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Moving to a nudist colony ... or not

I saw the link Thinking about moving to a nudist colony on an autism blog and it got me thinking. And in line with my thought process, thoughts, sub-thoughts, sub-sub-thoughts and related and unrelated thoughts were spawned.

My youngest son will not allow himself to be seen without clothes, when my eldest son was young, we struggled to keep his clothes on his body. But since he started puberty he voluntarily wears clothes (well, pants at least).  For him there is nothing wrong about being without clothes, he does not like the feel of the material on his skin - especially certain types of materials (I suppose I am somewhat the same, - I just got shivers and goosebumps thinking about the feel of wool on my skin, and heaven forbid that it gets into my mouth and I bit on it - my compulsion is chewing (somewhat under control)). 

 And eventually I remembered something I wrote when I was in Mozambique. I pondered the question of being without clothes, whether it is right or wrong, and how I feel about it. 

So is it wrong not to wear clothes, to sleep naked, or to walk around without clothes in your own home? I mean, Adam and Eve were without clothes, they were created that way. They went around without any covering. They only realized that they were naked, or without covering after they listened to the snake and ate of the fruit they were not supposed to eat. (Gen 3:7). So they covered themselves with fig-leaves (imagine having your soft and tender bits covered with a scratchy fig-leaf) and hid from God because they were ashamed. They were ashamed because they now had knowledge about things, they knew they were without clothes, they knew they did wrong and did not listen to God.

Then God came to speak to them and found them naked (covered with fig-leaves). So He made them clothes of animal skin, softer an more durable. and hence forth humans went around covered, the only species that does that. But is it wrong to go about without any clothes, I mean, it look like God intended for humans to be naturally without clothes? But what does the rest of the Bible say about being naked?

After the flood Noah became drunk and lay naked in his tent. Ham saw him naked and told his brothers about it. (Gen 9:21) In the story it is inferred that he was disrespectful. His brothers then took a cloak, walked backwards into the tent, (so as not to see their naked dad) and covered Noah.

There are numerous stories in the Bible about being naked, and being naked is not being condemned explicitly. (I have links at the bottom of the post).  What I see is that the attitude toward nakedness is the issue. What is being condemned is being lustful. (David lusting after Bathsheba) - wrong. But David dancing 'nude' before God, or the prophets being nude - not wrong.

In a lot of societies, event today, being naked or topless is not an issue. Being topless is a functional issue and erotic. Some time ago, I read an interesting comment from an African man. He said: "I cannot understand the white man's fascination with boobs, children see it every day, they drink from it. It is a child's plaything". 

Our Western / European society made being naked the unpardonable sin, made it erotic. (the way some people dress is more erotic than them being naked). Our western forefathers, the missionaries of old quite often westernized the tribes before they could evangelize to them. Why could they not get to know about Christ the way they were? 

Most Arab or Muslim countries regard a scantily clad woman as being provocative and they have to cover up.


So, is it wrong to be naked, without clothes? The Bible does not condemn it (I think), however it does say lust is wrong. Am I/we going to cause other people to lust?  

Imagine working in a clothing-optional workplace! Some bodies will have to be covered up immediately! Others will be left for eye-candy! I suppose productivity will be pretty low, especially for the men-folk. However, following the likes of National Geographic to the warmer climes show that to be a natural occurrence. In Namibia, the Himba do not fully cover up, the San do not cover up. It is normal and natural for them to go about naked or near naked. However it is not natural to see a naked person in the city. So, is it right or is it wrong? It depends ... on who you are, where you are and what you wear .....

As for me, moving to a nudist colony, not soon! 


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