Nude Experiences
My parents are not nudist, but they never hid their naked bodies from my brother or me. Seeing my parents nude never bothered me (and seeing my mother naked most certainly never sexually aroused me). In fact, I never gave it much attention and it was never an issue in our home. It was just normal, just another part of life.
Throughout my life I had several non-sexual nude experiences. For instance, I enjoyed nude nature walks by myself through the woods whenever the chance presented itself. These experiences always left me confused about why nude was considered wrong because I enjoyed it so much.
I began sleeping nude during my teen years. I knew my parents slept nude, so I thought I would try it, too. Although it did feel strange at first, it quickly became normal. Additionally, I got to point where sleeping with any clothes on became very uncomfortable. Ironically, during this same time, like most teens, I became very body conscious and would not allow myself to be nude in front of my parents or anyone else, including while in the school gym locker room. It just seemed too embarrassing.
Serious Confusion Begins
After I got married and we had our own place, I found it convenient to be nude around the house sometimes. For me it was not sexual or perverse, but just normal and something I preferred. Knowing my wife felt uncomfortable with nudity, knowing our society is so body negative (yet body conscious) and considers even non-sexual nudity sexual, sensual and shameful (therefore unacceptable), created tension in me. I became very confused because my experiences and desires did not match what everyone else believed and taught. I feared I might be wrong or something might be wrong with me. As a Christian, I knew the Bible says, "Fear has to do with punishment," so I usually felt condemned. Of course, I knew the Bible also says, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
This confusion and concern became so strong that I eventually felt I must learn the truth. Was it good or bad, right or wrong? Was their something wrong with me? Why did I prefer and enjoy going nude? Ironically, in spite of how I felt about nudity, I did not consider myself a nudist. In fact, I thought nudists were probably perverts or something. In the end, I overcame my fears and my bias, hoping to discover the truth. I got a few brochures from a local nudist camp to see exactly what they had to say, and what I found out really surprised me.
Discovery
"A word of advice Durk:
It's the Mesolitic.
We've domesticated the dog,
we're using stone tools, and
no one's naked any more."
Basically, nudists consider nudity normal, acceptable, and good, and they believe you should not equate nudity with sex. Based on that, I realized I was basically a nudist. At that particular point in time, I was still unwilling to admit it because I did not want to be associated with them.
Although learning others were like me, even other Christians, encouraged me a lot, I was unsure whether nudism pleased God or not. I was continued asking: "Is this really right, or is it wrong? Does this attitude and way of life please God or not?" I didn't know what I should believe, so I prayed the Lord would reveal the truth to me.
My experience is, God answers prayer, and I knew His Word (the Bible) provides answers, but ironically, I had never studied nudity in the Bible. I guess maybe I was partly afraid of what I would find. It wasn't until I got hungry for God, wanting to subject every area of my life to Him and His Word, that I decided to do a serious study of the subject. Of course, I thought for sure I would find out that I was wrong or probably perverted. At that point, I didn't care because my objective was to do what He considered right -- what really is right.
At that time, I did not know of any teachings on nudity, much less nudism, and I did not feel comfortable discussing my experiences or beliefs on the subject with just anyone, as I did not think they would understand, so my study involved a lot of prayer, and reliance on the Lord's Holy Spirit. "If anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God..." (James 1:5) and "...the Holy Spirit... ...will teach you all things..." (John 14:26) (See also 1 John 2:20, 27 and 5:20.)
To my surprise, after a few months of study, and lots of prayer, I began to discover that I was actually right, and that it is "the world" that has perverted ideas about the nude human form - God's "good" creation, God's "image."
Deeper Study
Although most of the scriptures I studied now made sense to me, a few scriptures still troubled me. At the time, I was also reading messages on a Prodigy BBS (message board) online for nudist/naturist, so I decided ask the Christian nudists there for help with these verses. Many replied, and although one or two people wanted help themselves, the rest helped and encouraged me tremendously. Although I was not fond about classifying myself, at least as a nudist, especially knowing that those who wear clothes as a habit have no special name for themselves, I found I really related to nudists. What nudists/naturists generally believed matched my own convictions and preferences more than anything else. Finally, after about two years of prayer and study, nudism/naturism seemed to reconcile my convictions and preferences better than anything else, so I accepted.
All scriptures NIV unless otherwise noted.