Naturism and the Gospel
Ever since I first became a naturist about 25 years ago, I have seen a close connection between shared nudity and Christian spirituality. Feeling confident enough in ourselves and in other people to reveal our whole body to them is a powerful expression and symbol of acceptance of self and of trust in other people. As the story of the Fall in Genesis chapter 3 vividly expresses, a sense of shame or embarrassment about oneself erects barriers and is expressed by the need to conceal all or part of our body.
Being accepted by God, not on the basis of who we are or what we have achieved, but solely by undeserved grace, lies at the heart of the Christian Gospel and experience. If we really believe that God has accepted us unreservedly, then this belief should profoundly affect our attitude to ourselves and to other people. God knows our innermost secrets and accepts us anyway. So there is nothing that needs to be hidden out of shame or embarrassment. Revealing our naked bodies demonstrates this. We do not need to have a beach-ready body before we can allow anyone to see us, but we can be confident in who and what we are. It is God who justifies who is to condemn? (Romans 8:33,34).
It seems clear to me that all Christians should be naturists, because shared nudity expresses what we believe about ourselves. Similarly, all naturists should be Christians, because without the experience of being loved and accepted by the grace of God, self-acceptance is an illusion.
They had a good thing going when early Christian baptism was done naked. I also think all Christians should be naturists, because after all; we profess to believe in the Creation story, where God's perfect plan was naturist gardening in paradise. We also profess to believe in and be taking advantage of the redemption through Jesus Christ, which when accomplished will restore us to naturist gardening in paradise. So why do so many call it evil in the mean time? Ah! it's the devil working in our ranks. When clothing is worn consistently it allows the lusts of the flesh far more room to operate and take possession of our minds. I only know that because it happened to myself, and after many years of contending with the lusts of the flesh my Lord led me to find the answer in the Eden story. Naturism. Recondition the mind to not be looking at our flesh with the wrong kind of thoughts, just by making the naked flesh so common in everyday life it inspires no such thoughts. Like in Eden they didn't even realize they were naked, it just hadn't occurred to them there was any other way to be.
Then it started coming to me why the whole mess arose in the first place, it's because I never saw a nude adult in my early life. And hardly ever saw any person nude at all other than a baby occasionally, (and that doesn't count) Because of that element of life missing, it set things up so satan could drive my mind to lust after the nude body of man or woman, it can go either way or both ways. Homosexuals are trying to say that same sex attraction is born in and they can't change. This is where it comes from, it's not born in, it's conditioned in as children by the constant clothing agenda in those around them. Both same sex and excessive cross sex lust attraction. And it can be changed, but not just by deciding to change it. There are two things that have to happen to straiten things out. Recondition the mind to not look at nude people with lust. and invite the Holy Spirit to change the heart from inside. Practising naturism gets the job started, and the Holy Spirit will finish it off.
One of the influences which helped me to see the link between naturism and the Gospel was a research project undertaken by a colleague in relation to the Mid-Service Clergy Course at St George's House Windsor Castle in 1986. All participants in these courses are required to undertake a research project in advance, and part of the content of the course is to discuss the projects. One colleague's project compared the emotional health of a sample of naturists and a sample of Christians. He did not mention it, but I guess he was a naturist himself. There were some obvious methodological flaws in the project, but I found his conclusion persuasive, namely that naturists had better emotional health than Christians. He suggested that negative attitudes towards the body (as evinced by many Christians) are closely linked to unhealthy attitudes towards the self, whereas people who have a positive attitude towards their body also tend to have good attitudes towards the self and to be emotionally healthy. These alleged links are in both directions: healthy attitudes to the self lead to lack of embarrassment and shame in relation to the body, while acceptance of the body leads to acceptance of self. I have often thought about my colleague's research project in subsequent years and realised that Christians who believe in a Gospel of grace should not have negative attitudes towards themselves or their bodies.
This is where it comes from, it's not born in, it's conditioned in as children by the constant clothing agenda in those around them.
Knock it off with the straightsplaining. Who are you to tell other people what their lives were like?
Where are same-sex relationships condemned in the Gospel? As far as we know Jesus never mentioned the subject, although he certainly did mention welcoming people who are shunned by others.
As the originator of this thread, I object to the fact that it has been hi-jacked by the discussion of homosexuality, which is a completely different subject from "Naturism and the Gospel" and was not mentioned in my two original posts.
As the originator of this thread, I object to the fact that it has been hi-jacked by the discussion of homosexuality, which is a completely different subject from "Naturism and the Gospel" and was not mentioned in my two original posts.
Thank you. My thread on the lack of Bible knowledge among Christians was hijacked for exactly the same purpose. Why is this such a huge bugbear, that we emphasize it so out of proportion to how much the Bible says about it? The Bible has a whole book by the prophet Amos, who keeps coming back to the themes of greed and materialism. If the Bible gives more emphasis to these than to homosexuality, then why don't Christians?
As far as Naturism and the Gospel -- as far as I am concerned, when someone claims to be free from Original Sin, he is either:
1 - simply saying that he believes the Gospel, which was all about freeing us from Original Sin, or
2 - understanding the Gospel in the way that Eastern Christianity does, in which there really isn't an idea of being born into sin in the first place.
Once I started looking into Eastern Christianity, I found core ideas in it that make more sense than the Western forms.
Only God can judge the heart and it is not a believer's job to decide who is and isn't a true Christian. We all have sins in our lives and one sin is not greater than the other. As Jesus said, Let the one without sin cast the first stone.
https://www.gotquestions.org/New-Testament-homosexuality.html. You cant declare your a christian and cut and paste. Its all or nothing, and yes I have rejected the world and its teachings, including prosperity theology.
The originator of the thread has already asked that the thread hijack stop. He didn't want the thread to be about homosexuality. Now stay on topic please.
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