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https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/naked-before-god-part-1-the-positive-spiritual-side-of-nakedness/

Naked Before God Part 1 The Positive Spiritual

Side of Nakedness
Well, time to get as close to the edge as I can
without hopefully falling over. You cannot know
precisely how people will react however, so I offer
this disclaimer. I am not a nudist and I dont go
around being naked in front of people other than my
wife. I have never been to a nudist colony or
resort. I suppose this does not make me very
qualified to post something like series, but this is
causing part of my mind to explode with ideas and I
have to get them on digital paper. In theology pub
terms, I have to get this out of the barrels before it
explodes and makes a mess in the wine cellar.
Nudism has many forms and I do not think that
nudism is for everyone or appropriate in all situations. However, the purpose of this post is
a positive one as I am examining the benefit of nuditys influence on activities that promote
spiritual growth. The question is: Does physical nudity enhance or improve spiritual
reception in spiritual activities such as prayer, meditation, study, worship, etc.
For the reader, it would be helpful to review and go back to some of my older posts and
series. If you have not read them I encourage you do so as they provide some of the
backdrop for this series as well as some of my assumptions. To date the following series
and posts have been written on this topic:
1. Series 9 The Bible and Nakedness remains one of my most complete examinations of
the Bible and the issue of nakedness. My conclusion that nakedness is more of a spiritual
state than physical one and that the Bible has no clear indication that nakedness, in and
of itself, is sinful still draws a lot of attention. Not much has changed as I look back this
series as far as my viewpoint.
2. Originally I got started with this topic in Series 2 Nudity, Modesty and Culture where I
was first examining this issue. My initial conclusions were mostly focused on what
modesty really is. It was actually my conclusion that modesty was actually more focused

on the spiritual side of a woman and had really nothing to do with actual dress is what got
me asking the simple question: If modesty is basically spiritual, then is it possible that
nakedness is basically spiritual as well?
3. In my initial post of Sexuality, the Church and America was this post: Sexuality, the
Church and America Part 1 Public Nudity that examined more of what was happening
in America as regards the issue and how I thought things would pan out on the topic.
In large part, because of the nature of this topic and openness of the blogger sphere,
several nudists bloggers have discovered me and followed my site. I want everyone to
understand that I am OK with this and being polite, I have followed all of them back.
Whenever they or I post, we get each others stuff. Yes, they include pictures and video. I
am not upset with this because I am actually glad to have people around that are taking
the issue of human nudity seriously from a non-sexual point of view. I feel very much that
nudism and being a nudist falls under Pauls advice on matters of conscience found in 1st
Corinthians chapter 8 where he deals with the issue of Christian liberty and ones
responsibility in not making a brother stumble because you are at liberty to do certain
things but their conscience would be bothered by it. If you can practice nudism without
violating the conscience of others and yourself, I dont think it is inherently evil or sinful.
One has to exercise caution and use wise discretion. It may well be that being physically
naked is no different than being fully clothed from a spiritual point of view, but that does not
mean everyone can accept this and there are some people where this would be truly
dangerous.
For example, allowing a former pedophile around naked children at a family nudist resort
would be bad business from everyones point of view and I think even the most ardent
nudist activist would recognize this. Nudists are not stupid and when it comes to nudism
and human relationships regarding nudism they actually have a lot more wisdom regarding
this and other related issues than people who wear clothes all the time. I have actually
read many nudists who acknowledge these issues and they are very much cautious about
them. A good chunk of them are also aware that the naked body can be sexually arousing
to the opposite sex and so they are not living in some fantasy world where nakedness has
no effect on human sexuality at all. They are simply more conscious that a lot of this is
a matter of perception. (See why nudists like my pub? :) )
All this I am saying to get to a topic that I am now examining which is the spiritual benefits
of nudity and how it can be used to build our relationship with God. Not everyone can
benefit from this and not everyone should or can practice this. Much greatly depends on
what your relationship with God is based. Nudity has some positive spiritual aspects, if a
person is willing to both acknowledge them and accept them:

1. Vulnerability While it could be argued that vulnerability is a weakness and at times it

is, there is a positive side to it. In the Garden of Eden we see this in Adam and Eve as
they are completely vulnerable to Gods presence, each other and the world around them.
Because of this, they have to develop interdependency with each other and God. In all
person to person relationships vulnerability is the key to opening up intimacy and
ultimately love. To love someone, you must make yourself vulnerable to them and take
risks that they will take advantage of this vulnerability, but when vulnerability is rewarded
with returned vulnerability from the other person intimacy and love grows.
2. Openness It is really hard to be closed off to people when you are naked. In the case
of God, this is not so much our taking things off to be naked before him and open but
acknowledging that we are already naked before God and everything is already open. Sin
likes to conceal the truth and cover it over. Righteousness seeks to reveal the
truth. Reading the testimonies of practicing nudists, particularly people who are sharing
their first time is interesting on this spiritual aspect of nudity. Even naked, they try to cover
themselves up and present themselves in ways where their perceived bad features are
less noticeable. In the end they give this up and just allow themselves to be themselves.
This is a trait more Christians should have when they approach God or other
relationships. It is amazing how many times I hear Christians pray to God and I can know
they are hiding something from God or leaving something out that is uncomfortable to
them. The Psalmists cry of Search me, Oh God! and all its implications is missed when
we do this. God already knows what your sin is, the issue really is are you going to give
up attempting to hide it from him and just be yourself, sin and all, instead of putting on your
own version of fig leaves over your naked spirit.
3. Intimacy Clothing prevents intimacy and in our world this is often by design. I am not
going to say this is bad in certain contexts. Clothing is a barrier that is used to prevent
people from knowing things about you. Intimacy ultimately results from people discarding
barriers and defenses. In personal relationship, you dont necessarily have to shed your
physical clothes to be close to someone but you do have to let your guards down and let
people know things about yourself that are sometimes uncomfortable and awkward. In a
real way, intimacy is achieved when you allow others to see that you too are human and
you also allow them to show their humanness to you without judging them in return. In
marriage, this is especially seen in the act of love and there is something about the
expression Adam KNEW his wife that is particularly telling in more than a physical sense.
4. Genuineness Hard to be false and deceptive about anything when your naked.
Everybody sees the truth about what you are. This is particularly true with yourself. I
wrote a post about how to stay motivated in fitness The Naked Truth: The Secret to
Staying Motivated in Bodybuilding and Fitness. In it, I point out that real motivation for

fitness comes when you face the real truth about your body by standing in front of a mirror
naked until you get motivated in some way to change. The question I now pose is: would
the same thing work spiritually if we change the mirror to the spiritual mirror of God? I
think so, like physical health, spiritual health can be seen if we have the right mirror and if
we stand naked in front of that mirror, it is going to be very hard to lie to ourselves about
what we really are.
5. Wholeness It is very difficult to see yourself compartmentalized when you are naked.
You actually see everything that you really are. Clothing is used to define ourselves but in
very limited senses. We dress in work clothes to define our work. We dress in
athletic clothes to go work out. We dress in casual clothes to relax. We dress in sexy
clothes to be romantic and make love. We dress in formal clothes to impress people with
who we are. In a very real way clothing is used to compartmentalize our life. When you
are naked all that is gone and the reality of ALL that your truly are is there: body, soul and
spirit in one package and there is no compartmentalization at all. We simply and truly are
what we are.
6. Equality It is very difficulty to see yourself as better or worse than someone when your
naked. Want to make everyone socially, economically and culturally equal? Take off their
clothes. The housewife, business woman, prostitute and debutant suddenly just become
women when you strip them of clothes, make up and jewelry and make them stand in a
lineup. Without their clothes you can only define them by their bodies, personality and
actions and none of that necessarily reveals economic, social or cultural status.
Nakedness forces us to realize that we all came into this world naked and we all will leave
it naked. That is the great equalizer.
The rest of this series is about the relationship between physical nakedness, spiritual
nakedness and spiritual practices. I am going to cover meditation, prayer, worship, and
study in detail with some references to other spiritual practices. I may have a post on
communal spiritual practices, although I feel very unqualified to talk about that, but it may
generate some interesting discussion. First however, I want to show everyone how all of
us are already in some way practicing spiritual nudism and we are not even aware of it
most of the time.

edraby.wordpress.com
https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/naked-before-god-part-2-youre-already-a-spiritual-nudist-you-just-dont-know-it/

Naked Before God Part 2 Youre Already a

Spiritual Nudist; You Just Dont Know It.
Part of the human struggle with nudity and our
relationship with God is that we do not recognize the
wholeness of what it means to be a human being.
Even in Christian theology there is the argument that
we were created in two parts body and spirit or
three parts body, soul and spirit. The real tragedy in
my opinion of this argument is that it focuses on man
and what he is now and not what he was created to
be. A living soul a single entity and part of that
was the human body and at the beginning there were
no clothes there was simply nakedness.
I believe that our naked state best reflects this
wholeness of being and wholeness of being involves
everything we are made of including our spiritual
side. There are moments, whether we are conscious
of this unity of flesh and spirit or not, that this comes
through and the reality of it touches us regardless of
how we are raised, our culture or society. There is
simply too much life that we live not to experience that feeling of wholeness from time to
time because sooner or later we all end up being spiritual nudists because sooner or later
we have to take off our clothes and be without them for a time. There are going to be
some moments in these times where we will feel this wholeness of being, the way we were
created by God, whether we do this consciously or unconsciously. Usually this happens
when we are relaxed and also naked.
This post is addressed to the masses of western Christians and others who have been
taught in many ways to avoid these moments. You have been taught by your parents,
culture and religion that being naked is sinful. You may be devout in your faith and are
firmly convinced that this is true and everything I am saying you are ready to argue with
and challenge in your heart. There are others though who are also devout, but they know
Christianity involves meditating on and praying through the issues. I urge you to do so

with this one. I want to use the rest of this post to highlight how in our lives we at some
time or another have engaged in spiritual nudity whether we recognized it or not.
Bathing
I think the most obvious place we engage in spiritual nudism is when we are bathing is
some way or form. I have lost count of the number of personal revelations from God I
have received while taking a bath or a shower. I know of at least three people who came
to Christ and became Christians and when asked where they made the decision they
replied that they were bathing or taking a shower. I think we have to freely admit that we
bathe for more than just the process of getting clean. We also bathe for release. There is
something about bathing or showering that allows us to drop our guards and relax and we
often enter a state of mind and heart that is meditative. That opens us up to hearing from
God. Part of this is that we must shed our clothes to do so. It is this shedding of clothes
that is not only symbolic of casting off the cares of this world, it is also in a very real way
relieving us of the barriers that protect us in life which allows us to just be ourselves.
Nudity in bathing is actually relaxing and not shameful and most of the time we simply just
acknowledge this is true.
Changing Clothes
Sooner or later you have to change and in that process you are at times going to be naked
while you are looking for something to wear. Usually we do this in our rooms so we feel
relaxed and because we are also naked, at least momentarily, we can also experience the
same kind of meditation state as in bathing. This form of spiritual nudism is not as
pronounced as bathing, in my humble opinion, but the spiritual state can be similar if a
person slows down and breathes deeply. Perhaps you have gotten guidance or peace in
such times and I submit to you that your nakedness at the time may have contributed to
this, whether your recognized it at the time or not.
Sleeping
Next to bathing this one is the best for achieving a meditative state and it allows Christians
to actually take seriously one of the more common Biblical ways that God speaks to us
dreams. Less than 10% of Americans sleep in the nude but those that do know its health
benefits which include health, better sleep, confidence and better sex. More than that the
same relaxation principle applies to the idea of sleeping from a spiritual point of view. In
the Bible dreams that guide people are a regular occurrence. Part of the reason dreams
no longer seem prevalent is that we have been taught the negative side of dreams too
much so we dont take them as seriously as we should. Also I would say that it has been
shown that westerners dont sleep as well as they used to and part of the cure for that is to

sleep naked. Also by sleeping naked you create a better meditative state as you fall
asleep so your receptivity to dream increases at least in my opinion. Many people who do
sleep in the nude know what I am talking about and would probably acknowledge that their
nudity was in some way responsible for having better and more productive dreams and a
better nights sleep.
Sex
This may be more limited to those in a relationship, particularly committed married
couples, but anyone who has genuinely made love knows there was more to the pleasure
and wonder of it than just the mechanics of foreplay and having sex. Part of sex is
spiritual through the knowing and loving each other and good reason for that is that as a
couple we find our selves back to the way God intended man and woman to be
unashamed and NAKED. One of the more enjoyable parts of sex for me has been the
afterglow when you are laying in each others arms. In that moment, if you are paying
attention, you can truly feel like you are one flesh and part of that is your openness to each
other by being naked. There is more than physical satisfaction at this point; there is a
spiritual joining to each other and in large part the intensity of this spiritual feeling is
because we are naked at the time.
Breastfeeding
Now you dont necessarily have to be all the way naked to breastfeed but even I as a man
cannot deny there is more to the act of breastfeeding that involves an element that most
people in western society think is sinful a woman baring her chest. Something is
exchanged that is more than milk between a mother and child in these times and dont
think men dont get some spiritual satisfaction out of this as well. Some of my more
relaxing times when our children were infants was when I was watching my wife nurse.
There is something about that just makes a lot of things that are wrong with this world just
fade away and that is a spiritual thing brought on by a form of nakedness.
Everyday Activities
A woman gets up out of bed after sleeping naked, puts a load of laundry in the washer,
takes a shower, puts on her makeup and does her hair and THEN she gets dressed. In
households all over we find ourselves at times doing things naked and often times it is
either we are not really conscious that we are wrong or it is simply more convenient. We
are safely at home. Why get dressed before doing the laundry, if in a few moments your
going to shower? Why get dressed after you shower, if your right where you need to be to
do your hair and makeup? We may not do this all the time but sometimes it is just more
convenient and easier to wait to get dressed. Sometimes we just forget because we are at

peace in our own home and relaxed. We simply do not see a need to get dressed. In
these times we can experience much the same wholeness and open quality that we find in
many of the above activities.
There are many more activities that I could list that we may have experienced in our lives
but the main point is that not all of our experiences in being naked are bad ones. Some
are downright pleasant and relaxing. In all of these cases our nakedness actually is part of
the equation that helps us relax and open our hearts minds and spirits to what God may
want to reveal to us. The real problem is that as Christians we do not take these moments
seriously because we are often rushed as we need to get dressed so we are no longer
sinners by being naked. Truth is that idea is not a biblical one but a church and religious
culture concoction. There is nothing wrong with nakedness itself.
What I want everyone to see, that is probably more a standard I am not a nudist Christian,
is that you do not necessarily have to become a nudist or change your life in major ways to
practice spiritual nudism. You dont have to join a nudist colony, head to a nude beach or
resort. Most of what it may involve for you is: 1) Simply taking the times you are naked
more seriously as times you can grow spiritually or 2) simply slowing down and not being
in a rush to be clothed. It is in these moments, you can simply open yourself up
to meditation, prayer, worship and even study and gain some benefit from being naked
before your God. In these times you can truly be who you are and He can truly show you
who you are. It is an opportunity for spiritual growth if handled properly and it should not
be wasted.
Over the next few posts I will attempt to show how nakedness affects certain spiritual
disciplines and we will start with meditation.

edraby.wordpress.com

https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/naked-before-god-part-3-naked-meditation/

Naked Before God Part 3 Naked Meditation

You know the greatest first obstacle in talking about naked
meditation is not the naked part it is the meditation part. You
wouldnt believe the number of Christians that believe that
meditation is still a purely an eastern religious practice. Meditation
is actually one of those things that seems to span all religious
movements regardless of what is believed. All meditation practice
basically centers on one idea you must quiet and empty your
mind, heart and spirit and just be. Meditation is about focus of the
person to set everything aside and dwell onwell that greatly
depends on the religious belief at that point. Most practitioners of
Christian meditation would say that the purpose is to empty the
mind in order to fill it either by revelation from God either by
listening to what He might have to say or by meditation on a Bible verse or passage to
better understand its spiritual meaning. Some believe that meditation can be used to see
visions from God and help understand dreams.
In my opinion there are two basic types of meditation formal and informal.
Informal meditation is one that is done on the fly and I will say it is probably the most
common. As I mentioned in both of the previous posts in this series, we often find
ourselves in this informal meditative state by simply doing the normal things of life that
cause us to relax or be in a relaxing environment. Were taking a relaxing bath and letting
our mind drift and we find ourselves in a state where we can hear from God. One of the
ways to get more out of them is to not rush the times when they happen and learn from
them as much as we can. Having a spiritual journal that we record what we hear or come
to understand also helps because it causes us to truly reflect later on what God is trying to
teach us in these moments.
Formal meditation is when we actually set aside a time for meditation on purpose. There
is a structure to it and a seriousness of purpose to meditate. Usually there is a designated
place for meditation but that is not always possible but usually one thing is certain that the
person will on purpose enter into a meditative state by choice not by accident. There is
also usually some sort of focus a mantra (prayer repeated), a candle or some other
visual focus. The person usually tries to keep their body still and control their breathing.
All of this requires a person to dedicate a time and place of meditation and that can be the

most difficult part of formal meditation. Unless you are willing to make it a regular
discipline of your life you are not going to get as much out of it.
Being physically naked can help with both types of meditation. Based on practitioners
testimonies, being nude has a way of super charging the meditative experience. I can
speak from personal experience that this has been the case in both my informal and
formal times of meditation. In large part what you get out of naked meditation greatly
depends on your attitude about being naked. If you are constantly nervous about being in
the raw and doing that looking over the shoulder thing hoping no one will see you, you are
not going to get much out of it. If you are more relaxed and calm by being naked, then it
may do wonders to increase the receptivity and overall experience. You average nonnudist Christian is going to feel as nervous about this, if not more so, than having sex with
a spouse and trying to find a place of privacy. (As an aside: isnt interesting that will
indeed work very hard to get a place of privacy to make love to our spouse where we are
naked, but dismiss the possibility of being naked for spiritual growth purposes?) This
brings us to other spiritual disciplines that accompany meditation: solitude and silence.
Solitude is about being alone with God. It is the withdraw from other relationship and
community to be alone with God. Jesus practiced this every morning. In his case he
probably had to find a new place every day because he traveled so much in his ministry,
but for us we often could make a place of solitude. I would have to say though that the
adventure of finding a place of solitude while on the road has often been a spiritual
discipline in and of itself. Most people have a fear of this and it really does not have much
about being lonely as it is about being alone with God. Gods presence does frighten us
as humans and in some ways it should. Actually this issue goes back to the Garden of
Eden from a theological point of view (Hey, this a theology pub you expected psychology
or something?) . When Adam and Eve sinned they hid themselves because of Gods
presence because they were naked (read vulnerable). Their vulnerability before
they sinned actually served them to build a relationship with God and each other. Sin
causes the change. It is ultimately the perception of sin that causes us to feel
uncomfortable in Gods presence. Gods presence only causes terror type fear when we
have genuinely done something wrong or we think we have because of what we believe
about sin. More on this in a minute.
Silence. In our world silence should have a price tag but the truth is we do fill our life with
noise. Mostly this is to cover the feelings of being alone and we have a seeming fear of
quiet. I am fairly sure we fear quiet because we might hear our own thoughts or even
better the thoughts of God. We might even have to deal with those problems we have
been holding on to in our minds or we might even have to think about our problems in
constructive ways in order to deal with them. Meditation, particularly formal meditation,

calls us to silence so that we can truly hear more than sound waves. Finding a place that
is both alone and quiet to meditate is probably the greatest challenge in the western world
but once it is achieved it allows another possibility alone, quiet and nude before God.
Meditation calls us to set aside our guards and open up our minds and spirits to
transformation by communion with God. I believe this communion is enhanced by
nakedness. I believe it is no accident that mankind started out naked and unashamed and
walked with God in the cool of the day. Gods presence was enough to sustain them from
shame. We western Christians often speak that Jesus has washed all our sins away and
that when God looks at us he sees Christ and not us and our sinfulness, but the proof of
that would be that all the consequences of sin would be reversed as well. Two of those
consequences of sin were 1) to be ashamed of being naked and 2) to have to wear
clothes. If Christ has done the above, why is it that these two things still remain as
consequences of sin? Why are Christians still told they need to be ashamed of their
nakedness of body and cover up to be modest? The more I live, I am coming to
understand they are imposed on us by a religious culture that seeks to control people by
controlling their sexuality and related behavior.
Want to test how you really feel about Christs forgiveness of your sins? Find a solitary
place that is quiet, strip off your clothes and meditate in His presence. How you feel about
being naked will be a direct reflection of what you really feel about your sins and Christs
work in your life. You will either feel shame because you think what you are doing is sinful
(its not) and thus you will really show yourself that you dont believe Christs grace covers
everything and you be like Adam and Eve will attempt some fig leaf cover up. Or you will
understand that you are clothed in righteousness of Christ and therefore have no shame
before God because your sins are forgiven and gone. It is a question of whether you truly
see yourself from Gods perspective in these matters and being naked in his presence will
demonstrate the reality of what you really honestly believe.
At this point, my issue with understanding nudity in relationship to the spiritual disciplines
is one of definition. I can see for instance that nudity can be a focus for meditation as it
cause one to really engage the task of meditation much like a candles flame. I can also
see it can be like a catalyst to meditation in that in can heighten sensitivity to spiritual
things and spiritual understandings. The striping down process, moving from being
clothed to being naked can add in what some call down centering or finding the center
as it can be very symbolic of casting off your cares and burdens of the world to embrace
true openness before God. The real question I still have is: Does nudity itself constitute a
spiritual discipline of its own separate from the others? Can nudity stand on its own as
spiritual discipline that brings growth without the others? I am hoping as we explore the
other disciplines we may find the answer to these questions starting with meditations twin

sister prayer.

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https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/naked-before-god-part-4-naked-prayer/

Naked Before God Part 4 Naked Prayer

If meditation can be done in the nude I think we can assume we
might as well stay and pray in the nude. The two differ in this:
meditation is about listening to God; prayer is
about communicating with God. One is about listening; the other
is about talking. One other way I have heard it explained is that
meditation and petition are the two sides of prayer.
Prayer is described in the Bible much like a subject in a kingdom
coming into the throne room of the king and petitioning the king
for favor and in return listening to what the king will grant and what he expects that subject
to do if the king is going to grant that favor. In a very real way this is true of us and God.
Prayer should not be something we are completely comfortable with in the sense of who
we are coming before to ask a favor. This is God Almighty we are talking about not some
two-bit robber baron. The issue is what qualities should the petitioner have when making
his petition.
Before I get into those qualities, I want to make my case for the home prayer and
meditation room. Jesus instruction to go into ones closet and pray to the heavenly Father
in secret in the Sermon on the Mount is something more Christians should take seriously.
The one thing I see a lot of families and homes doing more of is setting a side a room for
spiritual things. I encourage everyone to do this because it is one of the mistakes I made in
not doing it when my children were growing up. Having a place set aside to meditate,
pray, study and worship (a sort of family chapel) would be a great asset to many homes.
Hey, we make sure we have our family rooms and entertainment rooms, for those of a
more spiritual frame of mind why not a spiritual room or chapel. The advantages of this for
a person who wanted a more naked approach to the spiritual disciples would be
tremendous, especially if you have a house hold that might be divided on this issue. There
is nothing stopping a person from closing the prayer room door, locking it and stripping
down to meditate, prayer, worship or even read and study. If a prayer room is not a
possibility, setting aside a space in another room might be good. For naked practitioners
the bedroom might work well to set a corner aside to engage in spiritual activities as we
are already used to dressing and undressing in our bedrooms. I am currently making
some of these changes having discovered the importance of this, but I cannot stress that I
am now seeing this as something very important.

The spiritual qualities of a person who prays are far more important than the wording of the
prayer or doing things in the right order. James points to Elijah as a man just like us but
because of his righteousness his prayers were answered. As I look at these qualities, my
questions mainly center around how being naked can symbolize or enhance those
qualities when we go to God in prayer. The analogy of the subject entering the kings
throne room will be used throughout to illustrate each point:
1) Humility In a post I wrote a little while ago called Nudity, Modesty and Culture Part 1
Defining Modest I make the observation the Peter and Pauls words about modest dress
actually deal with dumbing down dress from being flashing with gold and jewels to
something more modest. One thing I did not say then but I will say now is that the logical
conclusion of this dumbing down of dress is to be naked. Nakedness at the time would
have indicated the humble slave class. One of the titles the New Testament writers use of
themselves and their fellow believers is bond slaves of God. They are slaves by choice to
God. Nudity should be a humbling experience. It is about the stripping off of status to the
point of having no status. Oh, there might be those proud of their bodies and maybe they
have worked hard to make a good-looking body, but in the presence of God there should
still be that sense of vulnerability that requires us to move to intimacy with our creator. You
may be comfortable being naked with God and that is Ok, but if you ever lose your humility
you will start to lose that comfort level because you are no longer acknowledging your
vulnerability before Him. In a sense to pray naked is to come into the throne of God naked
and bow down and ask God for what you desire. The act of being naked should temper
those desires to something a little more in line with Gods desires as you would be
acknowledging your bond slave status to Him. His desires become more important to you
than your own and this is evident in how you are approaching Him. You are the servant;
He is the Master.
2) Persistence Ask and Keep on Asking Jesus words with the full Greek meaning
indicate a persistence that needs to be present in prayer. Persistence is actually as form
of humility. Pride causes us to believe that we should just get right in and see the
king because were so important and God should just give us what we want. The current
Word of Faith blab it and grab it crowd in Christianity completely misses this point which is
why they are a scam and not a legitimate voice for understanding prayer. Persistence
means we wait until we are called for and answered. In the meantime we stay in Gods
presence (meditation). It was actually a time of naked meditation and prayer that revealed
this to me. I am the naked bond slave of Christ, he will hear me when he thinks I
have proven myself ready to be heard by being patiently persistent in listening for his voice
to hear Come, make your request to be known to Me, your God and Master. Then I go
boldly into his throne room, not because I am anything but because Christ has called and I
must answer, and ask for what I need. Hopefully what I need is in line with the purposes of

God and not to spend it on my own pleasures. I find with this new understanding that I sit
and just be a lot more in prayer and talk a lot less. I am here to serve God, not for Him to
serve me and to be persistent acknowledges His sovereignty to decided when, where and
how he will answer my prayer. I am now convinced that the reason most people do not
receive answers to prayer is they are too busy talking and not spending enough time
listening for the answer and being patient while they wait. If you strip naked in your prayer
closet and tell God your going to stay their till he answers your prayer, be prepared to back
that up by staying there until he answers your prayer.
3) Righteousness James says this in chapter 5 of his book but it bears repeating that a
person who is a sinner will not receive many answers to prayer. They might get a
response to genuine repentance but not much else. In relationship to nudity, the fact that
you do spiritual disciplines in the nude could become a source of pride or even drawing
attention to self. Based on Jesus instructions in Matthew 6, all spiritual disciplines should
have and aspect of secrecy before God when you are doing them. Pray in your closet,
give not knowing what the right and left hand are doing, fast but dont appear to be
fasting. All of these are done in secret so the heavenly Father will reward us openly.
Nudity as a spiritual discipline should also have that quality. It should not be done for
show or to draw attention to the yourself: Look at me, I pray naked so I am more spiritual
than you. Nudity by itself can have this problem if you dont have the right attitude about
it. Being a nudist in rebellion or pride will never win points with God. Being a nudist
because it draws you back to a time when it was Man and Woman naked and unashamed
before God because they were humble and vulnerable before God is the righteous goal.
Nudity like anything else can be used for good or evil. It is your responsibility to make sure
you do not use it for sin or evil or through your nakedness cause a brother or sister to
stumble. The servant who enters the kings presence and hasnt done what was expected
of him should not expect the king to grant his requests. A good example of this is found in
Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. For those that think of terms of family of a child
going to their father, the lesson still applies as Jesus stated in the Parable of the Two Sons
(Matthew 21: 28-32). You still have to do the will of your Father to get both his favor and
blessing.
Nudity is starting to show itself as a spiritual discipline. What its ultimate place with the
rest of the spiritual disciplines is remains to be seen. Perhaps we will get a little farther in
understanding this issue with the next discipline.

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https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/naked-before-god-part-5-naked-worship/

Naked Before God Part 5 Naked Worship

I am starting to realize from at least a spiritual level why a
believer might want to become a naturist. If we get right down to
it this is the picture of Adam and Eve in the Garden. They are
with their natural surroundings, naked, unashamed and with their
God and each other. The desire to return to such a picture in
their own lives could get overwhelming to someone who desires
that simple relationship between God ourselves and nature that
we once had. The problem of course is that our modern and
religious culture has large segments of people who frown on
showing up naked in outdoor places.
Worship is about praising God and adoring God. Meditation is
about listening, prayer about petition and worship is about
praise. To engage the spiritual process of communion with God
we need all three. Worship is about giving God with all we are what He deserves. It is not
just about praising him with our lips it is about praising him with our lives. It involves
service, obedience, praise, adoration and a whole host of other things that involve
simply being and doing what we are supposed to be doing before God.
In this post, I am dealing with the cycle of worship and devotional worship practice in
relationship to nudity. What I want to explore is how nudity can enhance or magnify
the personal worship experience. I will deal with corporate worship and disciplines in a
later post. The cycle of worship is the continuing process of personal action that engages
worship of our creator and Lord. For me it has three elements:
Repentance Repentance is the act of acknowledging our sin and asking God to forgive
us. Repentance calls us turn from sin and not return to it. I find it interesting how many
time in the Bible this required tearing of clothes and falling on ones face before God. I
believe if one did this stripping of clothes to the point of nudity and falling on our face
before God would be far more symbolic of the repentance that is actually required before a
Holy God. Our sin is what causes our nakedness to cause us shame, repentance is the
key to releasing that shame. The great trap that people can find themselves in about
repentance is thinking that they have repented when they havent. I think nudity would
create an excellent litmus test to see if repentance is genuine. I have mentioned before
that if your really want to know your true spiritual status before God, you should get naked

and ask yourself how you would feel in Gods presence naked. If there is some sort of
discomfort about the idea, then I would submit to you that you have not genuinely repented
about something and thus know that Christ has forgiven you. Your discomfort about being
physically naked is acting in the same way that Adam and Eves did when they sinned. No
sin; no discomfort.
Submission I have already talked in a previous post about the naked slave of God
principle. Submission is the next part of the cycle after repentance. Submission is about
giving up your will to God. Repentance only works in truth if it is followed up by
submission. It is one thing to deal with sin from a forgiveness point of view, it is quite
another to give up your will regarding that sin so you do not repeat it again. Submission
is being accountable to God for our actions and being open to his direction. In submission
we not only learn humility but patience as well. Nudity in a time of submissive
prayer heightens a sense of being the bond slave of Christ. We are totally dependent on
him for everything and we acknowledge his power over us. A power that is more easily felt
when we are vulnerable to Him in truth. Nudity is about that vulnerability.
Devotion Devotion is about engaging in the practices that lead to a stronger relationship
with God. It is more than doing devotions it is about being devoted in all we do. However,
there are some specific things we can highlight in relationship to nudity as a spiritual
discipline:
1) Scripture Reading In corporate worship we proclaim Gods word. In personal worship
we can read scripture. I personally recommend this one by getting into our place of
solitude that we talked about in meditation and reading the scripture aloud. The reason I
say get to that place of solitude is that it can be very distracting to be doing this discipline
and have someone ask what you are doing. The same benefits for mediation and prayer
in the nude apply for this practice. You are far more open to hear what Gods word says if
you are open in body and mind by being naked.
2) Praise This is an acknowledgement and thanksgiving for all God is and does for us. It
is about acknowledging his lordship over our lives. It is about thanking him for all that we
have. Nudity causes us to think in terms of the bond slave (again here too), but if you
come to God naked and start thanking him for what you have, I have found I thank him
less for the material things he has given into my care but also the changes that he
has brought about in my heart, mind, soul, family, friendships. When you symbolically
have nothing in Gods presence, you begin to realize all that God has given you.
3) Stewardship This encompasses all of our servant responsibilities before God, there
are many of these but nudity highlights two in particular. One is our attitude about the
body God has given us. I know many people who have terrible body image, but our

bodies are a gift from God and he should be praised for it. By so doing we draw attention
away from the gift of our bodies and move it toward the giver of our bodies. Two is take up
our responsibility to take care of the gift of our bodies. It is one thing to thank God for a
gift, but to truly give glory to God for a gift we must use it wisely. In the case of our bodies,
we must acknowledge that our body is the temple and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and
take care of it. Balance is needed here. It is one thing to develop a healthier body image
by giving praise to God for it; it is quite another to just let ourselves go in that comfort to
the point we are unhealthy. One the flip side, we can be so obsessed with changing our
bodies to be more healthy that we forget to be at peace with what we have. One way
this balance can be achieved is to have a mirror in your place of devotion. By looking at
our naked form regularly in a prayerful attitude, we begin to develop a true image of what
we are physically. At first this practice seems like a fun house mirror as we tend to distort
our body image but over time with praise and stewardship about our bodies, the image will
be a true one with no distortion. In those moments we can acknowledge what is good and
see what we really need to work on.
When we get to corporate worship, there will be more to be said. In a state of meditation,
prayer and worship we find communion with God and in that communion we then can truly
sit at Gods feet and learn through Study.

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https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/naked-before-god-part-6-naked-study/

Naked Before God Part 6 Naked Study

Study as a spiritual discipline is one of those things that requires
focus and concentration. More importantly it requires receptivity
to learn. To be a good student one has to be open to being
taught. You also need a discerning mind that can accept truth
but reject falsehood. Study does not necessarily involve study
of the Scriptures but for Christians that generally seems to be
the focus of study. Study actually can involve anything that can
be studied. In spiritual terms though this usually involves
spiritual things.
In Meditation, Prayer and Worship we place our self into a state
of openness and receptivity to hear, to speak to and to praise
God. This is the best context for learning and it only stands to
reason that one should remain in such a state to study. The
best spiritual mindset for study then naturally follows from a state of meditation, prayer and
worship. Moving from these disciplines to study should be a natural progression.
Meditation on a passage of scripture would make study of that passage more profitable for
instance. I am not making a rule here so much as an observation that this is the best
procedure. You can study something without having prayed or meditated before hand, it is
just that doing prayer and meditation before study makes the time of study more
productive in my opinion.
For naked practitioners of spiritual disciplines, the progression is natural in a formal time of
study. To spend time nude in meditating, prayer and worship sets the stage for study. If
one has done all those things in the nude to enhance spiritual receptivity, why would you
suddenly get dressed to study? Getting dressed would be an interruption and disruptive.
The fact is the disciplines are best when one flows into another and enhance each other.
If nudity enhances receptivity and openness to change in the others, it would do the same
in study.
The real key to success in study is attitude. In study this attitude is a little different. You
need to be relaxed but active in thought and heart. Study is more of and
active meditation that is more focused on a specific action. It is important to be
comfortable in every way so that you can be active in the way you need to be. Nudity for
many is a comfortable state. It is that state of being whole and one with only you and your

self engaging what you are studying.

Studying books is a mutually reflective exercise in that we need to remember that we are
not just engaging ourselves and God in study but another person. The person who wrote
the words is there in spirit if nothing else. In a sense they are spiritually naked with us as
we can make no judgments about them other than based on what they write. It is then in
our best interests if we want to gain the most by study that we engage that person in a
mode of reflective listening to what they are saying.
For the Christian there are usually two forms of this: study of scripture and memorization of
scripture. Over the course of my life I have done a lot of both but in both cases I have
gained the most out of them by being relaxed and in a mode of understanding, The most
important thing is not to know what the Scripture says but be open to hear what Scripture
means and apply it to my life. Meaning and application are best found in an active
meditative state when we are not only hearing the Word of God but engaging it with
reflective questions. Nudity allows us to be more actively meditative and reflective in my
humble opinion and this improves the process immensely. Memorization in a meditative
state leads to the next day meditating on that scripture. By doing it this way your going to
get more out of it than just dwelling on a passage for one day. You memorize the passage
the first day and then meditate on it the second. You can do this in any combination and
you can get even more out of it if you do a paragraph over an entire week.
There is also the study of things and people. I want to deal with the study of people in
corporate disciplines, but to me of the most obvious disciplines that could be combined
with the study of things is communion with nature. The more I read what naturists write,
the more I am convinced that many of them have tapped into this spiritual state of
communion with nature, nudity and active and passive meditation which leads to the better
understanding of the world around them. Many devotional masters speak of
the communion with natural revelation as a way to build faith. Naturism is being natural
yourself in a natural world to do this. In this state, new understandings and knowledge are
bound to be gained by the study of the world around us as the naturist is making himself
more like his natural surroundings than one who is clothed. The image of Adam and Eve
in the garden is reborn.
Nudity is showing itself to be a particular kind of spiritual discipline. It is both reflective and
enhancing which also makes it both passive and active. Much like fasting, it has a power
to help us truly see more in the world around us. This leads me to a question of the other
personal spiritual disciplines and their relationship to nudity which is the subject of the next
post.

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https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/naked-before-god-part-7-other-naked-disciplines/

Naked Before God Part 7 Other

Naked Disciplines
There are many other spiritual disciplines. In fact there
are a lot of them depending on how you look at spiritual
discipline in general. It also depends on how, if at all,
you compartmentalize spiritual things. If your more
open, the spiritual could be all of life or if you are less
spiritual, it could be a very narrow band of disciplines.
In Christianity and among Christian devotional masters,
there are a few that might be related to nudity as a
spiritual discipline: fasting, simplicity, submission,
pilgrimage and suffering. There are many more, but
these five seem to fit best.
Fasting
I include fasting for two reasons: 1) It is the discipline that in my mind is the closest to
nudity in its intention and effect. While fasting can stand alone as a spiritual discipline, it is
best when coupled with others like meditation and prayer. It both can be spiritually
enlightening in and of itself but it also has tremendous value when coupled with other
disciplines. Nudity is very similar. 2) Fasting is often brought in to enhance or
create certain spiritual scenarios that people can grow by. Prayer and fasting are often
coupled together for instance. The question then is simple: If one is praying and fasting
can you not add nudity into that mix to create a trifecta of sorts in one spiritual discipline of
prayer with both nudity and fasting enhancing the experience?
Simplicity
I remember reading Richard Foster books: Celebration of Discipline and Freedom of
Simplicity. Both of these books pointed to the idea od a simple lifestyle as a spiritual
discipline of its own and a powerful one. One of the things dealt with in the discipline of
simplicity is the subject of clothes and not just throwing something away because it is old
or out of fashion. In fact the idea of fashion is talked about in great detail as one of the
great enemies of stewardship. Nudity oddly enough becomes the simplest dress of all and
does not cost anything. On a practice of simplicity scale this would be a 10 out of 10.

Nudity as part of a simple life would not only enhance simplicity but be simple in and of
itself.
Submission
I have spoken already of the subject of nudity in the presence of God being like taking the
form of a slave before the Almighty. I actually can think of no better symbolic gesture
toward God that would illustrate the bond slave of Christ concept than to kneel prostrate
before God in the nude.
Pilgrimage
I find that as I read spiritual minded nudists that the idea of pilgrimage is very present.
There is often the notion of going somewhere to be naked and it is often for spiritual
reasons of some sort. Naturists are very much into the going someplace beautiful and
spending time in communion with the divine. The going somewhere to find oneself and to
have nudity a part of it is definitely on the landscape of a pilgrimage.
Suffering
I am probably bringing in the more negative aspects of nudity here in regards to exposure
to the elements not necessarily shame. The idea is to live naked for a time with nor
shelter or covering regardless of what the elements would bring. Taken to extremes I
would not recommend this but to simply not be able to cover up when it is cold or hot
would cause our sympathy for those who do not have clothing in poverty situations to
change to empathy.
The advantage of nudity in relationship to personal disciplines both inward and outward is
its flexibility and versatility. It can be combined with many different combinations of
disciplines but it also can stand alone. In the context of us each in our prayer closets, it
can be a powerful addition to what we already do as we attempt to understand the divine.
The real problem enters when we bring other people in the picture.

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https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/naked-before-god-part-8-spiritual-nakedness-with-others/

Naked Before God Part 8 Spiritual Nakedness

with Others
There is a divide that must be crossed here and from a
cultural and psychological point of view it is as large as
the Grand Canyon. It is not just that nudity in a lot of
western culture is not accepted but that even among
nudists there is a difference of opinion as to whether or
not communal spiritual nakedness is genuinely
possible. There is a genuine concern here that must
be explored if we are to go further and explore the
concepts of nudity in the church as part of spiritual life.
First we must deal with communal nudity they we may
have or already be practicing and then second we
must deal with the obstacles to genuine communal spiritual practice and how they might
be overcome. I must stress at this point, this is beyond my actual life experience other
than a few moments I will make mention of in this post.
I think we must understand that in the western world of privacy in our own homes, there
has probably been some spirituality in group taking place. The fact is we have found
ourselves at times naked or near naked with family members and even friends and we
would have to say, if we were honest with ourselves, that the experience was both spiritual
and positive.
1) Spouses I think this is an obvious place to start because it is probably the one place
that most Christians even in the fundamentalist camp actually might acknowledge that
spirituality does indeed take place. Being naked with a spouse is acceptable in
most church ideologies. The fact is that this can and often does transcend sex. Sex may
be a part of it, but it is those getaways where you are naked for more than sex and that
often translates to a spiritual bonding that is quite intimate. This of course also opens up
the possibility of naked spirituality with a spouse. Praying, Meditating, Worshiping and
Reading Scripture together is often a cornerstone of stronger Christian marriages. Paul in
1st Corinthians talks of breaking from sexual relationships to pray and fast together. Is it
possible that all these activities could be enhanced if nudity is added as part of the
discipline? The naked and unashamed aspect that should be present in a married couple
is more than about comfort and sexual activity, it is about spiritual vulnerability and

openness with each other as well as God.

2) Family Perhaps the most common time of family nakedness is when children are
young. I think every one of my children received their first bath with either me or my wife
with them in the tub. My wife would try to save time by bathing my two boys together at
times. Growing up myself, my father was always accused by my mother as being a
nudist. Dad had a tendency to shed clothes after he got out of work and I know he slept
naked most of the time and he very rarely bothered to put on clothes when he got up in the
middle of his sleep to use the bathroom. As a family we would go up to the cabin in the
Upper Peninsula and there was a sauna that my whole family enjoyed naked (mom
included). Skinny dipping was a necessary cool off after those times. Those things started
to end when I hit puberty as my mom felt a little uncomfortable about them. Dad and I
however continued on with my male cousins and uncles for some time.
My point is we all have some sort of story like these and often it is growing up and having
these moments that shape our understanding of family. Whether this is truly spiritual or
not, I suppose could be questioned, but if you have a broader context of spirituality then
perhaps you consider the connections formed to be both familial and spiritual, then you
might have the right idea.
3) Athletics / Gym Class Yeah, the locker room might be considered a naked communal
moment. In most contexts this is about the same-sex being together. It is these moments
that often cement the relationships of a team after a hard game or practice and taking the
proverbial shower is part of that. It is the dusting off the grime of an athletic contest and
looking forward to the next fresh that could be considered at least communal nudity.
Not sexual at all at least for me it wasnt. It is my being an athlete over the years that
generally allows me to accept naked men without too much thought about it. Naked
women are of course a different story. My guess is that female athletes would look at it in
the opposite direction or they may look at it completely differently all together. It is
interesting though that female teams seem to have more naked group pictures then men
do. If somebody could explain that one to me who is a female athlete, I would greatly
appreciate it.
What I want to point out here is we have all had even in very limited senses naked
communal experiences. The nudist has simply recognized that this does not necessarily
mean either embarrassment or sexuality. Communal nudity can simply be a simple
pleasure and a positive experience as well. True, there are negative communal nudity
experiences as well, but if we are completely honest with ourselves not all of them are.
There are obstacles however to spiritual communal nudity that are real and must be
addressed if any possibility of seeing the truth on this issue is to prevail. Like personal

naked practice in the spiritual disciplines, community naked disciplines are not necessarily
for everyone. Like it or not , these disciplines can be dangerous if the wrong people
practice them.
Some obstacles to community spiritual nudity:
1) Nudity Could Be Distracting Because we are not used to nudity as part of spiritual
practice, it could be the focus instead of a means to achieving spiritual awareness with
others. I think this is where people who grow up in the nudist lifestyle or in a family that
practices nudism might have the advantage in this area. It takes a while for nudity to start
to seem normal, especially if your new to it. It may actually be far more helpful to engage
in community in general for a while until nudity in others becomes more common to a
persons mind before attempting corporate spiritual disciplines. I know for myself not being
a nudist, I would have great difficulty at first just accepting nudity as a regular part of my
surroundings although I suspect that Robert Heinlein is right in saying that the easiest
nudity to accept in community is our own personal nudity. In any case, branching out to
being spiritual with people is not just a question of acceptance of their nakedness but of
them as people. It is far more productive to worship, etc. with people that we know well
regardless of clothing status.
2) Exhibitionism This is the other side of distraction where the distraction is intentional.
In the prayer closet, there is no way to show off but in the context of community prayer, the
whole focus could be see how wonderful we are, we can pray naked and you cant.
The real problem might simply be that those that are worshiping naked want it to be about
nakedness instead of about God. This is the chief objection of non-nudists to naked
worship is that being nude would be about drawing attention to self instead of God. This
would be particularly true if everyone is clothed and a single person or couple comes into
service nude. Sorry, even if everyone were a nudist, there would still be some sense in
everyone that the couple would be saying look at me. Nudity is the most effective when
it is done in humility, just like any other spiritual discipline.
3) Religious and Cultural Non-Acceptance The simple fact remains that western and
religious culture is going to have a real hard time with a naked church. Most Christians
would view such a church as justifying sin or attempting to combine paganism and
Christianity. I recall my advice to my friend who wanted to know what to say to his girl
about being topless on the beach. Better make sure no one back her in the USA finds out
or you will never be able to attend church where you attend again. Nudity and corporate
spiritual disciplines are probably always going to be practiced by the few and minority not
the majority of Christians. That minority can also expect to be misrepresented, maligned
and rejected. If this is something you cannot accept, then you better practice this in
absolute secrecy (which in todays age is tremendously difficult) or dont bother at all.

4) Lack of Spiritual Maturity Honestly, there are some people who simply do not have
the spiritual maturity for prayer in community let alone practice nudity in community. There
needs to be some deep soul-searching before engaging in nudity with others. Are you
mature enough to view nudity as a means of approaching God and not view nudity as the
focus of your worship? If you say no, it does not necessarily mean you cannot practice it,
just be aware at that point you are not engaging in nudity because your are mature enough
to handle it but that you are using it to become mature enough to handle it.
This is of course true with all spiritual disciplines, but nudity is not a common practiced
spiritual discipline and many people simple do not view it that way. This leaves the person
who would like to practice corporate nudity in a spiritual context only a few of options: 1)
Secrecy, 2) being part of a community full-time where there is a place of worship or 3)
gaining the means in life so that no matter what, the repercussions will not affect them or
their family even into the future. All of these are not easy to gain and in some cases might
be impossible.
At this point in this series I am beyond the realm of my personal experience, so anyone
who has such experiences is more than welcome to comment to help my ignorance.

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Naked Before God Part 9 Naked Worship

with Others
Many of the disciplines in community worship are also
disciplines of individual worship. Scripture reading,
praise, prayer and stewardship all carry over. You
could also say that other disciplines like meditation,
fasting, simplicity, submission and pilgrimage can be
done as a group. Bible Study in small groups might
also be considered group worship of a sorts. Some
new things here are worship items that can only be
done in community preaching and the
sacraments come immediately to mind as all of these
require more than one person to be done as all. I want to speak to nature of community
worship and nudity and then look at what could be accomplished in the unique things that
can only be done in community worship if nakedness was a part of it.
Nakedness in all these if the challenges could be overcome as mentioned in part 8 of this
series, would be a matter of bringing in all the positive spiritual sides of nudity. The
vulnerability, openness, intimacy, genuineness, wholeness and equality all would become
part of the worship experience with others when nudity is present. The real problem
remains as the challenges of maturity, focus and exhibitionism would remain. Cultural
acceptance can be diminished if you find a group of like-minded nudists but the other three
would still be present. All the disciplines we have discussed before can be done in groups
and thus the effects of those disciplines would have an added dynamic.
I want to point out however that distraction, spiritual elitism and maturity have always
existed in multiple forms in every worship service. My time in the Pentecostal church
taught me that these things are ever-present even in church. I have seen people think
they are more mature than others because they speak in tongues and they think they are
more spiritually in tune with God. I have seen individuals who completely become
distractions for everyone else because they were moved by the spirit to scream and fall
under the power. Simply put the issues that nudity would bring in are no different in many
ways than what already exists only in a different form.
The real issue in worship is that we are all there to become more like Christ and that

means facing these issues and developing the one thing that worship is supposed to bring
about more than anything Humility before God and each other. Humility is the key to any
worship that is effective and in many ways nudity could be a tool that could bring that
about in groups of people. Humility is the starting point of revival and it remains that nudity
and nudism in proper spiritual context is about adding a reflective humility to the discipline
process.
The unique things that are part of community worship and not a part of individual worship
are mostly centered around Preaching of the Word and the Sacraments.
1) Preaching the Word Preaching the Word of God by its nature is about exposing
ones self to the Word of God in an effort to change by responding to that preaching.
Good preaching is about exhortation to change. Nudity would do two things specifically if
they were a part of this and engaged with proper humility: 1) It would get rid of the elitism
of the pulpit Suits and ties with all the professionalism that goes with them are in my
mind one of the great problems of the ministry. They are symbols to me of opulent wealth,
a lack of humility and how church has become more corporate than spiritual. If the
preacher had to preach naked, I would suspect what he has to say would be more
important to him than how he looks. The focus would be removed from him and placed on
the preaching itself. 2) The hearers are forced to give up the protective barrier of clothing
before God Word as they hear it and symbolically and spiritually expose themselves to the
seeds of Gods word. If humility is present with the nakedness of the person, the possibility
of Gods word falling on hard soil becomes diminished. The other side benefit is you lose
the judgmental stares of if she really loved God she wouldnt dress like that because
every one would be genuinely be dressed equally. In this context, everyone would have to
be naked both preacher and hearers for it to be effective.
2) Baptism In the ancient past of Christianity, nudity was actually part of the baptism
service. The person would come into the service, shed all their clothes, be baptized in the
nude and then as they exited the water, they would be presented with a new white robe.
The symbolism is about the shedding of their old life, being born again to a new life
through the resurrection of Christ and then being re-clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Mostly this was done males with males and females with females which is what
necessitated female deaconesses. There are also records however of coed baptism
services. In either case, I think the combination of clothing and nudity makes a powerful
and lasting statement to the person being baptized and the community of faith.
3) Foot Washing The demonstration in a foot washing service is one of mutual
submission and taking on the form of a servant. Nudity would definitely have a place here
as the person washing the others feet being nude would be the lowest form of servant
hood the slave. Honestly, each person shedding their clothes and taking their turn as a

naked slave washing the feet of others would leave a powerful impression. Everyone
being naked would demonstrate the mutual slavery we have toward each other and that
the one who would be greatest in the kingdom of God should be the servant of all. Either
way the statement of servant hood and mutual submission would be present in a more
powerful way.
4) Communion Taking of the body and blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine is a
powerful symbolic image in and of itself. Adding nudity would actually have some
merit. Being naked would actually reflect the state Jesus was actually in when he was
crucified. Most Christian art cleans this up with a loincloth, but truth be told part of the
humiliation of the cross is that Jesus was naked upon it. The Romans were using
crucifixion as a way to make a political statement every time it was used. Part of that
statement was the complete crushing and humiliation of the individual that crossed them.
That included stripping the person completely naked. By being naked during communion
would reflect the humility of Christ as he had his body broken and his blood shed for
us and our redemption.
I think (I am not speaking from personal experience) nudity in such communal worship
events would be experiences that would be enhanced reflective opportunities of spiritual
growth. The problems in my mind in community nude worship are not insurmountable
because it is the problems confronted that bring the spiritual growth, not running away
from them.

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https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/naked-before-god-part-10-naked-fellowship/

Naked Before God Part 10 Naked Fellowship

Perhaps the first thing that needs to be defined is the idea of
fellowship. In a Christian context it is more than just hanging
out and having a good time. In many ways a Christian
fellowship group that meets for spiritual reasons is meeting to
gain the benefits of nakedness without being naked. The
attempt is spiritual transparency involving openness, equality,
vulnerability, etc. that is a part of nudity to begin with but in a
spiritual sense. Most of the time Christian fellowship is about
spiritual nakedness without being naked physically.
A typical Christian fellowship group is about doing these things by having people open up
on a far deeper level than just normal relationships get. God is brought into the equation
either through prayer or Bible study. Sometimes both are attempted, but most of the time
the group will gravitate to one or the other. To intensify the fellowship aspects you either
have to have a time of questions about a persons spirituality (in a prayer group) or
organize your Bible study questions in such a way that each person gets to reflect on the
meaning of the passage for themselves. If there is not this Spiritual questioning of self in
the context of community; in my opinion, it degenerates into just another social club.
The best fellowship groups with this type of accountability in history were created and
operated by John Wesley and the Methodists. The deep questioning and prayer were
both there and the class meetings were much the same. John Wesley realized that he
needed to strip away the defensive veneer people put up and get to the core of the
person. He is in reality the creator of support groups but in a purely spiritual context. In
his context though, nudity would not have been possible given the culture of his day, so I
think he made the questions deliberately harder to get past these outer defenses.
Nudity as part of a fellowship group discipline would create a symbolic and actual
vulnerability and openness physically that would be present spiritually in time. It brings
up communal nudity as a group reflective opportunity that could lead to that more open
spiritual state that could lead to greater fellowship. The real question would be about
spiritual maturity or simple familiarity with being nude in front of others without it being a
distraction or an ego trip.
In reading naturists and nudists, they all speak of loving communing both with their fellow

nudists/naturists as well as nature in this way, but often they speak about how they dont
feel naked spirituality in a group context is possible. In this area, I think many of them are
missing the opportunity to both understand and practice spiritual fellowship because they
dont perceive of what they are doing as spiritual and they are seeing it as purely a social
or emotional experience. There is a reason the Scriptures encourage gathering together
of believers and that is the discipline of fellowship. In this one case, I actually think nudists
and naturalists might have something to learn from Christians that do not practice nudity
as a discipline.

edraby.wordpress.com

https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/naked-before-god-part-11-naked-confession/

Naked Before God Part 11 Naked Confession

James 5:16

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and

pray for one another so that you may be healed. The
effective [o]prayer of a righteous man can
accomplish much.

The real problem with the discipline of confession is that

there are two very different views about it in a Christian
context. Catholics will talk about a priest as a confessor
while Protestants, who believe in the priesthood of all
believers, will speak of confession in terms of being
accountable to others of their faith. Protestants have this notion that any Christian can
confess to another Christian as per James 5:16 above. I do however see some
Protestants who also place an emphasis on confessing to someone who has some
spiritual maturity or a minister.
Confession involves others, you can confess to God your sins but in the Bible there is an
emphasis that confession should take part in some way in the community of faith as well.
The real problem is that many times people confess to others there sins and then that
confession gets used by the confessor to religiously manipulate and control. In order to
have true confession both sides have to have an understanding of what that confession is
supposed to do it is supposed to lead to forgiveness through accountable repentance.
The confessor must be a person who can not only hear the confession, but be ready to
pray for spiritual healing and forgiveness and they must also be ready to provide continued
accountability and suggest penance and restitution.
Penance and restitution are the action of confession. Confession leads to something
called reconciliation. Reconciliation may involve restoring something to the person who
was sinned against. In the case of theft for example returning the item and maybe giving
back something more for being in the wrong. Another example, gossiping about someone
might not only just involve going to that person and asking forgiveness but also going to
the people you gossiped too and telling them you are a gossip and what you said was not

true. The goal of confession is not just the unburdening of your soul but also to come up
with a plan of action that restores what your sin broke. Sometimes complete restoration is
not possible but as much as possible should be attempted.
Nudity in confession might look something like this:
1) If both the confessed and confessor were naked, there would I believe be a sense of
vulnerability and openness in the equation that could be very beneficial in strengthening
the force of the confession, but everyone would have to be mindful of the risks of such
confessions. Confession and council are risky enough without nudity and if the confessed
sins are of a sexual nature then clothing might be a good option in such confessions. This
is why I have always recommended small groups for stuff like this. Groups of people used
to being naked and spiritual in each others presence might have more success with this
idea as the physical nudity would not be so much a big deal so much as a sign of how the
person confessing feels. People give off far more body language that is revealing when
they are naked than when they are clothed.
2) This of course would lead to insight into yourself if you are the confessing person. Are
you nervous about being both naked and confessing your sins to others? If so what does
this reveal about your spiritual state? Also once the confession is made and action taken
how then do you feel about being naked then? Does your sense of forgiveness translate
into feeling unashamed about your nakedness? Feeling of shame and guilt always seem
to be associated with sin and this is reflected in how we feel being naked. See Adam and
Eve.
Of all the disciplines in relationship to nakedness, this one has the highest risk factor. I
think your going to have to be very spiritually mature or practice this in the context of group
confession to minimize these risks. The vulnerability inherent in nakedness makes this
discipline also have the potential for great good if handled properly however and so the
question as always with nudity as both a discipline and an accompanying discipline is
whether or not the risk is worth the potential reward and reconciliation.
Outside of Christianity, I must freely confess ;) that I would have trouble seeing the
advantages of this discipline other than if your were looking at a means of identifying
problems in relationships and having some desire to find a way to repair them. It would
greatly depend on your definition and concept of sin.

edraby.wordpress.com

https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/naked-before-god-part-12-naked-celebration/

Naked Before God Part 12 Naked Celebration

In
Richard
Fosters book Celebration of Discipline, Foster starts with the idea that disciplines are
about liberation and lead to celebration of life and freedom from sin in Christ within
ourselves and with others. He ends his book with the Discipline of Celebration. In my
case, I will conclude my look at the disciplines here as well but not this series as I think
one more thing needs to be done which address the problems with nudity as a discipline in
detail and address possible solutions to those problems. For now though , celebration will
be on the agenda in the context of what nudity as a spiritual discipline can bring to the
table.
Celebration is ultimately a corporate discipline and it is the spiritual discipline that cuts
deepest against the idea of disciplines being all about serious contemplation being the
only way to spiritual enlightenment. That spiritual growth and enlightenment can be found
in celebration of the good things of life and faith in the context of fellow believers is
something that is a mainstay of the discipline of celebration. It is a discipline because it is
not something that everyone naturally does. I myself have a very hard time with outward
and corporate disciplines in general as I am much more of an introspective person than
others. Celebration for some requires deliberate action to prepare and gather. It also
involves a concept that not everything in life is evil or wrong. (a fact that seems to elude
most Christians). Some things in life are indeed good and wholesome and should be
celebrated.
The best examples of this actually found in the Old Testament celebrations like the
Sabbath year, the year of Jubilee, and other Jewish feasts. It also can be found in
celebration of family life events birthdays and anniversaries. Also, celebration can be
done for no reason at all gathering with friends to celebrate just being friends is not a
bad move at all. If we were honest with ourselves such events all have a spiritual side that
comes with celebrating such things with others celebrating the same thing.
The ultimate goal of celebration is JOY. The goal is a community feeling of pleasure and
happiness that comes with a group of people. Like it or not a lot of our joy comes from
being with others and sharing our happiness. This is also what ultimately makes
celebration a corporate discipline because by ourselves we cannot maintain such joy and
happiness indefinitely. It is only in the sharing of joy and happiness that we can maintain

joy for longer periods of time. We rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those
weep (mourning if done properly is a celebration of the life of the departed or a moving on
to something better when something is lost).
Where then would nudity come in? We must return to the positive spiritual benefits of
nudity that started our journey in this series. Vulnerability, Openness, Intimacy,
Genuineness, Wholeness and Equality are all the things we strive for in celebration but in
a far more corporate sense and nudity brings all those to the table in and of itself but in a
group context. All the things I have said before about people being comfortable being
naked with each other apply of course but the main effect is a community spiritual growth
in the fruit of Joy by being all these things together on a corporate level.
This idea has actually been, in my humble opinion, the basis of the belief that sex is
a spiritual event or discipline of its own. A couple that makes love does so naked usually
and as such demonstrates this kind of intimacy. Sex is also the best place to see the
celebration aspects of spirituality in a marriage. If Joy is the goal as well as better
understanding of each other on all levels, sex becomes far more than a mechanical act but
a true act of intimacy on all levels and nudity is a part of that intimacy. It is getting back to
being naked and unashamed as man and wife and celebrating that state of being.
On a larger group level, the physical intimacy may be absent at the same level as
lovemaking, but the idea is still present. Everyone is open, vulnerable in a good way and
genuine. No one can posture or claim superiority in such celebrations. Isnt it amazing
that people go to parties and social functions and dress in a way to impress others with
how much better they are than someone else. Everything is about judging outward
appearance at such social gatherings, even when in done in church. Nudity, as said
before makes all things much more equal by stripping off the outward trappings and
making everyone in that sense equal.
There is also the possibility for naturists to not only celebrate each other but celebrate
together with Gods creation and God himself in complete openness outdoors. The
spiritual effect of communing with nature, God and each other and celebrating all that
together in a group would, in my opinion, be very profound. The real challenge is the
wholeness of the group but celebration is actually the discipline that generates wholeness
through camaraderie and unity of joy. Nudity would simply make this a little easier, if
everyone was comfortable being naked in front of others in the first place.
The real issue now is the obstacles to nudity as a spiritual discipline. They are many and
considerable but I think the real issue will boil down assessing the truth and applying it.
Unfortunately, truth is not something are comfortable with. In fact, I would say people are
more uncomfortable with the truth than naked people running around. The first problem I

think is the false notion that nakedness is in and of itself sinful or evil from a theological
point of view.

edraby.wordpress.com
https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/naked-before-god-part-13-naked-problem-1-spiritual-nakedness-vs-wrong-theologicalconception/

Naked Before God Part 13 Naked Problem #1:

Spiritual Nakedness vs. Wrong
Theological Conception

I have actually written on the subject of the theology of nakedness fairly extensively. The
post though that I am reaching back to on this particular problem is The Bible and
Nakedness Part 1 Eden Again. In it much of the argument for nakedness being the
right state for humanity and it is the Fall of mankind that brings shame to nudity. Even
then the question remained for me was this shame in nakedness directed toward each
other or was it a shame of being in Gods presence naked. As my study concluded I had
to conclude that Adam and Eves shame was not between each other, they are really in the
same boat. The shame is directed toward God because of their sin. Adam and Eve dont

have a naked problem, they have a sin problem.

The real first problem in nakedness in a religious context is that our theology is bad and
quite frankly inconsistent. The standard argument is that because of sin nudity is sinful, but
that is not what actually is going on and the other side of the argument about sin is that
Jesus sacrifice on the cross removes all consequences of the Fall but we want to say it is
not right for people to return to being naked and unashamed. In the above post I cited I
listed the consequences of the Fall:
1. Separated relationship with God for Mankind
2. Separated relationship between man and woman (with woman becoming subservient to
man)
3. Beginning of loss of relationship with creation
4. Hard work for men
5. Increased pain in childbirth for women
6. Loss of the tree of life and Eden
7. SHAME in Being Naked
8. Having to wear clothes
Now, looking at all of these there is in a sense some change in thinking because of Christ:
1) Relationship Between God and Mankind being restored back to friendship with God
through Christ.
2) In Christ, Man and Woman can enjoy closeness and oneness in a new life in Christ and
each other. Women are given much more prominence and equality in Christ than before
Christ.
3) While I would say that the relationship with between Creation and Mankind is stained, it
does not have to remain so as the final redemption of creation is promised in Christ and
there is a possibility of renewal in Christ.
4) Actually the curse of the ground was lifted after the flood and even though mankind
works hard in many ways because of new life in Christ work can be a discipline to lead us
closer to God.

5) Women still experience pain in childbirth, but Paul in First Timothy promises some form
of salvation through childbirth because of Christ.
6) Eternal Life is regained in Christ although we still have to pass through death to get it.
At this point I want to point that all of these are in what we call a already but not yet state
of redemption because of Christ. There are elements of all these that are already
redeemed and have change right now because of Christ but there is also a promise of
future additional redemption in each of these areas. So why would there not also be a
sense of already but not yet in some way as regarding both shame in nakedness and
having to wear clothes?
7) If Christ has removed our sin and covered our spiritual shame because of sin, why
would we still be ashamed to be naked in His presence or the presence of others? The
already is that we should at least be able to disrobe in Gods presence and feel not shame
and in fact such a thing would indicate what we really feel about our sin and Christs effect
on it. The not yet is that because of pervasive sin in society in both religious and non
religious contexts is that not everyone can accept this idea. Those who can should do so
but with a mind for their weaker brother who cannot accept this. Someday after final
redemption this will be gone, but for now I think it will always exist. Note though, the
problem is not nudity itself but peoples conception of it.
8) Clothes are indeed the result of our shame and should not be looked at as good.
Nakedness is good; having to cloth ourselves is a result of sin and sinfulness. Some
cannot accept this however and so the same rules apply as #7.
What I want to point out for those who want to practice nudism or naturism in a spiritual
context in any form is that not everyone is going to accept what youre doing is right and
that will probably never change. Form time to time you might persuade someone or
certain parts of society to your position but not everyone.
On the flip side in addressing those who think that nudity is sinful, I would point out to you
that theologically you have to twist Scripture to get this interpretation. The Bible never
says nudity in and of itself is sinful. Sin twists our conception of nakedness and makes it
sinful in our mind. The removal of sin should also remove the twisting. Not everyone can
accept this and we need to accept this reality as part of the problem, but we need to get
over the idea that if someone is naked they are sinning. Adam and Eve were naked and
they were not sinning, they were simply being the way they were created to be. It is
inconsistent to say that Jesus redeems us from the Fall and then say that nudity is still
sinful even though Christ has rid us of ALL sin. Sorry, you are probably going to start
treating Christian nudist as a brother or sister and not an enemy. They may actually be

more mature in Christ in this area than you.

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https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/naked-before-god-part-14-naked-problem-2-spiritual-nakedness-vs-religion/

Naked Before God Part 14 Naked Problem #2:

Spiritual Nakedness vs. Religion
If we are going to deal with why religious nakedness as a spiritual
discipline might not be accepted by the mainstream we have to first
look at religion and this is actually where things can go a number of
different directions. Fact is that some religions actually are very
accepting of nakedness in spiritual practice. Eastern religions are
as a rule more accepting of this than west. It is interesting that the
religions of the world that are the most monotheistic (Islam,
Judaism and Christianity) are also the most non accepting of nudity in the context of
spiritual disciplines. I can speak toward Christianity with some authority, but some of the
main issues with Islam and the equality of women directly stem from the idea of women
being both modest and not showing any skin but face and hands. Judaism tends to follow
whether or not the Jewish person in question is conservative or liberal. Liberal Jewish
women tend to be far more open to nudity in the context of their faith than most.
Christianity is much the same but in the United States the conservatives rule the roost for
the most part, so nudity in the context of spiritual growth is very rare.
This has not always been the case in Christianity. You only have to look at certain mystical
groups in Christian history, certain forms of monasticism through the centuries and
Christian art to know than nudity has not always been looked at as a negative force in
Christianity. Michelangelos Sistine Chapel is great example of this with its many naked
figures in many different contexts. Simply put the current attitude toward nudity is not
something that has always existed in Christianity.
I want to differentiate between faith and religion from my perspective. Faith is something
that must be freely embraced. It is to trust and believe in something because you want to,
not because you are forced or indoctrinated to do so. In all things, if someone has faith,
they have chosen without coercion to believe what they believe.
Religion is by its very nature into persuading people to believe something through fear,
manipulation or simply not allowing people to believe something else. Religion is about
controlling peoples belief so that there is no variation in belief and everyone thinks and
believes the same. In religion there is a great emphasis on discipling people when they
are young or new to the faith so they know the truth. Religion has the tendency to fear

new ideas and concepts when it comes to belief and to control this information and they
often demonize anyone who believes differently than they do. When a religion considers
something they ask only the question of is this dangerous to what we believe? It
becomes about the control of information and behavior so a persons faith is not upset.
Nudity in modern Christianity has always been problematic, particularly in the United
States. Mostly this is because American Christianity has a hard time with new concepts in
general and nudity in particular. The main thing this does is your average American
Christian cannot make a distinction between nudity and sex. They are taught that to be
naked is to invite sex and to be honest this is not going to go away.
When a child grows up in a religious Christian household, they are almost immediate
confronted with parents who are working very hard to maintain their reputation as good
Christian parents. To this end they quickly teach their children that they must not be naked
and their naked body is something sinful before God. Not only does this lead to poor body
image by a lot of Christian boys and girls, but it seems to defy the idea that all creations of
God are good and that includes the human body. What is dangerously taught here is that
to be nude is to be a sinner and so this causes any looking at ones body to also be
sinful. Sex and nudity become intertwined and so both are viewed as evil.
Over time, it becomes very hard for people to break this religious indoctrination. Say
something over and over and it becomes true. It simply is believed because authority said
so and that to break the word of authority is to sin. My question was always who sets up
these authorities? Most of them were set up by themselves for their own sense of power
and control over others. It is quite another matter to simply allow others to accept your
authority rather than have it forced on you. If you do not agree, you are shunned,
excommunicated or simply told you are going to hell now. How people in religion set
themselves up in the position of God to make such decisions escapes me but they do.
To someone who wishes to be a Christian and a practitioner of nudity in the context of
spiritual disciplines, the main thing that will be faced is fear, fear of discovery. I myself in
writing this series realize that some people are going to label me in certain ways and reject
me as a person who poses as being a Christian but I am teaching falsehood. By writing
this stuff I am risking a lot, not because I believe that what I am saying is wrong, but
because Christianity in religious form cannot accept anything different other than what they
have been taught for many years. I have already had one person stop following this blog
because of the fear they have of being discovered. I understand his fear and respect it
because he is right to fear this religious force. It has no mercy or tolerance for variation in
belief. It also can be quite harsh in its reaction. The only thing that really shields me is
that I am independent and known for being a free thinking Christian. I also have made it
very clear that if anyone cares to disagree they are welcome to do so and if they want to

debate me they are more than welcome as well. So far, no real takers.
This of course leads me to my current problem in this series. I designed it to bring about
dialogue between a lot of different groups: nudists, non-nudists, naturists, spiritual
practitioners of all religions and conservative Christians of many sorts. The problem is not
who has shown up but who has not. It is the conservative Christian who is absent from the
dialogue. Oh, I have had some Christians comment but the ones that have are pretty freespirited or the one person who left who gave me some Scriptural objections (finally) to
what I was saying. I plan on engaging what he was saying later in this series, but I
understand his exodus. On Facebook only one Christian friend explained some personal
issues with this idea and I concurred that naked spirituality might be something far off for
her because of some things she had been through. I have always maintained this is a
matter of conscience but still silence from the Christian right for the most part. The
nudists, naturalists and more open-minded seeker have been far more active with me on
this topic and I am not surprised.
This is the very problem that illustrates perfectly the effect of religion in engaging this
topic. The conservative Christian does not want to engage it because they do not want to
be stained by the mere engaging of the topic. To them to engage in discussion on nudity
in the context of prayer is to pervert prayer. They have always been taught this directly or
indirectly so they do not question it. In truth they have not really thought about it because
they are a) not allowed to do so or b) not encouraged to do so. Fear is what keeps them
from doing so. They do not want to be excommunicated in some way simply for even
questioning what they have been taught. This is sad but it illustrates the effects quite well
when it comes to religion and nudity.
For someone who wishes to add nudity to their disciplines or experience as a Christian I
give the same advice I have already given: be very careful. Your going to have to make a
decision somewhere along the line of how much this is worth to you and your spiritual
growth. Most of you will have to keep this a secret or you could lose your place in your
church and community. Reputation is largely cultural so if your reputation is necessary to
minister in a community be very careful not to throw it away just so you can meditate in the
nude. There are some who do not really care and seek to create their own communities
based on naked spirituality. Understand given the current climate of religion in the United
States and other places this may very well be a one way street. Once you pass through
that door, you may not be able to get back again so choose very carefully.
Oddly enough though, as much as religion is blind to this issue, societal forces are also
strong against nudity as well.

edraby.wordpress.com
https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/naked-before-god-part-15-naked-problem-3-spiritual-nudity-vs-society/

Naked Before God Part 15 Naked Problem #3:

Spiritual Nudity vs. Society

The real interesting thing about nudity is it not just religious prudes that stand against it.
Culture and society on the western world seems to also have a problem and I have always
found this puzzling. Recently I have come to realize that there are many forces in society
that have a vested interest in keeping people clothed or if nudity does take place it needs
to be in a controlled situation. The battle lines are many but in the case of spiritual

disciplines involving nudity, the issue of public nudity seems to still cause many people to
recoil and want some controls. Ultimately, it is not only religion that seeks to use this issue
to control people but politicians and other societal forces as well. Some of these forces
may seem to be surprising, others not so much. This is of course not an exhaustive list
but it does highlight how deep the problem is.
The Pornography Industry:
Surprised? You shouldnt be if you think about this one hard enough. The pornographic
industry makes its money on two basic types of porn the porn that depicts idealized
nudity and the porn that depicts sexual acts. The first type would take a nasty knock
if nudity becomes common place enough that it is no big deal. Why buy something if it is
available free of charge. Secondly and more importantly, when people begin to
understand that the naked women and men in porn are not the general rule of the human
body because people can see the real thing more often, do you think people might begin
to realize they have been sold something instead of reality? The fact is the pornographic
industry has good reason to keep nudity dirty so it can sell it as dirty material.
The Fashion Industry
Other than the obvious, if people enjoy nudity more we will sell less clothes, there is
simply the matter that fashion and gossip seem to go hand in hand. How can you have a
wardrobe malfunction and cause a stir that makes the gossip tabloids if nudity is
commonly accepted? Like it not, the fashion industry uses nudity very selectively, they like
it a grey area so they can keep the rumors and gossip flowing. Showing the girls off too
much is as much a moral statement as a fashion one and the fashion industry has a
whole branch of its industry devoted to selective nudity in a naughty context lingerie. If
nudity in normal, they too stand to lose a great deal of money.
Psychology:
I blame psychology here on a lot of levels. Freud started the whole everything is related
to sex idea and began to try to classify certain behaviors as sexually deviant. Among
them was the desire to be naked and public nudity. Now I realize there are other branches
of psychology now that disagree with Freud, but this illustrates the real problem with
psychology. Psychology is still a child compared to other sciences. It very much
resembles the medical profession 200 years ago before an understanding of germ theory
and infection. Lots of theories, not a lot of hard facts. However, these theories are often
used to classify people with certain deviancy in society but the fact is psychology is
undecided as to whether nudism and naturism are deviant behaviors or simply normal
desires in a certain percentage of the population.

The Law
The law is always a Johnny Come Lately to change in any context but when it comes
nudity in public they are truly slow moving. The Law is simply a reflector of what is
commonly believed but it changes slower than the common belief. You could have, for
instance, a community with a majority of people that want to put in an clothing optional
beach but the law says no so you have to go through the process of changing it. That
process of change can not only be lengthy but blocked by a minority who hold the power
for the express reason of stopping such things from taking place. It often comes down to
long battles and lots of angry words.
The law has another more nasty context for nudists and naturists in the simple idea of
indecent exposure. This is at best a nebulous concept because there always seem to be
exceptions to the rule. The danger is that you might end up on some sexual predator
registry for doing nothing more than taking a walk in the woods naked. Indecent
exposure has a lot of problems because when you ask what makes exposure
indecent you will get a lot of answers and none of it consistent. Ask a simple question like
what makes showing a womans nipple in public wrong and a showing a male nipple not
wrong? and you are going to get an emotional or cultural response not a logical one.
When laws are based on emotions and a desire to control behavior they usually are lousy
laws. When it comes to the idea of indecent exposure, this is particularly true. I simply
ask: is it right that a guy who took a leak of the side of a boat has to register as a sex
offender when he didnt think any one was watching and there was nothing sexual about
his intent or actions? The fact is the indecent exposure laws tend to be pretty harsh in
punishment but weak in thought.
Politicians:
Like it or not politicians like to use nudity issues to cloud other issues. In February
of 2013 the North Carolina Legislature proposed a bill to criminalize womens nipples in
public places. They made exceptions of course breastfeeding mothers, strippers,
incidental exposure and (get this) any other situation where the nipple might be working.
Male nipples can work or be at rest and be exposed with no problem, but a womans
nipples must work to be legal and exposed. Funny huh? The real issues of deficit
spending, jobless people and other such things seemed to lack the importance of this
one. I wonder if they realized that this kind of legislation is the exact kind of
thing certain groups would need to challenge all indecency laws on the basis of sexual
discrimination? For the standpoint of pure law, this is sexual discrimination. The fact is
this was used to misdirect people from the real issues.
Culture:

The one issue kind of highlights the whole stupidity of our culture is the topfree /topless
debate because almost all laws regarding womens breasts allow a woman to show every
part of her breast except the nipple. You have to do this because of swimsuits and
sunbathing. What that means in 99% of the Union known as the United States a woman
showing all her breast except the nipple is legal. The woman below could show up in
public in most places in the United States and be perfectly legal to do so.
I dont know, seems that she is far more
sensual because of the pasties to me.
Disagree that this is legal? How is it
different than this swimsuit which is
legal on every beach in the United
States?
What this highlights is the only real
reason we think women being topless is
wrong is we culturally have always
believed it is so. It also highlights what I
said about the fashion industry. So a
woman is allowed to show the top, sides
and bottom of her breasts but not her
nipple. I ask, how is this more moral
exactly? What exactly is it about female
nipples that is evil or sinful compared to
mens seeing the structure of both is
exactly the same?
If one wants to engage in nudity for
spiritual reasons, the prevailing culture
then labels that person as not only
a spiritual crackpot, but perhaps a law breaking, deviant as well. But what all this really
highlights is that there is a larger issue that crosses theological, religious, cultural, political.
legal and psychological lines the inability of many people to separate nudity from sexual
behavior.

edraby.wordpress.com

https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/naked-before-god-part-16-the-core-problem/

Naked Before God Part 16 The Core Problem

I think of all the creations of God the human body is by
far the most wonderful both in its male and female
forms. When the artist known as God finally finished his
creation with mankind he changed his observation from
God saw that it was good to God saw that it was VERY
Good. I think for all the debate on the subject the one
thing that is significant is this idea that the human body
as a creation of God is a very good thing that should
cause us to like the psalmist exclaim I am fearfully and
wonderfully made.
The real problem in nudity and spirituality is that across the board of religion, society,
theology and culture is this inability to see the wonder of Gods creation in the human body
but all they can see is that being naked equals sex. Many people ultimately assume that if
you are naked you must be having sexual thoughts at that same time. This is why
perceiving nakedness or nudity as being a spiritual discipline is so hard for people
because to equate sexuality and spirituality has long been even more of a problem for
people.
Adam and Eve did not seem to have this problem in the beginning. Adam worked the land
naked and was unashamed to do so. There is nothing sexual about his tilling the ground.
Eve seems to have had her own work to do as well and she did it with no thought at all that
she was naked. I am not going to say that Adam and Eve didnt engage in sex before the
Fall as they probably did, but being naked had nothing to do with it because nudity was
normal. My point is there was in the ideal state of mankind a complete separation of the
ideas of naked and sex. Mostly because both were normal and natural and completely
separate from each other.
The change was sin began to blur things over time as nakedness and sexuality became in
some cultures unified in the thoughts of many. I would however say that not all cultures
had or still have this problem. One of my new understandings from my missions trip to
Romania is that in certain contexts partial nudity was not considered abnormal.
Women there breastfeed with little or no notice either from themselves or even men of the
culture. Romanian men took little notice. It was us Americans that made notes. When
many of the people swam, clothing was often optional as swim trunks were often absent in

peoples wardrobes.
This is not the only example I could use as many tribes all across the world had varying
degrees of nudity including full nudity. These peoples very rarely had a problem with it
before westerners showed up. You cant make a theological case that sin always causes
nudity to lead to shame between human beings because of nakedness on a practical
level. This actually usually results from western viewpoints being imposed on other
cultures. Nor could you cite natural law because there really is no across the board
universal standard of what nudity is or shame because of it. Ultimately we have the views
we have on it because we live in a certain culture and we have been taught certain things
by our parents.
It is ultimately theology, religion and society that form our viewpoint on nudity and its place
with us and we get our start from our family in these matters. We are taught to be
ashamed of our bodies and often the first teaching of this comes from parents. It is
probably easier to see this in girls as even before they have breasts they are taught wear
two piece swimsuits and underwear. Why when there are no breasts to cover? Ultimately
this covering up causes many girls to start thinking there is something shameful about their
bodies If young children streak in front of guests, parents become mortified and punish
the child so the child quickly learns there is something to be ashamed of by showing their
body to others. When pressed later in life parents often tell children you should not be
naked with someone unless you are having sex and in a Christian context this is even
more pronounced as sex should not be done until after marriage. The equating of sex and
nudity starts early and continues all through development but the message in the end is
clear being naked is naughty and it means you are being sexual.
The reality is even in this context the teaching is inconsistent and does not play itself out in
life. I am fairly sure that a three year old streaking through the house naked is not thinking
sexual thoughts, but this goes for adults as well. As I have pointed out that even in our
restrictive society we are naked in private, alone or in family, many times but the thoughts
are not always on sex. We are showering, getting dressed, or just living our daily lives in
some way and being naked at the same time. I ask each person: when you are doing
these things is your mind always on sex? I think we would all say -no. So if we are not
always thinking about sex ourselves while naked, why does it then follow that to be naked
is to be sexual?
I suppose one could argue the sexual part comes when we look at the nakedness of
others, but I dont think this is true either. For those that have in the course of their lives
seen their parents naked or siblings, there are certainly not in many cases any sexual
thoughts. The fact is that incestuous thoughts, contrary to Freud, are rare and they are
certainly not 100% of the time we are naked with family members, even spouses.

Stepping outside the family do we see something different? I have already pointed out
that we have all had locker room, doctor visits and other situations where we have been
naked with others and this has not always lead to sexual thoughts. Being naked with the
opposite sex? At this point I think we have to look somewhat at the differences in men
and women.
Women are not sexually stimulated by what they see as much as what they feel. This
means that being naked with a man does not necessarily translate into arousal for them. I
am not saying it cant but usually when women have sex it is not just because a guy shows
up naked. Sometimes this is actually a turn off for some women. Not because they think
being naked is bad, but they would like to have some sort of feelings for a guy before
they have sex with him or have some other motive to do so besides the visual nakedness.
Men are a different story. Men are visually aroused by women and I think in large part this
is biological. I wrote a long time ago on this phenomena in Curve Addiction Why
Men Stare. What Georgia Gwinnett College proved in their study was that there is
a pleasure for men in looking at womens bodies. It also should be noted however that this
pleasure took place regardless of being clothed or unclothed and that means this takes
place regardless of the womans state of dress. What I would also like to say at this point
is this pleasure CAN lead to arousal sexually, but not necessarily. I have done my share of
girl watching in my life, but I can also say that not every girl I took pleasure from in my
mind I wanted to have sex with. I can also say that I was not physical aroused many
times during the activity of girl watching, it was mostly a psychological pleasure. Just
because you like how a woman looks does not necessarily mean you want to sleep with
her. Even the idea of a woman dressing sensually to be sexually arousing to men is not
much more than emphasizing the curves to a greater degree. What a man choses to do
about this is still the product of whether he choses to cross the line from admiration to lust.
We are human beings, not animals.
I can also say that familiarity can bring boredom (in the case of pornography for example)
or simply acceptance. If you spend a lot of time with something it becomes normal to you
and it means you can start to make choices about it instead of just being led by base
impulse. I think this is where nudists and naturists prove something to the rest of us. They
live and act in nudity and they are not out having orgies or engaged in sexual activity any
more than rest of us in our clothed lives. I think this ultimately demonstrates that nudity
does not necessarily lead to sex. The idea that nudity equals sex is actually more fostered
in the world where nudity is rare, not in a place where it is common.
The great shame of this from the standpoint of our relationship with God is that we have
trouble recognizing one of His greatest works of art the human body. We cannot

appreciate his handiwork like many other things in creation. The culture, religion and other
forces make this a taboo item and so we are left to find ways to do this without raising the
ire of our community around us. Largely this is simply the product of the effect of sin
which blurs the line between nudity and sexuality. The challenge for many of us is that it
takes a great deal to reverse this understanding in our minds and realize that nudity and
sexuality are separate concepts. They may be present at the same time but not
necessarily so. The great work ahead is to get people to realize this in a culture and
society who have made a choice to blend them together.
For those that want to practice spiritual nudity in the context of spiritual disciplines, this
reality must be recognized and the real challenge is to use a great deal of wisdom in how
and with who you practice spiritual nudity. The reality is that until sin is finally eliminated,
there will always be cultures and societies that will use the inability to distinguish nudity
and sexuality to control people or make life more difficult. Just because some may have
liberty in this area does not mean they have license do as they wish for a multitude of
reasons. There are still many other factors to consider including being a peace with all
men and women and the level of negative effects this can have on you and your family.
Be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.
I think the main force in overcoming this may be the spiritual disciplines themselves in the
context of nudity as a spiritual discipline. It may be the act of getting alone with God and
being naked before him that causes the transformation in a person to have greater
understanding that it is not God who has caused us to be ashamed of our nakedness but
ourselves. It is we who are responsible for the blending of our ideas of nudity and
sexuality and it may be the practice of naked spiritual disciplines that may start to change
our understanding of the relationship between nudity and sex. Not just for ourselves, but
for those around us as well.
The main study is concluded, but I have two appendices to add as two more posts.
Appendix A will deal with objections that people raise to the content of this study.
Appendix B Will be my own personal testimony regarding naked spirituality.

edraby.wordpress.com

https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/naked-before-god-appendix-a-objections/

Naked Before God Appendix A Objections

This sixteen part series has been an interesting ride and I knew
it was controversial when I started. I think this one will get
some feedback for some time on it. This Appendix has been
added to deal with objections to my view on this issue. Oddly
enough I have received very few of them. I will take them each
in turn and this post will receive additions as more are given.
Objection #1 From a friend on Facebook I received a
comment that the reason she didnt think much of nudist and
nudism was that her experience was people who were very
much of an exhibitionist mind. Look at me I am naked does
have the connotation of pride or maybe even just being defiant
to law or culture. Using nudity as a spiritual discipline would
definitely want to avoid this attitude. The real problem is that many groups of people get
defined by their more flamboyant members because they are the most visible members.
The person who is quietly engaged in nudism in their own home or a naturist who sheds
her clothes in a secluded grove to meditate or commune with nature is not this kind of
person, in fact they may be quite shy. Experience is valuable but my not always give us a
correct picture of reality much like reason or tradition. We should never judge a people
group by the worst of their representation but their best.
Objection #2 Bob Hunter wrote me this objection as a comment on one of the posts

Observing that Jesus appeared / appears in shining clothes rather than

without any on the Mount of Transfiguration and in the book of Revelation, I
respectfully disagree with your conclusions.

First of all this actually is a multiple part question:

1) Jesus in his earthly life and ministry did wear clothes but it leads to then a question of
deeper theology to use this as an objection to nudity as a spiritual discipline what sin did
he commit then so that he had a need to wear clothes? Your response is that Jesus didnt
sin so therefore Jesus is wearing clothes for a different reasons other than the shame of

sin so what were they? Firstly I think Jesus wore clothes because his culture was far
stricter on public nudity than ours is but not in the way we are. For him to press this issue
would have led to him being completely rejected. He had bigger issues to deal with than
nudism or naturism. Jesus did not necessarily wear clothes because he had to, he chose
to do so to tackle bigger things or to symbolically say something about himself.
Naked people were stating their status in that society as slaves. Clothing is worn even by
ourselves for more than simply the purpose of covering nakedness. Jesus probably most
of the time wore the simple robes of a Rabbi so his purpose is not to cover his shame but
show his status in society. Oddly enough Middle Easterners of the time were not as
uptight about nudity inside the home and among family. To be honest to cite the Jesus
wears clothes as an objection is actually an argument from incomplete information
because there were probably many times Jesus was naked in life. His birth like every
human. Jews were big into washing and bathing and sometimes this was communal. Are
we to then think that in these times Jesus somehow lost his connection with the Father
simply because he was naked? There is also the cross which he would have been stripped
naked but because of his lack of shame not being a sinner I dont think that part bothered
him that much he had bigger things to consider at the time.
2) The Mount of Transfiguration real does not make a case either way as Jesus went to
the mount clothed and remained so. The difference in what happened was designed to
demonstrate his purity not in that he was clothed but in the fact that the clothing was
purest white. The clothing is once more symbolic for a different reason than covering
shame because of sin which I must reiterate Jesus would not have possessed.
3) Revelation actually makes my case in chapter three when dealing with the Church of
Laodicea. God asks that church to purchase clothing from him to cover their shame of
nakedness but this is clearly symbolic as the church people were clothed and this is a
reference to the fact the city they were in (Laodicea) was known throughout the Empire for
their black wool trade. They were physically clothed in the some of best clothing but
spiritually naked and needed that covered by the righteousness of Christ. This is pure
spiritual metaphor all around. Because of this, the rest of the times clothing is mentioned
in the book of Revelation we have to ask is this nothing more than symbolic metaphor or
not and because the possibility always exists we cant rely on it, other than to note there is
a difference between being spiritually naked and physically naked. In Revelation, Yes
Jesus does wear clothes but they are symbolic of his glory not necessarily a covering
shame. In one case he wears a robe dipped in blood which is strong symbolism. None of
this really argues one way or the other so we are left with other passages which actually
speak to the issue.
Objection #3 John Piper

http://crossmap.christianpost.com/blogs/the-rebellion-of-nudity-and-the-meaning-ofclothing-john-piper-about-sexual-purity-2403
Ok to be fair me and John Piper are about as alike theologically as dogs and cats. Were
Both Christians and that is about it. I am an open theist and John has written books
against the subject for instance. Unlike some I recognize John Piper for who he is: a guy
with a theological opinion that is popular and not necessarily right. Having now read it I
would say:
1) The idea that nudity is part of our rebellion is not presented in Scripture itself, that is
John Piper and Calvinistic theology that wants to make everything humans do since the
Fall sin to keep Total Depravity intact. Shame about nudity is a consequence of the sin not
part of the act of sin itself. If this is not so then what does he do with David dancing before
the ark of God. If what he says is true then God justified an action that had inherent
rebellion in it because of nudity.
2) Clothes are just clothes. The idea that they are somehow a testimony of past and
present failure and so future glory does not seem to fit to me. While I have no doubt that
God can take something bad and make something good out of it, I think we need to
remember shame is a result of sin and so one of the surest signs that a person is
redeemed is then a lack of shame afterwards.
3) I hate to break the news to Piper but the initial covenant with Adam and Eve is
presented to Adam and Eve but it still required their participation by obedience. That
obedience had nothing to do with being naked but not eating fruit.
4) Finally Piper demonstrates what a lot of people do with sexuality and nudity he cannot
separate the two from each other and it is rampant in this post from the title onward. The
Bible seems to be able to do so but not many theologians Piper included.

edraby.wordpress.com

https://edraby.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/naked-before-god-appendix-b-personal-reflection/

Naked Before God Appendix B

Personal Reflection
I think this all started back in 2007 when I spent a year
questioning my faith and everything that went with it. One
thing that I began to look at was the discrepancy between
what Christians say they believe and what they actually
do. One of the things that Christians say that they possess
is a desire to preach the gospel to every person but I have
noted that there are actually some notable exceptions.
Notably anyone who thinks, believes and acts considerably
different from ourselves. We also have a tendency, despite
Christs teaching against this, to bless those who bless us
and call down curses against those who do us wrong or
dont agree with our stance on things.
Before 2007, the seeds of my relooking at this particular issue were planted in my mind
by science fiction author Robert Heinlein, In a large amount of his later works his nudism
was clearly seen but it was not until I understood that his argument that I realized that from
a philosophical point of view his argument about culture and poor theology being the basis
against nudism and naturism was true. I also began to realize that unless a Biblical case
could be made against these things there was little reason to believe that nudity was evil
or sinful in and of itself.
There were other factors that played in 1) My involvement in fitness and bodybuilding
became something more than a hobby and I realized that I was spending a lot of time
looking at mostly naked people and 2) my friend asked we a question about his girl going
topless on a vacation and 3) my own struggles about nudity and lust.
These issue become the basis of two Series Nudity, Modesty and Culture and The Bible
and Nakedness and once I realized that I and many others have been taught things about
nudity that are largely religious and cultural and not Biblical I began to realize that nudity
was something far different than what I had been taught. It affected me in a lot of ways but
one thing it truly opened up to me is that nudity actually can have a positive side as well
and in particular their may be a positive effect to spiritual life.
Ultimately, I began to realize that I could couple the ideas of nudity with my new

understanding in the area of spiritual disciplines. What I did not expect was discover on
this journey in this series was that nudity could be considered a spiritual discipline in and
of itself. There is something simply spiritual in standing naked before your God and just
being who you are. The negative does not come from nudity itself but our perception of it
which often has little to do with reality but a cultural, philosophical and theological
conceptions that have very little to do with truth or reality. Most views on this subject are
long on feelings and short on thought and of course society goes with their heart instead of
their head. Despite this I decided to press on by directly engaging the topic and this series
Naked Before God began and has now been completed.
On the one hand I am experienced with some the aspects of nudity and spiritual
disciplines. I have meditated, prayed, studied, worshiped and done other spiritual
activities while being nude. No one has seen me do this other than God and I think that
part is actually part of the growth in my spirit on the subject in that it has been me and
God and just air between us. Other than that there are only a few brief experiences with
others that were not necessarily spiritual in nature, but they did get me thinking. Based on
my beliefs, my times of naked intimacy with my wife I would consider spiritual but that is
pretty much the extent of it. I can see the benefits of nudity in spiritual life for myself and I
will freely admit I would love to take the next step into corporate nudity but that may never
happen. For me, like Christ, there are bigger issues for me than nudism and naturism
being in my life. I have a wife who would disapprove and live in a local culture that is
unaccepting of the idea that nudity and sexuality are separate concepts. Therefore, I will
not engage in that half of this study for the purpose of personal experience.
On the other hand, I am no longer going to judge people who use nudity as part of their life
or spiritually as sinners. In fact I now realize what I was doing before 2007 was
objectifying nudists and naturists as a people group and for that I owe them an apology.
You are all human beings and like the rest of us and deserve respect for it. There is now
one area where I am truly envious of you and that is the spiritual side of what you do. Well
that and I would absolutely love to walk naked arm and arm with my wife on a beach
somewhere.
I have loved this series and it has opened my understanding. There has been some call
for a book on all this at least maybe a e-book 99 cent version at least. I will think and pray
on it, who knows maybe this is the subject that I can elaborate on and get published.
Naked Blessings.