The Game of Life: Twister!

November 9, 2008

Opening:
You can draw your own pig at http://drawapig.desktopcreatures.com/
Sex can be a very uncomfortable subject. (Especially here, since participants are encouraged to share about their own lives.) PLEASE do not feel obligated to reveal any more than you feel is comfortable or appropriate. Start the meeting by talking about some ground rules for the discussion, and commit to total confidentiality.

Digging Deeper:
We’ll start with an academic approach. Feel free to check out this article dealing with recent stats regarding sexual activity. And this one on sexual stats among adults.
Sex holds incredible power and prominence in our lives and culture. It’s often powerfully good, or powerfully bad. How can it go to such extremes?
What is the current status of sex in our culture: what is being said? What is being marketed? What is off limits? What is fair game? How do you respond to what might by called our
“over-sexed” society? How are people winning at the game of sex, and how are others losing in the very powerful game.

Now let’s uncover the very basics of what the bible teaches. Read Genesis 1:26-31.
How are humans like the rest of creation? How are we different (in this story)?
What is “the same” about men and women? What is different? Are both sexes needed to reflect the image of God? What is the image of God? Is God a sexual being?
If the story ended here, what would our sexual guidelines be?

Read Genesis 2:18-25.
What wasn’t good in creation? Why would a man need a helper (go ahead, have some fun with this one!)?
What is our connection to creation in this account (v. 19ff)? What does naming imply? Is God surprised that no suitable helper was found? What does God do? Why does God do it this way? Reflect on what this means for male female relationships. (Why the rib?)
What is the new morality outlined in this passage (23ff)?

Discuss George’s proposition regarding sex:
Babies and Bonding, that’s what it’s all about. What does the mean for us, for our relationships, for our marriages? Discuss the implications of the radically exclusive view of engaging in sexual relations?

Closing:
You’ve probably touched a few nerves in your discussion. It may have been more academic, or perhaps some have shared from their experiences. Within the group’s comfort level, discuss how people are winning in the game of sex, and how they are losing. How can we turn the table on the game and play in a way that brings out the real blessings of our sexuality?

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Genesis 1:26-28

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."


Genesis 2:20-25
But for Adam [g] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs [h] and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib [i] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, [j] '
for she was taken out of man."

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.