If 'Adam and Eve' (and henceforth humans) were ashamed of their nakedness..?

Question

Why isn't this true for human cultures up until the onset of Middle-Eastern patriarchal religions like Islam and Christianity?

The greeks were proud of the naked form.

Aborinals and indingenous peopl eall over the world did not associate nakedness with 'shame' or titillation. Nakedness was normal (in warmer climates)

Even nordic races regularly bathe and enjoy communal saunas totally nude, without feelings of shame or sexual arousal attached. Nudists are without shame, yet religionists attach shame to the human form.

So is the human form:

1. Intrinsically shameful and sexual (as per 'Adam and Eve' onwards)

or

2. Natural (as per most cultures in history) where not corrupted by religous puritanism?

*indigenous

*aboriginals

(tsk, typothon)

No-one really answered this question yet.

Where is the shame that people are supposed to have felt after Adam and Eve?

Don't you think it a poor coincidence that the only people who seem to feel shame about nakedness were people who had read the Bible, not the other cultures in the world?

Doesn't this disprove Genesis and the so-called 'fall'??

Answer 1

It's not about nudity, it's about practicality. Humans began wearing animal skins to help them keep warm. Later, when humans learned to sew and weave cloth, we went away from animal skins and wore cloth. Later, we learned how to color our cloth. I honestly don't know how religion got involved with protecting ourselves in the winter time, but anyhow...

Answer 2

I prefer to think of this story as showing that there is a shared sense of temptation and a shared sense of responsibility among all -- male, female, and the rest of creation. It doesn't always have to do with temptation or intention when things go wrong - sometimes things just happen (there's nothing particularly immoral about an earthquake, for example, and if a lion eats you, while tragic, it isn't actually an immoral act on the part of the lion). In the Garden of Eden story, we have Eve being tempted by nature to transform herself into something more, and Adam being tempted by both to be similarly transformed. In a lot of the shared stories of the ancient world, the idea of taking on knowledge or civilization is presented as a double-edged sword -- and you have to take the good with the bad. But I like to think about it in the Pandora's Box kind of way -- while all the evils of knowing what's in the box scatter to the rest of the world, hope remains. While Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden, they still continue their relationship with the divine, and in that is hope.

Answer 3

The shame here is not the shame you are talking about. This shame is related to modesty. Who do you think gets more respect in the society, one who walks down the street dressed like a hooker or one who is modestly and appropriately dressed? Shame there is discussed in like self-awareness and the need one feels to dress appropriately in front of others. It does not necessarily have to have sexual connotation. Aren't you ashamed of stealing a candy from a kid? anything sexual in that usage of the word?

As for other culture, these greeks and romans and other such cultures are only recent ones. Humans have been around for much longer than these. They always covered properly. These cultures and the nudist colony and such that you talk about. They are not in their natural state but rather a way of life they imposed on themselves.

You can't blame religion for this. Humans have the need to worship. it is an inclination build into them. If you don't give them religion then they will make one up. Look at the sun and moon and planet worshipers of old times. Religion is part of human's history and future. Many religions are good and call for good and many are bad and deviant. Also many people who don't follow religion also have good or bad in them that they choose to follow. Religion didn't corrupt man, man corrupt himself.

Answer 4

I wonder if the basis of the fear in the "newer" cultures isn't just more of a visceral one of exposure?

I mean say everyone's nude, and some guys are standing around at the abbey or mosque and a hot female walks by (assuming they're all herero). Suddenly every guy pitches a tent, how awkward. Walking around with a hardon in the nude, I can say from experience, is a bit goofy, and I for one wouldn't want to do it in public if I could help it.

Maybe simple b0ner anxiety is part of what prompted whomever to make nakedness something to be ashamed of in the largely male-dominated cultures of those ancient times.

Answer 5

Well, there is something called sin, one of the sinful acts is premarital sex, or seeing a nacked person. So, before Adam and Eve disobeied God, there were no sin. But disobedience was a sin, so when they sinned , their relationship with God came to an end. When sin entered the world, they understood each other' body. They " got married " and had their offspring. So we all came from a sinful act. God was preparing that Adam and Eve bore childreen in Eden. But satan made them bore childreen sinfully. We can't say that satan succeeded, because God gave us free will wheather to follow Him or not. Adamand Eve choosed not to follow Him by disobeing Him.

You could say that ppl up untill the Middle- Eastern Patriarchal were sinners. Sinners have lost their sensation, that theey could sell their bodies . Also u could say that it was a kind of art to draw nacked ppl.

Good Luck!!

Answer 6

I believe that Adam and Eve were clothed by a manifestation of their unfallen glory. The shame is caused by feeling vulnerable, a need to hide our true selves. I agree that if we walk in a relationship with God again, we should not feel such shame. However, my relationship with Him is still imperfect, therefore I still feel the need for cover.

I do not have a problem with other cultures who live in differing degrees of undress from myself. In his letters to the early church, Paul teaches that all thing are clean but that we should live in such a way that we do not offend others.

Answer 7

This has nothing to do with religion. Adam and Eve probably never existed aswell. Humans started to wear clothes because they needed to. Now its just considered normal. I know I'd rather walk around naked but I'd look like a freak.

Answer 8

We are just told by a conmceed society that eould rather spiol children and war with less fortunite countries that pick. Like the hypocrites have to censor for fear something that somebody sees. so it might get stolen or something else could be better or newer. Or just expose freedomm.

Answer 9

Because the story of Adam & Eve was written by men. Considering the naked body as evil is a production of the christian faith and others with similar repressive dogma.

Answer 10

I think the book of Genesis clearly outlines that nudity is the prefered (Godly) state of mankind. Our goal is to return to Eden, and throw off our perversions, as well as our clothes.