Why Naturism?
Why not ? No, I shouldn't be flippant to your
valid question. Sorry about that. Let me then attempt to explain the rationale
of naturism. I was born at a very early age, and darned if I wasn't naked at the
time. Actually I don't have too much recollection of the event itself, but I am
assured that I was and everyone else is, so I can pretty well assume that I was
too. I do know that from that point on I was considerably more comfor table
naked than dressed and sought to be naked whenever possible from my earliest
memories to the present. Let's face it, being naked is more comfortable, more
natural, and in the proper time and place, more practical.
But isn't
that sinful ? Well let's unpack that a bit.
Sin is anything that we love
more than God. Therefore slavery to fashionable clothes can be sinful. Trying to
hide from God and our fellow beings can be sinful. Certainly self-righteousness
is sinful. Nakedness - not really.
WARNING
! This site features Nudity,Peoples at Nude Beaches
and Nudism.Enter ONLY if you're older than 18, and watching Nudity
is legal, where you live.
Let's
go back to Genesis 1 and following and see where the Biblical perspectives take
us. First we need to understand that the first eleven chapters of the book of
Genesis in the Bible is an epic poem about the goodness of God. If we try to
read this section as an hour by hour Walter Cronkite script, we miss the whole
point of what is being said. We must look at the first eleven chapt ers of
Genesis as they were meant to be understood.
In all the stories therein,
God is the primary actor. Not humans, not Adam and Eve, not Cain and Abel, not
Noah, but God. Chapter 1 shows us the Creator who brings order out of chaos. The
chapter focuses on the order that God brings, not simply to the created world,
but to life itself. We are shown that God created all that is, in proper order,
that all of life was meant to live in harmony, and that God created huma n
beings as the crowning jewel of creation.
Chapter 2 shows us the God who
created all that is for the benefit of human beings. And God established the
crowning jewel of this creation as woman, the best gift for man saved for last.
God said that it is not good that we should be alone, so God created us for each
other. God also looked at al l that God had created and pronounced it to be very
good. And the man and his wife were both naked but were not ashamed.
Now
that's interesting. God created them, and created them naked. God had no problem
with the first two humans being naked. It is, of course, a symbol of innocence
and the world in harmony as it was meant to be. First Man and First Woman had
nothing to hide from each other. They could be totally honest with each other.
There were no pretenses, no secrets, just honesty and harmony. One should note
that they were naked, not nekkid. The late Lewis Grizzard defined "naked" as,
"you ain't got no clothes on. Nekkid means you ain't got no clothes on and
you're up to something."
In chapter 3 things begin to get complicated.
Adam and Eve's original sin was not nakedness. We have already established that
God had no problem with that, seeing that God created them as such and
pronounced the creation good. Adam and Eve's original sin was arrogance - not
being able to accept t hemselves as they were, and wanting to be like God.
Things haven't changed much, when you think of it in that light. When Adam and
Eve were in the Garden, naked, there was no fighting, no quarreling, no
jealousy. All was at peace. It was when they stepped across the limitations of
the created ord er that trouble began. And when they recognized that they had
stepped beyond their limitations, stepped out of the fellowship with God by
seeking to be more than they were created to be, they were ashamed. They didn't
know what to do.
Now we are told that they made aprons of fig leaves to
cover themselves. I can imagine that they soon regretted that choice. Fig leaves
are quite scratchy. Sort of like unwashed burlap. The fig leaves are, of course,
symbolic of the flimsy excuses with which we try to cover our arrogance and diso
bedience before God. The aprons are of our own making, and as such they will
wither and dry up and blow away. They are totally inadequate.
So God
drops by for an afternoon visit and Adam and Eve are hiding in shame. Not the
shame of nakedness, but the shame of knowing that they have overstepped their
bounds. They try to tell God that they hid because they were naked. And God
says, "Who told you that you were naked ?" Now think about that. It wasn't God
who told them that they were naked. It wasn't God who told them that there was
something wrong with being naked. Where did they get that idea ? Obviously from
the Adversary. The whole idea that nakedness is wrong, sinful, dirty, obviously
comes not from God, but from the Adve rsary to God. And humans, in their
arrogance, always try to think that they are smarter than God.
Then it
says that God made for them coverings of skins as they were cast out of the
Garden. Now where did God get those ? What we are being told, as early as
Genesis 3, is that only God can come up with what is necessary to cover the sin
of humanity, and only then by the shedding of innocent bloo d. Rather prophetic,
when you consider the Gospel story. Thus only God's redeeming love can cover our
inadequacies.
In all instances in the Bible, when people are ridiculed
or looked down upon for being naked, it is man, not God, who is making those
judgements. When Noah gets drunk and lays naked in his tent, it is the sin of
disrespect shown by one of his sons that is the concern, not Noah's nakedness.
And, of course, this story is simply the prelude to the explanation to the
Hebrew people of why they don't like the Caananites. All of the first eleven
chapters of Genesis are used as an epic poem about the goodness of God to
explain why things are as they are.
There are numerous instances of
naked people in the Bible, none of which are condemned by God. Isaiah is told by
God to go forth and prophesy to the people "naked and barefoot" for three years.
Saul lay down naked and prophesied in the name of the Lord. Simon Peter fished
naked. Jesus didn't cond emn him for that - as a matter of fact, He didn't even
mention it.
So naturism is not un-biblical, nor is it sinful. True
naturism is part of a desire to return to the way in which we were created,
especially in harmony with all of life. The true naturist couldn't care less
whether there are other naked people around or not. That is to say, the true
naturist doe sn't have to see or be seen to enjoy life naked. Those who do still
have some maturing to do.
There are that show that naturist (nudist)
families have lower incidences of adultery, divorce, and family violence than
the general population. Nudist or naturist families are more accepting of each
other, more honest with each other, and less prone to drugs, alcoholism or
domestic violence, lar gely because each family member has a better self
acceptance than those who are always trying to improve their appearance and thus
their self-image by donning more stylish clothing.
The studies further
show that children of naturist or nudist families have better self image, and
thus better grades, less sibling rivalry, and far lower incidences of juvenile
delinquency. Naturist families are much more in harmony with each other and the
rest of the world around them, and much more tolerant and accepting of other
people.
Relaxed, matter of fact nudity in the home is not harmful to
children or adults, and far fewer incidences of child molestation are recorded
among nudist families. Rather, these family members grow to accept, work with
and love each other in an honest and relaxed family atmosphere. As Garfield say
s, it's hard to be serious when you're naked.
For some unexplained
reason, naturists/nudists are always imagined to be going in circles. I'm not
sure where this idea came about. We are always accused of "running around"
naked, "walking around" naked, "going around" naked. We are always thought to be
going "around" for some reason. I don't kn ow that we naturists travel in any
more circular patterns than the rest of the population, but there is always that
silly expression. Naturists do pretty much what everyone else does, just without
clothing when possible.
So if it's all that great, why aren't more
people into it ? Actually, more are than are willing to admit because we still
live in a society which thinks itself smarter than even God, and because we have
not yet shed the Puritan influence in which anything comfortable or enjoyable
was thought to be sinful. Many people still incorrectly equate nudity with s ex,
which is not the case at all, because the only time they are nude is either when
bathing or having sex. So most naturists are fairly quiet about it, having found
that it is much easier to make friends of other naturists than it is to make
naturists of friends.
I would simply recommend for anyone, try it for
thirty days. Be naked at home whenever possible for thirty days. The whole
family. After about thirty minutes at the maximum, you probably won't even
notice that everyone is naked. You will all simply be relaxed, comfortable, and
will go on about yo ur normal routine. Sleep naked for thirty days. Feel the
difference of not being bound by night clothes, and the evenness of body
temperature.
When your family is comfortable in being naked together,
you may want to experience a clothing optional beach, a naked camping trip deep
in the woods, preferably near water so that you can go swimming without the
confines of a wet, itchy swim suit, and experience the joy of the air passing
quietl y over your entire body. You won't have to pack nearly as much, either.
Then if you wish to try a visit to a naturist resort, you will find a
friendly, accepting, non-pretentious community of like minded people who come
from virtually every walk of life.
You will wonder why it took you so
long to find this freedom and you will marvel at your closer relationship with
the One who created you and loves you as you are.
But I don't recommend
playing an accordion while naked. Come to think of it, I don't recommend playing
an accordion. Perfect Pitch is defined as the ability to throw an accordion in
the dumpster without hitting the sides. (With apologies to all you
accordionists.)
So get undressed, find comfort, freedom, and peace in
the way you were created to be.
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WARNING ! This site features Nudity,Peoples at Nude Beaches and Nudism.Enter ONLY if you're older than 18, and watching Nudity is legal, where you live. |