I'm inviting any who like to post in this thread their personal testimonies of how God has moved in their lives through naturism. My own testimony follows.
I was well into my 50s before God finally succeeded in teaching my heart a lesson that my head knew for many years. I am one person, one whole being, created in the image of God.
I grew up thinking that I "had" a body, that I "had" a mind, and that I "had" a soul. I always knew that exercise was for my body, study was for my mind, and prayer and worship were for my soul. Notice that in this way of thinking "me"—the self—is defined only by what I seem to possess.
The Bible is clear enough that God created me in His image, and that the grace of Christ comes to all that there is of me. My head knew that early, but not my heart.
Some examples:
MY BODY requires exercise for health. Sometimes exercise comes easy, but other times it's impossible to get started.
MY MIND organizes the days work, but often I can't force myself to do it.
MY SOUL requires prayer and worship to be healthy, so often I would get up early to pray—only to fall asleep and then feel guilty.
Gradually I realized there was an interconnectedness at work. If I'm feeling good about my work, exercise falls into place. Running provides a natural and excellent time to pray. When I've exercised and prayed, my work gets done.
So what's going on here?
Around my middle 50s I found myself living in a house with a private yard and pool with a wife who didn't care whether I wore clothes or not. I grew up skinnydipping, so I always liked to swim that way. Now I started being nude at home much of the time. Not only was it pleasant, but I felt much more connected to God. Many aspects of my life seemed to work better. Something was happening.
By the time a couple of more years had passed it was clear to me that God wanted to take me on a spiritual journey that could only happen for me through naturism. My wife was willing, so long as we went far enough away that no one would know us. So we did, and had an enjoyable time.
Not long after we returned, something snapped into focus for me. I believe it happened because the time of being nude with others was a powerful experience of accepting others and receiving acceptance from them. It always is.
What I saw was that everything in my life is connected, because I'm a single being created in the image of God. That image is most immediately experienced when I have no clothes in the way, and God's sun and breeze are touching me. In the simplest expression of a complicated spiritual experience, naturism brings me moments of grace that I don't experience in more traditional settings. It connects me with God while understanding myself as a single, whole, and unique person.
With the spiritual perspectives gained from naturism I've learned to look elsewhere for the source of my problems.
A common problem is that I start stuffing myself with food my body doesn't need, and I begin piling on the weight. Being fat causes me to add guilt to my menu, and the problem gets worse. Instead of starting a diet, which never works for me, now I'm able to start looking to see what's out of sorts in my mental and spiritual realms. Find it and fix it, and the weight drops off. These insights come more easily and more naturally when I'm standing naked before God outdoors. It's a spiritual experience filled with the grace of Christ.
Is it better spiritually to be nude by myself or with others? Just as well ask is it better to pray in private or among others? The experiences are different, but both help me to be a spiritually whole person. Naturism connects me to the grace of God.
George's testamony inspired me to tell my own story,so here it is.I recieved christ into my heart at about age 9,in a small Baptist Church in California where I grew up ,soon after I descoverd sex and like a lot of other Christains,I suspect,I concluded on my on that masterbation was a tool to keep me pure,lol, what a joke,to make a long store short, I started out whith Playboys in the 60's and the internet in the 90's,get the picture.Well about two weeks ago I did a search on nudism for the wrong reasons and found the sites on Christain Naturist,as I read the Holy Spirt started showing Me things that open my eyes to the big lie I was telling Myself and I begun to understand the defferance between admiring God's creation and lustful porn,I've grown alot in the last two weeks and God has revield so much to Me that I feel like I could write enough to fill books,It,My new found revelation,has changed my life ,because I have been "SET FREE" of the bondage of lustful selfish self gradifacation,as an example I am a 52 year old overwaight man with a big pot gut I noticed one day last week I didn't have craving to be full anymore so I started eating less and healthy foods sense keeping track last week I've lost over 6 pounds ,and it so easy. well that's all I have time to tell right now ,maybe I'll share more later.
I think for me it worked the other way around. Through nudism/naturism I found my way to God.
Years ago (over 45) I felt that being naked (I didn't know the word, nude) was good and not bad. I didn't know why; It was just right to be naked. For several years, I thought it was an exhibitionist thing. Then I picked up a Bible and started at the beginning: Genessis chapter one. OOK, Chapter one then two; What's this? GOD created me in his image (paraphrasing because it was a KJV) and now His creation went from good to very good; and they were naked and felt no shame?? Yadda, etc.
This was how I felt; not ashamed! The thing I found dificult was "All these dadburned sentences start with 'And'. Can't they just say what's on their mind?" Reading on was a chore. A longtime friend had said, "You'll come around when you're ready." A few years later, a new friend talked to me about scriptures when I was receptive, and soon presented me with the NIV I read today, about 20 years later.
Credits:
Key workers who planted seeds, watered them and made them grow are:
My younger brother Lyle (who passed away last month)
My longtime friend Mark
Chuck, who gave me my NIV, and watered the heck out of seeds previously planted.
These people never got into the nudism thing with me; but, I kept finding neat scriptures that went along with what I was doing in nudism.
