Cleave (The Genesis Series #17)

It’s a peace that passes understanding.  Life can and will become tumultuous, and sometimes foreboding for all, but there is a very small subset of humanity that possesses a certain and extradimensional way of escape.  This extradimensional way of escape is the place Jesus Christ calls BORN AGAIN.  When one is BORN AGAIN, he or she is literally born a second time, this time of the spirit of God, as sons and daughters of God.  They pass through the supernatural portal called BORN AGAIN into the dynamic and utterly transformative invisible Kingdom of God.  THIS IS REAL!

Childlike faith in God’s Word transcends us high up into the heavenly places far above all the world’s machinations.  Here, we dominate in Christ, and so much so that Romans 8:28 becomes ours:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

It is true.  All things work together for our good, especially in what appears to be our darkest moments. 

Philippians 4:6-7:

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus speaks in Matthew 11:28-30:

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

There is a peace that passes understanding, and it is not of this world.  It is available to all that call upon the name of Jesus.

Dear visitor, have you yet to be BORN AGAIN as Jesus declares in John 3:3?

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

In just moments, I will invite you to follow me in a simple prompt, and if you follow from your heart, you will meet Jesus Christ today and be reconciled unto God.  Today, all of your sin and its shame will be washed away by Christ’s cleansing blood.  All your sins will be forgiven and forgotten.  You will become a new creature.  Today, all of Satan’s bondages in your life will be broken, the bigger the better. Today, you will be born a second time, this time of the spirit of God and all the glorious promises of the beautiful Book will be yours to claim.  Here is the prompt I promised: Click onto Further with Jesus for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 2:24:

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

GOD SAID, Genesis 5:2:

Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

GOD SAID, Matthew 19:4-6:

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

MAN SAID: It’s my business whom I love.  What does God or the Bible have to do with it?!  I lie—or at least lean in my favor—when it profits me, and fornicate with who or whatever I please.  If there is a God, then He made me this way.

Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 1237 that will, for the 1237^th time, contend for the supremacy of God’s Holy Bible.

You have arrived at the GodSaidManSaid “Genesis Series;” this is Part 17.  Each of these features begins with the following information from the first feature:

According to a 2006 issue of Discover magazine concerning the deceased Carl Sagan: “Sagan approaches religion like any phenomenon.  He isn’t on a quest for life’s meaning, for a comforting philosophy, or even a guide to how we should treat the neighbors.  Sagan seeks truth of a demonstrable kind.  As a puckish example, he wonders why the book of Genesis didn’t include God-inspired truths…” [End of quote]

I recently reviewed an advertisement from a magazine called Free Inquiry that also has a problem with the God of Creation and the first book of the Bible, called Genesis.  Under the heading “Is God Big Enough for the Universe,” Free Inquiry writes:

The authors of Genesis proclaim that God made the heavens and earth in less than a week.  This feat must have amazed these Bronze Age authors, even though they thought the heavens extended only so far as the sky above them.  Of course, they did not know what stars, planets, or galaxies were.  We now know that the universe is so much bigger and so much more complex. [End of quote]

The BORN AGAIN scratch their heads in bewilderment.  Did these folks actually read the book of Genesis? I suppose they did, but God’s revelation is only revealed to the humbled hearts of the children of faith.  This GodSaidManSaid series will be called “The Genesis Series.”  It is our intention to travel through the entire book of Genesis and publish one major God-inspired truth after another.  We will be pulling from previous GodSaidManSaid features and adding the latest information as we go.

The following excerpts are from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “The Mystery of One Flesh (Sex, Sperm & Human Neurochemicals):”

When a student of the Scriptures sees a strangegrouping of words in the Word of God, that believer knows to stop, look, and listen.  Genesis 2:24 is just one of these marvelous verses:

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

A man shall cleave to his wife.  Oxford English Dictionary defines cleave in this context as “to stick fast or adhere, as by a glutinous surface.”  Gluedtogether is what cleave means.  The passage quoted above goes on to say “…and they shall be one flesh.”  Quite a strange grouping of words, wouldn’t you say?  Today’s science inadvertently affirms the absolute biological accuracy of this ancient declaration, an insight that only the Creator Himself could know.

The following paragraphs are from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “One Flesh:”

Getting pregnant is quite a problem for many couples and solving that problem has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. Reproductive immunologist Carolyn Coulam from the Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Chicago claims that as many as 80% of "unexplained" pregnancy losses may be a result of the mother-to-be’s immune system. According to Coulam, the success of a pregnancy hinges upon whether or not the baby is accepted by the mother’s immune system. This following excerpt is from the Health and Medicine section of the October 21, 2002, issue of U.S. News and World Report written by Douglas Fox. The title is, "Why Sex, Really?"

Why would a mother’s body attack her own fetus? For starters, it’s only partly hers. Half the fetus’s genes are foreign material, coming from the father. That strangeness can prompt the mother’s immune system to treat the fetus like an invading bacterium. Her ensuing counter-attack contributes to a whole "spectrum of disorders," according to Kelton Tremellen, a researcher at the University of Adelaide in Australia. The problems include infertility, recurrent miscarriage, low birth weight, and pre-eclampsia—a complication where the mother’s blood pressure rises to life-threatening levels. The notion of an immune reaction is also prompting revolutionary ideas about the evolution of human sexuality: Frequent coupling between partners—requiring long-term relationships—may "inoculate" mothers to accept foreign genes, ensuring complete pregnancies and the survival of the human species.  [End of quote]

Disregard the erroneous allusion to the "evolution of human sexuality." But, take special note of the statement, "Frequent coupling between partners—requiring long-term relationships—may "inoculate" mothers to accept foreign genes, ensuring complete pregnancies and the survival of the human species." This one-mate long-term relationship is emphasized over and over again in this feature article. Again, the article reports:

Under normal circumstances, the mother’s immune system wouldn’t tolerate a foreign body setting up shop inside her, but miraculously, in pregnancy, it does. According to the emerging theory, this is partly because, before pregnancy occurs, repeated exposure to the father’s semen allows her immune system to learn to recognize his foreign genes. "There are millions of sperm cells," explains Gustaaf Dekker, a high-risk pregnancy specialist at the University of Adelaide, "but only one will fertilize the egg. The purpose of the other sperm is to give the message to the mother’s immune system" that some foreign genes mean no harm. This diplomatic overture occurs with each act of intercourse. For many hours after steamy entanglement gives way to dreamy drowsiness, the encounter continues to play out on a microscopic scale. White blood cells from the woman’s immune system scour her cervix for the man’s foreign proteins—even entire sperm cells—back to her lymph nodes, where her immune system gradually learns to recognize and tolerate them. "We think that’s really a key to the whole immunological process," says Tremellen.  [End of quote]

Dealing with the concept of the reproductive process and the idea of one long-term sexual partner, Tremellen also said, "Until recently I don’t think we had any idea that [ongoing sexual contact] had any biological advantages." [End of quote]

Regular long-term exposure to the husband’s semen appears to be an important key to a successful pregnancy and more. The man and the woman are becoming one flesh.  Again from U.S. News and World Report:

[R]epeated contact with the father’s semen may increase the mother’s chance of having an uneventful pregnancy. One study of 1,011 couples found that the woman had a 5 percent chance of developing pre-eclampsia during pregnancy if she had had intercourse with the father for at least 12 months previously. That skyrocketed to 40 percent if the couple had intercourse for only four months or less before conceiving. Another study found that consistently using condoms, which prevent contact with the man’s semen, increases the chance of pre-eclampsia. Finally, a study of 134 women revealed an increased risk of pre-eclampsia during their first pregnancy with a new partner if they’d previously had children with someone else—as though building up immune tolerance to a specific partner really does require time.  [End of quote]

Reports claim that exposure to the husband’s semen has also been linked to happier moods for the wife. On this subject, expect much more to come from future research.

Unfortunately, man’s input has proven, in many ways, damaging to the reproductive process. Things such as condoms, diaphragms, and birth control all have their own drawbacks.

Genesis 2:24:

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Jesus said in Matthew 19:4-6:

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Science has begun to understand the physical mechanism by which this oneness comes to pass—a genetic union between man and woman and then offspring—a child that is a product of half of each. This oneness is compared to the oneness of Christ and the church. [End of quotes]

As the man cleaves unto his wife, a marvelous biological union is transpiring that typically ends in an infant--a new member of the human race, with 23 chromosomes from the mother and 23 from the father—the ultimate one flesh.  Here the man becomes a father, the woman becomes a mother, and they become a family—Mr. and Mrs. Adam.

The following excerpts are from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “The Power of Sex and One Flesh:”

Charles Darwin mused that as science and its discoveries increased, it would become obvious to all that the God of the Bible was fiction—a social construct of man—but the results have been to the contrary consistently. The more science discovers, the more it shouts GOD IS! (To those who have an ear to hear.) Today’s most sophisticated science certifies the supernatural qualities of God’s Bible on a daily basis. Scientists should know that their latest discoveries have been recorded in the Word of God thousands and thousands of years prior to their Eureka moment. This is the proof they claim they’re looking for, but somehow it escapes most. To those who reject this reality, Revelation 22:11 reads:

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

Feature writer for the AFA Journal, Ed Vitagliano published an article in the October 2010 issue titled, "Bonded in the brain, New science confirms biblical view of sex." Several excerpts follow:

This is laid out in fascinating detail in Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex Is Affecting Our Children, written by Joe S. McIlhaney Jr. and Freda McKissic Bush. Both are obstetrician- gynecologists who have served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. [End of quote]

The article continues to discuss science’s new discoveries concerning specific neurochemicals that directly affect sexual urges such as dopamine, oxytocin, and vasopressin. The feature continues:

Another neurochemical is oxytocin. A woman’s brain is flooded with oxytocin during labor, childbirth and breast-feeding, which creates a bond between the mother and infant.

But this neurochemical is also released during romantic moments between a woman and a man. "When two people touch each other in a warm, meaningful, and intimate way, oxytocin is released into the woman’s brain," said McIlhaney and Bush. "The oxytocin then does two things: increases a woman’s desire for more touch and causes bonding of the woman to the man she has been spending time in physical contact with. This desire for more touch and the bonding that develops between a man and a woman often lead to the most intimate of physical contact, sexual intercourse."

Sex results in even greater amounts of oxytocin flooding the woman’s brain, "causing her to desire this same kind of contact again and again with this man she has bonded to, producing even stronger bonding."

The male counterpart to oxytocin is called vasopressin, which, according to McIlhaney and Bush, "seems to have two primary functions related to relationships—bonding of the man to his mate and attachment to his offspring."

It is easy to see that God has provided neurochemical "help" to married couples in order to make the marital bond strong and thus provide a secure and stable environment for the raising of children.

The dopamine "rush" during sex keeps a husband and wife coming back for more—helping to cement the relationship. And oxytocin and vasopressin make the bond even deeper.

No doubt this is part of the meaning behind God’s statement in Genesis regarding marriage, that the man and woman "shall become one flesh" (2:24).

This bonding power of sex, insisted McIlhaney and Bush, "is real and almost like the adhesive effect of glue."

However, that "glue" is intended for sex within marriage. Engaging in sex outside the parameters established by God brings pain and destruction. [End of quote]

According to McIlhaney and Bush, [This bonding power of sex] "is real and almost like the adhesive effect of glue."  [End of quotes]

Note the terms in the research you just read:

💍 Long-term relationship;
💍 Inoculate mother;
💍 Miraculously;
💍 Genetic union;
💍 Bonded in the brain;
💍 Bonded between mother and infant;
💍 Bonding of woman to man;
💍 Bonding of man to his mate and his offspring;
💍 Marital bond strong;
💍 Cement the relationship;
💍 Bonding power of sex;
💍 Like the adhesive effect of glue.   

Six-thousand-plus years ago, God’s Word says cleave and one flesh and today’s science says YES, it actually happens just like the Bible says!

But Ephesians speaks of a mystery with the key to its understanding, on display, in the marriage union described by God’s Word. Ephesians 5:31-32:

31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

We have discussed the great mystery Ephesians speaks of in previous articles, but we have surely only scratched the surface.  We certainly don’t know everything about anything.  It is better said, “we are knowing it.”  God willing, once we have completed the Genesis Series, we will revisit this great mystery again.

God’s Word is true and righteous altogether, a place to build a life that will last forever.  God’s Word, yes: One God-inspired truth after another. 

GOD SAID, Genesis 2:24:

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

GOD SAID, Genesis 5:2:

Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

GOD SAID, Matthew 19:4-6:

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

MAN SAID: It’s my business whom I love.  What does God or the Bible have to do with it?!  I lie—or at least lean in my favor—when it profits me, and fornicate with who or whatever I please.  If there is a God, then He made me this way.

 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Blumner, R., Free Inquiry

GodSaidManSaid, “The Mystery of One Flesh (Sex, Sperm, & Human Neurochemicals)”

 

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