Working it out

Strip Clubs and the Apocalypse
Talking with people over the years, I get the general impression that many view going to strip clubs as basically harmless fun. This attitude is certainly prevalent on T.V. Probably more men hold this view and engage in this activity than women, but this view and activity is certainly not rare among females. As a man, I can say that "checking out" the opposite sex is a favorite hobby for our gender. Whether it is at work, at the gym, on television, or as Al Bundy would say "at the Nudey Bar" aka the strip club, it has become practically a national past-time. While I try to keep myself in check, I have to admit, that the temptation does get the better of me now and again. Is this behavior harmless? Or is it detrimental to ourselves and our society? To answer these questions we have to go back to the beginning.

He created them male and female
Men and women were not created to be alone, they were created for union. Union with each other, which results in the unity of the family, man, woman, and child(or children). And ultimately, humanity was created for union with God. In fact, our bodies do not make sense by themselves. Their meanings are revealed only with reference to the other, their complement. So when Adam sees Eve, he says, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen 2:23). Her body revealed to him the meaning of his
body. The nuptial meaning of their bodies were revealed. In their pure state before the fall this meaning
was that of love. This love is expressed by way of gift. Adam's body is a gift that he freely and without reservation gives to Eve and Eve's body is a gift that she freely gives to Adam. Notice the bible says, "The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame." (Gen 2:25). But after the fall it is
a different story: "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves." (Gen 3:7). Now they feel shame.
They have disobeyed God, lost their innocent purity, and no longer see each other's body as gift but as an object to be used.

This is the situation we find ourselves in. We objectify each other. We have great difficulty giving the dignity due to each person as a unique creation of God , for whom the only proper response is love. So we mostly use each other. Patrons of a strip club use the strippers. They absorb the "dancers" nakedness for their own pleasure. In colleges now we have the "hook up" scene where men and women use each other for their mutual gratification. But God has provided the remedy.

A man shall leave his father and mother
In Ephesians 5, Paul exhorts wives and husbands to live lives of love towards each other. He particularly tells husbands:

love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and (55) gave Himself up for her,
26 (56) so that He might sanctify her, having (57) cleansed her by the (58) washing of water with (59) the word, 27 that He might (60) present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be (61) holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to (62) love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are (63) members of His (64) body. 31 (65) FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

Paul challenges husbands with the example of Christ's sacrificial love. Then we have the verse that is also found in Genesis after God creates Adam and Eve about a man leaving his father and mother and becoming one flesh with his wife. Which at first glance is not too surprising, since Paul here is speaking of marriage. But then Paul says something curious, he says this is a great mystery in that it refers to Christ and the Church. WHAT? We know that a husband and wife become one flesh in the marital embrace, but how does Christ become one flesh with the church? Jesus Himself gives us the answer:

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, "Take and eat; this is my body." (Mat 26:15)

and again

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54
Whoever eats 19 my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.

So Jesus gives his body for His Bride, the Church, on the cross to redeem her and present her spotless before the Father. He also institutes the Eucharist, an unbloody, re-presentation of Jesus' sacrifice on Calvary, so that His Bride, the Church, can become one flesh with Him.

Jesus came and died not only to redeem humanity individually, which restores our relationship to God, but He also redeems our relationships with one another. This is especially true for the relationship between the sexes and the one flesh union. He came to give us the example of being a gift to one another. He says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) We are to love with a love that gives and asks for nothing in return, even if it means laying down our life for the beloved.

What does this have to do with the Apocalypse?
I started this talking about strip clubs, where "dancers" disrobe. The last book of the bible, which is commonly referred to as the book of Revelation, is also known as the Apocalypse of St. John. The word Apocalypse comes from a Greek word that means unveiling. Specifically it refers to the unveiling that a bride does on her wedding night. You might be asking why this was the title given to this book of the bible. It is because, this book is about an unveiling. It is the unveiling, or revelation of the bride of Christ, the Church:

7
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding day of the Lamb 3 has come, his bride has made herself ready. 8 She was allowed to wear a bright, clean linen garment." (The linen represents the righteous deeds of the holy ones.) 4 9 Then the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed 5 are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb." (Rev 19)

We are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb, which begins here on earth, with the Eucharist. This gives us the strength to imitate Christ and be a gift to one another. But it also will find its fulfillment in the ultimate wedding feast, which is heaven and our full one flesh union with God, in Christ Jesus. This is the dignity of our calling and purpose. How can we debase ourselves at the nudey bar?