Since there is no reason to believe that Adam & Eve were ashamed at being naked what does it really mean?

Question

We all know that there is no innate shame at nudity. People of many cultures are quite comfortable nude.

What is the real thing that Adam and eve were ashamed of?

Answer 1

Didn't you used to be Shonuff the BAPTIST? I've never heard of Architecturalism. Did you become an Architect because they allow dancing? Or is it because Architecturalists are allowed to chew, or are at least allowed to run with those who do?

CORRECT, Shonuff, there was never any reason for Adam and Eve to think their bodies were "dirty" or evil. In fact, the Biblical account of Adam and Eve's early, pre-sinning days celebrates their sexuality as a very good thing. "And
Adam said, this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

So why did they START being ashamed?

Before Adam and Eve's rebellion, there was peace among all earthly beings and between each earthly being and God. Adam and Eve didn't eat animals in the beginning, and animals didn't eat each other (they all ate plants except for, you know, THAT plant.) You might remember that God created animals to be companions, or pets, for Adam, even the ones that are, in today's post-Garden of Eden fallen world, man-eaters.

Satan could tell how much value God placed on Adam and Eve. Satan, a highly intelligent creature who was hatefully jealous of God's infinite superiority, tried to badmouth God and get Adam, through Eve, to doubt God's goodness. And as soon as they ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they could see Satan for the Liar that he was, and themselves, as soon as they'd eaten that fruit--they could see that they'd chosen the need to KNOW, to be SURE, to be WORLDLY WISE (Eve caved to Satan's temptation because "it was a tree to be desired to make one wise") instead of continuing in the simple, trusting, childlike (not CHILDISH) relationship they'd had with God, who'd never shown them anything but tenderness and care. They could see the puny nakedness of their souls after they'd thrown away the covering love of God like it was a piece of trash, and they tried to cover themselves up, with, FIG LEAVES.

And when the God they'd just dumped came looking for Adam, calling him gently, showing up to hang out with him in the cool of the evening the way he usually did, God let them know that fig leaves weren't going to do the trick.

That's when God did a peculiar thing, and it must have underscored to Adam and Eve in a horrifying way the enormity of their decision to disobey God's One Big Law. He took one of those animal friends, one of those pets of theirs, and killed it, made clothes for them out of the skins, and told them to wear them, (Gen 3:21) and then kicked them out of the Garden.

Ever since then, the whole created order is out of whack. Life must kill life in order to continue. (Some people actually get sick if they don't get animal protein.) It's not a sin to eat meat now, in fact, God made blood sacrifice a requirement from that point on. (This is why Adam and Eve's child Abel's sacrifice--a sacrificed sheep-- was acceptable to God and why Cain's--fruit of the ground-- wasn't, and that's why Cain got jealous of Abel and killed him.) I don't think the way God thinks, and I don't know WHY God requires the shedding of blood for remission of sins, but the Bible says He does, and in cultures all around the world, animal sacrifices are made to make an apology, a peace offering, to the Creator (and perverted, Satanically-twisted versions exist in which humans are sacrificed in an attempt to manipulate the gods.) Adam and Eve witnessed the first death--a violent and bloody death--of a living creature, and were shown by God that it THEIR sin, THEIR pride that led to the fall, the shame and guilt that only the shedding of blood could cover, and it was a terrible reminder to them of the innocent trusting relationship with God that they had also put to death.

Think about the Crucifixion now. Jesus Christ, God's only Son, (part of the Father-Son-Holy Spirit Trinity) became man so that God could fully sympathize with the frailty and vulnerability of the human condition. He became man, and as God, Jesus was a PERFECT man. Because Jesus walked all his life very close to his Father, God, he was sinless, and able to serve as the ultimate Blood sacrifice not just to cover up, but to eliminate entirely, the shame of Adam's race, the puny nakedness of our souls when we've thrown away the covering love of God like it was a piece of trash, just as Adam and Eve before us had done.

That's why Adam and Eve were ashamed and wanted covering, Shonuff Architect. And just in case you ever realize you are naked in the same way they were, Jesus is still calling you to come to Him, to let Him cover you, too.

Answer 2

That's the whole point. You all still DO eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. You all still suffer from shame, envy, hatred, fear, lying, etc., just as Adam and Eve did. Read Genesis again, forget the sex tradition (which is a silly interpretation of the First Book), and read up a bit on Aramaic idioms of the time period. The parable has a very specific meaning, easily understood in the figures of speech of the time and culture. Instead we project modern and Western ideas onto it and wonder why we don't understand it or why it seems so silly? We're the one's that are silly. That's like a bunch of Japanese businessmen running to the window because they read in a Western newspaper that was going to rain "cats and dogs" and waiting for the animals to start falling. Educate yourselves, people. It's fun.

Answer 3

Adam & Eve were ashamed of being busted. By putting on clothes, they demonstrated a level of moral sophistication they would not have been able to achieve without the use of botanical aids.

Once they ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (arborus sciobonumaleus), they had a partial revelation and realized that naked = bad. So it was their child-like innocence that had saved them before. With great knowledge comes great responsibility.

The Genesis writers wanted people to understand why WE wear clothes. It's not the protection or the temperature, it's the constantly thinking about sex! (SEX!), as most clothes-wearing cultures can already attest. Non-clothes- wearing cutures apparently didn't get the memo.

Answer 4

The point may be that before they ate of the apple from the tree of knowledge they did not know they were naked.

As an example, let's say you did not know you were poor. Then you discover that everything you own is old and broken down because you begin visiting other people's homes. Actually your situation has not changed but for some knowledge and you may become unhappy after you learn this.

Your stuff is the same as it was before. See if you can connect this quote with the concept.

"A wise man seeks to shine in himself; a fool to outshine others. The former is humbled by a sense of his infirmities; the latter is lifted up by the discovery of the faults of others. The wise man considers what he wants; the fool, what he abounds in. The wise man is happy in his own approbation; the fool, in the applause of his fellows."

William Ellery Channing

Answer 5

Well the Bible says they were embarrassed at being naked. You really need to read this stuff before you act as an authority on the subject. For one it says they were embarrassed and for 2 they put on aprons to cover their private parts. That seems like an indicator to me. I imagine their also had to be an element of the fact that it was noticable outward that they had fallen. They were hiding, knowing God would notice the change in them when He saw them.

Oh and the last thing is...I remember growing a natural modesty as a girl of about age 6 or 7. I was still a child but I began to want to cover MYSELF. Not from any social aspect of needing clothes but because I felt embarrassed to not be covered properly or have someone walk in on me in the bathroom. Many cultures are nude but I don't think it is the norm. The vast majority of cultures wear clothing, even if they live in warm climates. Most cover their private parts at the very least.

Answer 6

Thier sin. That was just an excuse to hide from God. It's symbolic.

They were not ashamed of thier nudity when they were first created at all, just after the sinning incident. Genesis is pretty clear about that.

;)

Why don't you ever ask about the NT (anymore)?

Answer 7

Naked in this context means innocent. And they were ashamed because they had actually given the dominion of God's earth to the devil which is high treason and so when God called them to face up to what they had done they were ashamed.

Answer 8

Before the fall.
Genesis 2:25
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

After the fall.
Genesis 3:10
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself.

Their greatest fear was from disobeying the Lord.
Hiding from God. That might happen.

Answer 9

It means that the effect of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was in effect.

From this disobedience all people JUDGE one another by their own standards and understanding.

It is now "normal" not to want to be naked in public because we KNOW that people will be JUDGING US physically even as they judge our words and actions.

Answer 10

They were polluted by sin, the shame at being found out was only natural at that point.

Answer 11

Nakedness as in being vulnerable. You're truly vulnerable to everything when naked. Weather, insect bites, evil doers.. etc. You have a better chance to survival if clothed.