C-A-N-R = Christian Association For
Christian nudist/naturists who enjoy nude recreation, and who keep Jesus Christ first and foremost in their lives whether nude or clothed. As we know statistically more that 60 % of nudists claim to be Christian, actually here at TN the % rate shows higher.
- created by Former User
If Man Never Sinned, How Do You Think The Garden of Eden Would Be?
Return to DiscussionsSomething I wonder about is what the modern day Eden would be. In the Bible, Adam and Eve did not know they were naked, but they were, which has been interpreted in a number of ways. I think there's a very real possibility that they understood nudity (eve seeing Adam's dingaling and Adam seeing her breasts/hooha) but did not understand the shame and taboo being naked around each other could create, so once they sinned, it became possible for it to be a less-than-innocent thing.
I wonder, then, if Adam and Eve never sinned, what would Eden be like? Would we all, in a way, be nudists? Would we be naked at all? Would we just be shameless, meaning we would live out our lives without ever hiding even the most intimate actions?
Do you think technology would exist? Would we write books and build instruments? Or would we all be content with the simple satisfaction of existing in a place where everything was provided to us? I wonder if that means we'd lack ambition, or if we'd be so boundlessly ambitious that we could have created or asked for anything, and have received it.
What do you guys think?
Thank you for the provocative question.
I think we would be a lot closer to the earth and nature. All of the things sin breeds -- disease, war, greed, etc. -- would not exist, and so the resources put into combatting those things would be freed up for other things.
I think we'd still have science, tech, etc., because we are curious by nature -- isn't curiosity to some degree that precipitated the fall? Rather than a society that values money, which is often connected to science and tech, all creative endeavor -- art, science, cooking, literature, tech, gardening, music, film -- would be valued. Some people would be drawn to fashion, and so clothes would exist. But wearing them would be a choice. And that choice woild not be judged, much as we today don't judge much weather a person chooses to wear a hat or not. Or drinks coffee or tea or neither or both.
We'd be discrete in matters of sex and physical intimacy, but their would be no sense of shame. We'd have proper lust for our partner but not covetousness for others.
Could their be an alternate world where sin never entered in?
I think we're hard-wired for sin. Not in a moralistic sense but rather because we are created in the image of God but are still human and limited as such. We need to push our self-imposed boundaries but still remain rooted in love which is about giving and being unattached to the results. When we get overly excited about our ability to cocreate with God, we lose sight of love and humility. The symbolism of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil still perplexes me. How are we not supposed to eat of it but at the same time seek a closer walk with God to know God? When is that closer walk a faith journey and when is it an ego detour? I don't believe there's a simple answer to this paradigm other than, yes, go live the question.
I would highly recommend both of you read these books. At least read the first one.Last year my wife joined me about 10 times on the nude beach , and she likes being nude at home. This year after a religious revival she says she believes it was sinful to be on the nude beach (publicly exposed). I told her I respectfully disagree.
Uncovering the Image
Christian Body
Famous Fig Leaf
I believe we would be "Naked and Unafraid" we would live in pure harmony with God. There wouldn't be a need for technology or development because we wouldn't need to expand our hearts and minds. We would be content in Eden.
I believe you're on to something here, Adam. I don't claim to be a Biblical statistician, but understand that the command "Do not be afraid" appears about 365 times in the Bible, one for each day of the year and also the most often repeated commandment.
Why do we ignore the metaphorical meaning of sin as being related to the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Do we perhaps live in fear - the opposite of being comfortable with ourselves naked as we are - when we seek and claim the black/white understanding of the knowledge of good and evil? Or can we also look at sin as ignoring the tree of life from the center of our lives and garden? Is that the spot from which we can draw our cocreative powers with God? Is that where the Adam and Eve of ourselves and our lives can go to come together in love, sex and unity?
Here's a shocking fact:
In my opinion, man never sinned, except for tales in certain mythologies. There is nothing inherently sinless or sinful in nudity. So the "Garden of Eden" would be exactly as it is today, or what it could be if we got around to finally creating it.
What we call "sin" is a collection of moral imperatives cloaked in a religious mythology of some sort. These moral imperatives, like those against stealing, killing, and ignoring certain cultural taboos, are usually to be found in some degree or other in every culture, each with its own qualifications and limits.
So the question we have to ask is: how did nudity come to be included in a list of those taboos? It certainly isn't universal, as any study of "primitive" cultures reveals. In Western culture, clothes are for protection against the elements, for signaling social status, or for adornment. All these things are seen as necessary or appropriate, to the point where we as a culture have increased its importance to the point where going naked is a taboo.
It's easy to see how that taboo against nakedness might fit into the same religious framework as taboos against eating certain types of food or doing certain things on a holy day. Those same religious demands show up in other ways that don't seem to make sense, like male or female genital mutilation, ritual tattoos and scarification, and demonizing people who are gay or left-handed. So I might even say that the perfect world I see, this Garden of Eden in my mind, might best be achieved if we dispensed with some of these religious taboos and dictates... and the more of them we discard, the closer we approach it.
I thonk that God expected humans to make mistakes and sin. He gave us freedom of choice and the ability to think. If Adam and Eve did not sin then somewhere down the line some of thier decendent would have.
God, made us all the way we are. Each of with our own unique personalities, imperfection (so to speak), and desires because he wants us to freely choose to follow him and freely want to close to him. I believe that reading the bible that you can see the change in man's need and mentality as you read the books and see how in the Old Testiment God is portraed as a tough demanding and unyelding God, but in the New Testiment he is more forgiving and softer.
But back to the question, if they never sinned then it would be a wonderful place of peace and love. But if they had never sinned then Jesus would not have needed to come down and save us.