Modern culture is haunted by a fantasy: that our bodies don’t matter, that they are clay to be reshaped at will, or husks to be cast aside when they no longer serve us. Liel Leibovitz, in a striking First Things essay, names this trend “the promise of disembodiment”—and shows how dangerous it truly is.
“Those of us who know that we were created in God’s image have no choice but to acknowledge our bodies, those awkward earthly vessels that matter and cannot be manipulated as if they were raw material for our disembodied wills.”
From abortion to assisted suicide, from the sexual revolution to today’s transgender movement, the same underlying assumption appears again and again: the body is not sacred. It is merely a tool, an accident, or worse—a hindrance.
Leibovitz observes:
“Take away this belief in the sacred character of the body and it becomes not a temple but a speed bump.”
And once our bodies are seen as speed bumps, it becomes easier to justify all kinds of destruction. Babies in the womb are “clumps of cells.” The elderly and the sick become “burdens.” Male and female cease to be God-given realities and are recast as fluid “identities” invented in the imagination.
Why the Lie Is So Appealing
The disembodiment lie seduces because it offers a counterfeit freedom. If my body is irrelevant, then I can define myself however I wish. I can erase biological sex, evade the natural consequences of sex, or reject life itself when it no longer feels worth living.
But this “freedom” comes at a terrible cost. As Leibovitz warns, it is really an escape from reality itself:
“When you do away with the sanctity of the body, you invite tyranny, because you are no longer bound to acknowledge what is real, only what is willed.”
This is not just a philosophical mistake. It is a spiritual rebellion. To reject the body is to reject the Creator who formed us from the dust and breathed into us the breath of life (Gen. 2:7).
The Christian Response
The Christian worldview stands in radical opposition to this false promise. Scripture declares:
- “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27).
- Jesus himself affirms this when he says, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female” (Matt. 19:4).
- St. Paul reminds us, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you…? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Cor. 6:19–20).
In other words: the body is not an afterthought. It is sacred. It is integral to our personhood. It is destined for resurrection glory.
Why This Matters Now
We live in a culture where disembodiment is the new orthodoxy. Children are taught they can “change” their sex. Courts and legislatures increasingly normalize euthanasia. The abortion industry insists that unborn life is expendable. And technologies—from artificial wombs to digital fantasies of “uploading consciousness”—offer new variations of the same old lie: that we can escape the body.
But Christians must speak clearly: these are not paths to freedom. They are forms of bondage. To despise the body is to despise the very goodness of creation. To mutilate the body is to mutilate the image of God.
As Leibovitz writes:
“The rejection of the body is the rejection of limits, and the rejection of limits is the rejection of responsibility. And where responsibility vanishes, so does love.”
This last point is crucial. A world that despises the body cannot sustain love, because love, as humans, requires embodiment. It requires showing up in the flesh, bearing burdens, honoring the vulnerable, cherishing the other as they are given to us.
The True Promise: Resurrection
The gospel gives us not the false promise of disembodiment, but the true promise of resurrection. Christ himself was raised bodily from the grave. His glorified flesh is the guarantee of our future. The destiny of the Christian is not escape from the body, but the redemption of the body (Rom. 8:23).
The big lie of disembodiment ends in alienation, confusion, and death. You won’t find love there. The truth of the gospel ends in communion, clarity, and eternal life.
So let us reject the false prophets of disembodiment. Let us instead proclaim and live the truth: our bodies matter, because God made them, Christ redeemed them, and the Spirit indwells them.
SOURCE: Radical Disembodiment by Liel Leibovitz
+++
Don’t Believe the Lies