Social Nudity

What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful that the garment with which it is clothed?
- Michelangelo

Being nude is fun, healthy and good for the soul. It promotes body acceptance, age acceptance, freedom, increased self confidence, more self esteem and celebrates God's greatest creation. It exposes the whole body to the air and sun, and gives people an added incentive to be fit.

It is not about sex but about wholesome naturist family values. Our children will grow up with healthy attitudes toward the human body and easily understand the changes in their own bodies. Instead of teaching shame and guilt about body parts and functions, we teach body respect.

Old age is not gross, wrinkles are natural and should be respected. Unwholesome curiosity about the naked body will be removed. They will have a healthy attitude toward the body and will have additional reasons to say NO to sex as teenagers. It empowers them with knowledge in a wholesome way.

The bathing suit is the best example of dysfunctional clothing. Who truly prefers a bathing suit to a birthday suit? Sand on the body washes off easily; sand in the swimsuit is there to stay. Swimsuits are an invention of the 20th century that would have been laughed at a few generations ago, nude swimming was the norm. The sole purpose for a swimsuit is to cover up "shameful" body parts.

When people get obsessed with keeping everyone covered, their children will suffer unnecessarily when they encounter simple nudity outside their controlled enviroment.

On public lands, cater to others by using reasonably secluded areas. Cover up when asked or ask other others if they mind that you or your family continues to skinnydip or sunbathe nude. Showing respect for others will increase their respect for you and your lifestyle. Remember, some people think nudity equals sex and we all need to help in the public educational process by our example. Sure, some people might believe they are offended by nude bathers, but, if you never encounter anything that offends you in your community, you are not living in a free society.

Set a good example! Until people see for themselves that nudism is wholesome, there will be misconceptions about nudism for a long time. Take back your bodies from the porn industry. Your body is yours, a gift from God, and it is decent and wholesome just like God intended with Adam and Eve. Yes, the Bible does have a body positive message. We need to respect our bodies by not declaring it dirty or shamefully hiding it. Censoring or pixilated innocent images of adults or children only sexualizes them. Children are safer at INA events than at many churches or other clothed places. It is not the amount of cloth that protects children, it is the people in power. Censoring Greek or other culture's statues or artwork is also offensive to people all over the world.

Nude recreation frees us from the compulsion of "never to be seen naked", an obsessive disorder that plagues modern society, especially Americans.

This compulsion is emotionally unhealthy (See "What is Gymnophobia?"). When you take a bath or shower, would you prefer to wear a swimsuit? Would you get offended if others made you wear a swimsuit in the shower? Most people become accustomed very quickly to nudity and get over all the hang-ups. By being accustomed to nudity we can react maturely to social situations of nudity that used to embarrass us, such as locker rooms, gang showers, hospitals, and nudity in art. The false puritanical shame ingrained in us by our upbringing is overcome. Wearing clothes and dressing up is fun too, but it is not good to be obsessed with either one.

The media's continuous association of nudity with sex is giving our kids a bad message. Mere nudity doesn't harm children, in fact, according to many child psychologists, it is beneficial for kids to experience wholesome innocent nudity. It helps them overcome the shame and phobia that they might have already "learned". It empowers them so nudity will never be a shocking experience as it shouldn't be.
Research conducted at the University of Northern Iowa found that nudist children had body self-concepts that were significantly more positive than those of non-nudist children and that the "nudity classification" of a family was one of the most significant factors associated with positive body self-concept.

Some people think the body God gave us is not presentable enough to be in public without being draped over with cloth. Isn't this an insult to God's creation? According to American media, you must be covered with expensive clothes, preferably Calvin Klein, or any other top manufacturer. Commercial media says unless you buy this, you are not worthy, unless you look like that, you should be ashamed. You have unsightly hair in the wrong places, unsightly lines or wrinkles, etc.

If you go outside uncovered like God originally intended for Adam and Eve, you better have cloth ready to quickly cover up in case we encounter anyone, and you are guilty of indecent exposure and can be arrested. Is this right? You continue to be segregated with high walls and high cliffs in order to visit with others who practice your same beliefs. Talk about prejudice against you!

We are not necessarily trying to convert the whole public, but we are trying to gain acceptance for you so you do not get beat up or arrested. If people don't like the way you dress or undress, they don't have to look. It is about tolerance, freedom and acceptance. The human body is good regardless of what age you are or what you are wearing.

The more we hide, the more people will know nothing about clothes free recreation, the more they will continue to think it is all about sex. It is time to say NO! ...I am not ugly just because I don't have the body of an skinny model. NO! ...I don't need to spend thousands of dollars on pretentious clothes to create a fake image. NO! ...wrinkles are not ugly but a sign of maturity, pride and should be respected and admired! Old age is not gross! Beauty and strength come from within, money can't buy true wealth, only empty images. When someone says your body is obscene and should be covered at all times, tell them your body is decent and join us and say "We're not gonna take it any more!"

Some people ask, "Why would you want to hang out with other naked people?" For one, it is nice to be with like minded people. Also, how can anyone be ashamed of their nakedness when everyone else is naked? It has an equalizing effect that makes you feel welcome and accepted as you are, just you as you are, not your clothes. After letting go of your "shield", you get a sense of freedom since you no longer need to be covered at all times. The human body is one of the most natural things in the world. Think about it, who labeled it obscene.

Many people try to use the Bible against nude recreation, but the Bible says Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed. The human body is was created by God and is rated G - suitable for viewing by all ages. the Christian Bible says they were naked and unashamed. Naturists hold one standard (that the human body is wholesome and need not be hidden), while other parts of society, including most Christians, hold another (that the human body is obscene and should be hidden).

Naturists in general are comfortable with their own bodies and those of other people. However, there are lot of others who have less healthy attitudes about nudity, and it is often those less healthy attitudes that inspire gawking and illicit pornography. If the whole world took on the naturist view of nudity, then this double standard would disappear. No one is shocked by nude animals, because we weren't taught to be. Society has bought into Satan's desire to have us be offended by God's greatest of all creations, the human body.

The Christian Church by and large has been plain wrong about nudity. Nudity is the natural state that God intended for humanity, but somewhere along the way, the church lost this simple truth that God's creation is good and complete just the way he made it, nude! Now I know it's a shock to some of you, but if you'll take a closer look at the book of Genesis, you'll see that body shame did not come from God, but was the byproduct of Adam and Eve's shame over their sin. The church never should have taught us to be ashamed of our bodies, but hurtful elements of Greek philosophy crept into the church in the years immediately following the death of the apostles and we have been been ashamed of what God called good ever since.

Our bodies are a gift from God. How can it be embarrassing?? Why should we be ashamed of this miracle? This gift should be honored and admired. The body is the highest achievement of God. It is more complex than the universe. It is beautiful beyond words. Why would anyone be offended by viewing Gods' gift to us? God looked at everything he created and said it was good. Matthew 5:27 says it is considered adultery to look at a woman lustfully. The more we are brought up to see a nude body in a context other than sexual situations the more we see the human body as beautiful instead of lustful.


Are people REALLY offended by nudity?

More people are realizing that nude recreation has nothing to do with sex. Most people find it much less stimulating than swim wear designed to be sexy. It is about respect of the body and person, weather fat, skinny, young or old, and enjoying the beach or other activities while nude.

Each society has its own morals and customs. American Roman Catholics have fewer members who enjoy nude recreation, but in France, for instance, naked Roman Catholics populate virtually all the beaches and see nothing sinful about enjoying the beach free of clothing.

Clothing imposes a barrier between us and nature, to be nude is to humble ourselves before God. The Bible does not place any restriction on being nude. The Greeks and Romans customarily exercised nude. God commanded Isaiah to go out and preach publicly naked for three solid years (Isaiah 20)!

The prophets were commonly naked, as a sign. So much so, that when Saul stripped off his clothes and prophesied nude before the masses, the people figured he was under the command of God and was a prophet (1 Samuel 19:24). King David danced nude in the City of David to celebrate the return of the Ark of the Covenant. When his wife criticized him for doing this, she was soundly rebuked and ended up childless until her death (II Samuel 6:20-23).

Baptisms in the Christian church were customarily conducted in the nude up until the fifth century. Theodore of Mopsuestia (c.400) said, "Adam was naked at the beginning, and unashamed. This is why your clothing must be taken off as baptism restores right relation to God." These church fathers maintained the holy minded practice for five centuries, slowly, new concepts of modesty developed, and the body was no longer revered as beautiful and as the temple of God, but rather as something vile, filthy and naturally unclean!

Several Popes required that the paintings of nude forms and statues by Michaelangelo in the Cistine Chapel be hidden and fabrics painted to look like flowing linens, were pasted over the “offensive” parts of the masterpieces. Only recently has the painting of Michaelangelo been fully restored to its original, uncovered, totally nude appearance.

God condemned the wearing of make up. Why? Paul, like all other people of a holy mind, see the human body as the Temple of God, worthy of praise, and needing no adornment...for it is made in the image of God! What temple was ever ordered by God to be draped and covered so as to be hidden?

God says through Ezekiel: "I made you grow like a plant of the field, naked and bare. You grew up and became tall, and arrived at full maiden-hood, the ORNAMENT OF ORNAMENTS; your breasts were fully formed and your pubic hair had grown." (Ezekiel 16:7). God clearly cherishes the beauty of our bodies, even the genitalia, of which our society seems so strangely fearful and ashamed.

It was common for workers and labourers to work nude in ancient Mesopotamia and Palestine. Clothing was expensive and hard to acquire in these times, and for a field worker to have a separate set of clothes just for work was uncommon. Seeing men and women working in the fields, or at the mill or grindstone naked was a common sight, and by no means prohibited by God. Peter fished naked according to the Bible (John 21:7).

Jesus boarded the ship of Peter, and traveled with these men who stripped for their work. Repeatedly, Jesus taught us that we should become as innocent as little children. In the Gospel of Thomas, considered to be "superfluous to scripture" by the same council at Trent which determined what we today declare as "The Holy Bible," in Thomas 37 His disciples said, "When will you appear to us, and when will we see you?" Jesus said, "When you become like little children, and disrobe without being ashamed, and you take your clothes and put them under your feet and trample them, you shall see the Kingdom of God, and you will not be afraid."

And children have no concept of shame, embarrassment of nudity whatsoever, unless the parent teaches shame of the body. God never taught us bodily shame...why then should we perpetuate the curses of Satan brought on us at the time of Adam's fall, to our children (or ourselves?).

Body acceptance and nude recreation is a good thing. Romans 14:16 says "Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil".

Still wondering why they blur out a man's penis, and a woman's breasts, but show close-ups of dismembered bodies and violence? It's absolutely beyond my ability to comprehend. Yet some people think WE have no "values".

It is natural and normal to look at a persons body and all of it's parts. Just as it's natural to look at mountains, wildlife, sunsets or anything else in nature.

A friend of mine once said, "I was never exposed to nudity as a child. Whatever causes me to be uncomfortable about nudity, it was not nudity."
The naked body is not offensive, disgusting or shameful. Being naked in public is about celebrating our humanity. Our appearance should not cause fear, shame, disgust, prejudice or persecution.

Set your body free and your mind will follow!