Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Christianity and Naturism - is this for real??

I just got a post on the Naturist-Christians-org site about Australian pastor Robert Wright holding services for Christians who are naturists, and the feedback he received about it. This story is over three years old, but since I've just started this blog site and I am a Christian I thought it would be worth commenting on.

Naturism is attacked by many forces on this planet, and the traditional Christian church being one of the major culprits. Mention the words 'nudism' or 'naturism' to many Christians today, and their reaction is either one of shock and disgust, or mild amusement. Why is this so? Is it something that comes from church related guilt and shame, or something that's more deeper than that?

I have been kicked out of Christian churches in Brisbane and off Christian forums for daring to broach and elaborate on this topic, particularly to a young adult audience. Maybe the leaders are either afraid that it could cause them to lose their religious convictions, or maybe they are worried that it could cause 'fornication' as one church put it (more about that later).

Now, here are the real truths behind this story: Despite what many Christians have been led to believe otherwise, there is NOWHERE in the Bible where God specifically forbids the practice.

Gen. 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;...."

Gen. 2:25 And they were both naked (Arom), the man and his wife, and were not ashamed

1 Samuel 19:24 And he (Saul) also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked (Arom) all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

Exodus 22:26-27 "If ever you take your neighbour's garment in pledge, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down; for that is his only covering, it is his mantle for his body; in what else shall he sleep?"

Isaiah 20:2-3 at the same time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet." And he did so, walking naked (Arom) and barefoot.
Then the Lord said, "just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked (Arom) and barefoot three years for a sign..."

Romans 6:13-14 "...Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God's grace."

Romans 7:4 "...The law no longer holds you in its power, because you died to its power when you died with Christ on the cross."

Matt 6:25-34 Jesus says, 25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

Tit 1:15 "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure."

Rom 13:14 "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

1 Pet 3:3 "Do not let your adornment be merely outward-arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel, 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."

Lk 12:27-28 "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!"

(Matt 25:41-43) "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."


So there we go. If you believe what the Bible says, then it makes these following points:

1) God is more concerned about what we are like inside than how we dress to worship
2) God is more concerned about our deeds than how we try to impress others by talking about him
3) God does not want us to be so fanatic about naturism that we neglect other people's needs
4) The human body is created by God and is 'very good'. We have no right to go and demean God's handiwork
5) We should beware of the dangers of becoming materialistic - Jesus taught about this several times with his parables.

So, with all that in mind, you might ask: are Christian nudist fellowship groups viable or practical?

Well, first of all, I was a member of Pastor Bob Wright's nudist Christian group in Brisbane back in 2005 - 2006. We tried to recruit people using the internet, The Australian Naturist magazine, The Courier Mail and even my own Yahoo! group. Even though we managed to get 18 people to turn up for our first service at Pacific Sun Friends, subsequent meetings were very poorly attended. Bob was reluctant to evangelise the nudist lifestyle to mainstream Christian groups. Rather, he wanted to share the gospel only among Christians who already were naturists. I feel that this was one of the reasons why the group did not take off or grow in the direction we wanted it to. Most of the naturists who were Christians did not come from Brisbane, but rather from the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, and Toowoomba - all of which were a good hour's drive from the venue where we were holding the services. Eventually, interest in the group died out and Bob ended up moving back to Newcastle to be with his new family whom he had imported from the Phillippines.

A naturist group, whether it's Christian or not, is one that tends to be smaller than a normal church and for several reasons.

1) Greater care must be taken with admitting new congregational members to keep sex predators and perverts out. The secular nudist movement is having enough problems as it is with these people, as well as Christian churches coming under fire from non-Christians for having corrupt and perverted leaders who have sexually interfered with children in their congregation.

2) Being naked with others is a very experiential thing. Without clothes, we can't wear masks or false modesty. We have to be straightforward and open with each other once the mental and emotional borders caused by clothes are broken. Sadly, many Christians are afraid of breaking down those borders because they fear it will change them for the worse.

3) Many Christians in Australia worry too much what others might think of them when doing something out of the ordinary. They fear ostracism from church, family, and friends if they were to 'come out' with the fact that they practice naturism. I have been ostracised from church and friends before when they found out that I was a nudist, but I managed to live through it. If I could do it, why not others?

4) The nudity = sex paradigm is a *VERY* difficult one to break for many Australians, especially Brisbane people. We have been brainwashed by our mainstream media and the churches to believe this without question, so it is a bit of a shock when going to a nudist place for the first time to find out that sex and sexuality are non-issues to them. It's not to say that they are asexual, just that like textile society they know (well most of them do anyway!) when sex has its place and when it's not appropriate.

Anyway, I would love to see a time when I can enjoy a nude worship group with other Christian friends in the future. When they'll be ready for it, I don't know.