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 personally would have a big problem with that. I have a very overactive imagination and it would be a huge struggle for me to keep my thoughts pure if one of my guy friends was walking around me in the nude.
Well I am not a girl, but since one one else has responded yet I'll take a quick crack at your question.
For starters this isn't the garden of Eden where Adam and Eve can just roam around naked because sin has not yet entered the world.
The throughout scripture the Bible clearly calls us to be modest in our appearance . . . yes as painful as that may sound it means not only wearing clothes in public but sufficient clothing!
The most direct principle I can think of comes from the Commandment to not commit adultery. Jesus said that if you lust after someone you have already committed adultery with them in your heart. Lust is something that is clearly associated with adultery. If we are commanded to refrain from lust because it is sin then it also makes sense that we are to refrain from encouraging lust in others aka dressing modestly as well.
What you, me or someone else thinks about nudity is not really the issue. The fact is man naturally suppresses the truth in unrighteousness as it says in Romans 1. The truth of that passage is why it is all the more important to seek the truth in scripture than to rely on our own understanding or approach scripture with the idea of justifying what we already believe.
Nowhere in the chapters of 1 Timothy 2 or 1 Peter 3 (where modesty in relation to dress is mentioned) does it mention sexual temptation as part of the reason for modesty. If you read the passages, what is mentioned are expensive items of clothing. Modesty has more than one meaning.
As well, if God's ideal in the beginning was nude was okay, and God doesn't change, then he still holds that same opinion in the back of his mind. We may have fallen, but Christ gave us the Spirit to get back up again, and Isaiah 61 mentions that Christians are called to restore the ancient ruins.
Isaiah was also commanded by God to walk around nude for 3 years (Isaiah 20). If God can't command sin, then public nudity isn't sin.
Of course a culture that was raised on the sexualization and hiding of the body would find the body sexual and call it sin to see it. That's what they know. But it's not the truth, nor does science back it up.
"And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers." He also said, "Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave."
You might consider why it was that God "covered" Adam and Eve in the garden with clothing. Yes, it had to do with their need to be covered by Christ, but it was also a very real physical covering that God prepared for them.
Also,
When you expose yourself to the opposite sex, do you realize that you're dealing with someone's future wife? Not to mention someone's daughter....whether they realize it or not. In other words, you are making a HUGE decision for someone else's potential / future wife. A decision that that woman's husband will have to live with forever....whether he is comfortable with what you have done or not.
First off, I apologise for coming off a little sharp in my first biblical reply. I should have toned it down a wee bit.
Second, as for the Noah thing, read what you posted "When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him". An assumption is made by people that it was just simple nudity, but the passage mentions something was done to Noah, which certainly would give the brothers reason to not want to think about it. As well, where did they bath back then? Most likely in a river, and the guys most likely bathed together. I doubt nudity among men was the issue.
And imo, God clothed Adam and Eve with hide for a reason. Hide was a representation of blood, of the sacrifice Jesus would make for them. Adam and Eve may have clothed themselves after the fruit, but it doesn't say why, and Adam and Eve also tried to hide from God in the Garden, which is completely illogical. Therefore, there is no reason to assume there was a godly reason for them covering themselves.
You are also doing something that may be very hurtful to your own future wife, since who you marry is in the Lord's Hands. Can you honestly say how she might feel with the idea of your body being exposed openly to other women?
What if your future wife has gone through great lengths to preserve for you her body and sexuality? - By means of having lived a modest lifestyle due to her convictions before the Lord. Consider what Paul says - that he'd rather give up meat than cause one of his brothers to stumble - How could doing what you're doing cause any number of people to stumble in this fallen world? Including possibly whomever you marry...
Let's just say that nudity isn't the issue. Eating meat shouldn't be an issue either...right? But let me ask you this. How much grander is the human body, and our sexuality than mere meat?
And yet we see clearly Paul's wonderful sensitivity to even the food he was willing to put aside for his brothers and sisters in Christ.
Remember,
Our liberty in Christ is ALWAYS about serving others. It is NEVER about ourselves.
Seeing other naked bodies isn't hurtful. If fact, it can be therapeutic, especially for women, because they realize after seeing other women that every woman is different, and that most people aren't as amazing as their clothes may play them up as. And most people aren't supermodels, so it's not like a nudist park is filled with a bunch of bikini models- it's filled with ordinary people and ordinary families. Most nudists are actually older people.
And I wouldn't marry a woman who wasn't okay with social nudity. Nudity and sexuality aren't inherently linked, people are just so used to sex scenes they can't imagine normal life with everyone nude.
And I'm doing the Body of Christ a service. They are hypersexualized by American society, and they need to be brought back in line with what's true. Their hypersexualized minds are actually part of what cause so many issues with "lust" just because guys see a little cleavage or underwear. Not being able to stand near a female just because she has a little cleavage isn't natural, and it is hindering their ability to bless other people. Not to mention a female's chest has no inherent sexual function at all, it was designed to feed babies.
