Looking at nudity with a distorted view..

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Nudity should not be seen as a sexual thing. Like looking in a distorted mirror people see nudity and turn it into something sexual. Culture, society and media all contribute to sexualizing nudity. Yet the Bible tells us to renew our minds and not think like the world. When we do that we should see nudity as normal and natural.
Does this mean we should all walk around nude everywhere. find out in this episode.
Transcript
00:00Hey and welcome to another episode. This episode I've called looking at nudity with a distort view.
00:07Have you ever seen yourself or been to one of those places where they have those funny mirrors
00:12and you can look in the mirror and the mirror distorts your image.
00:17The image of yourself changes based on the structure of the mirrors.
00:22So some mirrors make you look short and fat while other mirrors might make you look tall and thin.
00:28But in the end your image hasn't changed. It is just how you view the image that has changed.
00:37It's just what you're viewing that image through.
00:40You view your image through a distorted mirror and you get a distorted image.
00:45The same can be said about camera filter apps today.
00:48With the right filter you can make your skin darker, your hair blue, you can give yourself a scar or a beard.
00:54You can make yourself thinner or fatter but it actually doesn't change who you are.
01:01I wonder how much of what we see and think is interpreted by a distorted belief or view that our society,
01:08that our culture, that media has influenced.
01:12If we just look at dressing appropriately we would need to admit that it has changed from generation to generation
01:19and from culture to culture.
01:21But then there's other countries like Iran.
01:24In Iran it is inappropriate for men to wear sleeveless tops or shorts.
01:30In Iran it's inappropriate for women to not be wearing headscarves that covers most of the hairline and the neck.
01:39In Iran it's inappropriate for women to wear sleeveless or short-sleeved tops or dresses
01:45or to wear skirts or see-through stockings or leggings.
01:50In Iran they are determining appropriateness in dress by looking at how you are dressed
01:57based on their cultural and religious views.
02:01And it's not just Iran. Most other places do the same.
02:05So here's a question for you to think about.
02:08How much of our views and our beliefs about dress code and nudity are distorted from what the Bible presents?
02:19Do we look at nudity through a distorted mirror and as such get a wrong view?
02:25Let me share some of my story here.
02:28From a pre-teen I started to enjoy being naked when I could.
02:33It was never a sexual thing. It was just nice and free to live without clothes.
02:39From isolated bushwalking to later driving the car and working around my yard
02:45and even a late night stroll I often enjoyed these things naked.
02:49Actually I used to work in a job where for the first 3-5 hours I worked isolated by myself
02:55and occasionally I would even work naked.
02:59In my younger years I could see nothing wrong with it
03:03and I guess most of us when we were a child would also see nothing wrong with it.
03:09But then things change and nudity changes from being so innocent to being a sexual thing.
03:16But is it because of puberty and sexual awareness?
03:20Or is it because our belief has been distorted by culture, media and society?
03:26I mean let's face it, if we had have grown up in another place where it was normal for people
03:33to innocently walk around nude or to work nude like in biblical times
03:38then we wouldn't be considering nudity as a sexual thing at all.
03:44Now I think Christians are going to struggle with this.
03:47Until they can understand the freedom and innocence of being socially nude
03:51they're going to struggle understanding how someone can enjoy it and it not be a sexual thing.
03:56And that's because they're not looking at it through God's eyes
04:01they're looking at it through the distorted view of culture, society and media.
04:06And until they are willing to look at it through God's eyes
04:10and not through the eyes of our society, culture, media etc.
04:14then they will not truly understand it.
04:17That is one of our problems that we interpret a nude body
04:21through what we see from the distorted mirror of our culture.
04:25If the Bible is the source of all truth, which I believe it is
04:30then we need to view things through the Bible
04:33and not through a distorted view influenced by media, culture and society.
04:38And through this blog and through this podcast and video log
04:43I try to expose what the Bible shows us about nudity.
04:48And what we discover is that nudity is normal and natural.
04:53But to be able to see and understand that
04:57you need to be prepared to change how you have been taught to see it
05:01through the image presented by media, culture and society.
05:04This is why the scripture tells us to renew our minds.
05:08Romans chapter 12 and the first two verses says
05:13Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God
05:17to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice
05:22acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship
05:27and do not be conformed to this world
05:30but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
05:35so that you may prove what the will of God is
05:38that which is good, acceptable and perfect.
05:42This scripture tells us not to conform to the world.
05:45Now this word conform means to fashion oneself accordingly
05:50or to fashion oneself, one's mind and character to another's pattern.
05:56The meaning actually mentions mind and character.
06:00It is about how we think and act
06:04which is why the scripture goes on and tells us
06:07how we can be transformed from the world.
06:09It's by the renewing of our mind that we can be transformed.
06:14When we start thinking differently, we will act differently
06:18and live differently and then we are not conforming to the world.
06:22And according to this scripture, it is only after we renew our mind
06:28that we can determine what God's perfect will is.
06:31So the only way we can know if social nudity is OK with God
06:36is to know his perfect will about it.
06:40And to do that we need to renew our minds.
06:43And this needs to apply to every aspect of our lives.
06:46But in this blog, podcast, video, however you are watching it
06:50we are specifically looking at social nudity.
06:53For many years my view on social nudity was conforming to the world's view
06:59and unfortunately I was taught that view within the Church.
07:03And this caused me to hide the freedom and joy
07:06that I felt when I spent time outside naked.
07:09It actually brought shame and guilt on me
07:13for enjoying something that was not sinful.
07:17And the scripture in Romans chapter 12 verses 1-2
07:21actually helped me to look at nudity in a whole different way.
07:25Rather than look at it in the distorted mirror of sexual arousal and body image
07:30I began to try and see it as God sees it.
07:34And then I noticed that Romans chapter 12 verse 1
07:37is actually talking about our body.
07:41It says,
07:42Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God,
07:46to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,
07:53acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
07:58Now through the established Church I was taught that this scripture
08:01teaches us the importance of dignity
08:04and keeping that which should be holy from being defiled
08:08and seen by the unholy.
08:11However, dignity is about honouring the worth of an item.
08:15And when God created us naked, He looked and said,
08:19It is very good.
08:21And like a piece of artwork, its worth is hidden when it is covered up.
08:26And so too the worth of our bodies.
08:29The same bodies, the very bodies that God created naked
08:33and said was very good,
08:35their worth is hidden when it's covered up.
08:38If we are to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice,
08:43then should we present them with anything unholy,
08:47including coverings?
08:49Surely to present something as holy would mean to present it
08:52exactly as God has made it,
08:56how God had designed it,
08:58because God is holy.
09:01And personally, I have had great intimate times of worship
09:05when I come before God totally naked,
09:10with nothing hiding the real me from Him.
09:13When we renew our mind based on the word of God
09:16rather than what tradition, church, culture, society
09:19and anything else teaches us,
09:22there are a lot of things that we will see differently
09:26and nudity is just one of them.
09:29And is it a bad thing to see things differently?
09:32Surely when you are not conforming to the things of this world,
09:36things will be different.
09:39I remember the many Christian bumper stickers you could buy many years ago
09:44and one of them was of a fish
09:46and the fish would be swimming the opposite way to all the other fish.
09:50One fish would be swimming the opposite way to all the other fish.
09:54And the saying underneath that bumper sticker was something like
09:57going against the flow.
09:59Well, if you're going against the flow, it means you're thinking differently,
10:02you're going a different way, you're doing things differently.
10:05And that's not a bad thing,
10:07if it's leading you the right way.
10:10And you know, when we renew our minds, we might think differently
10:13and we might act differently,
10:15but it's not a bad thing.
10:18Now back to that scripture in Romans chapter 1 verse 2.
10:21It's important to note that it actually says,
10:23once you've renewed your mind,
10:26then you will be able to understand God's perfect will.
10:31Therefore, if you are still thinking in the worldly mindset,
10:34if you haven't renewed your mind, you're still thinking worldly,
10:37can you really determine God's perfect will?
10:41And in my experience, when you renew your mind based on the word of God
10:45about how you look at nudity,
10:48it will actually change how you think
10:50and how you act towards people.
10:54Now I know there's some men that would say that they could never be nude
10:57in front of others, with the reason being that they will get physically aroused
11:01or that they have a pornography addiction.
11:04And I'll talk about these in a later episode.
11:08But when nudity is normal and not presented as a tool for sexual arousal,
11:12then most men would find that it's not an issue being nude around others.
11:17Why? Because you're thinking differently, so you start acting differently.
11:21Your body responds differently.
11:24Not only that, but many men, including myself,
11:27actually claim that they have found freedom from pornography
11:31by simply renewing their minds
11:34and believing that nudity is normal and not sexual.
11:38Now that's the men. Now let's look at ladies.
11:41Because I know of ladies that don't want to get nude in front of others.
11:45And the reason is that nobody will want to see their body, is what they say.
11:49Now this is a body image issue,
11:53and it's often a result of media and our culture
11:56presenting an unrealistic image of the perfect body.
12:00Our media presents a plastic Barbie doll image of the perfect body.
12:05And it's unrealistic.
12:08But when you renew your mind about body image,
12:11you understand that your naked self is how God made you and sees you.
12:16And social nudism is not about how you look to others.
12:20It's about you enjoying the freedom of being yourself.
12:23Most nudists would pay no attention to what you physically look like,
12:27and would just accept you as you are.
12:31Again, I'll probably do an episode later about body image.
12:35Because body image is a big problem,
12:38and not just with the ladies, also with the men.
12:41But social nudity is not about body image.
12:44It's about body acceptance.
12:46So as we renew our mind about our bodies and about nudity,
12:51where does this leave us?
12:53Should we just throw away culture and society standards
12:57and just walk around nude wherever we so desire?
13:00You know, I don't think it's a good idea to go off to a restaurant
13:03or a shopping centre or to the movies nude.
13:07We must have some respect for the culture and society that we are in.
13:11After all, we are called to present Jesus
13:14to the society and culture that we live in.
13:17And I think Paul sums it up well in his first letter to the Corinthians.
13:21And I'm reading 1 Corinthians 9 19-23
13:27For though I am three from all men,
13:31I have made myself a slave to all,
13:34so that I may win more.
13:36To the Jews I became as a Jew,
13:39so that I might win the Jews.
13:42To those who are under the law,
13:44as under the law,
13:46though not being myself under the law,
13:49so that I might win those who are under the law.
13:52To those who are without law,
13:55as without law,
13:57though not being without the law of God,
13:59but under the law of Christ,
14:02so that I might win those who are without law.
14:06To the weak I became weak,
14:08that I might win the weak.
14:10I have become all things to all men,
14:14so that I may by all means save some.
14:18I do all things for the sake of the gospel,
14:21so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
14:26I love it where he says,
14:27I have become all things to all men,
14:31so that I may by all means save some.
14:35I guess we could read into that verse
14:37that someone that wants to reach a naturist community
14:40or the nudist community,
14:41we could read something like,
14:43I became a naturist, a nudist,
14:45to reach a nudist.
14:47Now that's not why I became a nudist.
14:49I like to say I was born one,
14:51but then everyone was born nude.
14:54I just discovered the joy and freedom
14:56of not wearing clothes
14:58and wanted to keep it that way.
15:00But Paul in his letter to the Corinthians
15:03talks about respecting the culture
15:05to reach those in that culture.
15:07So yes, I do wear clothes.
15:10I do find them uncomfortable,
15:12but I wear them to respect culture.
15:15But at the same time,
15:17I know there are places where clothes are not needed,
15:20and in those places I can enjoy being
15:23how God made me.
15:25I do wish that society and culture
15:27could be more accepting of those
15:29that see nudity as innocent and free.
15:31After all, that is exactly how a little child sees it.
15:36And didn't Jesus ask us to become like a child?
15:39Matthew 18, verse 3
15:42Truly I say to you,
15:44unless you are converted and become like children,
15:47you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
15:50Maybe the early Christian movement
15:52known as the Quakers was onto something.
15:55As it is recorded that many early Quakers
15:58would gather in their homes naked
16:00and even worship God naked.
16:02They believed that we could be as intimate with God
16:06as Adam was before the fall,
16:09and that a sign of holiness is nakedness.
16:13Some also went naked in public
16:15as a protest against societal values
16:17and to show that God originally intended
16:19mankind to be naked.
16:21Here is a quote from an early Quaker
16:23named William Penn.
16:25This quote comes from the letter he wrote
16:28titled Letter to the Faithful.
16:30So they that come to the church
16:33that is in God and Christ
16:36must come out of the state that Adam was in
16:40in the fall, driven from God
16:43to know the state that he
16:46was in before he fell.
16:50And on that note,
16:52let's stop looking at nudity
16:54through the distorted image
16:56of our culture, society and media
17:00and let's begin to see it how God does.
17:03And God does not just see nudity
17:05as normal or natural.
17:07He also sees it as holy and beautiful.
17:11Think about it.
17:13Try it and enjoy it.
17:15See you next time.
17:19www.circlelineartschool.com