Are Nudists Bad?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ja3712
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

ja3712

Guest
Where I live, San Diego, has a few “nude” beaches where people go and take off their clothes and swin around. And I wonder if being a “nudist” is a sin or lustful. Adam and Eve didnt know they are nude until they commited the original sin, so maybe God meant to create us without us wearing clothes?
 
Just my opinion here, not based on anything authoritative:

I would say that it is theoretically possible to be a nudist and chaste. In fact I understand that oogling and arousal are frowned upon in such places.

Having said that, I will say that, in practical terms, all of the nudists I’ve personally known have had very non-Catholic views on sex.

Of course, I haven’t known all that many, so the sample size is too small to draw a proper scientific conclusion. Still, I would personally stay away from such places.
 
40.png
ja3712:
Where I live, San Diego, has a few “nude” beaches where people go and take off their clothes and swin around. And I wonder if being a “nudist” is a sin or lustful. Adam and Eve didnt know they are nude until they commited the original sin, so maybe God meant to create us without us wearing clothes?
Click to expand...
But, as a result of the fall, with man’s loss of integrity between his intellect and desires, there entered lustful thoughts, i.e., disordered sexual desire of making an object pursuit of sex for self gratification. Hence, the obvious need for the fig leaf and prudence lest one tempt self/others into base desires.
 
Meh. . .sounds too much like the provision of a near occasion of sin for me.

And though ogling is apparently frowned upon at these beaches, I have an anecdote that suggests that it simply cannot be avoided.

My co-worker tells a story of visiting a nude beach in Oregon. Apparently, there was a woman there blessed with abundant physical gifts, sunning herself. She was also possessed of a rather large dog, tied to a leash, that loved to dig. Dig a lot. Trenches, in fact.

At any rate, the woman was sunning herself for quite some time, and in the interim the dog proceeded to dig himself a tremendous trench between his mistress and the waterline.

My co-worker says that men walking by would surreptitiously look at/ogle this woman out of the corner of their eyes. You know how this works; they keep their heads faced straight ahead, but they will need to attention of an opthamologist later on to address the eyestrain that attends looking to the side without actually turning one’s head. So, these guys would ogle out of the sides of their eyes without paying sufficient attention to where they were walking. . .and would stumble in the copious trench dug by the dog. Over and over men would stumble and sometimes outright fall down in this trench.

My co-worker had tears of hilairity in her eyes when she told this story, and upon reading it, it doesn’t seem quite so funny. . .oh well.

I guess the story still illustrates that these beaches still might make appeals to our baser natures, and are better off avoided.
 
25 years ago, I visited a nudist camp in PA with my husband. His sister, husband and children were all nudists and actually had a summer home at the camp. I saw more of my husband’s family than I ever wanted or needed to see and was in embarrassment shock after attending a picnic with everyone at the camp. I have never been so uncomfortable before or since. I KNEW what I was getting into but was convinced by DH that I could handle it. Wrong. DH and I were the only people out of about 50 that were wearing clothing.
I only went as a favor to my husband but after that visit told him to forget it. If he wanted to go there, fine, but I was never going again. And I didn’t. Interestingly enough, neither did he.
 
An old joke:

Q. What’s the most effective means of contraception for those over 60?
A. Nudity.
 
I guess a sententious aphorism might help.

The human body is a beaufitul thing. But like every other thing, it is best taken in in moderation.

Nudity provides too much of the human body to look at. (As does pornography, Abercrombie and Fitch catalogues, and most movies nowadays).
 
40.png
demolitionman65:
So, these guys would ogle out of the sides of their eyes without paying sufficient attention to where they were walking. . .and would stumble in the copious trench dug by the dog. Over and over men would stumble and sometimes outright fall down in this trench.
Click to expand...
“He who is pleasing to God will escape her, but the sinner will be entrapped by her.” (from Eccl 7:26, taken out of context 😉 )

Alan
 
WOW… are you all ever misinformed…

I have been a nudist ever since a couple years back. I limit my excursions to private clubs and campgrounds for the purposes of nude recreation because that way there is the added protection of staff who can toss a predator on his ear and ask him not to return. With a few exceptions all I have seen there are fat, balding old men with hairy ears and wrinkly backsides – not to mention some disabled people, some grossly overweight women, people of all ages and both sexes. VERY, VERY FEW of them would win any prizes for the Miss America contest! There’s no thrill in it, because the atmosphere is too public to be sexually charged – there’s no privacy whatsoever! And if the unthinkable should happen they are asked to take a cold shower or turn over, or leave.
I can understand the lifestyle of nudity isn’t for everyone and that there are people that don’t want to see it. THat’s why I don’t walk down the street naked to buy a quart of milk or a pound of beef for supper. But don’t knock those of us who choose to enjoy it. Many of us are involved in strictly monogamous relationships. Last of all remember: GOD knows what you look like naked!!! (gasp)

Conster 😃
 
Oh and just to illustrate:

I walked into the Fashion Bug last night where there were rows upon rows of “hip, stylish” clothing that made the fine clothes cast off by St. Francis of Assisi look like a potato sack. As much as I tried to envision myself wearing them none of it was “me”. St. Paul warns against judging people by the clothes they wear and while he didn’t tell us all to walk around naked all the time he warned that a rich man’s clothes didn’t necessitate preferential treatment nor did a poor man’s garb signify poor treatment. The Lord Christ Himself said that life is more than what we eat and the body is more than clothing. Fashion statements may come and go but what God made will never go “out of style”. Beware of falling into the trap of having your designer label define who you are: because it won’t do you justice!
 
Nudity is not bad so long as the individual is wearing enough clothing.
 
40.png
Conster74:
WOW… are you all ever misinformed…

I have been a nudist ever since a couple years back.I can understand the lifestyle of nudity isn’t for everyone …But don’t knock those of us who choose to enjoy it…Last of all remember: GOD knows what you look like naked!!! (gasp)

Conster 😃
Click to expand...
Since we are all ever misinformed, please inform us of how you reconcile your “nudist” experience/choice with these passages from Genesis-the consequence of original sin and man’s and God’s reaction/interaction:

Genesis**, Chapter 3** :7, 9-11 “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. The LORD God then called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”
 
OK. I’ll bite.

Adam and Eve WERE CREATED, OBJECTIVELY NAKED. And that is the way they stayed until after the fall.
What was sinful was NOT the nudity. Man, at the time of his creation was a PERFECT BEING. He walked with God and talked to God, face-to-face. He shared in God’s glory. (Even Moses, who was born a few thousand years later, radiated such a strong outpouring of God’s glory that the people begged him to put on a veil. They could not stand to look at him, he was so bright.)
After the fall, man lost these supernatural gifts. He no longer exuded the heavenly glory that had been his, and became vulnerable to sickness, disease and death. God, in his pity, made skins out of animals and clothed Adam and Eve with this.
The nudity is not sinful. The sin that caused the human race to spiral downward is the same one committed all over the world today: We disbelieve God knows what is best for us, and we endeavor to be happy in and of ourselves, WITHOUT HIM.
We are still created in God’s image. Are we going to sit there and say that what God created is too horrible to ever lay eyes on??? If you do, better never sit in on your wife as she’s giving birth, because women don’t wear blue jeans and babies don’t pop out wearing onesies.
0Conster
 
Are folks now trying to make the case that nudism is at heart Catholic? We really are deceived these days.
 
**What would my pastor/priest say?
**Well, the leader of the Catholic Church says. “Sexual modesty cannot then in any simple way be identified with the use of clothing, nor shamelessness with the absence of clothing and total or partial nakedness. There are circumstances in which nakedness is not immodest… Nakedness as such is not to be equated with physical shamelessness. Immodesty is present only when nakedness plays a negative role with regard to the value of the person… The human body is not in itself shameful, nor for the same reasons are sensual reactions, and human sensuality in general. Shamelessness (just like shame and modesty) is a function of the interior of a person.” Pope John Paul II (nee Karol Cardinal Wojtyla)
 
I’m not trying to make the case that nudism is at heart Catholic. That’s stupid. I’m trying to make the case that the opposite extreme, Puritanism, is at heart, NOT catholic.
This country is absolutely steeped in puritanism, ever since the white settlers stepped off the boat. THey looked down their noses at Indians, slaves of African descent, and others. Nudity was equated with moral laxity, or worse yet, moral turpitude. Bathing was extremely uncommon. The white men smelled bad to many Indians.
We have in large part come a long way, and smile at many of the taboos our ancestors took so seriously. but some of us still have a long ways to travel. ANd of course anyone who would agree that beating theyouknowwhat out of a woman for not wearing a burqa is ok is… well, you know. RETARDED.
 
This thread is not about puritanism or sexual repression. It is about the zaniness of western civilization that embraces the radical notion of “nudism”. No one is claiming the body is bad or we should be repressed. In fact, we need more repression. Our culture embraces excess and that includes foolishness such as nudist resorts.
 
40.png
Conster74:
OK. I’ll bite.

Adam and Eve WERE CREATED, OBJECTIVELY NAKED. And that is the way they stayed until after the fall.
What was sinful was NOT the nudity. Man, at the time of his creation was a PERFECT BEING. He walked with God and talked to God, face-to-face. He shared in God’s glory. (Even Moses, who was born a few thousand years later, radiated such a strong outpouring of God’s glory that the people begged him to put on a veil. They could not stand to look at him, he was so bright.)
After the fall, man lost these supernatural gifts. He no longer exuded the heavenly glory that had been his, and became vulnerable to sickness, disease and death. God, in his pity, made skins out of animals and clothed Adam and Eve with this.
The nudity is not sinful. The sin that caused the human race to spiral downward is the same one committed all over the world today: We disbelieve God knows what is best for us, and we endeavor to be happy in and of ourselves, WITHOUT HIM.
We are still created in God’s image. Are we going to sit there and say that what God created is too horrible to ever lay eyes on??? If you do, better never sit in on your wife as she’s giving birth, because women don’t wear blue jeans and babies don’t pop out wearing onesies.
0Conster
Click to expand...
I think that you are either in denial or that you are excluding a significant aspect of reality to rationalize and justify your embrace of immodesty as a virtue. There is a post-fall reality effect of original sin. We can agree that “What was sinful was NOT nudity”. However, from there you stray in your analysis of what was lost and gained as result of man’s fall from grace.

Particular to this discussion, somehow you excluded “lust” as a new experience for man and women that was not there before they lost integrity, fullness with God. Our first parents did not *"*sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves" simply for warmth and protection from the elements as you solely present. They covered their genitalia because they were now “vulnerable” looking upon what God created as a good for their own selfish desires and gratification.

Prudence and an appreciation for the effect of man’s fallen human nature would seem to dictate that this side of the fall, modesty in dress and actions are necessary for avoiding the near occasions of sin. To believe or convince yourself otherwise is an exercise in delusional thinking.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top