God says, "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think on these things. Whatever you have learned, received, heard or seen [about these things], put into practice." - Philippians 4:8
What is a Breast?
Have you ever stopped to ask, what is a breast? Society is so sex-oriented that women's breasts are constantly viewed as a "sex object," but is that what God intended? Should we see them as "sex objects"? Should we objectify our bodies, or parts of it, this way? The truth is, God created breasts as milk producing glands, designed to nurture and feed children. Unfortunately, society has so corrupted the idea of breasts that many see breast feeding as lewd or at least inappropriate. How can that be so? Breasts and breast feeding are God's idea, and so, instead of sexualizing women's breasts, we should see them as God sees them. We should not limit ourselves to seeing these marvelous gifts as merely sexual.
Interestingly, while society generally places emphasis on certain parts of the body, considering them more sexual than others, sex involves the whole body. For instance, because of this, society expects us all to go out of our way to cover up our "private parts" (breasts, butts, and genitals). The question is, what about all the other parts? I mean, many other parts are generally equally involved in sex. Should we consider these other parts sexual, too? More importantly, should we cover them up? For instance, should we cover up our hands? The brain is likely the most involved. How do we cover it? I am being a little silly now, but my point is, although we are sexual beings by God's design, overemphasizing or sexualizing certain parts of our bodies is unnecessary and unhealthy. In fact, I believe society's tendency toward this has created many problems and worsens these problems over time.
Why Wear a Swimsuit?
Have you ever stopped to ask, why do we need swimsuits? How about, who really benefits from them? While many consider complete nudity more offensive, sexual and/or unacceptable than nudity, I wonder, how many ever stop to consider which is healthier, more logical, more enjoyable, etc.? Ironically, while most people in deed prefer swimsuits over nudity, most also agree that seeing someone completely nude is actually less sexually arousing. That says a lot to me about what people want or prefer (they would rather be sexually aroused).
The truth is, swimsuit manufactures do in deed design swimsuits to be sexually attractive, arousing, enticing, etc. As the saying goes, "Sex sells." They intentionally design these clothes to draw attention to the hidden parts. Again, most swimsuits, female swimsuits in particular, do not actually hide a whole lot, but rather they highlight the hidden areas. It is a proven fact that covering only small parts of the body, such as with a bikini, actually draws attention to the hidden area. In fact, as noted by others, people in the pornography industry use this tactic all the time. They realize they can use clothing or other distinctions to draw attention to one's sexuality, and thus sell their product i.e. make money.
Aside from the sexual aspect, swimsuits are a relatively new invention. At one time, people thought it silly to swim with clothes on. Additionally, clothes were expensive and not something they could quickly or easily replace. Industrialization, being able to mass produce clothing cheaply, changed all that. Of course, when you consider that, you understand why it is important to industrialist and consumerists that people *need* to wear clothes and *need* them for swimming. The truth is, swimming in clothes is rather silly and illogical. What is the point or purpose?
The truth is, you can go nude and it is good for you. Going nude is generally healthier, more logical and more enjoyable, and that makes sense. I mean, besides what I have mentioned already, clothing is truly unnatural and foreign to the body. That is why the body benefits from fresh air and sunlight. In fact, it not only benefits, but it also actually needs these things. Maybe it is time for us all to realize that our swimming "costumes" do not really hide much and they are not really doing us much good, affecting our health negatively, even mentally and spiritually.
Naked and Not Ashamed?
According to the Bible, God created humans "naked and not ashamed," and after the first man and woman (Adam and Eve) did wrong (or sinned), they tried to hide from God by covering their genitals and hiding behind trees. When the Lord finally confronted them, He asked, "Who told you that you were naked?" This question makes it obvious that He had never told them they were naked and the idea of nakedness never even crossed their mind until they sinned. That is, they came up with this idea. Worse, their first sin, the "original sin," was showing disregard for their Maker, and in my opinion, their covering up was a continuation of this disregard.
I believe that hiding their bodies was as much as sin as eating the fruit, because in both cases, they did the opposite of what God said was good. What is interesting is, while we clothe ourselves, all of the other creatures God created still go about completely naked and not ashamed. It fascinates me that all the other creatures go nude and no one has any problems with it, but if a person goes nude, most people have a problem with it. For some reason it is ok for the animals and not for people.
Why is that? Is it possible that it is has to do with what others have passed down to us through their sin-tainted thinking/teaching? The reason we have a problem with human nudity and not with the animals is that we learn to be that way. We learn to be ashamed of, afraid of, and offended by human nakedness, while at the same time, we learn to accept the animals naked state as their normal state of being. Interestingly, not only would it look ridiculously silly to put clothes on animals, but it would also hinder their ability to survive in the wild. Even more, how many animals would not quickly try to remove the clothing you put on them, too? They realize, by instinct, that clothing is unnatural, unnecessary, and unhealthy for them. We should to.
I wonder, does God think we look as silly in our clothes as we think the animals would look? Does our continued emphasis on wearing clothes continue to show disregard for our Maker? If He is proud of His handiwork, why are we ashamed? Most importantly, if we can be conditioned to seeing ourselves a certain way, why not be conditioned to seeing the nude body as a normal, natural, state of being (the same way we see animal nudity)?
How Do Laws Help?
So what do you think about the various anti-nude laws that many of our states (in the U.S.A.) enact? Do you think they help or hurt? Do you think they they accomplish what the lawmakers intend or not? What exactly do these laws outlaw and how does it help? Should we have anti-nude laws, or should we have anti-lewd/anti-indecent laws? How is anti-nude different from anti-lewd/anti-indecent? As you can see, when we start to think about our laws, especially when over something so personal and so controversial, we can come up with a lot of questions. You do think your state of dress in public is fairly personal, right?
While most anti-nude laws are meant to keep people from committing sex acts in public (and something should be in place to accomplish that), outlawing nudity altogether is unhealthy, because the nude body by itself is not lewd or indecent, and enacting anti-nude laws creates an environment where we begin to believe this is the case.
While some people may disagree with me, nudity is not what is indecent, rather the various "acts" people commit are, and so, instead of outlawing nudity, I think we should outlaw the acts. Again, the problem is, anti-nude laws declare all nudity wrong and indecent, and instead of merely controlling indecency, it promotes unhealthy attitudes about the nude body, which in turn creates even more problems, possibly even increasing problems with lewdness and indecency. It should be obvious when you consider the fact that people today actually do have a hard time simply separating simple nudity from sex. To many these days, nudity and sex are synonymous.
The thing about all of this is, when you get used to seeing others naked, you tend not to see it as such a big deal. You learn to see the naked body in a healthier way. For instances, you might be less prone to the misuse the body. You would certainly not be shocked by the sight of it. All of this gives you power and lessens the pervert's power. Can you see how this might lessen lewdness and indecency, or at least, its affect on you? For example, consider a "flasher." Such a person would have no power to shock you merely by "flashing" you because you would see nudity as normal and acceptable. Likewise, the "flasher" might be less inclined to "flash" others when he or she can go nude without concern. The good thing is, this applies to other perversions as well, especially pornography.
The real question is, since some people will do wrong regardless whether they or others wear clothes or not, why should everyone else have to suffer? That is, why shouldn't we rather enact laws against lewdness and indecency instead of mere nudity? Let me explain by example...
Some people drive drunk and injure others, even killing some. How should we handle that? Should we outlaw driving altogether? How about vehicles? Should we outlaw them? It seems silly when you look at it that way doesn't it? Instead, we enact laws against driving drunk, allowing those who drive properly to continue using their freedom in ways that benefit them. Even more, by enacting laws against drunk driving, we clearly distinguish between what is truly proper and what is truly improper.
Naturally, I believe we should apply this same logic to nudity. We should seek to distinguish between proper nudity and improper nudity rather than outlawing all nudity altogether. What concerns me is, our society has become terribly confused over these issues, truly seeing all nudity as bad, lewd or sexual, and I believe this actually contributes to the problem. For instance, in a culture where sexualized nudity is the only nudity you see, people often end up turning to pornography simply to fulfill a natural desire for nudity, only to get trapped by its sexualized and demoralizing affect. At the very least, this confusion polarizes those who have come to believe that even simple nudity is bad with those who understand how simple nudity is beneficial.
Again, problems increase in a culture where the nude body is seen only in a sexualized context. By continually associating nudity with sex we, in effect, begin to see sex as the primary purpose for being nude. Does it ever bother or upset you to hear someone objectify another for their amusement, entertainment, or sexual gratification? Well, its a culture like ours, where nudity is overly sexualized, that people learn this mentality. Of course, you can learn to see the nude body correctly. For instance, someone once showed me a picture of a naked woman, thinking it would arouse me or at least shock me, but it didn't. It did not affect me as intended. I simply responded that I thought it was good picture, and it was a shame that some considered it pornographic or erotic.
I think everyone should learn to see others as a beautiful and masterful work of art. That is what we are, each in our own way. I think we should see nude bodies the same way we see a beautiful landscape or sunset. The same God created the beautiful landscape and beautiful sunset created us. In fact, we are the pinnacle of His creation. He even considers us to be "the image of God," a reflection of Him. What is fascinating is, many look at a statue of a naked person and think about how beautiful it is, while at the same time they would consider nakedness in general obscene. How is it that people can see a statue of a naked person as beautiful, as a work of art, and yet, if the person who posed for it were standing there in the flesh, they would see that naked person as obscene? This is how confused our society is now.
It only makes sense to me that we need a right practice of social nudity to help us maintain right thinking. Certainly, such things as "flashers," "streakers," transvestites, strip tease, pornography, etc., etc., would have less allure and less affect. It would affect all of those things pertaining to nudity that shock us or arouse us, or which give special and/or excessive attention to our sexuality -- usually in negative ways. Unfortunately, society has now become "clothes compulsive," not even thinking about its negative affects, even enacting laws to further the problem.
Not Popular but True
While my attitude and mindset is unpopular today and even seems crazy to some, I believe it is the truth. After all, people once believed the earth was flat, and considered crazy those who believed otherwise. Thank God that Columbus was crazy enough to go against the crowd. Although the idea that the earth was round was new and seemed illogical to the people of his day, it was actually the truth. Problem was, someone had step out in faith to prove it.
History shows us that new discoveries often require you go against the popular, but often incorrect, ideas of the time. Consider some of the great people we all know of who changed history because they challenged the popular, but again often incorrect, ideas of their time: Christopher Columbus, Galileo Galilei, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Einstein. Some of these greats (and others) are, as TIME Magazine: TIME 100 - People of the Century said, "people who overthrew our inherited ideas about logic, language, learning, mathematics, and even space and time." One common denominator between all of these people is that they went with the unpopular, but true, and they faced opposition because of it. Another common denominator is, in the end, society accepted and benefited from what they had to offer.
So maybe social nudity is a better way, too. Maybe society will benefit from it when it finally accepts it. The important thing is that we think about these things, and that we consider how current attitude lines up with the truth, and how that helps or hurts. Should we go on promoting the idea that mere nudity is obscene, indecent, unacceptable, etc.? Shouldn't we rather see our naked bodies as the wonderful and good creations that God made them to be? As Jesus says, "Why do you worry about clothes? THE BODY IS MORE IMPORTANT than clothes" (Matthew 6:25-34 and Luke 12:22-34). "Do you not know that YOUR BODY is the temple of God's Holy Spirit, who is in you? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God WITH YOUR BODY" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Do we really honor God when we walk around afraid or ashamed of our bodies, or when we sexualize it to death?
While you may not be able to change the world as some have done, you can consider your own attitude. How does your current attitude about nudity "honor God"? Does it? Do you have the same attitude that God has? He says, "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy Him; for God's temple is sacred..." (1 Corinthians 2:17). Do you see your naked body as "sacred," or lewd? If God destroys those who destroy His temple (our bodies), how do you think He feels about those who feel His temple is merely sexual, lewd, obscene, unacceptable, etc.?
Lets "think on these things." Lets consider the truth, and lets consider how our attitude helps or hurts.
All scriptures NIV unless otherwise noted.