All Carnal means is our most natural animalistic instincts. These needs are centered around our most basic needs of food, water, safety, shelter, sex and belonging. The most popular traits are fear, and dominance. Sort of like in the animal kingdom, there always tends to be a dominant head of the pact, and can get there pretty violently. And then there is fear of avoiding pain. Somewhere in scripture it states that natural comes before spiritual. However Albert Bandera theorized the Hierarchy of needs, stating that our most natural needs come first, like air, water, food. Then safety. After that, the more spiritual needs come along, such as esteem and self actualization. In the scriptures, I think that Carnality is strongly condemned is not because it is essentially evil, but because that is only the most basic level of spiritual growth, which keeps people stuck in these corrupted church systems out of fear. This carnality reminds me of how a small childs instinct would be to hit someone who made them angry, or call someone a mean name. Similarly, this is how the doctrine of Hell started up. To some carnal pharisee minded people, temporary punishment would be unjust because their natural instincts of domination are smashed. Plus the doctrine of Hell only preys on our fear of pain, and pain of the very worst.
Chili con carney, theres meat in the chilli, carnal is the flesh. My :2c: worth.
I'd disagree with you Universalist Catholic on one point only - that it is our natural instincts. I'd say rather that these are "neutral facts", but it is instead how we react to the triggering of these instincts that determines whether the action is Carnal (if we act selfishly based) or Spiritual (if we act in accordance to God's design).
I'd say, Carnal is anything "Selfish" based.
Lust for example, is a carnal issue - an issue of the flesh. It is selfish-based, an abuse of the "neutral" (to use the term as meaning it is not evil) fact that humans are sexual beings.
Hatefulness, unforgiveness, resentment, envy - issues of the flesh. These are based on a neutral human fact; Humans are social creatures, and yet individually self-aware of their own uniqueness, and their desire to be unique, and appreciated as such. When these things are threatened, or their place in these things, they react negatively.
"You embarrassed me, therefore I hate you, I want to kill you to wipe away my reproach, because I have attached the neutral fact of esteem-worth to my social status, which you have damaged, and therefore I feel by association that you have damaged also my esteem-worth."
Several things in that example reveal the carnal nature, rather than a mature spirit.
Association of self-worth with social status, or worldly position in a hierarchy instead of association of it with an untouchable treasure in Heaven - God's given worth to his personal creation.
Then there is Hate itself, which is murder. That needs no explanation.
So, Carnal would be "selfish-Self" (the self, expressed selfishly, for selfishness)
while the Spirit would be "selfless-Self" (the self, expressed in reflection of God's standard, rather than the standard of self; an interesting note is that inevitably a self-made standard is Pharisaical, and leads to Pharisaical self-righteousness)
Or back to the sex-instinct for example;
Sex response is triggered, do you take the carnal route and fulfill it with the man or woman you just randomly met? Or do you take the Spiritual route, and express it after the monogamous design of God's helper-mate relationship, where Love drives the expression using the instinctual trigger as a means to express mutual gratification, rather than selfish fulfillment of the instinctual trigger.
Rom. 8:20