"The minister, dressed in a great liturgical robe, stood before a simple wooden cross. He gazed at the congregation before him, seated in folding chairs or on blankets spread on the ground. A slight smile creased his face.

"'We're going to do something unique this morning for a worship service,' he said. 'We're not going to take up a collection.'

"And so began Sunday worship outdoors at the first Christian Nudist Conference, a gathering of about 45 'naturists' from around the country who believe that clothes do not make the Christian" ("'Naturist' Christians gather to bare witness," Dallas Morning News, March 13, 1996).

What a world we live in. These nudists claim to believe that God wants them to bare themselves in order to worship him. In fact, what they really are intent on is convincing themselves that a sin they enjoy (i.e. exposing themselves before others), is something God condones. It is no different than any other attempt to explain away sin by claiming God is for it.

In a newsletter for "Christian nudists" called the Fig Leaf Forum, John Kundert writes that Adam and Eve hid from God because they had sinned. "'Nothing in these Scriptures conclusively shows that shame resulting from nakedness played any part in this drama,' Kundert writes" (Ibid).

Apparently, the fact Adam and Eve sewed together fig leaves because they knew they were naked (Genesis 3.7) does not constitute shame in the mind of Mr. Kundert. In addition, the word of God's position on nakedness is not confined to the first 3 chapters of Genesis (see Genesis 9.20-23 for instance).

The truth of the matter can be seen in the words of one of the other participants in the conference. "I don't know if it is the Lord after me or the devil after me.... I just feel if Jesus came back and saw me, he'd be embarrassed" (Ibid).

When will we learn that all the attempts to justify it will not make sin right in God's eyes. He is repulsed by it, and when we try to cover it up, we fail miserably.

God does not approve of my sin and He does not approve of yours. And when we fail to mourn our sins, we show ourselves to be incredibly ungrateful for the love God has shown to us. We ought rather to be like David, who said, "There is no soundness in my flesh because of Thine indignation;/There is no health in my bones because of my sin./For my iniquities are gone over my head;/As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me./My wounds grow foul and fester./Because of my folly,/I am bent over and greatly bowed down;/I go mourning all the day long" (Psalm 38.3-6).

It is embarrassing and disgusting for some to try to excuse sin by saying that God somehow approves of it. God no more approves of sin than Satan approves of Christianity. The two are diametrically opposed to one another, and no amount of wishful thinking can justify a "Christian nudist."

Editor's Note: This article is from the June 1996 edition of a Texas church of Christ magazine that's no longer available on the Internet.

Next article: Letter To A Texas church Of Christ

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