Paul & Sue Hazelden
- The Human Body: Objections to Our Beliefs -
Introduction
I'm writing this with mixed feelings. Like most of the pages on
this web site, it is answering questions I have been asked: it is
easier to publish a web page than to keep on answering the same
questions over and over again.
However, the fact that I'm writing this at all is reinforcing
the problem identifed by the first question I tackle on this
page. If anyone has a suggestion about how to resolve this, I
would like to know!
Why So Important?
Why is naturism so important to you?
I have not yet found a good way to answer this question. The
more I protest that it is not important, the more significant it
sounds!
Perhaps an analogy will help. I have problems with my skin.
Naturism is important in a similar way that the use of
moisturisers is important. I don't have a higly developed theology
of moisturiser use. I don't believe that all Christians ought to
use a moisturiser. I don't believe that not using a moisturiser is
a sin. Whether you use a moisturiser is up to you, but please
don't turn it into a massive moral issue.
On a practical level, the regular use of a sauna helps to keep
my skin healthy. And the best way to sauna is nude. Also, I have
discovered that sunshine on my skin helps to keep it healthy, and
the bits that are normally covered up need to be kept healthy just
as much as the rest of my skin.
At a more abstract level, I am committed to discovering and
believing the truth. People are free to believe whatever they like
about the wearing of clothes, but when they claim the Bible tells
us that something is right or wrong, I feel the need to test such
claims against what the Bible actually says. I will do this, time
permitting, on any issue, no matter how unimportant,
because truth matters.
Back...
It's Wrong Now
Nudity was okay before the fall, but it is
wrong now.
This seems to be a common belief. The trouble is, there is not
a single piece of evidence to support it. The Bible is quite clear
about the consequences of the fall, and a change to the morality
of nudity is simply not mentioned.
The purpose of this belief seem to be to rule out of court the
obvious example of Adam and Eve being naked and this being 'very
good'.
But I'm not really interested in Adam and Eve from that
perspective. They only had one rule to follow - "Don't eat the
fruit!" - and they blew it. Since then, God has said a lot more
about the way He wants us to live: the Ten Commandments, plus
hundreds of others, in both the Old and New Testaments.
And in all these commandments covering every aspect of human
life and social interaction, there is not a single law, rule or
commandment that says "Don't be naked" or "Mixed social nudity is
wrong".
There are examples of people in the Bible being naked and God
not being obviously upset about this, even cases of God commanding
nudity. The preachers may blame Bathsheba for bathing where David
could see her,
but the Bible holds David responsible for his own actions.
There are also examples of commandments limiting what should be
visible at times. For example, there are times when the Priest
should wear underpants, so that the people don't get an unexpected
flash of his genitals. Which implies, if you think about it, that
at other times an unexpected flash of genitals is not regarded as
being inappropriate or wrong.
Back...
Only For Married Couples
I believe that nudity is only right for
married couples.
I have heard this idea several times. To be honest, the more I
hear it, the more absurd it appears to be.
Let's start off by agreeing that nudity does not equal sex.
While they may be identified in popular culture (in film, for
example, someone removing their clothes is generally a signal that
sex is about to take place), in real life and in the Bible they
are completely different.
Actually, the use of nudity in film as a way of referring to
sex without showing it is very similar to the linguistic technique
used in the Old Testament - when we read that someone 'uncovered
the nakedness of' someone else, it means that they had sex. It has
as little to do with nudity as the modern euphemism of 'sleeping
together' has to do with sleep.
It seems to me that if you believe that nudity is only ever
acceptable as part of the run-up to sex, then you would be right
to conclude that nudity should be restricted to married couples.
But the Bible does not teach this, and contains much that
disproves it. So I find it hard to understand how any Christian
could possible believe that nudity should be restricted to married
couples.
I should also point out that this position and the previous
one, while they are often put together, actually contradict each
other. If nudity was fine before the fall but wrong afterwards,
apart from when you are in a married couple, then Adam and Eve got
it wrong! They were a married couple and alone together, so they
should have been happy being naked. But they made themselves
coverings in Genesis 3:7, before God shows up on the scene.
One final thought on this objection: nobody I have talked to,
who put this forward as a position, turned out to believe it.
Nudity is only acceptable between married couples? If you think
about it for half a second, the idea is ridiculous. When my
children were babies, was I wrong to give them a bath? Am I wrong
to undress for a Doctor to examine me? Are the group showers in
our local swimming pool sinful?
At this point, they either change tack or start to explain what
they really mean: the problem is not nudity, but mixed-sex
nudity, when the people involved are all over a certain age, and
there is no medical justification...
Of course, they can't justify the initial position from the
Bible - so they certainly can't justify this new, complicated
moral principle (effectively, nudity is wrong when I feel it
should be wrong...) from the Bible. At this point, they give up,
and tell me that the principle ought to be 'obvious' even if they
can't tell me what this principle actually is.
And that is the crux of the argument, really. It is 'obvious'
to them that nudity is wrong, because it feels wrong in situations
that are not culturally acceptable to them. It comes down to
culture. The basic question is whether we are going to allow the
culture we live in to shape our beliefs, or whether we are
prepared to test what our culture says against the Bible.
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Links
Some related links within our site:
- Answers to some objections.
People occasionally object to our beliefs about the human body and
nudity, and I have tried to answer the most common objections on
this page.
- Comfortable.
The story of how Paul learned to be comfortable in his skin.
- Eczema.
The main reason why we use saunas is the condition of Paul's skin.
You can read about the connection on this page.
- Light.
The strange world of Light Treatment.
- Living As Christians.
Should we use food offered to idols as the model for our apporach
to social nudity?
- The Real Moral Issue.
An enquiry into the real moral issues concerning people not
wearing clothes - both in public and in private.
- Paul's Health.
The introduction and overview page.
- Sauna.
More about Paul's experience of the sauna, what it is, how to use
it and what it does for you.
- Saunas and our Christian belief.
If you are interested in how our use of
saunas ties in with our Christian belief, you can read about it
on this page.
- Sex and Violence.
A plea for Christians to get these issues into perspective.
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