Why do most christians frown upon social nudity?

Question

Is there a biblical reason for it because God is supposed to have created people in His image and it was only when they sinned that they themselves got the idea of wearing clothes. Clothing should therefore be seen as a sign that people have sins to hide and are headed in the wrong direction spiritually.

A lot of answers indicate that nudity would invoke feelings of lust. In my experience participating in social nudity does not induce lust. You can look at both men and women in such an environment and see no physical evidence of them having lustful thoughts. However, people induce lust by covering specific parts such as is the case with lingerie.

Answer 1

There is a biblical reason for it. In the bible when it talks of "nakedness" it does not only refer to the act of being naked, it also refers to having sex. In the bible the only reason you should be naked in front of another is if you plan to have sex with your significant other. In the bible it says to not uncover the nakedness of anyone in your family, because their nakedness is not yours to see.

Lev 18:8

You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. 1



Not only that but, if you are naked in front of a person you are not married to you are referred to as a "harlot" or "whore." This does not only refer to women, it means men also. Your body was only meant to be seen by the person you married. If anyone else saw you naked, it was a shameful experience. (IE It was a shameful experience because people being punished were stripped naked and paraded about in front of people in order to shame them in biblical days.)


Nah 3:5

I am against you,” declares the Lord who commands armies. 1 “I will strip off your clothes! 2 I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms;


Hope that helped. :)

Answer 2

There is no problem with nudity per say. God did create our bodies, but generally seeing naked people causes people to lust, and that is the problem. If you could have a society where people lusted after clothed people, then being naked would be the acceptable thing.

Answer 3

The thing is, human sexuality is a very great good created by God.

Our sexual organs are the most sacred parts of our body.


But because of the nature of fallen man, our sexuality has become exceedingly difficult to control.

That is why safeguards must be put into place.

Clothing is part of that.


When man fell, the one salient effect was that he "knew that he was naked."

This is to indicate that when man's link with God was severed, he could not control his own being properly, so shame was the response to human sexuality.


Sex is the one area where we tend to go most out of control.

That is because sexual intercourse is the physical analogue on earth of the beatific vision in heaven.

In our fallen state, our desires towards it tend to go out of control.


That is why safeguards such as clothing, modesty, and chastity are in order.




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Answer 4

Society as a whole has enough of a problem with lust, why instigate it? Theoretically, if all people were spiritually headed in the "right" direction, we could all go dutch....this is not the case. We are not to cause each other to stumble in any way.

Answer 5

Well, praticality is a factor. I don't know of anyone living in the upper Northern Hemisphere who would find clothing to be an option. However, Christians do not believe in placing themselves in precarious situations that might give birth to temptation. And nudity would certainly do that. Teenagers and single men and women are bombarded enough with sexual images via media, society and culture. It wouldn't do for them to contribute to their own demise.

Answer 6

Absolutely nothing wrong with nudity!!
The reason it is avoided though has more to do with the reason muslim women wear full dress - to avoid being the object of temptation.

Replace food with nudity in Romans 14
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

Answer 7

First understand that yesteryear's Christians and today's Christians are quite different, as that was a long time ago!
Todays Christians are conservative, therefore against nudity.

Answer 8

You have enough time blocking lustful images as it is, if women went around naked, it would be impossible not to be more filled with lust.

Answer 9

THE GOD did indeed create BEAUTIFUL BODIES


BUT


Looking creates too much LUST in the human mind!

Answer 10

Yes, God made man in His own image. Then man sinned and God put clothes on him. And now mankind is obese and should PLEASE keep their clothes on in public.