A few things first before I begin. I want to address two issues: 1) Why I talk about this -- my personal motivation and 2) some things I have seen regarding Noah (last week's post on this topic) that I think are bad interpretations.
Why? Well I can tell you what it is not -- I am not trying to find justification for myself because I have some habit that I am trying to justify. I know my limits because I have been down that road before and no its pitfalls. Nor am I seeking to justify those who do such things as well. What i am doing is looking at our world and realizing that some day in the very near future it may be impossible not to look at other people's 'nakedness'. I simply want to know what that constitutes nakedness Biblically so i know when to truly turn my head and avoid sin. I also am a weightlifter following a bodybuilding style and I like feedback. To this end i have started posting pictures of myself at Bodybuilding.com and I don't want to be a stumbling block to others, but i am, beginning to see that most Christians' problem with nakedness and nudity involves a bad definition of what nakedness is.
Regarding Noah. One thing I saw was an interpretation that it is a sin to see some one's nakedness because of what happened to Ham. I submit to you Ham seeing his Fathers nakedness was not a sin but what he did about it afterwards that was a sin -- he exposed his father's nakedness.
For instance, if I walk into a bathroom in some one's home not thinking anyone is there and upon opening the door I see my neighbor's wife standing there naked because she has just got out of the shower and forgot to lock the door, have I sinned? No. It was an accident. I sin if I lust after her because of it or expose my neighbor's wife to shame by my reporting it to others. The godly things to do is quickly shut the door and apologize to her through it and then not mention it to anyone and cover her. Ham does not do this toward his father. His father is laying there naked and if he had looked away and then did what his brothers did and covered his father's nakedness he would be remembered as one of the righteous and blessed by his father. The looking on some one's nakedness in and of itself is not a sin. It is the lust and/or desire to expose that nakedness to others that is sin. Sorry to be so technical but I have had a few things happen to me where I have seen other women naked in part or in whole with no intention of doing so -- it just happened. I don't think this is sin. It is lust and slander that are the sin here.
That said as we continue on through the Bible we hit our issue in a multitude of quick things in various verses
Genesis 49:25 talks about the blessing of the womb and breasts. It is Jacob blessing his son Joseph and it is about blessing the tow aspects of motherhood -- the womb and the breasts. It actually does support the notion that when it comes to female breasts that the Bible seems to link them with motherhood and not sexuality of the female. It does not talk about the breasts in a negative way.
Exodus 20:26 talks about the fact that God wants no steps to his altar because he does not want his priests to expose themselves walking up them. This is a clear case of defining nakedness as the lower half of a man -- probably his genitalia. Exodus 28:42 talks about covering the bare flesh of Aaron and his sons as they minister before the Lord. The problem with both of these is that they are very specific in their context -- the priests in ministry before the Lord in the tabernacle. This may provide a principle for being dressed in church but then again it does not help us in the discussion of nakedness in society otherwise.
Next: Uncovering the Nakedness of Others
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