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It was God who recorded before the fall of man, "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed" (Genesis 2:25) and it was God who recorded after the fall, "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings" (Genesis 3:7). What changed was man's realization of good and evil, their loss of innocence. Man's response was to attempt to cover himself. "So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself"" Genesis 3:10). The statement is clear. The reason for the fear and the hiding was because man realized he was naked. An it was God who gave Adam and Eve adequate clothing. "Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them" (Genesis 3:21).

The simple fact is that because man sinned, a consequence of that sin was an awareness of nakedness. God's response to that was clothing. The clothing was for man's sake, not God's as you incorrectly claim.

Some time later: "And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him" (Genesis 9:20-24). In regards to the topic at hand, Ham found the nakedness of his father something unusual, perhaps of amusement -- enough to tell others about it. In this he showed disrespect for his father. Shem and Japheth refused to look at their father's nakedness and hid it. In this they showed Noah respect. Yet, the key to understanding this event is knowing that nakedness was a matter of shame, even in the privacy of a person's own tent.

Some time later, God ordered, "Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it" (Exodus 20:26). God did not want people able to see up underneath clothing during worship. From this we understand that people typically were clothed, you claim otherwise on your web site but the claim is unproven. We also understand that God did not want sensuality as a part of His worship and to prevent it ordered things to minimize the possibility. In addition, the priests were to wear undergarments. "And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs. They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him" (Exodus 28:42-43). Notice that it was God who threatened the priests with death if they did not adequately clothe themselves in His tabernacle.

Job describes the wicked as people to take advantage of others. "They push the needy off the road; all the poor of the land are forced to hide. Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children. They gather their fodder in the field and glean in the vineyard of the wicked. They spend the night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and huddle around the rock for want of shelter. Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge from the poor. They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing; and they take away the sheaves from the hungry" (Job 24:4-10). While stating the point in the extreme (a type of figure of speech called hyperbole), we need to take notice that a right of people is to have clothing as it gives protection from the elements. Nakedness is not a normal state, but used to illustrate someone too poor to care for himself. That is why Christ praised those who cared for the poor by clothing them. "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me'" (Matthew 25:34-40).

"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 and barefoot. Then the LORD said, "Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory" (Isaiah 20:2-5).

The "shame" in Isaiah 20:4 is the word 'erwah in Hebrew. The Complete Biblical Library defines it as:

"Almost always referring to exposure of the genital area, usually of women, 'erwah can also mean 'nakedness' or 'shame.' Cognates are attested in Samaritan, Akkadian, and Arabic.

In Exodus 20:26, the priests are to be careful to have their genital area covered under their robes as they go up on the altar to offer sacrifices. Public exposure of the genitals was considered a very shameful thing and so became an idiom for shame (I Samuel 20:30; Ezekiel 16:36) or something indecent (Deuteronomy 23:14; 24:1) Captives were shamed by being stripped (Isaiah 20:4). Furthermore, the shame of judgment for unrepentant sin is described by the Lord as exposing the nakedness of his unfaithful bride and causing her lovers to despise her (Isaiah 47:3; Lamentations 1:8; Ezekiel 16:37; 23:10). This word is even used idiomatically for something being unprotected (Genesis 42:9,12). The cognate 'arom is the word used for some stage of undress in general.

Exposing the genitals of a woman became a euphemism for having sexual intercourse with her and, in Leviticus 18 and 20, the restrictions on this are included in the directions for acceptable marriages. The only relationship acceptable for the intimacy of uncovering one's genitals to another person was marriage.

Ham saw his father's nakedness when Noah was lying in his tent drunk, and then his brothers discreetly covered their father's nakedness (Genesis 9:22). Noah's curse, after he sobered up and realized what Ham had done, suggests some of Ham's descendants, the Canaanites, would follow in his sinful ways and become so bad that God would use Israel to bring judgment on them. Archaeological finds have shown the Canaanites to have been quite sexually immoral in their worship. The sin of Ham was a lack of proper respect for his father and thus a serious shaming of him."

If, as you claim, Isaiah's nakedness was acceptable to God and society in his day, then he illustrated nothing. But this illustration was against Egypt and Ethiopia. In conducting this illustration, Isaiah was told to do something people didn't normally do. The meaning of the prophecy was that Egypt and Ethiopia would be lead away with their genitals exposed (an idiom for shame) and parallel to that (showing that "shame" is a proper translation) Ethiopia would be afraid and ashamed. The "ashamed" in Isaiah 20:5 is a different Hebrew word, bosh, which means to feel shame or to be ashamed. The message here is that Isaiah illustrated the shameful treatment of the Egyptians and Ethiopians at the hands of the Assyrians, he did so by being naked for three years.

Please notice that in "Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not arbitrate with a man" (Isaiah 47:3). "Nakedness" is the Hebrew word 'erwah defined above. It is stating that their genitals would be exposed and their shame would be seen. The Hebrew word is cherpah, which means disgrace or shameful behavior.

Paul uses the human body, as created by God, to illustrate the relationship between brethren. Some parts of the human body are presentable and others unpresentable. By this all understand that parts, such as the face and hands, are presentable while parts, such as the genitals, are unpresentable. Yet we give the unpresentable parts greater honor by covering them up and keeping them private.

In all this, your basic argument is that God made quality work. That isn't contested. You claim that because it is quality work, it ought to be exposed. Yet, consistently through the Bible complete exposure of the human body is considered an act of shame.

Your first note claims that exposure will reduce lust, but nowhere have you shown that God says to use exposure of the body as a means of combating lust. You assert nudity will stop lust. You assert that nudity was prevalent in ancient societies. I agree it existed, but it didn't solve the problem of lust. "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles -- when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries" (I Peter 4:1-3). Lewdness and lust as a wide-spread problem in these societies that condoned nudity. It would be easier to argue that nudity promoted lust than to claim it reduced it. God doesn't tell Christians to imitate the Gentiles, but to go in the opposite direction.

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