Because Naturists Don’t…Who?

Because Naturists Don’t…Who? https://anchor.fm/creatednaked/episodes/Because-Naturists-DontWho-e25ip81

Myths of the Naked Body

In the West, particularly in the United States, society has been convinced over time to accept several myths about naked bodies as truths. The acceptance of these myths as truth has lead to a myriad of issues, but those issues are another discussion. Most of these myths are derived from well meaning members of the Christian church over the last couple of centuries. Like the well meaning Pharisees of Jesus’ time who used man made rules to try to keep from breaking the commandments, many Christian use these myths the same way — as truths to try to keep themselves and others from sinning. Some of these myths are loosely based on scripture others are just based on speculation.

Myth One

Naked Bodies are Not Natural. This one is largely based on tradition. They reason and argue that clothing and covering the body is the way it has always been. Many go so far as to believe that clothing is what separates us from the animals and is the beginning of a “civilized” society. After all, you never hear of anyone in “civilized” society growing up naked. It only happens with “those savages,” “those naked savages.” Yet, after man was created, naked by the way, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31 NAS95). “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25 NAS95). God never changed his mind.

“If people were meant to be nude, they would have been born this way.” — Oscar Wilde

But that has not stopped the Church from pushing the second myth.

Myth Two

Naked Bodies were/are Commanded to be Hidden by God. Many people look at the passage in Genesis where God provides skins to Adam and Eve as proof that God wants clothed humans. In reality, Adam and Eve started it, not God. They are the ones who created clothing for themselves. They are the ones who invented clothing. “They sewed fig leaves together and they made themselves loin coverings”(Genesis 3:7 NAS95).

They sewed leaves together, who does that? In our current age hunters and snipers come to mind first. Why did they cover themselves? Were they hiding from other people? Who, since only they existed? From each other? From the animals? Maybe from the serpent? Or from God? Up until this point they had walked naked with God in the Garden. Now, Adam and Eve have made camouflage and are actively hiding from God. But, why? Why did they decide that they needed to hide from God? Again, these questions need more exploration, but now is not the time.

As the story progresses God asks the question, “Who told you that you were naked?” Reading between the lines we can expand the question, “Naked? I never said anything about you being naked. Who told you that you were naked?” In the book Uncovering the Image, Bob Horrocks points out that this question God did not, even as Adam and Eve had covered themselves, see their nakedness as a problem.

Yet, God does provide our first parents with skins of animals, surely that means we are to cover ourselves at all times. Paul Bowman postulates:

“It is reasonable to believe that if God had actually condemned nakedness he would have told Adam that, because he had sinned, he was no longer free to be naked and unashamed of his body, After all, God did decree several consequences of the sin they committed.” (Nakedness and the Bible)

Bowman goes on to point out that immediately following God giving them skins, he banishes them from Eden, and sets a guard so they cannot return. Why garments of animals skins outside the garden? We must look at one of the consequences of their sin:

“cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”” (Genesis 3:17–19 ESV)

It appears to me that this wasn’t and act to cover their sinful flesh but another of God’s acts of love toward his beloved creation, partial protection from the environment that was cursed because of them. There is also the belief in many circles that the animal skins were a foreshadowing of the shedding of Christs blood for our sins. Bowman also rightfully points out, If God had given Adam and Eve clothes intended to conceal their bodies — new and improved clothes at that — it would have been a ratification of their efforts to conceal their sin! It is unthinkable that God would ever reward sin, or even reward any efforts made to conceal the results of sinful behavior.”

Myth Three

Naked Bodies are Aways Sexual. Really? We are born naked, not sexual and Job says we return naked, not sexual. Bathing is typically done naked and is normally not sexual. Physical exams and surgery are at least partially if not totally naked, and definitely not sexual. Additionally, throughout the history of the world there have been many naked societies. If naked bodies were always sexual those societies would not have been able to exist because of twenty-four-hour-a-day sexual activities. Our western culture has driven and continues to drive the sexualization of the naked body. “Actually, the loin cloth on an otherwise naked body does call direct attention to the covered area, and it would therefore very likely create titillation by its removal in a sexual situation. On the other hand, observations of daily Life among naked tribes indicate the sight of genitalia in Nude society is not in itself erotic”, Aileen Goodson. “Complete nudity in itself is not erotic. It becomes so only when preceded by or contrasted to a state of dress. In this limited context then, all clothes become somewhat immoral, if we define immorality as inciting sexual interest. Habitual nakedness may indeed be capable of elevating man to a higher mental plane…” Dr. Marylnn J. Horn, “The Second Skin: An Interdisciplinary Study of Clothing”. Dr. Horn goes on to say, “It is the undressing, not the being nude, that is sexually arousing, because it leads the viewer to the association of a sexually intimate experience.”

Myth Four

Naked Bodies are Obscene or “Gross I don’t want to see that.” If humans are created in the image of God then this statement are a spit in the face of our creator. “How is it possible for the human body, which was created in the image of God, to be offensive to anybody? Satan would love to see God’s greatest creation be considered offensive”, (unfortunately, I have misplaced the reference for this quote). Our society is currently in a body image crisis. We see it in the way we treat our bodies from eating disorders to body modifications. Liz Egger laments, “As a naturist myself I find it astonishing that a religion can worship a particular deity yet regard its most miraculous creation – the human body – as obscene and wicked and so shameful that it should be hidden from view.” David Hatton rightly opines, “When people teach that the human body is dirty or obscene, it creates fertile ground for pornography. This is why porn addiction is so strong in our society, even among Christians. Our culture is inundated with a sexualized view of the body. I’m sorry to say that the church has been a key player in spreading that idea.” We need throw off the obscene view of our naked bodies and return to a healthy view of the naked human our form. We were created in the image of God, with penises, scrotums and a broader shoulders or with vulvas, vaginas wider hips and larger breasts. Beautifully made in our differences and similarities.

Myth Five

Naked Bodies Harm Children. Let’s be clear upfront. We are discussing NONSEXUAL nakedness. We have already pointed out that not all Nakedness is sexual.

There are not enough studies on the effects of exposing children to nonsexual nudity. Most of the child development experts, e.g. Dr. Spock, Dr. Brothers, and Dr. Dodson to name a few, have laid out the arguments against exposure to nakedness without any studies to back them up let alone justify their conjecture and opinions. Dennis C. Craig and Dr. William Sparks engaged in a five year study to explore how exposure to nudity affects children. Here are their own conclusions:

“The experts seem to agree that a child should not be overstimulated sexually. Since we consider that wise, we raise a few questions: Is it more detrimental to emotional growth to spend “all ones waking hours” attempting to see the hidden bodies of others than to be raised in a physically open family situation where nudity is taken for granted? Is it not possible that the child who casually learns about other people’s bodies has more time to spend on studies and other pursuits?”

“The experts warn about the terrible guilts and frustrations which will develop in a child exposed to nudity… We found normal childhood problems of adjustment, but we also found a group of adults seemingly satisfied with themselves, and very willing to raise their children as they were raised, with nakedness as part of their every day lives.”

“We were told that when children saw their parents nude , they would be overstimulated… But when we spoke to the adults who grew up in a nudist environment, we were told that it was more stimulating for them to goto a regular beach, where everyone wore suits, however small, than to play volleyball or sun at a nudist park where everyone wore nothing…”

“Without previous studies on which to base their conclusions, the experts told us that children, especially during the years from nine to thirteen, should not be allowed to see their parents nude because it would be harmful to them. It seems clear to us, now, after five years of study that this unfounded bias and conjecture has been very misleading. But, more than that, it has caused real harm to more than one generation of American children.”

“We live in a time when the human anatomy is examined, extolled, studied, and lectured about, and at the very same moment is also exploited, ridiculed, and excluded from social acceptance. We insult ourselves by calling our bodies obscene, pornographic, lewd, base, dirty, immoral, or evil, and in so doing deny the basic truth of our own existence. Our anatomy is us— and it is none of those terrible things.”

“There are some families who have learned what Margaret Mead and others were trying to tell us about the need for understanding our natures and not hating our physiology. These singular adults have created in their children individuals more resistant to the negativism of our modern society. They seem at ease with the rigors of living together in a society dependent, sours is, on our ability to relate to one another with love and understanding.”

“What we learned was that the viewing of the unclothed human body , far from being destructive to the psyche, seems to be either benign and totally harmless or to actually provide positive benefits to the individual involved.”

—Dennis Craig Smith and Dr. William Sparks, Growing Up Without Shame.

There are a few, very few, other studies out there that have taken on this issue and similarly concluded that nakedness harming children is in fact a myth and that exposure to real human bodies in a nonsexual setting can potentially be beneficial.

“The existence in so many places of the tendency toward nudity is not a testimony to the fallenness of man. It is rather a testimony of the original condition of man … The inner desire to be naked and unashamed is a longing to get back to our original perfection.” — Philo Thelos

S T R A V A G A N Z A: THE BIBLE AND THE NAKEDNESS

S T R A V A G A N Z A: THE BIBLE AND THE NAKEDNESS
— Read on stravaganzastravaganza.blogspot.com/2011/10/bible-and-nakedness.html

Man Created “Modesty” —Mark Twain

…they heard God walking among the bushes (which was An afternoon custom of His), and they were smitten with fright. Why? Because they were naked. They had not known it before. They had not minded before. Neither had God. In that memorable moment immodesty was born, and some people have valued it ever since, though it would certainly puzzle them to explain why. Adam & Eve entered the world naked and unashamed— naked and pure-minded. And no descendant of theirs has ever entered it otherwise. All have entered it naked, unashamed and clean in mind. They have entered it modest. They had to acquire immodesty in the soiled mind; there was no other way to get it. A Christian mother’s first duty is to soil her child’s mind, and she does not neglect it. Her lad grows up to be a missionary and goes to the innocent savage and to the civilized Japanese and soils their minds. Whereupon they adopt immodesty. They conceal their bodies, they stop bathing naked together. The convention mis-called “modesty” has no standard, and cannot have one, because it is opposed to nature an reason and is therefore an artificiality and subject to anybody’s whim— anybody’s diseased caprice. And so in India the refined Lady covers her face and breasts and leaves her legs naked from the hips down. While the refined European lady covers her legs and exposes her face and breasts. In land’s inhabited by the innocent savage, the refined lady soon gets used to full-grown native’s stark nakedness, and ceases to be offended by it.

A highly cultivated French count and countess, unrelated to each other, who were marooned in their night clothes by shipwreck upon an uninhabited island in the eighteenth century, were soon naked. Also, ashamed—for a week. After that their nakedness did not trouble them and soon ceased to think about it.

You have never seen a person with clothes on? Oh well, you haven’t lost anything.

Gnostic Heresy – Alive and Well

A good review of the current gnostic heresy blinding the church.

Aching for Eden

In my Personal Manifesto of a Christian Naturist, point #19, I stated that, “I believe dualism and Gnostic heresies have crept back into the church and most are unaware of it.” As I wrote the little “manifesto” piece, I remember wanting to throw ideas out there that would cause people to go deeper and explore further rationales. A couple of people have asked for an expansion on what I meant by gnositic heresies. This article is my attempt to answer their questions.

I must admit, I am no expert or scholar when it comes to understanding Gnosticism beyond what one can find in commentaries and reference books. Before embracing naturism, I was one of those church leaders who assumed these wrong ideas had been dealt with by the early church fathers. David L. Hatton and others turned me on to the idea that the heresies had “crept back into…

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The Declaration of Independence

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,–That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

–He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
–He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
–He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
–He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
–He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
–He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
–He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
–He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
–He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
–He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
–He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies, without the Consent of our legislatures.
–He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
–He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
–For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
–For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
–For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
–For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
–For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
–For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
–For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
–For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
–For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
–He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
–He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
–He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
–He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
–He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally disolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.–And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Obedience and Sacrifice

I have had several conversations with my children, ages 8, 9 and 22, over the last several months. These conversations have forced me to look at my relationship with the Father in a way I had not really considered previously.

My children love to give gifts to their mom and I, drawings, nick-knacks, silly bands, and doing somethings we don’t ask them to do. But, many times they neglect to do the tasks that we have asked them to complete. You know stuff like feed the dog, clean your room, wipe the table, don’t leave your junks all over the house, wash the dishes, etc. Those are the items they have been tasked to complete on a regular basis, they don’t change from day to day. In other words they are not a surprise to them.

Over time I have become frustrated that it seems like a battle to get these minor tasks completed on a daily basis. Oh, but the little extras come in on a regular basis. Most of the time I adore getting those gifts that have cost my children something, time, effort or money. These things are an aroma of their love for us and I cherish them.

The problem is that they have begun to believe these “extras” should replace those things which I expect from them each day. Let me repeat, I love the little extras, even when they cost me. The problem is I love their freely given obedience to those things I have asked of them even more.

I have had to tell each of them in different ways how much I appreciate their gifts but that is not what I asked of them. Each one of them have been upset when I have expressed this to them. Telling me that I am unfair or that I do not love them or they run off and pout.

Sometimes I feel I am in an impossible position. It is in these times I have begun to understand that I put God into that very same position with my fickle and oscillating obedience to Him. I do things that He has not asked me to do and I expect it to make up for the things I have not done that He has asked me to do.

The story of Saul begins to fill my mind, God regretted making Saul King for his disobedience.

¹⁰The word of the LORD came to Samuel: ¹¹“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night. (1 Sam 15:10-11).

Samuel confronts Saul. Saul makes good excuses for his disobedience. “Look, Sam, we did not destroy it all because we want to bring the best of it back and sacrifice it to The Lord.”

²²And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. ²³ For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.”

Where do I disobey His simple instructions? In what ways do I justify my disobedience?

Oh, Father, open my eyes and ears…

One Month Ago

It is one month ago tomorrow that I held Jerry Lou’s head in my left hand and her arm in my right while singing quietly in her ear, “I’ll Fly Away”. She flew away. I am not sure what compelled me to sing, but I did. One month, she has been with the Father, free. Sin and death can never again touch her as she worships and waits for the resurrection body that Paul tells us about in 1 Cor. 15.

Imagine it…

Free from the affects and effects of sin.

The enemy, death, with no more power.

Some glad morning when this life is o’er,
I’ll fly away;
To a home on God’s celestial shore,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).

Chorus
I’ll fly away, Oh Glory
I’ll fly away; (in the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).

When the shadows of this life have gone,
I’ll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away)

Chorus

Just a few more weary days and then,
I’ll fly away;
To a land where joy shall never end,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away)

Today, we wait as Jerry Lou’s Mother-in-law, Iris, Wanda’s grandmother, is longing to fly away, also.

Visit this link for more information on the song, “I’ll Fly Away”

Jerry Lou Hames

Stephanie, Jerry and Wanda in 2004

In November 2004 I wrote the following letter to my family, friends and Co-workers:

What do I know? I know what we, My family, are to do: move near Wanda’s parents. That also answers where.

Why? Wanda needs to honor her parents, particularly her mother. I believe this is how God is calling me to love my wife at this point in time. This also answers the who question. Who? God the Father has told us to honor and love. So, to serve God and bring glory to Him, we will leave all the comfort and ease we have known for the last fourteen years. We will move to a place where we have no guarantees, only God our Lord.

When? Well, we will do this now! Here is what the future holds, the Promise that Alzhiemer’s has for us: We will loose Jerry a little bit each day. This is the promise of God: In that loss God will hold us in the palm of His hand, cover us with His wings. Knowing that He holds on to every part of Jerry that we no longer see.

We will no doubt cry out to Him”WHY??!!!”. We will wish for a quick and comforting answer. It will be this, “I Am with you”. Just as Jesus was moved in the Spirit at Mary’s sorrow over Lazarus, He also weeps with us, no words only His tears. “See how He Loved” her? Just as he was not weeping for His friend Lazarus, He is not weeping for her. He weeps with us at our temporary loss. She is not gone from Him. She is complete more complete than she ever could be here, lacking nothing. Praise Jesus!

I am writing this down now not for you, but for us, my family. We will not have the strength to hear Him speak in the mist of tears. Too full of sorrow, seeing only what is before us, loss, loss. This loss that will seem permanent, at the time. We will see only glimpses of sunshine through the clouds of sorrow. Hope will come as He weeps with us and for us.

-Randy

August 6th 2010 around 10pm, Jerry Lou was made complete and whole. She dances and worships before the throne of the Father.

Services will be held at Owen Funeral Home
12 Collins Drive
Cartersville GA 30120

770-382-3030

http://www.owenfunerals.com

Visitation  8-9-2010  5pm-7pm
Funeral    8-10-2010 12pm
Moves to the GA National Cemetery  at 1:30pm

In lieu of flowers please make donations to:
The Alzheimer’s Association Dalton Chapter In Memory of Jerry Lou Hames.
922 East Morris Street
Dalton, GA 30721

THE TUNE

On this Easter Morning I thought a little Larry Norman would be appropriate.