Arktis brought this humorous story to my attention about one Christian’s crusade to create a 104-acre nudist colony near Belton, South Carolina. While the project is not going over so well with the locals, I wanted to explore the issue a little more.
Upon a little Googling, I discovered an interesting Christian group called "Naturist Christians" (possibly not work-safe) amongst many others. Their goal is very simple:
To serve as the meeting place for Christians and naturists across the world who want to serve Christ in a bold, honest, wholesome and natural way that is free from the oppressive effects of traditions and practices that cast needless guilt and shame upon us all.
While I find the concept of nudism totally acceptable, I would like to hear from Christians on this one. From my knowledge of Christianity, I was under the impression that modesty trumps one’s desire to go back to nature. Now I’ve never understood this because the supposedly the human body is the creation of God. So what’s wrong with admiring his handiwork? I’m being totally serious here. If a group of like-minded individuals want to live in the nude, what’s the hang-up with mainstream Christianity?
And while we’re at it, I have another bone to pick…but this one is with the Catholic Church specifically. Why on earth is it against Catholic doctrine to marry outdoors? The fact that getting married in a man-made building (i.e. church) is more acceptable than tying the knot in nature (God’s very own creation) is absolutely absurd to me.
I’d like everyone to chime in on this one and enlighten me.
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November 21st, 2006 at 8:57 am
“”Why on earth is it against Catholic doctrine to marry outdoors? “”
Ahh, that one i know. Very simple really, because you have to get married in church, which is by it’s very definition, a building.
November 21st, 2006 at 9:40 am
Regarding Christian naturists, I don’t see a problem. As I understand those sorts of groups it’s not about the sex. As long as they’re being true to their faith I don’t see a problem.
November 21st, 2006 at 10:02 am
I’m christian, and I have no problem with these naturist christians. I don’t want to join them, but that’s just my personal preference.
Now, I’m quite sure that quite a few people in my church would have problem with this group.
The Bible likes sex and nudity and all of that, in the context of marriage. It tends to frown on that sort of thing in most other contexts. There’s a commandment against committing adultery in the Old Testament.
Jesus took things a little bit further in Matthew 5:28 saying, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus seems to be saying thinking lustfully about someone is bad even if you don’t act on it. Sure sure, it’s better than actually committing adultery, but nonetheless, it’s something for christians to avoid.
That said, I can imagine some of the people at my church saying something like:
“You can’t have a bunch of people running around naked all the time because then it would be really hard for everyone not to be constantly lusting after each other’s naughty bits!” And I can see their point. I think it would be harder for me to keep myself from lusting if there were a bunch of naked women walking around. But I’m not saying it would be impossible (I’m wondering how long it would take for seeing naked people to become a norm, at which point people would stop noticing).
So, if these naturist christians think they can pull off a nudist community without compromising their beliefs, then I say more power too them! But I doubt that I could pull that off, so I kinda understand why some christians would see such a thing as a bad idea.
November 21st, 2006 at 11:57 am
I know the answer to your question about Catholicism - 12 years of Catholic make you pretty knowledgable =)
The reason you have to be married in a church is because you have to be married on holy ground. You will note, if you’ve ever been to a Catholic wedding, that the bride and the groom sit and stand on the altar with the priest. The altar is considered holy ground and you receive the sacrament of marriage.
There is also another reason for this - the church believes that the sacrament of marriage is actually when vows are made to each other so there’s really no reason for God to be part of it. Catholic weddings usually include a mass because we believe in order for a marriage to work, God has to be included. Having the wedding in the church is one more way to include God because it’s His house.
Also - gigantic loophole - you can get married outdoors. You just can’t have the wedding officiated by a Catholic priest. You can get married civily outdoors and have the church recognize the civil union as a marriage after the fact.
November 21st, 2006 at 3:27 pm
couldn’t you just sanctify a patch a ground outside?
November 21st, 2006 at 4:27 pm
I’m suspicious of the video. Typically, nudists don’t have that many hot women among them.
Ummm. Or so I’ve read.
November 21st, 2006 at 5:26 pm
MAYBE IT IS NOT ABOUT YOUR SUBJEKT!BUT I MUST SAY THAT MUHAMMED IS THE MESSNGER OF THE GOD!!!AND USAME BIN LADEN IS NOT A BELIEVER.!!!IF HE BELIEVES THE GOD HE WOULDNT DO SO MANY BAD THINGS!!!LA ILAHE ILLALLAH MUAHHEDEN RESULLULAH
November 21st, 2006 at 6:16 pm
Hey Gaz,
Maybe you should ban all caps in a message? It seems like the keyboards in towel-head-land are missing the CAPS lock (on top of common sense). I can write you a quick parsing script in PHP or something?
November 21st, 2006 at 6:26 pm
At least Mert’s happy.
The main problem with Christian nudity is that most men in churches are ugly. And if it really caught on, us Christians in the UK would have to put up with the Archbishop Of Canterbury naked, and I seriously don’t want to go there.
Seriously though, there is nothing wrong with getting nekkid as far as the Bible is concerned. The good book has plenty of nudity. It’s just a case of everything in its right place (as it were) and personally I quite like wearing clothes thank you very much.
I think Christianity has a cultural aversion to nudity, which says more about a history of Puritan uncomfortablility with all things “flesh”, rather than core Bible teaching.
(Although, Uncle Midriff, I don’t see where the Bible says nudity should be saved just for marriage…)
November 21st, 2006 at 8:31 pm
@Fat Roland:
Right, right…I messed up that sentence a bit, didn’t I. I only meant that the Bible likes sexy-type things to be in the context of marriage.
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:51 am
Couple things:
1.) Isn’t the body of Christ (his followers) the church, and not just some building where it meets?
2.) When Adam and Eve ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they saw that they were naked, and they were ASHAMED. I take this to mean that nudity is shameful according to the Abrahamic religions… someone please explain to me why else they would be ashamed of being naked.
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:52 am
Whoops! #1 Is supposed to say that the church is the body of Christ and not the buildings they meet in. I kinda messed up that sentence. Sorry if there was any confusion.
November 23rd, 2006 at 6:36 pm
hey mert, great way to be taken seriously….
November 24th, 2006 at 5:31 am
All the men are loathsome, the women mostly hot, and the narrator sounds quite smarmy… what does this mean?
March 15th, 2007 at 3:02 am
I laughed so hard at this video, I’m afraid I hurt something! Whee!
Gasmonso asks a GREAT (and very intelligent) question! Indeed, “What IS the big deal with nudity?” I mean, doesn’t the Bible have a LOT to say that’s really GOOD about sex? God invented it! So now what’s his problem? (Or is it His problem at all and not OURS? From the answers given here, it’s clear that even most Christians don’t know. (Although Arktis came really close. Good job!)
So, let me give it the ol’ minister stab: Adam and Eve were created in the “image of God.” They were in every respect just as full of LIFE and intelligence, and perfection and in total agreement with God’s own moral center: They were Totally Significant and Completely Secure. According to the first chaps of Genesis, they walked side by side and face to face - full on with NOTHING between them and God! Nudist colonies are nothing new. God ran one called Eden. Big deal.
But here’s the difference - basically; It’s innocence. It says that before they decided to abandon God’s side, morally speaking, “they were naked and did not know it.” How could that be? The Bible does give us a few clear hints: The level of life-giving intimacy they were having with God was off the charts! They had complete and total spiritual and physical “intercourse” with his glory. You wouldn’t have noticed their “naked bodies” any more than you would notice the shape of the glass of a 10,000 Watt light bulb blazing away - At least you wouldn’t until the light went OUT. (Moses much later had only a light brush with God’s person and had to wear a bag over his head because people couldn’t look on the glory that shown from him.)
But when Adam and Eve looked for their significance and security away from God, (when they sinned,) they removed themselves from being in agreement with God’s “rightness” and that life-giving glory was extinguished. What was left was sort of like a burned-out light-bulb. So now we can admiring the shape of a body. That’s well and fine. And they are incredibly beautiful! But to God it might be like admiring the shape or color of glass of a burned out bulb. Our bodies were originally designed with a far more intimate and dazzling purpose in mind! God had to cover the loss with clothing made of skins (from an innocent animal, probably the first death the two had seen) accepting that covering meant more to them than hiding cellulose. “Adam, does this fig leaf make me look fat?” “No dear.” It meant that they had lost something that only could be covered and eventually fixed with something as terrible as innocent death! E.g. Jesus, the slaughtered Lamb that covers us. Get it?
Today, we still wear clothing. But there is a time (according to the Bible) when we SHOULD let it all hang out! (Tuesdays are Naked Days in my marriage.) And that’s with the one person (our spouse) that we are to share the level of no-shame innocence and deep, deep one-on-one intimacy (and yes, intercourse) that reflects the Security and Significance we had - and will have again -in God’s plan to restore our relationship with Him.
Whew! That’s long, and it’s a lot, but hope it kind of helps. The forum doesn’t really allow for really a full treatment. I’ll be happy to discuss this more.
By the way - I really do love this website! It’s important to laugh at the things that need to be laughed at! Even if it’s us. Thanks! Love you guys!
March 15th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Just hearing (reading) some one say “the definition of church means indoors” is an indicator of how confused popular opinion is. Or I should say the common understanding of Christianity. All the definitions are different from group to group and people can argue the differences and never reach and agreement. The only way around this is to look to the beginning of it all. the church has become a monster but began in power. “the church” meant in the greek, Separated ones, or those called out. Not separated because they are better but separated to a purpose. Gods purpose and to reveal the love of God to all those who dont know him. to be a force of preservation in society. Where ever you gather in Messiah’s name, there is the “church”. simple enough. Gods desire is still to dwell in his ‘temple’. Not a building but the letter to the Corinthians said that our bodies are his temple. Christians still live like they are ‘old testament’ people waiting for their something better that will come. Popular Christianity is breaking Gods heart and the refusal of that is to me a sign that your looking for something real and true. You can find it. But you must not dismiss this Jesus just because his so called followers are dead inside.
If you ever find a real ‘Disciple’ of Jesus and I think some of them have written in, you will see a real person who knows they are weak and flawed but they have a real knowledge of God and have had real experiences with the truth of his promises. Simply put, God wants us to know him. Nothing compares. But just because you experienced him in the past does not mean that you continued to walk with him. Thus the hypocracy.
Did I spell that wrong? This is a great site
March 31st, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Hang on, hang on here a moment. Can someone a’splain to me: if they’re nudists, how come they still wear caps and glasses?
Or are they just nudists below the neckline?
April 9th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
i spend most of my time,naked,and enjoy being naked, my glasses are forreading
April 9th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible does not condemn simple nakedness. There are also a couple of examples of people getting naked under the Spirit’s influence or in response to God’s specific command; see I Samuel 19:18-24 and Isaiah 20.
Once you separate nudity from its supposed sexual connotations, no prohibition of it can be found in the Bible. And you can separate nudity from sex. I have myself visited naturist gatherings and have seen no sexual activity of any kind, nor heard of any, nor experienced any temptation to lust.
I would love to see Natura, or any naturist community run by and for Christians, open for business–the best kind of business.
April 9th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I can’t chime in on the Catholic resoning for ” no marriage in the open outdoors, which to me would be more Blessful to being with the Spirit of our Creator for me I believe the House of Worship is where ever ones heart wants it to be, that is the one place that God knows more than anyone.
I am a nudist,as well as my family. If it was about sex, I would not be part of the lifestyle. To me as a nudist I feel like I am on a spiritual high when nude and outdoors. No baggy dripping swim trunks, no name brands of clothing classing one’s social level from economic levels. Once one walks in the great outdoors nude and realizes that there is no need for air conditioning they will see how the human body is truly a marvelous machine . Not to mention on the savings of washing and detergents . On a sincere note, its well worth the life stylw as long as one doesnt loose sight of morales and spiritual beliefs.
April 10th, 2007 at 12:21 am
I don’t understand why people here equate nudity with sex. I was nude this morning when I took a shower and I didn’t have sex. I’m nude while typing this and am not having sex. I’ve been to several nudist camps many times and have never seen anyone have sex. Isaiah was nude for three years. Did he have sex the entire time? King Saul prophesied nude. Did he have sex while doing so? Elijah was nude when he was taken to heaven. Did he have sex? Peter was nude when fishing. Did he have sex? Were any of these guys condemned for being nude? No. Adam and Eve weren’t ashamed of their physical bodies. They were ashamed of disobeying God. Their sin was exposed. They covered themselves with leaves and hid among the leaves. Why? To hide from God. They sinned and were trying to hide that fact, like a child who runs and hides when you ask who ate that cookie you had on the counter. God asked where they got the idea that they were naked. Who was it that talked them into eating the fruit and becoming ashamed? (You can answer that one.) Who then is the author of shame? (Same answer.) The animal that was killed was the first sacrifice for sin. (It also showed them how to clothe themselves against the harsh weather.) God designed the human body, starting with the male body. I think he would be offended that we call his greatest creation indecent or obscene.
April 10th, 2007 at 11:46 am
There is a way to get married out of doors in the Catholic Church with a priest. You need a dispensatioin from your Bishop. Dispensations can allow a Catholic to marry a non-Catholic, or be married in a non-Catholic Church, or outdoors. The dispensation you need to get married not in a Catholic church is called a dispensation of form.
April 10th, 2007 at 11:51 am
How much do these dispensations cost?
April 10th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I have read several of the responses before mine, and yes Christians can have hot ladies, and then some not so hot, so do not be supicious of the movie. As for everyone running around nude lusting for each other. Wrong. I have been to a few nudist camp grounds, and have found just the opposite to be true. Will you admire the human body, of course, but have many have lusted over somebody in a bikini commerical, or some guy glistening in a commecial. Clothes acturally make you wonder more and probably lust more than nude. And if you are lusing over the nude person, who is at fault, the nude person enjoying their liberty, or you who is unable to control his lust. That denys the power of God. So bare it all, trust in Christ, and just be yourself.
April 10th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Sid, in Poland, a dispensation form would cost you a bottle of a good liquor (vodka) and about $100 - $200. Of course it helps to know that priest (Bishop).
April 11th, 2007 at 9:10 am
That’s what I thought. The real reason behind requiring indoor weddings officiated by a Catholic priest is so that they can charge for the use of the facilities and the services of the priest. Selling dispensations only demonstrates that their real aim is profit. Even in modern times, the church is still selling indulgences.
July 10th, 2007 at 3:39 am
my yiew is no matter if your christain, muslim, ect. we are all born naked, we shower naked unless your a little wierd and shower in trunks, a lot of people sleep naked i know i do, as babies we often refuse to were dipers and run around naked till our parents dress us again, and when us guys use the urinals were basicly flashing are man parts. by not wearing clothes we save a step in all things that require getting dressed and undressed. as long as you go to your house of worship say your prayers and not break the rules of your religion going around nude for them is just like us wearing clothes for us. really if you consider being nude a sin see if you’ve experinced any of the above things if you have than you too are too a sinner and did not jesus also say
“let he who is without sin cast the first stone” therfore it goes without saying none of you should judge
these people for that is the lords job in this way i agree with Don i hope this answers some questions and seases some of this mindless chatter about another christian ideal so us cristians can focus on more important subjects like bring lost lambs back to the shepards fields and the land of god
December 13th, 2007 at 3:31 am
I want to know just who exactly decided being nude was a sin? Was it god? I don’t think so since he created, and wanted us nude. Nope, I figure it was some human who decided to write a bunch of rules and use the name of religion to impose his wishes on mankind. Religion is continuously hyjacked by people who want to control other people. People follow the rules because they don’t want to offend god. I am increasingly becoming more and more against organized religion. There is god, and there is religion, and the two need not be associated. I feel closer to god if I am nude in the woods than anywhere else. Perhaps that is how we should worship god; get nude and spend time enjoying his wonders in nature. It makes more since to me than sitting in fear and feeling guilty in a dark building wearing a tight uncomfortable suit. Here I am god, nude the way you wanted me, and happy with all your creations just the way you created them.
Also,who decided what spot of ground is holy? Does god come down to each plot of earth and designate it as holy so we can build a church there? Nope, once again it is man who does that. I would consider the only truly holy ground to be the garden of eden.
Rob
February 6th, 2008 at 8:02 am
I have a website that addresses all the issues you have
been writing about…..check it out….free to use on your own time, where you want to go….up to you, plenty of hyperlinks and scriptural references related
to the beauty of God’s creation….you will be greatly
informed as to how very good a perfect God made us.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:07 am
truthislife.freehostia.com/ check it out
February 6th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
You seem to be a man with the answer to all the mysteries in the world - can you explain to me why your perfect God has designed nature in such a way that most lifeforms must kill and eat in order to survive?