I'm a clothing-optionalist. By that, I mean nudity isn't a big deal to me, and I have no problem going to nudist parks and playing volleyball or swimming, or hanging out at my apartment in clothes or out of them. It has nothing to do with sexuality; it's often simply more comfortable to not have to worry about clothes- a soggy swimsuit being a prime example.
What do women think of this? And would you be able to handle having a male friend who sometimes went nude around the house as long as you knew both of you had no romantic interest in each other?
I think other people have said it well. To me, this is unwittingly selfish/dangerous behavior. Unlike clothes, people do not wear their reactions or how something influences them on the outside, and how something affects them can be concealed pretty easily. You can go to a nude beach, and have none of it bother you, and have none of it apparently bother anyone else, yet the probability if it causing someone a problem, even by accident, is pretty insanely high. Way too high for it to be something a Christian takes part of in public. I even know a husband/wife that raised their family to be comfortable around just each others "nakedness", and it probably seemed completely harmless, but it seemed to have a negative effect on their children and promoted a unhealthy curiosity about it. I would say that anything apart from the closeness like a husband and wife share would be dangerous ground for "nudity". Even people that you assume are "ok" with it may be having problems that they just don't share with you, so it's really just not a safe thing in my opinion. People are responsible for their own thoughts and actions, but I think there's a middle ground we need to meet people at. Like, in the way we dress, there's a point that modest/humble/loving Christian's shouldn't cross. That doesn't mean we have to wear tents or burkas, but there's usually a point where it's obvious that all we're doing is showing off/begging for attention/being vain, and that's the line we shouldn't cross. On a much larger scale, I think the same principle would fit nudity, so I guess it comes down to your conscience, but just remember that there are other people that aren't as immune as you are, and your "strength" might be sending another person right into sin, even without you ever being aware of it.
I don't expect to see magical transformations of your opinions. I know where you guys come from (you've been raised to believe nudity and sex go together). But I figure I will address some of the statements/points anyway, at least for the Biblical worth:
1. Priests' undergarments in Exodus 28:42 had no guaranteed literal worthwhileness to them. Priests were also told they had to wear various other items, and many of these were meant to be symbolic, and certainly had no bearing on the dress code of the rest of Israel.
2. Leviticus 18:6-18 has a direct counterpart/sister passage in Leviticus 20. It is clear by checking out Lev. 20 as well that the "uncovering the nakedness of" is referring to sexual intercourse, not simple nudity.
3. Habakkuk 2:15- getting someone else drunk to take advantage of them in any way is sinful. Doing to see them naked was probably just a lot more common of a use for that situation back then. Today Habakkuk may have mentioned getting ladies drunk to have sex with them. Nudity isn't the issue. And if people today were married in this situation, sex wouldn't even be the issue, it would have been the taking advantage of someone.
I'd also like to point out that God never gave a command that specifically forbid public/social nudity.
Too expensive clothing and too little clothing aren't opposites. God didn't come up with the idea of clothing for man, man clothed themselves first. And God also never said that Adam and Eve couldn't take their clothes off after he did that prophetic sign. The only thing the Bible does in that situation is tell the story of what happened in regards to nudity. It doesn't tell the Why. Too expensive clothing can happen because a person is insecure and wants self-value, or it could happen because they don't realize how badly someone else needs the money that they spend on clothing. Too little clothing doesn't necessary have a negative issue to it, as more money could be spent on others. But too little clothing could matter in issues of sunburn, in attempting to purposely try to get the sexual attention of others (but this can happen in "modest" clothing as well, with women purposely acting in a seductive way), in issues of purposely trying to hurt others to get revenge because they did something you didn't like, etc. But a good example and side commentary to this is that- I can go eat food to get myself fat, or I can go eat food to stay healthy. It isn't the food that is sinful, it is my choices that make something sinful. We all agree nudity (itself) isn't sinful, and many would agree that doctor's office visits that require nudity aren't sinful, nor is baby and possibly even toddlers being nude sinful. We differ in how much nudity we are willing to accept as acceptable. I simply choose to believe that God really is that big, and that he is calling us back to a level of holiness that we are entirely capable of living in, but that many are afraid to research into.
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As to pixy, imo, the amount of lusting people do is significantly influenced by the culture they grow up in. If you live in a society where women are treated as sex objects, it doesn't matter how conservatively they are dressed, the men will see the outline of a woman's body and lust anyway. Social nudity is partially about getting correctly re-adjusted concerning this and realizing that women's and men's bodies weren't created by God to be lusted after as sex objects, and that they weren't inherently designed to be so, nor do they naturally instill lust in a person. If the latter were the case, you could have no male doctor work on female patient when seeing certain body parts were involved, because they might try to rape them. But we know that this isn't the case. It isn't a special anointing God gives doctors, because some people are doctors only because they want the money. The reason doctors do fine is because they aren't in a sexual context as far as the nudity goes, and that same principle is what social nudity is about. If you talk to male doctors that deal with working in delivery (birthin babies), the vast majority will probably tell you they have days where the last thing they want to see when they go home is a woman's private parts. Why? Because it's such a non-sexual context, and they have to deal with helping women so much, that they would like to be able to deal with the rest of their life that doesn't relate to work while on off-hours. And many of those same doctors would probably tell you that seeing a woman's private parts doesn't phase them when it comes to the sexual department and getting aroused. Why? Because they are so used it. It doesn't mean their wives or girlfriends can't get them aroused; it's that their wives and girlfriends arouse them by giving them a seductive look or action, or simply saying "I'm in the mood." And this is the way it should be, because otherwise people would be living in a constant state of semi-arousal. And in a minor way, this is part of the "lust" issue that so many Christian guys deal with. They equate women's bodies (even clothed) with sexuality to a degree, and so they get aroused when around women that should only be getting regarded as artistically beautiful to begin with.
As well, your future hubby has seen a lot of clothed women. It doesn't mean he will find you less beautiful because he has seen other women's faces. In fact, the fact that he chose you after seeing so many faces seems to imply that he would be more likely to stick around, because he chose you out of all of them.
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And again, I want to make clear that I'm glad all of you are on the planet. While we may have some beliefs that are different, there is so much good we can accomplish together in the places that our beliefs do agree. Too many Christians cut off a person or entire groups of people from every possible act of good that could be accomplished simply because they don't agree with one or two beliefs about a person, and what they don't realize is that God has provided abilities in each person that are to be used for the good of all, even if the person doesn't live up in other areas. The fact that most of the people running society- automechanics, grocery store workers, etc- aren't Christians and yet bless us every day is a testament to who Christians should be working with to see the Kingdom of God come in all its various ways. And I'm glad to have brothers and sisters on this forum who are out there loving on people and making the world a better place.
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And one final note- I would have to say that even if I do occasionally get emotionally aroused a bit (as compared to physically aroused), this is a product of the culture that conditioned me to react that way when I see that kind of sight. But the only way out of it is to uncondition the lies they put in me, and this means that some arousal on occasion may be unavoidable in the process of having my mind re-trained to the proper balance. This same kind of training happens with people who are afraid of particular kinds of animals- they have to eventually come into contact with the animals (let's say, dogs) in order to realize that not all animals of that type are going to hurt them. This same kind of training could also apply to people who have been in abusive relationships in the past- in the end, they have to eventually get in a relationship and allow themselves to trust someone again in order to re-establish that good relationships can happen. The issue with nudity is that because the false sexual additions to it are so common in our society, people assume it's just a given truth. Kind of like how people often assume competition is a good thing (which it's not), but that is a different story (and please don't start a discussion on that here, feel free to message me if you want. I'll be happy to talk with you about it).
Your statement of how society associates nudity with sexuality defeats the argument that it's ok to be naked on a nude beach. Whether its right or wrong that society has that association is irrelevant, the fact of the matter is that they do, and your not going to change that. So being naked in front of those of the opposite sex is going to be a stumbling block for them. I'm certain that not all thoses at at nudist colony share your thoughts that nudity is not related to sexuality, and so in sharing Christ while naked you look in their eyes to be a hypocrite(whether you are or not is irrelevant), and so they will be unable to receive from you.
You said you knew where we were all coming from, are you sure about that? Let's get more into your using doctors as an example. You said they could deal with private parts without arousal because it's something they've dealt with at work, and become used to. You're absolutely right. I think the word desensitized is best for this situation. The doctors become desensitized is the same way that anyone gets desensitized-overexposure.
Please keep in mind that other people CAN become desensitized to other things. Take Recon Marines, Army Rangers, Navy seals etc... They are all "Elite." military units. Professionals at their jobs, and some of the best ones have been doing it the longest. Some of them can talk about taking human lives casually and dispassionately, because it's something they've done over and over, become desensitized to. I've seen a lot of other posts saying this may be a bad idea. Just because an answer isn't what you want it to be doesn't mean it's not an answer.
As a woman, I can say wholeheartedly, I would not want to see you or any man naked, that I wasn't married to, unless there was a darn good reason...like a medical emergency. If someone were bleeding to death, I would do something to help, and sometimes that means removing clothing. There should be no shame or embarrassment in saving someones life, which is partially why those in the medical field grow comfortable with nudity.
However, for MOST people, nakedness IS directly related to sexual feelings, lust and physical attraction. Maybe you feel it shouldn't be that way, but it just is. God gave Eve to Adam to be his wife, and He made her physically attractive to him, so that he would desire her and want to be with her. This is how it was designed to be between a man and a woman. It is no secret that men are visually stimulated by attractive women in a sexual way. This causes men to stumble eventually.
You may claim you do not get sexually aroused by female nudity. You are either secretly gay, a liar, or the one straight man on earth who doesn't find a naked woman attractive. Men and women have a hard enough time being "just friends", because we are DESIGNED by GOD to be attracted to one another. I wouldn't want my male friends running around my house naked, nor would I dare to tempt them to sin by doing the same.
We each have free will in this world to make choices about how we live our lives, regardless of what others think. God isn't going to strike you down for it, but have you ever prayed and asked Him what He really thought about your nudity? Apart from scriptures you interpret however you want to...have you actually ASKED Jesus if He was pleased with your choice to parade around naked in front of women? Somehow I doubt you have.
If you really feel comfortable being nude in front of women, without becoming aroused, I would have to also wonder about what kind of intimacy you would have if you do marry, meaning, if seeing your wife naked produces no sexual response in you, then intimacy with her will be a problem, if not for you, then for her.
Women want to know we are sexually attractive to our spouses...and it doesn't sound to me you would be all that sexually attracted to your future wife, which I find incredibly sad for her and you. You have stated you won't marry a woman who is not comfortable being nude with you. What if the woman God destined for you to be with is not comfortable with it? Would you pass her by, simply because of her different viewpoint? Would you really disrespect God in that way, and give up your soul mate, just to do what you want? That is a very selfish stance to take.
Furthermore, I highly doubt you are going to find a Christian lady who is comfortable with your nudity in front of other women, or being nude herself in front of other men, which means, you may find yourself single for a very long time, or possibly in a relationship with someone who is not a believer, which is going to cause a whole lot of other problems for you in life.
Another thing...young children don't need to see you running around naked. It is highly inappropriate to expose children's innocent minds and eyes to a grown adult's nakedness. Parents who parade around naked in front of their children should be arrested for sexual abuse...and it IS a form of sexual abuse. Even if God was ok with it, you are still breaking the law of man. Both should be respected.
Your extremely liberal attitude about this makes me wonder what else in scriptures you twist to fit your own personal ideals.
I highly doubt you are going to change anyone's opinion on this, as I'm equally sure no one will change yours, however, you did ask for a woman's point of view.
