Why is nudity offensive?

[IreneAdler]

I just don't get it. Please share with me your thoughts.

 

[TanteBelle]

I just don't get it. Please share with me your thoughts.

In the privacy of your house? Not at all. If a hubby and wife decided to spend their entire day lounging around the house nood, great! But in public? Even God created the rule to wear clothes!

 

[IreneAdler]

actually God responded to a need expressed by Adam and Eve because of their shame.

 

[kevlite2020]

In the privacy of your house? Not at all. If a hubby and wife decided to spend their entire day lounging around the house nood, great! But in public? Even God created the rule to wear clothes!

not rule, provision. The original rule was that there was no rule and no reason to worry about clothing.

Personally, I think it's just a cultural thing. Something that is offensive here isn't offensive in many European countries. Another problem is the whole teasing affect. If I saw girls walking around naked every day, I wouldn't focus so much on those parts. The problem is, girls walk around showing major cleavage but not the entire chest, so it's like a wrapped gift that you want to find out what's inside. If they dressed either modestly enough that you wouldn't be able to use imagination, or didn't dress so you wouldn't need an imagination, people wouldn't obsess about it so much.

 

[TanteBelle]

actually God responded to a need expressed by Adam and Eve because of their shame.

Fact is, sin entered the world. Not everything was nice and innocent anymore. It was more than just an answer to their shame. Otherwise God could've found another way to do it rather than introduce clothing. Why was Ham cursed for seeing his father naked? Because it is a sin to see someone else naked who wasn't your spouse. If ever God decided that it is for me to marry, I'd hope that I'd feel comfortable enough to spend my entire day nood in his presence alone!! Outside of that? Hey, cover up!

 

[Wren]

actually God responded to a need expressed by Adam and Eve because of their shame.

Exactly. God creates us naked and that's how He intended for us to be. We got all of these wacky notions in our heads and made clothing mandatory, when it's not really necessary except when we need protection from the cold/wind/whatever.

 

[Tink]

Fact is, sin entered the world. Not everything was nice and innocent anymore. It was more than just an answer to their shame. Otherwise God could've found another way to do it rather than introduce clothing. Why was Ham cursed for seeing his father naked? Because it is a sin to see someone else naked who wasn't your spouse. If ever God decided that it is for me to marry, I'd hope that I'd feel comfortable enough to spend my entire day nood in his presence alone!! Outside of that? Hey, cover up!

I think you're assuming a lot.





In response to the OP:

I have no idea. I'm not offended, in the least, by nudity.

 

[Amber.ly]

The problem is, girls walk around showing major cleavage but not the entire chest, so it's like a wrapped gift that you want to find out what's inside. If they dressed either modestly enough that you wouldn't be able to use imagination, or didn't dress so you wouldn't need an imagination, people wouldn't obsess about it so much.

Tell that to the porn industry and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Imagination not needed and yet the end result is the same...

Human bodies are sexual. God created it to be like that. That is certainly not all they are used for but to try and say that its just a matter of becoming numb to naked people is not the answer. We are not designed that way. Or perhaps we were ORIGINALLY designed that way but the whole sin thing messed up that perfect scenario.

I'm all about nudity... while being pure. That inlcudes wearing clothes when appropriate and clothes that don't scream "Look at my body!"

 

[IreneAdler]

has God ever changed morphology to meet a need? If we were created in his image as his companion I can't see that he'd change them. I honestly think since he knew us all before we were born that he surely knew the situation that would occur with the tree. Therefore nudity was created with this in mind and wasn't wrong initially. If it's not wrong to God... I can't see fault with it.

 

[TanteBelle]

Exactly. God creates us naked and that's how He intended for us to be. We got all of these wacky notions in our heads and made clothing mandatory, when it's not really necessary except when we need protection from the cold/wind/whatever.

I think you're assuming a lot.

has God ever changed morphology to meet a need? If we were created in his image as his companion I can't see that he'd change them. I honestly think since he knew us all before we were born that he surely knew the situation that would occur with the tree. Therefore nudity was created with this in mind and wasn't wrong initially. If it's not wrong to God... I can't see fault with it.

So, why did God put down in torah a whole list of sins about seeing someone aside from your spouse naked? If it's just a thing that we've created in our own minds? Did God create us naked for a reason? Absolutely! Part of that is due only between a husband and wife. But we also became carnal creatures and so God's trying to help us along. To say, 'Well, in Eden they were naked 24/7, therefore it should be okay today' is ignoring the fact that we aren't in Eden anymore! We were kicked out and God gave us clothing. Ham's entire lineage was cursed because Ham saw his father naked! His two brothers were blessed because they covered his father's nakedness and kept their backs to him. Mind you, Noah was in his own tent, not out in the field or in the street!

 

[kevlite2020]

Tell that to the porn industry and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Imagination not needed and yet the end result is the same...

Sure it is... In swimsuit editions, most of the women pose completely topless, but have a hand over their nipples or something that makes it so you juuuuuuuuust can't quite see what you "want" to. In porn, you would have a hard time finding pictures of someone just naked. They always start with some type of revealing clothing on. The driving idea behind porn is you get someone showing off some but not all of what you want to see, then they tease you and tantalize you until finally they show you everything.

So yeah, it's the same idea.

 

[ks777]

I don't think it's really a cultural thing at all. So far I agree with tante, and I'll add that when sin came into the world, that means lust and other negative thoughts came with it. If someone is clothed, it's much easier not to desire them in your mind. Yahshua said, you heard it said not to commit adultery, but I'm telling you even if you look at a woman who's not yours with a lustful mind, you've already commited adultery with her in your heart. This is another reason why I think clothing is important, to lessen the chance of that scenario happening.

I don't think it's so much because we need to wear clothes because of our shame, but because it leads to other sins.

 

[kevlite2020]

So, why did God put down in torah a whole list of sins about seeing someone aside from your spouse naked? If it's just a thing that we've created in our own minds? Did God create us naked for a reason? Absolutely! Part of that is due only between a husband and wife. But we also became carnal creatures and so God's trying to help us along. To say, 'Well, in Eden they were naked 24/7, therefore it should be okay today' is ignoring the fact that we aren't in Eden anymore! We were kicked out and God gave us clothing. Ham's entire lineage was cursed because Ham saw his father naked! His two brothers were blessed because they covered his father's nakedness and kept their backs to him. Mind you, Noah was in his own tent, not out in the field or in the street!

I feel like you are taking a grey issue and looking at it in black and white. These issues are not black and white, nudity isn't a yes or no issue.

 

[IreneAdler]

Because of man's problems, not because it's improper. Sin seperates us from God because of us and our issues, not because of God. He is the covenant keeper, not us.

As for kicked out, I beg to differ. We were protected from another tree. Had it not been there, I venture to say that we could still be in residence.

Noah's shame was his drunkeness and loss of control and ability to care for himself... I think the nudity is just a small aside to that story.

 

[ks777]

Tante, where is it in the Torah? If it was important enough to be written in our owner's manual then it's pretty black and white to me.

 

[kevlite2020]

How about nude art? Would those who are against nudity consider that offensive, sinful art? Are you against people that pose nude for artistic reasons?

I've actually considered doing that. I didn't follow through, but it's not something I would rule out.

 

[dayhiker]

I'm not offended by nudity.
I think our society has its obsession with peoples bodies because we make such a big deal about it.
I'd like to be nude more .. but people have closed down even what nude beaches there used to be around NE. Pretty sad in my book.

The Torah's expressions about relitives nudity is actually an expression for sexual intercourse.

 

[kevlite2020]

Didn't King David walk around naked at one point?

Didn't a prophet walk around naked as commanded by God at one point?

My memory might be bad, but I seem to remember some God-approved nudity after the fall.

 

[crishmael]

The definition of what is/isn't nudity is culturally conditioned. Nudity doesn't bother much, but of course, my not being bothered by it has also been culturally conditioned.

 

[IreneAdler]

How about nude art? Would those who are against nudity consider that offensive, sinful art? Are you against people that pose nude for artistic reasons?

I've actually considered doing that. I didn't follow through, but it's not something I would rule out.

I have too. I love drawing nudes. I figure it's only fair to reciprocate.