Carla I read your journals this morning and your other post on this forum. Your knowledge is very good and your stand seems honest and firm. First the question about Tim. 2. In your journal it seems there was a question about verse 9 in particular. In order to start well, consider the word modest. It's the same as proper or appropriate. Suits would be appropriate in church but not at the beach, nor would bathing suits be proper in church. The right attire for the right place would also include nude at a NUDE beach or a NUDist resort. That scripture is not about wearing clothes it's about the right clothes, or none, in the right places. Skip from there to a statement you made in a post here about you and your husband. H ewould like to have you comfortable with nudity and you would like to have him comfortable with Christ. Sounds like deal/deal to me. Agree that neither of you push, but both lead lovingly in the area that you know. You will lead him to God and he will lead you to a shameless new experiance in body freedom. You both will win big! You may begin by sharing this website and forum with him so he can see that God is a great part of what he already enjoys. Bearone
Bearone,
I think the best approach to converting my hubby is the very one you mentioned. I know God will bring him to the faith without me forcing him to chose. I submit to Matt as my spiritual head even though he doesn't believe in Christ. What I do is on the sly I make the most of every opportunity to just chat with him about my beliefs. I don't take authority over him to teach him. It would indeed rub him the wrong way. I did show him this website but he just rolled his eyes. At least, he knows now there are Christians who could relate to him if he'd let them... :^)
You are an incredible woman! You are very direct, even bold in what you believe. I was amazed at your response to the woman condemning social nudity. I had no expectation you would stand your ground so courageously. It is no easy thing to speak so openly of your personal life and experiences at a co beach, inviting whomever to flail away at you. I like your grit.
I am convinced that acceptance of our bodies is something God wants for us. We are redeemed, made new in Christ. I realize that living our salvation in this world is a now, but not yet condition. Just the same, we are free in Christ to live in His grace. Too much of the last 2000 years of Christianity has been lived as though this is not true, damaging the vitality of life Christ offers us in the here and now with legalistic "touch not, taste not" rule keeping.
I'm always one to speak my mind and not back down. Patricia is kind of a nemesis of mine. She pops up ever so often to correct me but she never seems to understand that I want her to use the Bible to do so. She gives me only her opinion, which makes it easy for me to stand up to her and others like her. I was reminded by God with Ephesians 6 that my struggle really isn't with her. It's with the evil behind false doctrines and philosophies. With her, I'm given peace and love joined with faith. I'm going to still stand up for what I believe in but without anger or divisiveness against my fellow brethren in Christ.
What I appreciate about Christian Naturism is that you all are using the Bible as the plumline for your beliefs. I looked into Shamanism once but not one single Christian Shaman could back up what they taught with the Bible. They denounced it more than anything else as not being specific enough in definitions of the occult. The same goes for Christian Wiccans.
When I first looked into Christian Naturism, I was sure you guys would be doing the same. Or, at least, twisting Scripture like the Cults do. Instead, you've excelled in interpreting Scripture by keeping the verses and passages in context, which is what I do when I read the Bible. (I've only come across one instance where someone was trying to "excuse" a passage in the Bible. He said the Apostle Paul was attempting to bring the Church back from Paganism in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. That doesn't set well with me. I wrote him a letter to try and give him a more accurate interpretation. Nothing in the Bible is a mere attempt of man. It's all God's Word and it all stands today.)
{{{{{Carla}}}}}, 5 warm fuzzys. That's what our preacher/elder in NJ used to call those head-to-toe ones, not those A-frame kind. Nudists can do it best.
I like to think that we were born naked and unashamed, and when we become baptised as Christians to walk that life that we were born again naked and unashamed. This is probably why the early Christians were baptised nude. See Boyd's stuff on this topic.
In I Tim. 2, Paul is talking about the modesty of not showing wealth. He's also talking about the clothing during worship services. I've known Christian brethren who have twisted this "modesty" to mean the length of dress, dip of the blouse, etc, mainly because it's the only place in the NT that the word translated "modestY" is found at all. You have to read stuff in context. In this context, Paul is clearly talking about not showing off your wealth and about it in worship services.
Thanks,
And it's like this:
We are Christians first, who happens to be naturists, not the other way around. We will lay aside our naturism to make sure that Christianity is foremost. But we want to support naturism here.
You are welcome here and we hope you find what you are looking for.
