Why is nudity offensive?

[Balugon]

In Canada, bearing your boobs is legal.

It's legal in New York as well, to my understanding, though I think there may be a clause in there that states 'it's only appropriate if it would be appropriate/acceptable for a guy to do it in the same circumstances'.

 

[Blueforest]

I never see it, and it's never the ones you want to see anyway, so it's not a big deal.

 

[Rev.Ross]

That's right, nudity is not big deal and not a sin.
Thanks, Rev.Ross

 

[MarkSB]

Nudity is offensive because the culture of the West has made it so. Adam and Eve were created nude, we are born nude. David danced nude before God, some Prophets in the Old Testament were told by God to preach nude.

I'm not going to argue any specific viewpoint here but I would like to touch on these scriptures because I think they are being misrepresented.

In 2 Samuel 6:14 David did not dance naked before the Lord but rather:

"David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might."

A linen ephod is a hip-length sleeveless pullover which was worn by those who served the Lord at His sanctuary, and is to be distinguished from the ephod to be worn by the high priest. Several verses later, in 2 Samuel 6:20, Michal the daughter of Saul objects to David's dancing:

"When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, 'How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!'"

Michal is objecting to the fact that David was wearing only a linen ephod instead of his royal robe. David responds by saying, in essence, that the robe is to exalt himself, but David was seeking to exalt the Lord.

Also, in regards to the prophets preaching naked, the only prophet I know of who preached naked was Isaiah (though TBH I am not very familiar with the books of the prophets). Isaiah 20:1-4 reads:

"In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it, 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 stripped and barefoot."

"Then the LORD said, 'Just as My servant Isaiah has walked stripped 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."

So Isaiah's nudity was meant to be a representation of the shame which was to come upon Egypt and Ethiopia. Public nudity in the Bible is often used as a sign of shame. It is why the soldiers stripped Jesus of his garments at the cross.

In regards to nudity, I don't think it is something that can be said to be all good or all bad. Being raised in western society, I personally believe that most displays of public nudity are inappropriate. Some people might go to a nude beach and not have a problem with it, but I would prefer to be / have a spouse who is a little more modest.

Also, I would caution against arriving at a conclusion on an issue like this and then going to the Bible to find verses to support that conclusion. What often happens is, as you see here, things end up being read into the scriptures which aren't really there.

 

[CaliforniaJosiah]

In Canada, bearing your boobs is legal.

.

 

[MacFall]

For those who deny that it is possible to see a naked body without being tempted to lust, I am really interested to find out how you managed to become so intimately familiar with other people's hearts and minds - more so, in fact, than we ourselves are - that you know that we who say we can are wrong. Is it telepathy, or at least telempathy?

...or is it merely projection?

 

[OGM]

For those who deny that it is possible to see a naked body without being tempted to lust, I am really interested to find out how you managed to become so intimately familiar with other people's hearts and minds...

Also, how could medical personnel work on naked bodies without being effected...Opposite gender care giving would be a no-no for Christians if they all "could not help from lusting." Which brings up and interesting point: Either people can or can't control themselves. If they can't...there would be no medical exceptions would there?

 

[Rev.Ross]

Dear DNP,

After working around medical people and hospice for 30 years, I have learned that female nurses have to hold mens penises to out a catheter in and male nurses have to put catheters in females of all ages. If nudity were a sin, this would be a problem. In surgery people are nude for some time before they are draped for surgery, and surgeons and nurses and others do not even notice.
There are times when full body bathes have to be given to the opposite sex by nurses and CNA's. There is a lot of nudity, even though efforts are made to keep some modesty. I was present at a childbirth once, and the lady was nude. It did not bother me and I did not lust. I do not get that medical nudity or any kind of nudity is sinful. Thanks, Rev.Ross

 

[jamandcrumpets]

This is a topic that I have had affect me greatly... I personally don't find anything wrong with nudity or a naked body... beautiful... but private.... and definitely not a public thing... I don't care how beautiful nudity is, the world cannot handle it... simple... except for maybe when we have heaven on earth and sin has been removed??? Until then, nudity creates lust and sin... I used to feel like my ex-husband "cheated" on me when he looked at other women naked (tv, beach, etc)... and it hurt... I don't think this world is perfect enough to be able to deal with nudity in it's pure form....

Just a thought.... does anyone think Angel's are naked? I would be interested to see if God even clothes his angels - even though we don't see them (all the time I mean )????

 

[Rev.Ross]

The human body nude is not pornographic, or else God would be the author of sin. I do think there is a time and place for nudity, and that it should not be flaunted. It is what we have in our hearts and minds that makes nudity pornographic or sinful. Lust comes from the human heart, not from the natural human nude body.

 

[MacFall]

Either people can or can't control themselves. If they can't...there would be no medical exceptions would there?

Bingo.

And if we can control ourselves, who says we can't do so in situations other than medical procedures?

I understand if you (generally) can't control yourself around nude human bodies. I don't think it's your fault. I blame the culture. But it's one thing to recognize your own weakness, and quite another to say that other people, who have overcome or never faced that weakness, sin by exercising the freedom that we have gained thereby.

For the record, I'm not a nudist. I prefer not to be naked or to see naked people in general, but that is a purely aesthetic choice.

 

[OGM]

Dear DNP,

After working around medical people and hospice for 30 years, I have learned that female nurses have to hold mens penises to out a catheter in and male nurses have to put catheters in females of all ages. If nudity were a sin, this would be a problem. In surgery people are nude for some time before they are draped for surgery, and surgeons and nurses and others do not even notice.
There are times when full body bathes have to be given to the opposite sex by nurses and CNA's. There is a lot of nudity, even though efforts are made to keep some modesty. I was present at a childbirth once, and the lady was nude. It did not bother me and I did not lust. I do not get that medical nudity or any kind of nudity is sinful. Thanks, Rev.Ross

You illustrate my point perfectly Rev.Ross. Nudity in and of itself is not sinful. Getting the hots for a married woman in a bikini and trying to have an affair with her is.

And if we can control ourselves, who says we can't do so in situations other than medical procedures?

Like a public beach in Europe? Trust me…they obviously can.

I understand if you (generally) can't control yourself around nude human bodies. I don't think it's your fault. I blame the culture. But it's one thing to recognize your own weakness, and quite another to say that other people, who have overcome or never faced that weakness, sin by exercising the freedom that we have gained thereby.

It is like alcohol I suppose. I never was a drinker because I didn’t acquire the taste for alcohol. If you offered me a glass of wine for dinner I could drink and give you an opinion. I would not have to exercise “self-control” to prevent myself from drinking another glass or the entire bottle. Why? Because that is not my scene. I actually prefer unfermented drinks.

That being said if a Brother or Sister has a glass of wine for dinner it would be ridiculous to presume they have a drinking problem and that all people are prone to alcoholism. As for nudity; I believe that much of the problem is cultural. Some culture tend to become some afraid of the body that they end of making it a secret special idol. This also causes body image problems.

For the record, I'm not a nudist. I prefer not to be naked or to see naked people in general, but that is a purely aesthetic choice.

I am not a nudist either…I have pretty indifferent about the human body. I don’t crave to see it, nor does it revolt me. Its just there.

 

[MacFall]

Some culture tend to become some afraid of the body that they end of making it a secret special idol. This also causes body image problems.

Body image problems are only one of the problems it causes. Secret and perverse desire, shame and guilt, and the assigning of sexual intent where none exists are also worthy of mention. And I think the last one may be the worst. If, say, a man sees a woman naked at a nude beach, and he sees her as tempting him sexually whilst she is totally innocent of such intent, then he is effectively blaming an innocent person for his propensity to sin. Not that it doesn't happen the other way around, of course, and it's just as bad in either direction.

 

[jamandcrumpets]

hmmm wasnt it King David in the bible who saw the woman washing on the roof and couldn't help himself - he had to have her. And then it lead to murder etc...? And he surely had enough wives that he should have been able to "control" himself.... Nudity here led to a lot of sin, and I'm sure it started out innocently enough...

 

[OGM]

hmmm wasnt it King David in the bible who saw the woman washing on the roof and couldn't help himself - he had to have her. And then it lead to murder etc...? And he surely had enough wives that he should have been able to "control" himself.... Nudity here led to a lot of sin, and I'm sure it started out innocently enough...

The fact that he had so many wives says something about him as a person. Also, in countries where women are typically covered from head-to-toe without even their faces being recognizable... sexual assaults are still a problem.

 

[jamandcrumpets]

I'm sure I've read somewhere that rape tends to actually be more about "control" than sexual desire, so the clothing or lack of, is probably not an issue there... but a beautiful naked person can elicit desire... maybe not so much when they are cold and passed out on an operating theatre table, but alive and moving... that's another thing altogether! I'm a STRICTLY one man girl, and when I'm in a loving relationship, I don't look at other men with any lust whatsoever.... but at the moment it's been a LONG time for me and if I saw a hunky naked man walking down the street, I'd be feeling it...

 

[Balugon]

I'm sure I've read somewhere that rape tends to actually be more about "control" than sexual desire, so the clothing or lack of, is probably not an issue there... but a beautiful naked person can elicit desire... maybe not so much when they are cold and passed out on an operating theatre table, but alive and moving... that's another thing altogether! I'm a STRICTLY one man girl, and when I'm in a loving relationship, I don't look at other men with any lust whatsoever.... but at the moment it's been a LONG time for me and if I saw a hunky naked man walking down the street, I'd be feeling it...

I'm not here to debate with you really, but I want to pose a scenario: What if that hunky naked man was preoccupied at the moment you saw him with taking care of a naked little baby? Would that change the feelings you felt in the moment? And do you think that if you went up and talked to this man with the baby (who isn't interested sexually in you because he is married and just taking his newborn son for a stroll through the park) that it would affect your feelings about him that day?

 

[.Iona.]

Where I am from, nudity is not so much of an issue as it is in many other places. I feel that it shouldn't be a very public thing - I wouldn't like to see a naked person when shopping.

For me, it depends on the reasons for being nude. There are women who dress in certain ways purely to attract the attention of men. I dress in a way that makes me feel comfortable. like I tend not to wear tops with very high necks, because it is unflattering to my bust. But, I don't wear lower tops just to make men stare at me, but for my confidence.

I think what I am saying is that, it's all good in the right place and for the right reasons.

 

[jamandcrumpets]

I'm not here to debate with you really, but I want to pose a scenario: What if that hunky naked man was preoccupied at the moment you saw him with taking care of a naked little baby? Would that change the feelings you felt in the moment? And do you think that if you went up and talked to this man with the baby (who isn't interested sexually in you because he is married and just taking his newborn son for a stroll through the park) that it would affect your feelings about him that day?

Probably not... I hope this doesn't show me up in a bad light , but a hunky naked man is still a hunky naked man to me .... sorry, but I'm just being honest. I do find the longer I am single, the harder it is for me to not lust over some men (and some married ones too)... I am aware of it and try to rein it in... but it doesn't stop it happening in the first place. Sigh * time to get married...

 

[welshman]

Seems to me that Christian nudists spend the vast majority of their time trying to defend or apply a different meaning from obvious texts which clearly show that "public nudity" is shown as being wrong in the scriptures. I think you would be scratching around for a very, very long time if you went looking for verses which openly encourgaed nudity in the Bible compared to those which condemn it.