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When I became a parent, I determined I would not raise children who would be ashamed of their bodies.

Modesty, privacy, and self-respect were qualities I wanted to pass on to my children as much as any good Christian parent, but I wanted to divorce these qualities from the typical shame trappings that I grew up harboring. To me, infinite shame is too steep a price to pay for living within the accepted norms of Western civilization. Why is it necessary?

Inspiration for Consideration

This desire to decouple these desirable qualities from undesirable shame (and its closest friends, self-loathing, depression, and abysmal body image) led me to a substantial amount of Bible searching, soul searching, and Google searching.

I wanted to identify what inside me caused me to perceive nudity the way I did and whether this was biblical or even godly. I wanted to better understand the very nature of the cultural and socioeconomic influences that could sabotage or reinforce these various characteristics.

The end result was something far deeper than alleviating a parenting concern; I found myself digging for answers to something I’d buried deep inside myself, shaming myself into not permitting myself to wonder.

On some level, this inward, outward, and upward journey is part of what caused this site to come into being. It certainly inspired much of its content, much of the transparency I have in my marriage, and much of the biblical and historical research I’ve done.

I don’t wish to pretend I have all the answers. I don’t. But I believe I have some, at least as far as I’m concerned. And maybe you’ll find them helpful.

Forgive me if this post seems more of a ramble than some of my others.

Scriptural Consideration

On the scriptural front, I’ve discussed elsewhere the apparent innocence of nudity and the related shame’s apparent human authorship. I’ve noted the typical teachings on modesty are more arbitrary than the New Testament authors’ words seem to indicate. And overall, we’ve seen that the Bible is hardly as uptight about sexuality as its teachers (see Song of Songs).

Historical Consideration

On the historical front, I’ve read about many of the common perspectives about this taboo topic being influenced by church traditions formed by arbitrary denominational policies and reinforced by brilliant scholars who unfortunately all too often permitted their personal demons to determine their prescriptions for the rest of humanity.

Shamefully (oh, the irony), we’ve swung a pendulum so far away from what’s bad we’ve even avoided what’s good. As much tragedy as was birthed by the sexual revolution of the 60s, I’m grateful it brought sex out of the cold dark corner everyone liked to silently pretend wasn’t there and put it into common conversation. Arguably, this pendulum swing was too far in the other direction, but perhaps now that the cat’s out of the bag, we can be intellectually and spiritually honest about things like nudity and sexuality instead of condemning and avoiding them.

Cultural & Socioeconomic Consideration

On the cultural and socioeconomic front, I see a global world with a wide variety of experiences.

Heavily regimented Catholic school girls and highly disciplined pastors’ kids develop a reputation for sexual rebellion, while tribal societies display all their parts casually yet without the evils plaguing the more “civilized” world. America feigns shock over a dress soiled in the White House while most American men regularly see far worse in print and on screen. Entire demographics depict some deeply-rooted Christian influences in music and television yet glamorize casual fornication and tolerate adultery with a wink and a smile, while studies show children of nudists consistently growing up with a clean bill of emotional and mental health and a significant degree of respect for others.

Plan A

As with everything else, I believe the church is God’s solution on this earth; He has no Plan B. It’s Jesus and His bride.

Unfortunately, I don’t feel the church as a whole has a sound answer to questions about healthy nudity or sexuality. Their response has historically involved fingers in the ears and repeating, “La, la, la, I can’t hear you and your words of perversion!” The result is consistently one of shame, condemnation, and teachings about the “unholy” nature of the very body that Paul describes as a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Instead of deifying the sins of the bodies, why don’t we promote their healthy use?

In her Nov 25, 2014 podcast, Dr. Juli Slattery said, “We are beginning to see a generation so twisted in their concept of sexuality that Christian newlyweds have no appetite for normal sexual intercourse.” Why should a pair of virgin Christians feel anything but excitement and curiosity on their wedding night? Why do they often instead feel weak, confused, and ashamed when they expose themselves?

My Conclusions

Specifically on the topic of nudity and the human body in general, I’ve come to believe it’s so powerful yet so humiliating because we’ve made it a novelty.

You don’t see decadence as seen at Mardi Gras among the barely-clothed inhabitants of some Pacific Islands. Nudists don’t go around making pornographic materials (even the materials depicting “nudists”). These are first world problems, and they’re mostly Western problems.

The great science fiction author and astronomer Isaac Asimov once wrote, “Anything you make forbidden gains sexual attractiveness. Would you be particularly interested in women’s breasts if you lived in a society in which they were displayed at all times?” Indeed, we wouldn’t.

The church sings its hatred of homosexuals and Hollywood divorce rates, but they model no desirable alternative. And the world is missing out on the beauty of Christian marriage as a result. We scream at movie stars to cover up, and yet we don’t teach that uncovering is healthy in other situations.

The context of intimacy isn’t granted a clearly-defined exemption, so the body is universally shameful, dirty, and evil.

We don’t teach anything positive about nudity or our bodies.

No wonder something like novelty can give it such power; it feels liberating to rebel against repression when by that rebellion you hear echoes of the Garden whispering beauty.

Originally posted 2015-08-28 08:00:41.