Are nudist church services morally acceptable?

Are nudist religious services morally acceptable?

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now faith

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I think you're mixing passages up here...

Exodus 28 prescribes the undergarments for the priests, but it was only for the Aaronic priests (the line of the high priest) and even for them, it was only required while serving at the altar. Furthermore, before they put on those garments, they were required to "bathe." In Jewish tradition, that meant a ritual mikveh which required complete nudity in order to be valid (still does today for orthodox Jews). The pools where these mikvehs were performed were quite public and near the Temple.

Exodus 20:26 is the passage that speaks about steps... and it is for all people. But it doesn't require a garment, only that steps up to altars are forbidden. Oddly enough, it does not forbid all steps... just those at a place of worship.

The question of why God made these requirements is a good one. But I think it would premature to simply conclude that it's because God doesn't like genitals. If that were the case, wouldn't we have to conclude that we can't worship God or pray while we're in the shower or bath... or while using the restroom? Are we really to believe that the visual exposure of body parts (that God created) is offensive to God? shameful? indecent? sinful?

I've written a paper with a word study of the word ervah, which is the word translated nakedness in the OT. My effort was to find out exactly how that word is used in the OT in order to better understand the passages in which it appears (such as both these passages). I believe that it is informative in helping to understand the answer to the question of why gave his people these commands.

Nakedness in the OT

I hope you'll read it.

I looked it up a long time ago, when a Pastor forbid shorts on campus.
He called them Britches, thinking this meant pants.
Lol thank you for the correct book.
 
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now faith

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Dark horse has posted in other threads on topics like this.
His explanation makes sense about his personal conviction.
One misunderstanding is thinking that nudist will all have South Beach bodies.
They do not.
If their Church is blessed with the Spirit, then what God has blessed let no man call uncommon.
There can be a great deal of lust and affairs in Churches that are legalistic and sexually oppressed
I'm not a nudist but I can tell you clothes can be more seductive than nudity.
Lust is the door for sin in a Church.
The more imposed on people the more exciting it is to rebel against.
We do not need rules of dress as adult Christians.
We should avoid lust at all cost.
Some of the nudist you see are a deterrent.
 
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Kate30

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In Colonial times some Quakers in Pennsylvania chose to live in the nude, something that upset the Puritans of New England when they heard about it. The Friends believed that outward adornment was a distraction from the pursuit of virtuous deeds. In Newbury, Massachusetts, one Quaker woman entered a Puritan church naked and strolled down the aisle shouting insults at the minister. She later explained that she was trying to illustrate the nakedness of Puritan religious practices. BTW, the Puritans ( you know, the religious fanatics who hung a bunch of innocent people for being witches) hated the Quakers, even hanging several Quaker missionaries.
Archivist that’s interesting . As you have said I’m sure many Christians and other groups through the ages have practiced a naturist life style. A couple did explain it to me this way. (where paradise was once lost through the first Adam. It was now restored through the second Adam which is our Lord Jesus Christ ) And this does also include enjoying our nudity amongst Mother Nature once again, just as it was originally in the garden with Adam and Eve. Though I’m not so keen about the idea of nudity in the church for you are dealing with a community of people from many different walks of life along with many cultural differences too. Even if we are able to admire the many statues of our semi naked Lord at church each wk. As to the Quaker missionaries that’s really terrible. For what reasons did they do, as they are generally a very peaceful people.
 
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HermanNeutics13

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In Colonial times some Quakers in Pennsylvania chose to live in the nude, something that upset the Puritans of New England when they heard about it. The Friends believed that outward adornment was a distraction from the pursuit of virtuous deeds. In Newbury, Massachusetts, one Quaker woman entered a Puritan church naked and strolled down the aisle shouting insults at the minister. She later explained that she was trying to illustrate the nakedness of Puritan religious practices. BTW, the Puritans ( you know, the religious fanatics who hung a bunch of innocent people for being witches) hated the Quakers, even hanging several Quaker missionaries.
That is a very interesting story. Do you have a reference for it? Not that I don't believe you, but more that I want to look more into it in greater detail.
 
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Dave-W

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Even if we are able to admire the many statues of our semi naked Lord at church each wk.
As in hanging on a cross wearing a loin cloth? Historically inaccurate as to Roman practice.

He would have been completely naked so that passers by would know he was Jewish (circumcised).
 
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Archivist

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I don't care what anyone says to the contrary: people attend these types of services solely for sexual reasons. There is nothing Christian about it.
Proof of this please? Anything other than your opinion.
 
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Knee V

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Proof of this please? Anything other than your opinion.
Proof? I can't take that seriously.

Also, if anyone has attended one of these and claims it wasn't for sexual reasons, I am calling that person a liar.
 
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MyChainsAreGone

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I don't care what anyone says to the contrary: people attend these types of services solely for sexual reasons. There is nothing Christian about it.
You are asserting something which you cannot possibly know.

If you cannot provide biblical evidence for your position, then it is of no value to this discussion to simply condemn and accuse others who know and worship Jesus differently than you do.

Romans 14 is all about "gray matters"... practices which are not forbidden in the Scriptures that one person believes is wrong while another believes is OK. The text directly addresses the one who believes it to be wrong this way:

4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

Jesus spoke very harshly towards the Pharisees for their judgment against people who violated the Pharisees' understanding of God's Word while they themselves were ignoring very clear commands.
 
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MyChainsAreGone

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Proof? I can't take that seriously.

Also, if anyone has attended one of these and claims it wasn't for sexual reasons, I am calling that person a liar.
Here's a apt piece of information from Wikipedia:

Psychological projection is a defense mechanism in which the human ego defends itself against unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others
 
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Archivist

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Proof? I can't take that seriously.

Also, if anyone has attended one of these and claims it wasn't for sexual reasons, I am calling that person a liar.
In other words, you are providing nothing but your own opinion.

Now, if you cannot attend such a service without experiencing sexual feelings then by all means do not attend. However, other posters on this forums have said that is not the case for them. You have no business calling them liars.
 
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Archivist

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Archivist that’s interesting . As you have said I’m sure many Christians and other groups through the ages have practiced a naturist life style. A couple did explain it to me this way. (where paradise was once lost through the first Adam. It was now restored through the second Adam which is our Lord Jesus Christ ) And this does also include enjoying our nudity amongst Mother Nature once again, just as it was originally in the garden with Adam and Eve. Though I’m not so keen about the idea of nudity in the church for you are dealing with a community of people from many different walks of life along with many cultural differences too. Even if we are able to admire the many statues of our semi naked Lord at church each wk. As to the Quaker missionaries that’s really terrible. For what reasons did they do, as they are generally a very peaceful people.

I would recommend the article Early Quakers and "Going Naked as a Sign" by Kenneth L. Carroll, Quaker History, Volume 67, Number 2, Autumn 1978, pp. 69-87. However you might need access to JSTOR access to a good research library to access it. You will find a brief reference to naked Quakers in this article by Benjamin Hart: Faith & Freedom.

We often hear that the Puritans came to America for religious freedom. That is untrue, they cam to America only for the freedom to practice their own religion. They dis horrible things to the Quakers who were, as you said, a very peaceful people,
 
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Darkhorse

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Proof? I can't take that seriously.

Also, if anyone has attended one of these and claims it wasn't for sexual reasons, I am calling that person a liar.

OK, you got me. I'll tell you the truth:

Going to a nude church is as sexual as...going to a clothed church!
 
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MyChainsAreGone

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Proof? I can't take that seriously.

Also, if anyone has attended one of these and claims it wasn't for sexual reasons, I am calling that person a liar.
Knee,

Let me give you some information that you may not know...

Family-oriented Naturist (nudist) resorts have firm rules about sexual conduct at their establishments. No overt sexual activity or conversation is permitted. Violators are ejected from the resorts and permanently banned with little or no warning. Even before someone is permitted in the gate, they are actively screened with a criminal background check to ensure that no one with any sort of sexual violation history is ever permitted entry. Such a disqualification is permanent, even if the person is no longer incarcerated for their crime... or even if they never served real time.

When someone misbehaves at one resort, they are blacklisted and resorts share that information with each other, so getting blacklisted at one resort will result in a person being banned from other resorts as well.

Only family-oriented naturist resorts are permitted to be members of the American Association of Nude Recreation (AANR). I know of two of the former Executive Directors of AANR who were committed Christians... one of them a former pastor and graduate of Liberty University.

So, contrary to what you have asserted, genuine Christian (and non-Christian) nudists believe in and only practice chaste social nudity. And they only go to resorts where such chastity is the expected and enforced norm.

All of the churches or other Christian gatherings I have ever heard of have been at family-oriented resorts.

Feel free to research and verify these claims.
 
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MyChainsAreGone

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It beggars belief that anyone would want to stand in a house of God naked!
Actually, your characterization is where the problem is.

It's not about "wanting to stand naked" but really about recognizing that our clothing is completely irrelevant to God.

As Hebrews 4:13 says, "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

Our clothing does not commend us to God. Neither does our nakedness offend Him.
And when we truly understand this truth, the actual state of our bodies when standing before Him and worshiping Him no longer matters.

If we can worship Him while in the shower, we can worship him in a worship service at a naturist resort... in both cases, completely unclothed.

And for the record, no one is suggesting that we can freely go any time into any house of worship unclothed... there are definitely other factors in play that would mitigate against that decision. But the notion that God would be offended by the naked body of a worshiper is not one of them.
 
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Archivist

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It beggars belief that anyone would want to stand in a house of God naked!

Then why were early Christian baptisms conducted in the nude?
 
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Lost4words

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We are talking about worshipping God in His house in the nude!

Jesus, when He appeared after His resurrection was clothed. When He taught the multitudes, He was clothed. The multitudes were themselves clothed!

When one enters a house of God, it deserves reverence, respect and full attention. How would you be able to do that with so many naked people in front of you? It just seems totally alien and un holy.
 
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