Sometimes me thinks too much.

Anyway, I was thinking about the prayer/blessing we use on this board:

"May the Lord protect our nudity from the sight of those who will not benefit, and may he allow us to be seen by those who will."

It occured to me that it does not say that those who will benefit will be happy about it at first. And we cannot assume that if they are not "against" it one way or the other, that they will benefit from it.

It may be that the one who was hostile towards you at first, may be the one who will benefit later.

How do we encorporate this thought in our lifestyle?

If we are seen and find hostility, are we still getting our prayers answered? They did see us (allow us to be seen by those who will [benefit]). We may mis-interpret our neighbors simply because we assume that the "hostile" one should not see us, when in fact, they may be the very ones who need to see us so they can later benefit.

Even the converts (like Saul/Paul) were once hostile to Christianity. How much hostility are we willing to take in order for others to eventually benefit?

Boyd

Boyd Allen
"May the Lord protect our nudity from the sight of those who will not benefit, and may he allow us to be seen by those who will."

It seems to me that, at least potentially, every human could benefit from the sight of simple non-erotic nudity. Those hostile to it may see, if they open their eyes, minds and hearts, that it is not the agent of moral degeneration they always thought it was; those who seek nudity in erotic contexts may see that there are other times and places to get naked; and those who avoid it because of intense body shame may see how unnecessary such shame is.

But WILL they benefit? That's entirely up to them. Very few of us think it's at all reasonable that anyone would turn away from simple nudity, any more than from Jesus's salvation--but people do, in large numbers. Remember the mothers and/or childcare providers in the World Naked Bike Ride pictures who turned away their children and shielded their eyes. Remember that some "nudist" web sites equate naturism with pornography. :rrrrr: And remember the sad person who formerly visited www.clothesfree.com just to debate the merits of ensuring that those who never wanted to see nudity would never see it even accidentally. :sigh: Such people have every chance to benefit--but they choose not to embrace the benefits.