Re: Naked Before God

Many religions although not considered "main stream" such as Gardnerian 
Wicca, perform their worship rituals naked before their God, Goddess, or 
Spirits, and other practitioners.  That's their Constitutional Right here in 
the USA where  many narrow-minded people believe you should only have the 
right to practice your religion the way they like it.   There's a 
never-ending debate surrounding the Judeo-Christian Bible and nudity, 
specifically the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve.  Followers of the Holy 
Roman Catholic religion have writings from their pope on the subject. 
Interestingly enough, a past pope wrote that when Adam and Eve hid from God 
and said they did so because they were naked and ashamed, they did so 
because after eating from the tree of knowledge, they were overwhelmed with 
the knowledge.   God asked them, "who told you, you were naked, did you eat 
from the tree against my instruction?  God didn't reply, "you should be 
ashamed of yourself" he only told them they were screwed, but not going to 
die as promised.  God made them covers not necessarily to keep each other 
from seeing each others "private parts", they already been living naked and 
they were the only two humans to date, so that age-old argument is only 
valid to persuade a 3-yr old to keep clothes on in the back yard.  Adam and 
Eve were the only two living beings, had been living naked and because they 
ate from the tree now understood the nature of lust between man and woman, 
and that made them uncomfortable, but they were husband and wife and 
permitted to lust for each other.  God was also telling them about how hard 
life was going to be outside the Garden of Eden and it would necessary for 
covering the body while working in the harsh environment.   So according to 
the pope, its perfectly OK with God to be naked alone or in groups.   Jesus 
was baptized naked, and people in his day fished naked.   The pope said 
there is overwhelming scripture that separates mere nakedness, lust, and 
lewdness.  I realize only Catholic Christians follow the pope's words, and 
for every Bible printed, there's a different interpretation.  So the debate 
goes on...
Bill S in AZ





"FREECOSPIRIT" <[email protected]> wrote in message 
news:fbf13733-4879-421f-b73f-a90a896d6fec@c11g2000yqj.googlegroups.com...
> On 31 Mar, 02:52, "Seon Ferguson" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> I'd rather be naked before Mary.
>
> Depends on Mary - but semi-seriously if you believe in God you also
> believe that he/she is all knowing and all seeing so as far as God is
> concerned your state of nudity or state of dress is immaterial.  There
> are some believers who feel that by dressing in your finest clothes
> for worship you are enhancing that act of worship.  Conversely by
> appearing in your birthday suit you are showing the one aspect of your
> appearance that has been positively ordained by God so what greater
> reverance could you show other than by worshipping naked.  Two opposed
> and equally valid points of view so prehaps to be on the safe side
> worship naked during summer months (except in Sans Francisco) and
> dressed in winter.
>
> Watch out for the trolls with horns and pitch forks; I keep mine
> sharpened just in case.