You make be taking a path to naturism that is a little too steep for your sense of comfort.
If your congregation and denomination are not too legalistic and prudish, I would stay with them. However, that does not mean you should announce your naturism from the pulpit.
Are you and your family nude at home most of the time? In my family, we were in the suburbs and we had chatty neighbors in and out until supper time.
After his evening bath, Dad was nude for the night on many occasions. We were not a naturist family, just real relaxed about clothing after a certain hour.
I know of some families that shuck off their clothes the moment they come home from work and school. If that works for you and yours, so much the better!
Do you have a back yard that can be make private? If so, that opens up a whole world of recreation to your family. You don't have to admit to being a naturist, just say that you enjoy sunbathing in private. Terms like sunbathing in private don't carry as much negative baggage as terms such as "nudist" or "naturist". If home and backyard nudity is all you do, chances are, the kids won't have any stories to tell their friends that would create a scandal. I had a friend from elementary school who was a nudist and I never suspected. She told me years later when I confessed to her that I was a nudist.
Now I wish I had been in on her secret and gotten invited to go with her family to the resort when I was a kid.
Taking the whole family to a nudist or naturist venue is definitely a bold move for a pastor, but I believe that kids are a lot more astute about when to keep quiet than we give them credit. That's your call.
I can't imagine not raising a child as a naturist. It fits hand in glove with the Christian life. What's the alternative? Teaching kids that the body is dirty and shameful? Letting boys grow up to obsess over hidden parts? Letting girls grow up with poor body self esteem?
I don't know of any churches that outright endorse naturism, but that doesn't mean that certain congregations could not be taught some of the underlying principles behind it.
I used to attend a church where the pastor's son had been a nude model for a college art class and the pastor encouraged me to do the same. (In response to my question, "is it okay to take the job?"
I also had a private dinner with a couple from church who cheerfully told me about their visit to a nude beach (and yes, they were nude).
When I was in college, a friend I met at a church-related club suggested that she and I visit a nude beach. (She meant nothing suggestive nor improper, she just thought it was a good and wholesome way to enjoy nature). Her character was always beyond reproach and our conversation about nude beaches factored heavily into my eventual acceptance of social nudity.
But I'll say again, if you feel the jitters, ease yourself and your family into this wonderful way of life. I will say that at some point you'll have to say, "I may never be fully ready for this, but I am ready enough to take a leap of faith.
However, I don't think he is struggling with naturism as much as he is struggling whether to let others know about it or not, especially at the expense of their congregation. Which is something we all can relate to! Been there, done that!
Try to keep them related, even if creating a new thread like this one, which is fine, but make sure we know what you are refering to. It helps the rest of us respond better too.
Boyd Allen
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."
That was a post from May 5th, but I deliberately created a new topic because Minister72 was responding to Laura's dilemma with examples from his own life and I didn't want to bump the conversation off Laura's situation, but I did think that Minister72's situation deserved comment.
I wasn't sure how far along with naturism our pastor friend is, so some of my remarks are offered "just in case", but I intended to open the topic of pastors who are becoming active in social naturism. Like you, I think that all of us who are active in evangelical churches are concerned about how we will be treated by our fellow parishioners if our naturist ways are ever discovered. A naturist pastor has the most to lose, but those of us who are heavily invested emotionally in the lives of our community churches have grounds for concern, too.
Thanks Ramblinman - the reasons I am looking for another ministry are unrelated to naturism. There are a number of factors that have brought me to this point. As I am looking, part of me wants to look a little outside the midwest where people generally are more open to ideas that are perhaps a little more untraditional, or more correctly outside the modern midset, like naturism.
The struggle we face now is how to bring our children into social nudism. We may simply continue having open nudity in our home until they are a little older and better understand some of what we communicate to them. We and children are fairly free in the evening, but it is generally after bath times and the morning. Presently the backyard is not practical for being nude. We are looking at ways to provide more privacy there. Also, we have looked at the option of selling our house and moving to another with more privacy. That is a more difficult option when we are open to the idea of moving to a new congregatoin as well.
Really, we are not in any hurries in any of the directions we are looking into. As far as raising our children, home is good for now and in time perhaps opportunities will present to move beyond the home. It's not going to hurt them as we take our time. We want to them to have the best experiences, but those experiences could be tarnished if we rushed them but the consequences.
I have read Jeff Bowman's story and I am sure he is not alone. I really don't want to drag my wife and family through that kind of controversy if I don't have to. Thank you sincerely for your encouragement and advice.
Thanks for filling in more of your story. It helps as we try to compare notes and come up with some ideas that you and I can each implement in months and years to come.
A good many of us have naturist friends and non-naturist friends over to our houses. We dress according to the comfort level of our guests. Ideally, you will form friendships with naturist couples who have children about the same age as yours.
And I commend you on the good example you two set for the kids by your late night household nudity.
There is a line all parents have to walk between neglect and coercion when it comes to habits and values we hope to instill.
For example, a mom and dad may agree not to dress their younger children after their evening bath. In the summer, if you don't set the air conditioner too cool, there's no reason why any of you would need to wear pajamas under a light blanket and a bed sheet.
(I live in Georgia where indoor nudity is quite comfortable from mid-April through late September with no supplemental heating) An older child should be given more latitude about what to wear. (This is not merely a nudist issue, but common to all parents).
In many families, Dad is the most warm-natured one and his ideal temperature may send shivers up the spines of equally nude children, teens and females. If you want to encourage nudity, make it comfortable for everyone! Common sense, I know, but I have visited a naturist park that kept their restaurant so cold that no one in their right mind would eat there in the nude.
As worried as you are about introducing your children to naturism gradually, I would caution you that waiting until they begin adolescence will not make the task easier.
Peer pressure is relentless. You are right to say that there is no hurry, but neither do you have all the time in the world with them.
I remember summer church camp as a rising sixth grader. Dozens of boys whiled away the morning, playing nude in the bathhouse, climbing up and down the fixtures like monkeys until we were summoned to breakfast. That summer of my eleventh year seems to the last season that my peers and I were free from the stranglehold of shame and prurience.
In high school, I noticed that the athletes (who showered after every sporting event) were far more relaxed about nudity than other students. Anything we do on a regular basis is less stressful. By our teen years, we began to feel ill-at-ease with our nudity, constantly worrying that we were too big, too skinny, too hairy, or too smooth.
Household nudity is a marvelous beginning, but there are a few fairly safe ways to push the envelope: family campouts or boating trips can provide you with secluded places for skinny dipping. Under cover of darkness, even somewhat bashful folks might take the plunge.
I have a Finnish penpal who tells me that their sauna is used nude by the entire family. Many Finns who don't consider themselves naturist are non-chalant about nudity in the sauna.
I overheard a couple of ladies at work talking about how they longed for private back yards. I have heard nothing to indicate that they are naturist, but there are a lot of quite ordinary people who enjoy relaxing in the sun without clothing, provided their yard is private.
My back yard is not practical to fence, but I am considering partitioning off a section of it to enjoy outdoor nudity. When the weather is fair, it is far more delightful than being nude indoors. Even now I sometimes sneak out nude by the back door on a quiet dark evening to look at the stars and listen to the crickets. It is a pure delight.
Perhaps you will need to find a more laid back part of the country than your present home. Are there little enclaves of more bohemian type folks here and there?
As conservative and prudish as Southern folk tend to be, I have met people who are both upstanding Christians and perfectly okay with social nudity.
In my denomination, we don't talk about naturism openly, but among the folks in my church are quite a few people who don't think of skinny dipping or discreet back yard nude sunbathing as a sin. To be honest, many of the same people haven't a clue what goes on at a nudist resort, but these people are a lot closer to being nudist than they realize.
Take heart; God makes a way for those who pray with their eyes open to opportunity.
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I know that I am preaching to the choir, but let me encourage everyone to strive to be nude when they can. Our modern way of life sometimes seems to take us so far from the simplicity and goodness of Eden. Need I remind you that God left us nude in Paradise and called it "Good"? The nudity most people regard as lacking, we regard as complete. What some regard as indecent exposure, we regard as the revealed living handiwork of The Great Artist.
