Oh, AMEN! This is by far the most progressive, and most enlightening, post I've ever seen on Landover! Are you all moving into the modern day at last?
Anyway, as a good Christian and avid Bible reader, I know God LOVES nudity, and wants us to be naked all the time
Someday the laws of man which restrict our Godly bodies shall be done away with, I earnestly hope!!!
Christian naturists view the story of the
Garden of Eden as a model for their beliefs. When Adam and Eve were created and placed in the garden as a couple by God, they were both
naked and "felt no
shame". (
Genesis 2:25) They see Adam and Eve being in the blameless state that God had intended them to be. God knew that they were naked, as this was how He had created them.
Even before Eve's creation, God had warned Adam "...but you must not eat from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (
Genesis 2:17) Despite God's warning, first Eve, then Adam, eat the forbidden
fruit after being persuaded by the
devil in the form of a
serpent. (
Genesis 3:1-6) Upon doing so, they immediately realize that they are naked, and sew
fig leaves together as coverings.
Christian naturists note there is no command in the Adam and Eve story, or elsewhere in the Bible, to wear
clothing. The making of garments by God was an act of love to protect them from the harsher
elements outside of the garden, to which they are being banished. As
Genesis 2:25 shows, there was no reason why Adam and Eve should be ashamed of their bodies; only of their sin. The use of animal skins implied that sin requires a
blood sacrifice. As
Jesus Christ is the blood sacrifice of Christians under the
New Testament, there is no need to wear clothes to cover sin. However, God does not forbid clothing, and it may be worn where needed.
There are other references to nudity in the Bible, such as:
1 Samuel 19:24 He (Saul) stripped off his robes and also prophesied in Samuel's presence. He lay that way all that day and night. This is why people say,
"Is Saul also among the prophets?"
2 Samuel 6:20-23 As the
Ark of the Covenant finally arrives in Jerusalem,
King David dances nude within sight of slave girls. For this he is strongly denounced by his wife,
Michal. David replies "
I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor." The Scripture immediately following adds: "And Michal (daughter of Saul) had no children to the day of her death."
2 Samuel 11 While King David was rebuked by God for his
lust of
Bathsheba (a married woman), nothing was said about her nude bathing.
Isaiah 20:2 The Lord says to
Isaiah:
"Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet." And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.[15]
Micah 1:8a Because of this (
Jacob's transgression)
I will weep and wail; I will go about barefoot and naked.
Matthew 6:25 and
Luke 12:22-23 Then Jesus said to his disciples:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Mark 10:15 and
Luke 18:17 (Jesus speaking
"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." In most cultures throughout history, small children are not subject to the same standards of dress as the rest of the population, and nudity is not a problem.
Mark 14:51-52 "A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind."
John 19:23-24 Christ, who is sinless, allows Himself to be publicly crucified completely naked on the cross in front of his mother and friends demonstrating that public nudity is not a sin.
"When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, ... "Let's not tear [the undergarment]," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it...." Many paintings and movies depict Christ's crucifixion with Him wearing a loin cloth, but this is consistent neither with scripture nor with the normal method of a Roman crucifixion.
Revelation 12:1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman
clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.