Re: When nakedness is spoken of negatively in the Bible

On Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:49:52 GMT, "Neosapienis" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Hi Richard,
>
>Here are some Bible verses when nakedness is portrayed in a negative light:
>
>http://bible.cc/habakkuk/2-15.htm
>
>I know that this doesn't apply to nudists as such, but there are a lot of adults out there who wouldn't go nude unless they've had a few drinks down them in order to 'loosen up'.  I'm sure that virtually all nudists would abhor this as well.
>
>Romans 8:35 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" 
>
>Nakedness is included here in conjuction with things that have a negative impact on people.
>
>Deutoronomy 28: 47-48 Since you would not serve the LORD, your God, with joy and gratitude for abundance of every kind, 
>therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and utter poverty, you will serve the enemies whom the LORD will send against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck, until he destroys you. 
>
>This God sounds like a really nice guy, that's for sure!
>
>Nahum 3:5 "Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will let nations look on your nakedness and kingdoms on your shame." 


I think you should be very careful to take any translated  text literally.

You should also be aware of when the text was written, before the end of the 18th century being seen naked was nothing special
(nude) bathing for example was done in full view of and often with others and was considered normal and had very little to do with
sex. Naked was negative in the way that it meant that the naked one had no means to clothe himself to protect him from the
environment and was to be sorry for.

To take all biblical text literally is i.m.h.o. wrong because of the translations and the passing of time, slowly changing the
meaning of words. besides the world has changed a great deal in the past 2000 years.

for example there is a line in an Latin Hymn that's strange, is says "Christus est natus Ex Maria virgine" 
(Christ    is   born   out_of     Maria   virgin)
virgine is usually translated to virgin but in Latin it also means Young servant girl, young woman and unmarried woman.
The biblical context directs us to choose Virgin as the correct translation, but the original text has room for a different
translation.

 "Virgin" translates to Jungfrau (lit. young woman) in German ( this translated directly from latin )
 "young female servant" translates to "dienst maagd" (lit. service virgin) in Dutch (female rank in a large house/estate)


JJ