Genesis big picture of sexual health can form neurology of children. The sexual health creation stories of the ancient Near East merged together in approximately the era. The Merneptah Stele or Israel Stele is an ancient Egyptian inscription credited to the Pharaoh Merneptah circa 1213-1203 BCE (Redmount, 1998; Sparks, 1998).  The text speaks of Merneptah’s military victories over the people and allies of both Libya and the region of modern day Israel. The stele not only mentions specific geographical locales in Palestine, but the name of Israel appears within the final six lines. It seems reasonable the Genesis big picture of sexual health emerged pre 13th century as an oral tradition.

The princes are prostrate, saying, “Peace!”
Not one is raising his head among the Nine Bows.
Now that Tehenu (Libya) has come to ruin,
Hatti is pacified;
The Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe:
Ashkeon has been overcome;
Gezer has been captured;
Yano’am is made non-existent.
Israel is laid waste and his seed is not;
Hurru is become a widow because of Egypt (Redmount, 1998; Sparks, 1998).

Mesopotamian Sexual Health Creation Story

The Mesopotamian Enuma Elish appears to be the oldest creation story from approximately 7th century BCE.  This sexual health narrative features 1,000 Sumero Akkadian cuneiform lines written on seven clay tablets of 115-117 lines on each. This is the approximate number of lines for the Genesis big picture of sexual health in the Hebrew text. The name, Enuma Elish means, ”When on High,” found in the opening phrase. The account features two creative deities: Apsu the male fresh water god combines fluids with the female sea goddess, Tiamat, to generate creation. Other deities form ensuing chaos. When Tiamat’s husband is murdered,  the snake goddess wreaks revenge by creating titanic monsters to put down divine insurrection. Tiamat mobilizes 11 weapons of mass destruction including fanged serpents, hell hounds, she monsters, and scorpion men.  In the following battle the god Marduk vanquishes Tiamat in a violent act of erotic rage. Tiamat’s defeat has been interpreted by some scholars as a murder-rape narrative. Their logic follows the ancient storyline; Marduk blows a mighty wind bursting Tiamat’s uterus. He pierces her internal viscera up to the heart. Casting her body down, Marduk smashes the goddesses’ serpent skull cleaving the corpse. With half of her dismembered body Marduk creates the heavens, and with the other half he makes the earth. The final act of Marduk forms humankind sounding much like Genesis,

Blood to blood I join,

Blood to bone I form,

an original thing, its name is MAN,

Aboriginal man is mine in making (NWE, 2021).

Egyptian Sexual Health Creation Story

Egyptian supernatural deities attest as early as the Predynastic Period in Egypt circa 6000-3150 BCE. Scholars generally agree oral traditions are much earlier than written (Mark, 2016).

Sexual health themes for Egyptians often orbited adultery and incest. The purpose of marriage fidelity preserved royal blood lines. Punishment for adultery resulted in emasculation or death in some cases (Baber, 1935).  Numerous Egyptian deities married biological family members. A few of the incestuous unions were: She and Tefnut; Geb and Nut; Osiris and Isis; Seth and Nephthys. One thread in this work highlights the ancient use of creation stories in the teaching of children about sexuality. A 2010 DNA study of sixteen Egyptian mummies demonstrates that King Tutunkhamen’s parents were biological brother and sister. The researchers believe at least two successive generations may have intermarried contributing to the poor health of King Tutunkhamen with early death (Hawas et al., 2010). These findings may support the idea that the Egyptian sexual health stories contributed to the practice of incest by royals. 

Greek Sexual Health Creation Story

The Greek sexual health creation story appears to be the youngest of the Near Eastern origin narratives. The Hellenic god Zeus is mentioned in Biblical literature three times (Acts 14:8-13; Acts 28:11; 2 Maccabees 6:1).  Zeus is the sky deity in ancient Greek mythology, represented by lightning bolts and the eagle. Bearded Zeusbiologically fathered half the pantheon of Greek gods and humankind. The earliest manuscript citing Zeus is called the Derveni Theogony.  In 1962 in Derveni near Salonica, Greece within funeral pyre remains archeologists discovered a papyrus scroll.  Some of the text attributes to Orpheus dating from 340-320 BCE.  The text itself may be from as early as 500-400 BCE.  The Derveni Theogony is the earliest manuscript containing the Zeus sexual health origin story (Bernabe, 2002).  If  Zeus were presented as a case study to clinicians, his sexual history might look like this. 

The chief complaint of his wife, Hera, was partner infidelity. Zeus groomed Hera’s priestess, Lo, for sex.  When Hera stalked her promiscuous husband, Zeus turned Lo into a white cow avoiding Hera’s rage. Hera was no fool she had been gaslighted many times. She intuited the bovine to be Zeus’ lover. When Hera took possession of the paramour,  Zeus sent Hermes to rescue Lo from his enraged wife. Hera returned the favor by inflicting a gadfly to chase and torture Lo around the globe without rest. 

Zeus impregnated Semele, a lovely mortal princess. When Hera discovered this new sexual betrayal, the enraged partner disguised herself to coerce the princess to believe that the father  may not in fact be the lightning god, Zeus. Semele, feeling the threat of a possible deception, asked Zeus to appear in the fullness of his glory proving his divinity.  When Zeus appeared, Semele, the mortal, burst into flames at the sight of a deity. He then sewed the fetus, Dionysus, into his thigh until birth.

In Homer’s version, Zeus and Dione produced Aphrodite, the goddess of love. On the island of Cyprus Zeus, overcome by his daughter’s beauty, attempted to rape Aphrodite. She escaped the assault at the expense of the earth mother goddess, Gaia. When Aphrodite pulled out from the violent rape of her father, Zeus’ semen spilled on the earth goddess Gaia who then gave birth to bizarre offspring. Later Aphrodite herself repeats the seduction narrative by having a sexual affair with her own father. As punishment, Hera cursed Aphrodite with hideous mutant offspring.

Zeus coerced Leda the queen of Sparta for sex by disguising himself as a swan. After his  seduction success, the queen returned to Sparta to make love to her royal husband, King Tyndareus. Swan seduction produced royal confusion. Leda became pregnant with quadruplets. The Greek sexual health narrative explains that two offspring belonged to Zeus-Pollux and Helen, and the other two children-Castor and Clytemnestra-belonged to Tyndareus.

Zeus coerced his sister, Demeter, for intercourse. After she rebuffed this seduction, Zeus raped Demeter by shape shifting into a bull or a snake depending on the version.  The incestuous offspring from this assault produced Persephone. Later, Zeus appearing in the form of a serpent seduced his virgin daughter Persephone. The Titans first murdered then dismembered their incestuous son, Zagreus. Persephone was then forced to marry Zeus’ brother, the underworld god, Hades. After the coerced marriage to his brother, Zeus stalked his daughter once again for sex.  Becoming enraged at the incestuous relationship, Demeter threatened to destroy all humankind if Zeus did not return Persephone to her mother. 

When Zeus impregnated Leto, a Titan goddess, his enraged partner Hera exiled her, and she wandered the earth searching for a safe place to give birth to her offspring gods, Artemis and Apollo (Putri, 2020).

The ancient Near Eastern sexual health stories reflect coercion, incest, and erotic violence by their deities.  The Genesis sexual health positive big picture differs. Sexuality forms one piece of spiritual intimacy with God and humankind reflecting beauty, pleasure, balance, and reconciliation. All deities of the ancient Near East have sexual intercourse with other gods and or humans.  The Creator of Genesis desires compassionate connection rather than sexual intercourse with humankind. The spiritual connection of the Creator seems to reflect in the sexual intimacy of humankind rather than deity participating sexually with humans. The ancient Near Eastern narratives feature deities coercing sexual intercourse with humans. The Genesis narrative promotes both the goodness and excellence of human sexuality and at the same time maintains sexually safe boundaries between the Creator and created.

All four sexual health creation accounts describe a snake in chaos.  Ancient Near Eastern snake narratives often have sexual overtones of erotic violence and abuse.  The Genesis sexual health  big picture features a snake as antagonist violating God’s boundaries. Although no sexual component can be overtly seen in the Genesis snake snap shot, the immediate response of the first family is to cover genitalia hiding in shame.  TheEnuma Elishsnake appears as Tiamat, the warrior sea goddess. The creation story of Genesis uses the similar sounding Hebrew word TOHUM for the salt waters of chaos over which the Spirit hovers (Genesis 1:2). The Egyptian origin snake, Nehebkau,  devoured his parents along with the Hehu chaos deities. Hehu sounds similar to the Hebrew creation terms TOHU and BOHU meaning formless and void.  Early Egyptian myths describe the snake as an evil agent guarding the gates of hell and devouring human souls in the afterlife.  The Egyptian snake’s incestuous sex partner is Serket, his rage filled biological mother.  Zeus shape shifts into a snake for the incestuous seduction of his sister, Demeter, and daughter Persephone (Hendology, 2021). 

The Greek sexual health creation story features exile by an enraged marriage partner. Hera excommunicates Lo and Leto because of their sexual relationship with her husband, Zeus. Sarah exiles Hagar for a forced surrogacy. Partner infidelity, revenge, exile, and rage form common themes among  the ancient Near Eastern sexual health narratives. Enraged by the incest of her daughter and Zeus, Demeter threatened to destroy all humankind if Zeus did not return Persephone to her mother. Genesis 6-9 too features global extinction for sexual abuse.

The Genesis big picture of sexual health may have been given to counter the threat of erotic violence of the ancient Near East. The Genesis account, not only a sexual health guide for families,  may help form boundaries protecting children from sexual abuse specifically incest. The healthy boundaries of Genesis contrast all other ancient narratives promoting  sexual intercourse with close family members. The teaching goal appears to be, “the Genesis Creator is sexually safe”. The deities of Mesopotamia violently assaulted one another in bloody dismemberment scenes. The Egyptian pantheon modeled incestuous sexuality producing genetic mutations with high mortality among Egypt’s elite. Zeus the Greek originator relentlessly preyed upon and seduced his own children for sex. The Creator of Genesis does not sexually coerce the created. Genesis is the only ancient literary source framing human sexuality with intimacy terms. The sexual health big picture of Genesis reflects spiritual intimacy with God and humans as beautiful, pleasurable,  compassionate in presence, balanced, and reconciliatory. 

Noah and the Flood: Pathogenesis or Decline of Sexual Health; Genesis 6-11

After the Genesis 1-5 big picture of sexual health, chapters 6-11 contrast with the pathogenesis or decline to unhealthy sexuality perhaps to prevent child abuse.  This too may be a literary device of paradox highlighting the stark contrast of sexual health with sexual assault. The flood account of Noah and his family paints loss of intimacy between God and humankind. Spiritual distance from God parallels decline of sexual health.  Genesis 1-5 sets the sexual health-positive big picture and chapters 6-10 detail the pathogenesis to the incestuous sexual assault of Noah’s wife by their biological son, Ham. The Flood snap shot pictured as an unhealthy sexuality teaching piece is new technology and may be counter intuitive for the reader. The teaching learning theory thus far looks like this: Genesis 1-5 teaches children the foundations of sexual health with kind positive images.  Genesis 6-11 teaches children about boundaries for sexual health. The decline of sexual health to abuse in chapter 6 shows the impact of loss of intimacy with God. This can be thought of as not only a boundary statement for children warning about coercive sexuality but also may teach children the origin of sin and sexual abuse.  Chapters 1-5 teaches foundational principles and chapters 6-11 frame boundaries preventing abuse specifically incest.

Pathogenesis or Decline From Intimacy with God-HLL, Coercive Sexuality

The pathogenesis section or decline of sexual health, begins with the Hebrew word, HLL    (Strong’s, H2490).  HLL, חָלַל, pronounced ha-LAL, means to profane, defile, pollute, desecrate, to begin, to defile oneself sexually, to wound, to pierce. The majority of uses for the Hebrew word HLL connect to decline of intimacy with God.  HLL can mean “to begin”, but the majority use of the word appears as a term of pathogenesis or the decline of intimacy with God. As a term of decline, HLL can mean profaning, defiling, polluting, desecrating, wounding, or unhealthy sexuality. HLL as a word signaling decline of sexual health adds clarity to the flood snap shot of Genesis 6-9. The Biblical Theology section treats all the sexual health uses of HLL in detail.

When human beings began (HLL) to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,  the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.  Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:1)

The passage does not make coherent sense without the translation of HLL as decline of sexual health.  Why would God lament the mortality of humans and exterminate the human race without cause? The reason for global judgement ? The decline to sexual abuse.

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4)

This translation struggles. The term Nephilim, נְּפִלִים, pronounced nu-fil-EEM is the Hebrew word  meaning “to fall upon or attack” with alternate meanings of “ to bully” or “tyrant” (Strong’s, H5303). The Greek text uses the word, gigantes, γίγαντες, pronounced GEE-gan-tays. The gigantes were Greek mythological snake-footed giants born of the blood spatter from the castration gore of Uranus, the heaven deity (Mussies, 2021). The most ancient Greek origin stories cite Uranus’ wife Gaia as his incestuous mother. Hesiod states in the Theogony that Gaia the mother-wife of Uranus coerced Cronus to castrate her husband for imprisoning her children. Cronus ambushed the unwary Uranus then violently castrated him throwing the testicles into the sea. Aphrodite emerged from the bloody sea foam (Hesiod Theogony). Perhaps the Hebrew to English translators of Genesis purposely used the back story of the gigantes? Could it be that Uranus’ incestuous relationship with his mother Gaia and the bloody castration add depth to the Nephilim snap shot ending with the incest of Ham and his mother?  The term in Genesis 6:4 for sexual intercourse, BO, always means unhealthy sexuality in Genesis.  The word, heroes, too is unfortunate and can also mean, “warrior tyrants”. An Arabic equivalent for heroes, _{جَبَّارً} , means one who acts proudly, magnifies himself, or an audacious bold-tyrant  (Strong’s, H1368).  Men of renown may not have the flattering intention of the author, but rather may mean,  “infamously bad reputation.”

The Book of Enoch is a non canonical ancient Near East text dating from 200 BCE to 100 AD which gives helpful insight into this pathogenesis text.  

“And it came to pass that the children of men had multiplied in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of heav- en, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children… ’ [They] took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught tyrants… And there arose much godlessness, and they com- mitted fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways” (Enoch, Book 6.1-2).

The NIV translation uses warm words like “going into”, “beautiful women”, “marriage to heroes of renown”. These terms seem to craft a romantic narrative perhaps?  Enoch sets the tone for a more accurate translation based on context and language study.  Enoch uses the words “lusted”, “defile”, “charms and enchantments” meaning perhaps the use of sorcery, “tyrants”, “godlessness”, “fornication”, and “corrupt”. These unhealthy sexuality descriptors are dramatically different than the NIV’s Hallmark movie rendition.

The following reflects a possible translation based on Hebrew textual analysis and the ancient source of Enoch with the big picture of sexual health in Genesis.  The alternate Biblical theological translation appears without italics so the reader can compare the (NIV) text with the proposed translation. 

“When (unhealthy sexuality increased, HLL) among human beings on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and married any of them they chose.  Then the Lord said, “My Spir- it will not (fight) with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.  (Sexual predators coerced, BO) the daughters of humans and impregnated them. They were the (infamous tyrants of history).” (Genesis 6:1-4) 

The reader can note that HLL, unhealthy sexuality, of verse one can connect to form an inclusio with verse four, “sexual predators coerced.”  This proposed translation not only connects more closely to the Enoch version but seems to make coherent transition to the next section.

The Lord saw how great the (violent abuse, RA, רע) of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only (coercive sexuality, RA, רע) all the time.  The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.  So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:5-8)

Sexual Nihilism, Evil

The cause for terminating the human race?  Loss of spiritual intimacy leading to sexual nihilism with abuse.  This pathogenesis or decline of sexual health snap shot starting in Genesis 6:1-8 forms a fitting inclusio with the assault of Noah’s wife by her son Ham in Genesis 9:21-25. Sexual nihilism underlies the philosophy that sexuality has no values and nothing can be truthfully known or communicated. Nihilism connects with extreme pessimism and radical skepticism condemning existence. True nihilism trusts nothing, possesses neither loyalty nor purpose and anarchy is impulse. Nihilism associates with Friedrich Nietzsche who projected nihilism’s destructive effects would undermine  moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions creating the greatest crisis in human history (Nietzsche, 2010). In the 20th and 21st centuries nihilistic value destruction and purposelessness preoccupy politics, arts, and sexual media.  By the beginning of the 21st century, existential despair transitioned to indifference, as seen in escalating suicide statistics across all age groups, school shootings without national policy, political insurrection, and multi trillion dollar indebtedness.  A sexual nihilist then may have no boundaries, no loyalties, no purpose, and present a “nothing matters” destructive pattern in sexual relationships  (Pratt, 2021). Global sexual nihilism with abuse seems to be more just judgement for the flood sequence of Genesis 6-9 than a regretful deity who arbitrarily annihilates humanity on whim.

The word for wickedness and evil, RA, רע in Genesis 6:5 is the same word used in the Genesis creation snap shot of 2:17 (Strong’s, H7451). Evil, RA, in Genesis 2:17 forms the one boundary statement God draws for humankind, “You must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil (RA) for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil according to von Rad (1967)  means omniscience, to be like God in knowledge. Perhaps another possible translation may be, “You must not confuse intimacy with coercion, for when you do, you will no longer be free.” What immediately follows this boundary is the coercive temptation of the snake with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, Cain’s premeditated ambush murder of his brother in Genesis 4, and the sexual assault snap shots of Genesis 6-9. Trace each of these events to the pathogenesis of decline and the reader may see that loss of intimacy with God begins the movement from sexual health to abuse with loss of freedom. The idea of evil in the first 11 chapters of the Genesis sexual health big picture has clear connection to sexual coercion with decline from intimacy with God.

Covenant Intimacy of Relationship, Incest Boundaries

The Noah inclusio snap shot ends in chapters 9 and 10. The ark maker’s family survives the pathogenesis. The text reads, 

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil (RA, רע) from childhood (NAR, נער). And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. “God blessed Noah and his sons saying to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth.’”  (Genesis 8:20)  

The Creator reconciles distance with humankind through intimacy of forgiveness mirroring the covering of sexual shame in Genesis 3:21. Sacrificial life once again exchanges for the pain of unhealthy sexuality.

The statement, “even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood”  may need clarity. The term childhood is the Hebrew word, NAR, נער, pronounced, NAH-ar (Strong’s, H5271).   This word appears 46 times in the Hebrew Old Testament for pubescent adolescents and once for little children in this passage.  The usage of NAR may not permit the translation to be “childhood” found only in this verse. Perhaps a more accurate translation could be, “sexually mature young adults” connecting to the introduction with the abuse of the tyrants. This statement “even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” too forms an inclusio at the opening of chapter 6 with the decline of sexual health.   A more contextual translation may be, “even though every inclination of the human heart can be coercive from onset of puberty.”

The repetition of the “be fruitful and increase” phrase  of Genesis 8:20 mirrors the first blessing of God in Genesis for humans reconnecting to the big picture of sexual health. The word for covenant or intimate relationship, BRT, appears seven times in chapter 9. Seven is a perfect number in Hebrew numerology and the author may be emphasizing the point for God’s comprehensive compassion toward humans. The Creator once again takes responsibility for the distance of humankind with intimacy of reconciliation.

Immediately after the “be fruitful and increase” sexual health reconciliation snap shot, the story picks up the sexual abuse theme from the introduction of chapter 6. This forms a succinct literary inclusio.  

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.  But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their fa- ther’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him,  he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!
    The lowest of slaves
    will he be to his brothers.”

He also said,

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!
     May Canaan be the slave of Shem.

May God extend Japheth’s territory;
  may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
    and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died. (Genesis 9:18-29)

So, the English translation reads that God eternally cursed Canaan because his father, Ham, saw his naked grandfather, Noah, blacked out from a binge drinking bender.   A more accurate version leans on another Hebrew literary device called euphemism.  Jewish writers used words carefully, more comfortable speaking of bodily functions in terms of “covering the feet or watering the feet” instead of defecating or urinating. Today incest is a difficult topic not spoken of lightly. So it was with the Biblical writers. In Leviticus 18 laws prohibiting sexual intercourse between family members appear. Each time the word for incest occurs, a Hebrew euphemism softens the conversation perhaps protecting young ears. The words used for incest are “to uncover the nakedness of” beginning with Leviticus 18:6.  The literal translation of this Hebrew verse is “Oh man, oh man, do not come near to any of your blood relatives to uncover the nakedness, I am the Lord.”

The prohibitions which follow Leviticus 18:6 address uncovering the nakedness of or genital sexual intercourse with one’s mother, stepmother, sister, grand daughter, half sister, aunt, uncle’s wife, daughter in law, and sister in law.  Ham’s sexual assault of his biological mother seems to be a better explanation for the curse against the incestuous offspring, Canaan. The territory belonging to Canaan along with its inhabitants will be a source of pain and conflict for the family of Israel throughout the Old Testament. The negative undertone of the Land of Canaan may connect to the incestuous assault of Ham with his mother.

The Genesis 6-10 pathogenesis snap shot ends with a genealogy of Noah, the ark maker’s family. The Noah snap shot transitions with reconciliation and reconnection to the big picture of sexual health in chapters 1-5. Noah’s family is blessed by God. The Creator repeats the command for human beings to be “fruitful and increase” connecting with the opening passages of Genesis. Genesis 1-5 paints the picture of foundation for sexual health and Genesis 6-11 illustrates boundaries protecting children from abuse.  Now humankind has awareness of not only the intimacy of sexual health from Genesis 1-5, but clarity on the pathogenesis or decline to unhealthy sexuality of Genesis 6-11.  When humans move away from intimacy with God and one another, sexuality trends toward coercion, violence, and nihilism. When humans engage God intimately, sexual health appears spiritual, beautiful, pleasurable, compassionate, balanced, and reconciliatory.

In English and Espanol

Sexual Health Meditation version 3..0

Rev. Dr. Glen Maiden PhD, DMin, CSAT, CMAT, CST, LHMC

This sexual health meditation can assist the reader with reflection on relational intimacy with God and sexual health with one’s partner.  The meditation follows the seven kinds of intimacy in Genesis 1-3.  Please circle yes or no when appropriate. When answering numbered questions; one means rarely, two means sometimes, three means often.

Sexual Health Meditation version 1.0

Rev. Dr. Glen Maiden PhD, DMin, CSAT, CMAT, CST, LHMC

This sexual health meditation can assist the reader with reflection on relational intimacy with God and sexual health with one’s partner.  The meditation follows the seven kinds of intimacy in Genesis 1-3.  Please circle yes or no when appropriate. When answering numbered questions; one means rarely, two means sometimes, three means often.

1. Sexual health is spiritual. “In the beginning God created….” Genesis 1:1

Do you feel fully present, compassionate, and aware when you are sexual? Yes or No

Is intimacy with God as meaningful for you as sex? Yes or No

Have you felt shame trying to stop unhealthy sexual behavior without success? Yes or No

Is the pursuit of sex more time consuming than intimacy with God and your community?  Yes or No

Do you sense the Holy Spirit down regulating your sexual neural pathways? Yes or No

Do you spend equal amounts on charitable giving and sexual health? Yes or No

My mind can’t stop thinking about past abuse and abusers. 1  2  3

I attach to abusive people quickly. 1  2  3

Chaotic dangerous people attract me. 1  2  3

Total Yes

Total No

Numeric Score

2. Sexual health is beautiful. “God called it most excellent.” Genesis 1.31

My family and friends would say that I am sexually healthy and sober. Yes or No

Could you be arrested for your sexual behaviors? Yes or No

Prayer receives more focus than viewing erotic media. Yes or No

I have spent more money on sexual content

than charitable giving. Yes or No

I have traded for sexual favors. Yes or No

I have had sex with partners I barely knew. Yes or No

I am motivated by shame to please my partner. 1  2  3

My relationships tend to be abusive. 1  2  3

I may deserve the pain my partner gives me. 1  2  3

Total Yes

Total No

Numeric Score

3. Sexual health is balanced. “And God rested.” Genesis 2.2-3

Involuntary sexual thoughts cross my mind and I can regulate them without acting out. Yes or No

At times my sexual behavior makes me sad. Yes or No

Sexual sobriety brings me pleasure ? Yes or No

Have you paid for sexual content? Yes or No

I can regulate my sexual sobriety for awhile, 

but heightened threat or anxiety causes me to act out. Yes or No

I have had more than one sexual partner at a time. Yes or No

I seem to date the same hurtful person over and over again. 1   2   3

I am often connect quickly and just as fast I can be cold about people I care for. 1  2  3

I can barely say no to a partner, and when I do, I feel shame.  1  2  3

Total Yes

Total No

Numeric Score

4. Sexual health is compassionate. I will make a helper (partner/savior) (with whom 

he can share compassion.) Genesis 2.18

Would your partner say your sexuality is compassionate? Yes or No

Does your sexuality feel like trauma? Yes or No

Are you aware of your unhealthy sexual behaviors? Yes or No

I have paid for sex. Yes or No

I engage sexual content regardless of the feelings

of the people I love. Yes or No

I have sought sexual contact in public places. Yes or No

The partners I pick seem to lack compassion. 1  2  3

I feel I deserve harsh treatment from a partner. 1  2  3

I need to feel pain in sex. 1  2  3

Total Yes

Total No

Numeric Score

5. Sexual health is pleasurable.  “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the 

east, in Eden (Pleasure); and there he put the man he had formed.” Genesis 2:8

Genesis 2.24-25

I enjoy mutual pleasure in sexual intercourse. Yes or No

I have injured myself or others emotionally

because of my sexual behaviors. Yes or No

I feel happy and balanced about my sexual sobriety. Yes or No

Do you spend time online seeking sexual content? Yes or No

The pleasure of using porn is greater than pleasing God and my family? Yes or No

I have injured myself or others physically

because of my sexual behaviors. Yes or No

I like the numbing feeling when I am in pain. Yes or No

When a partner hurts me, I take it with few boundaries. 1  2  3

Compassionate boundaries are hard for me. 1  2  3

I can tell my partner doesn’t enjoy pleasing me. 1  2  3

Total Yes

Total No

Numeric Score 

6. Sexual health is a core value.

“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one

flesh.  Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” Genesis 2:24-25

When I think about sexual sobriety my first sensation is joy. Yes or No

My family speaks openly and positively about sexual health. Yes or No

My partner can turn me down for sexual intimacy and I don’t get angry. Yes or No

I teach the children in my family about abuse prevention. Yes or No

When I feel like acting out sexually in a harmful way, I have tools to regulate myself. Yes or No

Problematic Sexuality is not escalating in my life. Yes or No

Sexual intimacy is as important to me as other types of intimacy. Yes or No

I can talk about sexual sobriety with my partner in a healthy way. Yes or No

I feel panic when my partner rejects me for sex. 1 2 3

I can turn off websites with erotic content. 1 2 3

I can regulate my own sexual neural pathways. 1 2 3

7. Sexual health reconciles relationships.  “So God made clothing (royal robes) for the man and his wife, (covering their shame).” Genesis 3:21

I fell safe disclosing my sexual history with my partner. Yes or No

I fear lost employment or relationships 

because of my sexual behavior? Yes or No

Do you connect online for sex: pornography, cams, dating apps? Yes or No

I have hooked up for sex online with people I don’t know. Yes or No

I think I may have had sexual relationships with people

under the legal age limit. Yes or No

Even though I might get caught, I pursue

unhealthy sexual behaviors. Yes or No

If my relationships go well, I tend to cause chaos. 1  2  3

I will reconcile many times with an abusive partner. 1  2  3

My abusive partners seem to have similar looks and smell. 1  2  3

Total Yes

Total No

Numeric Score

Meditación de salud sexual

Esta meditación sobre la salud sexual puede ayudar al lector a reflexionar sobre la intimidad relacional con Dios y la salud sexual con la pareja. La meditación sigue los siete tipos de intimidad descritos en Génesis 1-3. Por favor circule sí o no cuando sea apropiado. Al responder preguntas numeradas; uno significa raramente, dos significa a veces, tres significa a menudo.

Meditación de salud sexual versión 1.0

Rev. Dr. Glen Maiden PhD, DMin, CSAT, CMAT, CST, LHMC

Esta meditación sobre la salud sexual puede ayudar al lector a reflexionar sobre la intimidad relacional con Dios y la salud sexual con la pareja. La meditación sigue los siete tipos de intimidad descritos en Génesis 1-3. Por favor circule sí o no cuando sea apropiado. Al responder preguntas numeradas; uno significa raramente, dos significa a veces, tres significa a menudo.

1. La salud sexual es espiritual. “En el principio creó Dios…” Génesis 1:1

¿Te sientes plenamente presente, compasivo y consciente cuando tienes relaciones sexuales? Sí o no

¿Es la intimidad con Dios tan significativa para usted como el sexo? Sí o no

¿Ha sentido vergüenza al intentar detener un comportamiento sexual nocivo sin éxito? Sí o no

¿La búsqueda del sexo consume más tiempo que la intimidad con Dios y su comunidad? Sí o no

¿Sientes que el Espíritu Santo regula tus vías neuronales sexuales? Sí o no

¿Gasta cantidades iguales en donaciones caritativas y en salud sexual? Sí o no

Mi mente no puede dejar de pensar en los abusos y los abusadores del pasado. 1  2  3

Me apego rápidamente a las personas abusivas. 1  2  3

Me atrae la gente caótica y peligrosa. 1  2  3

Total Sí

Número total

Puntuación numérica

2. La salud sexual es hermosa. “Dios lo llamó excelentísimo”. Génesis 1.31

Mi familia y amigos dirían que estoy sexualmente sano y sobrio. Sí o no

¿Podrían arrestarlo por sus conductas sexuales? Sí o no

La oración recibe más atención que la visualización de medios eróticos. Sí o no

He gastado más dinero en contenido sexual.

que las donaciones caritativas. Sí o no

He cambiado por favores sexuales. Sí o no

He tenido relaciones sexuales con parejas que apenas conocía. Sí o no

Me motiva la vergüenza para complacer a mi pareja. 1  2  3

Mis relaciones tienden a ser abusivas. 1  2  3

Puede que merezca el dolor que me da mi pareja. 1  2  3

Total Sí

Número total

Puntuación numérica

3. La salud sexual está equilibrada. “Y Dios descansó”. Génesis 2.2-3

Pensamientos sexuales involuntarios cruzan por mi mente y puedo regularlos sin actuar. Sí o no

A veces mi comportamiento sexual me pone triste. Sí o no

¿La sobriedad sexual me produce placer? Sí o no

¿Has pagado por contenido sexual? Sí o no

Puedo regular mi sobriedad sexual por un tiempo,

pero una mayor amenaza o ansiedad me hace actuar mal. Sí o no

He tenido más de una pareja sexual a la vez. Sí o no

Parece que salgo con la misma persona hiriente una y otra vez. 1 2 3

A menudo me conecto rápidamente y con la misma rapidez puedo ser frío con las personas que me importan. 1  2  3

Apenas puedo decirle que no a una pareja y, cuando lo hago, siento vergüenza. 1  2  3

Total Sí

Número total

Puntuación numérica

4. La salud sexual es compasiva. Haré un ayudante (compañero/salvador) (con quien

él puede compartir la compasión.) Génesis 2.18

¿Diría tu pareja que tu sexualidad es compasiva? Sí o no

¿Tu sexualidad te parece un trauma? Sí o no

¿Es usted consciente de sus conductas sexuales poco saludables? Sí o no

He pagado por sexo. Sí o no

Involucro contenido sexual independientemente de los sentimientos.

de la gente que amo. Sí o no

He buscado contacto sexual en lugares públicos. Sí o no

Los socios que elijo parecen carecer de compasión. 1  2  3

Siento que merezco un trato duro por parte de mi pareja. 1  2  3

Necesito sentir dolor en el sexo. 1  2  3

Total Sí

Número total

Puntuación numérica

5. La salud sexual es placentera.“Y el Señor Dios había plantado un jardín en el

al este, en el Edén (Placer);y allí puso al hombre que había formado”. Génesis 2:8

Génesis 2,24-25

Disfruto del placer mutuo en las relaciones sexuales. Sí o no

Me he lastimado a mí mismo o a otros emocionalmente

debido a mis comportamientos sexuales. Sí o no

Me siento feliz y equilibrado con mi sobriedad sexual. Sí o no

¿Pasas tiempo en línea buscando contenido sexual? Sí o no

¿El placer de usar porno es mayor que complacer a Dios y a mi familia? Sí o no

Me he lastimado a mí mismo o a otros físicamente

debido a mis comportamientos sexuales. Sí o no

Me gusta la sensación de entumecimiento cuando tengo dolor. Sí o no

Cuando una pareja me lastima, lo tomo con pocos límites. 1  2  3

Los límites compasivos son difíciles para mí. 1  2  3

Puedo decir que a mi pareja no le gusta complacerme. 1  2  3

Total Sí

Número total

Puntuación numérica

6. La salud sexual es un valor fundamental.

“Por eso el hombre deja a su padre y a su madre y se une a su mujer, y son uno solo.

carne.Adán y su mujer estaban ambos desnudos, y no sintieron vergüenza.” Génesis 2:24-25

Cuando pienso en la sobriedad sexual mi primera sensación es alegría. Sí o no

Mi familia habla abierta y positivamente sobre la salud sexual. Sí o no

Mi pareja puede rechazarme para tener intimidad sexual y yo no me enfado. Sí o no

Les enseño a los niños de mi familia sobre la prevención del abuso. Sí o no

Cuando tengo ganas de actuar sexualmente de manera dañina, tengo herramientas para regularme. Sí o no

La sexualidad problemática no está aumentando en mi vida. Sí o no

La intimidad sexual es tan importante para mí como otros tipos de intimidad. Sí o no

Puedo hablar sobre la sobriedad sexual con mi pareja de forma saludable. Sí o no

Siento pánico cuando mi pareja me rechaza por tener relaciones sexuales. 1 2 3

Puedo desactivar sitios web con contenido erótico. 1 2 3

Puedo regular mis propias vías neuronales sexuales. 1 2 3

7. La salud sexual reconcilia las relaciones. “Entonces Dios hizo ropa (túnicas reales) para el hombre y su mujer, (cubriendo su vergüenza)”. Génesis 3:21

Me sentí seguro al revelar mi historial sexual con mi pareja. Sí o no

Temo perder empleo o relaciones.

¿Por mi comportamiento sexual? Sí o no

¿Te conectas online para tener sexo: pornografía, cámaras, aplicaciones de citas? Sí o no

Me he conectado para tener sexo en línea con personas que no conozco. Sí o no

Creo que pude haber tenido relaciones sexuales con personas.

por debajo del límite de edad legal. Sí o no

Aunque me atrapen, persigo

conductas sexuales no saludables. Sí o no

Si mis relaciones van bien, tiendo a causar caos. 1  2  3

Me reconciliaré muchas veces con una pareja abusiva. 1  2  3

Mis parejas abusivas parecen tener apariencia y olor similares. 1  2  3

Total Sí

Número total

Puntuación numérica