Is “Universalism” Biblical?

When tragedy strikes, such as the recent Orlando Massacre, many people want and need to be comforted and consoled, so it is tempting to quote the first phrase of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world“, while leaving out the equally-vital third phrase, “that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life“. The thinking and narrative goes something like this: “Since God loves everybody, He wouldn’t send anyone to hell, so they must all be in heaven.” It seems inconceivable that someone we knew and loved, and who was such a “good” person, might be in hell. Is that concept Biblical? So, in light of the entirety of John 3:16, we are going to examine whether “Universalism” is Biblical.

I was a Bagpiper for several years, so I piped nearly a hundred funerals and committal-services. If it was a committal-service for a deceased Veteran, and an Honor Guard performed the service, the message went something like this: “He served faithfully and honorably in this life, so he is in the care of our great Commander in the sky. He has joined that great Army in Heaven.” There was just one sad problem with that narrative; nobody really knew the true spiritual-condition of the person when he took his last breath. They were making a comforting, but dangerous, assumption.

One of the most difficult, yet most comforting funerals I piped was for the Chief of a small, rural volunteer Fire Department, which was held at a small country church. I was a Firefighter at another volunteer Fire Department in the area, so I had met and worked with him a couple of times. His pastor described his great faith, how he loved the Lord, and how he loved to read and teach from his tattered, dog-eared Bible. That was music to my ears and comfort to my soul, and if there is a Fire Department in Heaven, he is there when he isn’t teaching others more from the Bible.

Do you see the difference? “Universalism” provides a false hope and false comfort; while we have the true hope of seeing those we knew and loved again if they were trusting in Christ alone for their salvation.

Into John 3:16…

For God so loved the world…
Yes, God DOES love His creation, and we were created to have a relationship with Him, but our sin has separated us from God and destroyed that relationship. Sin has real consequences, and one of those consequences is eternal-separation from God. God could have terminated or rebooted His human-project after Adam and Eve sinned, but He didn’t. God could even have accepted the “new-normal“, but He didn’t. He kicked His plan of redemption in high-gear with the promise of a Savior in Genesis 3:15. It wasn’t going to be easy for God to restore us to a right-relationship with Him. His own Son was going to have to become a human and bear the just-punishment we deserve in our stead. If “Universalism” was true, we would have had no need for a Savior.

That He gave His only begotten Son…
Jesus Christ came to earth with a mission, sent by God the Father, to enter our battle, to stand in front of us in our fire-fight, to take the bullets we would have taken, to stand between us and the wrath of a Holy God, to die the death that we deserve, to become our Savior. He came willingly, even relishing the battle, because He loves us that much. If “Universalism” was true, Jesus Christ would not have needed to come to earth to die in our stead.

That whosoever believes in Him…
This isn’t just passive-acceptance that Jesus is God-incarnate and came to save sinners; it is active-belief, marked by a changed-life and a fresh love for God. It is a heart-felt understanding that we can’t save ourselves, but Jesus Christ came to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. If “Universalism” was true, it wouldn’t matter what you believe, because even Atheists are going to Heaven.

Shall not perish…
This isn’t some empty-hope; it is an iron-clad promise. If you are trusting in Christ alone for your salvation, your eternal-destiny is secure, guaranteed by Christ himself, but if you are trusting in “Universalism” for your salvation, you are dead in your sins, and when you take your last breath, you will go into eternal-separation from God, Hell.

But have eternal life…
There is an eternal-reward for putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, entering into His joyous-presence and being with Him forever. That alternative isn’t pretty.

Is “Universalism” true and Biblical? Don’t bet your soul and eternal-destiny on it, because you WILL lose. There is ONLY one way into Heaven, and that is by accepting and believing the truth, as laid-out in John 3:16.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

In Christ,
Steve

The Biblical Model For Ministry

I have been thinking about how I can best serve my little flock at Cypress Cove, both now and in the future, because as a servant-leader, I am doing kingdom-work. Since my dad was a pastor for several years, I am quite familiar with the responsibilities of a pastor, which include preaching the Word, baptizing new Believers, and serving Communion. Does the Bible have anything to say that will shed light on my responsibilities and the authority to carry them out?

Fulfill the Great Commission…
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15)

21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (John 20:21)

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

The Great Commission is so important that God saw fit to have it included in all four Gospels and Acts. Extending His kingdom in this world is very important to God, and He has given us a way for that mission to be accomplished. There are four mandates in the Great Commission, go to all of the nations, make disciples, baptize them and teach them. Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and He is the commissioning and sending authority, and He promised to be by our side as we do His work in the world.

There is no exclusion-clause in “all of the nations“. There is also no evidence in the Bible that this Commission was only given to a “chosen-few“. No, it was given to ALL Believers. That includes ME, and that includes YOU.

The Great Commission is also found in Luke 24:44-49.

Disciple-making takes ministers…
13 “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10:13-15, 17)

Radio, television and written-word ministries are wonderful, as far as they go, but they can’t replace a “boots-on-the-ground” minister who is serving God in a specific community.

Commissioned by a local church…
Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (Acts 13:1-3)

After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. 38 But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40 But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. 41 And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts 15:36-41)

Here we see, in Acts 13, that Paul and Barnabas were commissioned and sent by a local church to do ministry. In Acts 15, Paul and Silas were commissioned by a local church for what became Paul’s 2nd missionary journey. Do you see a pattern here?

Why aren’t more churches sending more of their members out on missions? I read recently that the measure of a church’s success should be its “sending-capacity“, not its “seating-capacity“. Too many churches are filled with “pew-warmers” every Sunday who have forgotten that their “mission-field” is outside the doors of the church. We should be seeking opportunities for ministry where we live, where we work, and where we play.

We should also note that Jesus ministered in Sychar to “unclean” Samaritans (John 4:1-42), and also in a couple of Gentile cities (Mark 7:24-37). He later commissioned Paul, a Pharisee, to be the Apostle and missionary to the Gentiles (acts 9:1-19). Paul went to the far-reaches of the Roman world, and also he wrote the majority of what we call the New Testament.

Where are YOU sharing the love of Christ and helping to spread His kingdom? You have already been commissioned and you have all the authority you need to minister in His name.

In Christ,
Steve

What Did The Supreme Court Same-Sex Marriage Decision Change?

On Friday, June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United Sates extended the right to get “married” to same-sex couples. It was a day of joy and celebration for same-sex rights advocates, and a day of infamy for most Christians. Most Christians believe that the Supreme Court changed the definition of “marriage” by their decision, but that is NOT the case. If you were born after 1923, you have lived under AND embraced the modern definition of “marriage“. If you have ever gotten a “marriage license“, you have affirmed the validity of the modern definition of “marriage“.

Note that I am NOT addressing homosexuality. I am addressing “marriage” as it is defined and exists in the United States.

Before you start picking up stones to throw at me, bare with me and hear me out. Prior to 1923, “marriage–licenses” were largely-unknown, but then the Federal Government passed the Uniform Marriage and Marriage License Act, and by 1929, every state in the Union had adopted marriage license laws, and by 1935, all states required licenses except Maryland, which soon followed shortly thereafter.

“Marriage” had been largely under the domain and authority of the Church, but then the State stepped in and gave itself the authority to license and regulate “marriage“. Do you understand the implications of this fact? What the State can regulate and license, the State can also define, or redefine as it sees fit. The State can also expand it as it sees fit.

The Church wasn’t going to be left out in the cold, so the Church became the “enforcer” of this new State-sponsored “marriage“. How many churches would allow an “unlicensed” wedding to take place in their facilities? How many pastors would perform a wedding for a couple that didn’t have, or intend to get, a “marriage license“? The take-away is that “If you want to get married in the church, you have to have a “marriage-license“”. If that isn’t being an “enforcer” for the State, I don’t know what is.

There is the common attitude among Christians that any couple which isn’t “legally–married” is simply “living–together” and “living in sin“. That attitude reinforces the “need” to “do it right” and gives Christians the “justification” for condemning those people as “immoral” and “sinners“.

What is “marriage”?
See, what the people fail to realize with these procedures for marriage given by the Government unto States is that, when you marry with a marriage license, you grant the State jurisdiction over your marriage. When you marry with a marriage license, your marriage is a creature of the State, it is a corporation of the State, therefore, they have jurisdiction over your marriage including the fruit of your marriage, in which the fruit of your marriage is your children and every piece of property you own. When you marry with a marriage license, you are not just marrying your spouse, but you are also marrying the State. “With This Ring I Thee Wed“, is of the State and is found in most county courthouses in many States. That phrase was published by the State Bar Association. They don’t tell you that when you repeat your vows, you enter into a legal contract, in which there are three parties to that contract, with the first being you, the second being the person you are marrying, and the third being the State you marry in. See, the State and the lawyers know that when you marry with a marriage license, you are not just marrying your spouse, you are marrying the State, thus giving undue jurisdiction to the State.

Thus, “marriage” is a legal-contract, which is “licensed” by the State, recorded by the State, and enforced by the State. If you believe that this is Biblical “marriage“, you are smoking some kind of strange weed. According to our modern definition of “marriage“, nobody in the Bible was “married“. PERIOD!

In spite of the “Christian” trappings of most weddings, they are, at their core, a civil ceremony. The officiant perfoms the ceremony under the authority of the State, and without that State authority, the marriage is not legally-recognized. Have you ever heard; “By the authority vested in me by the State of ____________, I pronounce that you are husband and wife.“?

For more background about how the State “owns” you, go back and read “You Are Not Your Own…”

Common-law marriage…
Common-law, or undocumented marriage is only allowed in nine states plus the District of Columbia (DC). All of the States are supposed to honor common-law marriages from other States, but some States place restrictions of how they honor those marriages. In spite of our disdain for common-law marriage, that was the way non-religious people got married for hundreds of years before the advent of “marriage-licenses“. Under common-law marriage, a couple is considered “married” if they live together and say that they are married. How is that any different than any other kind of “marriage“?

Biblical marriage…
Is there really a “Biblical marriage-model“? The simplest marriage “prescription” I have found is in Genesis 2:23-25:

“Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

In the Old Testament, we note that Abraham married his sister.

We also note that Abraham sent one of his servants to seek a wife for Isaac, and he took a LOT of goodies with him, the “dowry” or “bride-price“.

Jacob served Laban for seven years for each of his two wives, for a total of fourteen years service, as the “bride-price“.

David killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their bloody foreskins as the price of his first wife, Saul’s daughter Michal.

Are we really ready to go back to “arranged-marriage“? That was the model throughout much of the Old Testament.

“Biblical marriage” recap…
Rampant incest from the beginning up through at least Jacob…

Polygamy throughout the whole Old Testament…

Sex-slaves (concubines) throughout the whole Old Testament…

Girls were the “property” of their father until they were “sold” to their husband, and then became the “property” of their husband…

What part of that do you want to revive to get back to a “Biblical marriage model“?

What about monogamy?
Over the last several hundred years, monogamy has become the predominant marriage-model here in the west, driven by the false notion that it is the only “Biblical” marriage-model. The reality is that monogamy is only prescribed in one place in the Bible, and for one particular group of people – church leaders.

Qualifications for Overseers
3 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

Qualifications for Deacons
8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 3:1-13)

Church leaders are held to a higher standard because they represent Christ to the church. If a man is not a church leader, elder or deacon, he is NOT constrained by this command. Plural-marriage makes him ineligible to be a church leader, but this doesn’t imply that it makes him any less godly. Many Evangelical groups believe that a man is ineligible to be a church leader if he has been married, divorced and remarried. I believe that is an accurate interpretation.

I was ordained as a deacon in one church, and then ordained as an elder in a different church, and even though the church I belong to now believes that ordination for elder is for life, I am not eligible to serve as an elder because I have been married and divorced several times. What I do otherwise has no bearing on whether I am eligible to serve.

Options…
What are the options for Christians and churches that reject this expansion of “marriage–rights“?
1) Try to get all marriage laws repealed: Good luck getting all marriage laws repealed, because once the State gains the authority to regulate and license something, they aren’t going to give that up. Power corrupts, and more power means more corruption. Marriage and divorce are HUGE cash-cows for most States, and particularly for greedy divorce lawyers.

2) Refuse to participate in ANY State-sponsored and regulated “marriage“: Just as the church has the right to NOT perform same-sex weddings, the church can also refuse to perform ANY wedding that includes State-licensed civil-marriage. If a couple wants to get married in a church, to have a “church–wedding“, they are married BY the church, and if they want a State-sanctioned “marriage” as well, they can go to the courthouse.

3) Quit “feeding” and “endorsing” this State-sponsored “marriage–monster“. When you quit requiring couples wanting to be married in your church to have a “marriage–license“, you are no longer “feeding” and “endorsing” State-sponsored “marriage“.

4) Change your attitude towards couples who are “living together” without being “married“. Get to know them before you condemn them as “living in sin“. If they believe that they are “married” and present themselves as being “married“, they ARE “married“. “Marriage” does NOT require a piece of paper to be valid, whether the State recognizes their “marriage” or not.

Before you throw stones…
Before you start throwing stones at me, do your own research. Become more than passingly-familiar with the whole Bible, particularly the Old Testament. Most Christians know more about the “traditions of the elders” than they actually do about the Bible, even though they believe that the “traditions of the elders” are “biblical“. I have done, and continue to do, my own research.

How does this Supreme Court decision affect you?
Unless you are in a same-sex relationship, this decision has no affect on you. If you are in a same-sex relationship, you may now get “married“. The Supreme Court did NOT “redefine” “marriage“. They simply extended the rights to the benefits of “marriage” to same-sex couples. “Redefining” “marriage” happened long before most of us were born.

God bless!
Steve

How Human Was Jesus? Part 3

In the previous segments, we have looked at the physical evidence of His humanity, and built a “photo-album” of His early life. Now I want to examine Jesus through the eyes of the Apostle John, who wrote extensively in his gospel and in his epistles about Jesus. John adds a dimension to our beliefs about Jesus’s humanity which few really take to heart.

Does it really matter if we believe that Jesus was truly and fully human? Does it really matter if we believe that Jesus is the Christ?

His divinity…
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)

The Word became flesh…
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Seen, heard, touched…
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1-3)

First warning…
18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. (1 John 2:18-25)

Second warning…
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:1-3)

Third warning…
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist. (2 John 1:7)

Conclusions…
People have believed many things about Jesus, both when He walked this earth, and since. Many will still say that “He was a great teacher“, or “He was a good man“, or even “He was a great prophet“, but none of these descriptions of Jesus even scratches the surface of who He really was and is.

It is hard to ignore the importance of what we believe about Jesus Christ. John, one of His closest disciples, opened both his gospel and one of his letters with affirmations of His humanity. After he gave us these solid affirmations, John gave us three warnings, warnings, that if we fail to heed them, our eternal destiny is at stake.

Are YOU willing to bet your eternal-destiny on a less-than-Biblical belief about who Jesus was and is? That is what is at stake.

In Christ,
Steve

Out Of The Shadows

Do you live a double-life? Are you one way in public, but entirely-different behind closed doors? Do you put on an act when you walk out of the door of your home? Do you believe that you have to act a certain way to “fit-in“, to be “liked“, to be “accepted“? Do you cuss like a sailor all week long because that is how “everyone else” talks where you work, but talk politely and piously around your family, and particularly at church? Does anyone actually KNOW you?

Whether we know it or not, a LOT of people lead a double-life. This is NOT referring to being some kind of covert spy or agent, rather, it is about how ordinary people present themselves when someone is watching. During the work-week, they go along with whatever the “social-norm” is, but on Sunday, they appear to be an entirely-different person. Are you one of them?

Out of the shadows…

While this topic has broad applicability, there is one particular group of people, to which I belong, and that is naturists/nudists. Most of us are masters of living a double-life. Even the thought of the “wrong” person finding out about our lifestyle scares the bejabbers out of us. Coming “out of the shadows” is nerve-wracking at best, and down-right scary at worst. Very few will ever become completely “open” about our lifestyle.

There was a series of articles entitled “Sharing Your Naturism“, co-sponsored by The Naturist Society(TNS) and the American Association for Nude Recreation(AANR), which ran for several months in the AANR Bulletin. The articles were intended as a means of helping naturists/nudists become more comfortable with their lifestyle choice and helping us to be more able and better equipped to share our lifestyle with others. Part of that process includes becoming more open about our lifestyle, or coming “out of the shadows“.

Potential repercussions…

The repercussions from the wrong person or persons finding out about someone being a naturist may be life-changing. As a result, naturists with high-profile jobs or in Christian ministry often resort to writing under pen-names and having multiple profiles on the various social-networking sites. One Christian brother was an assistant pastor of a church until the senior pastor found out about his naturist views and lifestyle. He was relieved of his position – FIRED for being a naturist and told to leave the church. The Lord has since blessed him with both new employment and ministry opportunities.

Other friends have been run out of churches, some multiple times, for being a naturist. Unfortunately “the traditions of the elders” trumps the Word of God in those churches, and they aren’t even interested in finding out what the Bible says. Others have been ostracized by family and friends.

My journey “out of the shadows”…

I was challenged in January 2013 in an email exchange with a Christian brother to come out of the shadows and own my naturist lifestyle. Because of my conservative, Christian upbringing, I had to do a LOT of studying to find out what Scripture says, or doesn’t say, about nudity. I was also interested in God’s dealings with His covenant people in the Old Testament to gain a historical perspective. The same Christian brother who challenged me to come out of the shadows also pointed me to the writings of several Christian naturist authors and bloggers. I didn’t want to be “caught with my pants down” when I started coming out and started getting questions, particularly from fellow Christians. This blog has grown out of, and is still growing out of my studies.

I also wanted and needed to find out how strongly both historical and modern cultural prejudices have and are affecting church theology and dogma. I live in a 21st century Western culture whose attitudes towards nudity and nakedness have been heavily-influenced by 16th and 17th century Victorian and Puritanical prudishness. It is almost impossible to escape these influences, particularly in the Church, because they have been enshrined in the “modesty-doctrine” of the Church.

Before I told a soul, I wanted to be fully-convinced that God, as He has revealed Himself in the Bible, is not only NOT anti-nudity, but that He looks with favor on those who are willing to shed their clothing disguises. What I found shocked the pants off of me, literally; prophets who prophesied naked (Saul, Isaiah, Micah), a king who danced naked before the Lord in the middle of Jerusalem (David), a high priest (Aaron) who was stripped naked in front of all of the children of Israel when he was consecrated and anointed, and the list goes on and on.

That was even before I started reading the ceremonial law in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, with all the ceremonial washings and cleansings which were required for tabernacle/temple worship. Life for the children of Israel, particularly while they were wandering in the wilderness, bore very little resemblance to anything that I can relate to today, except for maybe an extended camping trip. We don’t “get it“, but in order to understand the Old Testament, I had to start learning and understanding their culture and what life was like when this part of the Bible was written.

Imagine NOT having private restroom facilities and having to use the public latrine. Imagine NOT having private bathing facilities and having to use the community bath-house. Imagine only having ONE set of clothes, or maybe only one garment, and NOT having a washer and dryer, so that when that garment was dirty, a person had to take it to the public washing facility to wash, and then hang out naked while it hung on the line to dry. Oh, because they only had one garment or set of clothes, do we really believe that they wore it to work in, since it not only had to be washed by hand, but if they damaged it, they would be left with nothing? These were God’s chosen people, and they were on that “extended camping trip” at His command. Was God really concerned about their nudity? He didn’t give them any reason to have body-shame. Public nudity wasn’t shameful. It just meant that they were going about their normal daily business of life. We are the ones who have made nudity shameful.

Out of the shadows…

Once I became comfortable with the fact that I am not doing anything “wrong” or “sinful” by desiring to partake in social nudity, I started coming “out of the shadows“. I didn’t start “advertising” that I am a nudist, although in early 2013, I did put a small AANR decal on the back window of my vehicle. The first person I told was my mother. We were talking about the resort that I frequent, Cypress Cove, and I told her that it is a nudist resort. It certainly took her by surprise, because she probably thought that she had raised me better than that. She did, but the “better than that” was the traditional “modesty-theology” which has no basis in Scripture. She has more or less accepted that I am a nudist and she hasn’t mentioned it since.

Early this last spring, I came “out of the shadows” to the senior pastor of my church. I had given him the link to this blog, and I didn’t want him to get an unpleasant “surprise” when he came here the first time. He is a serious student of the Bible, but to a certain extent, he has also been taught “the traditions of the elders“. Finding out that I am a nudist broke some new experiential and theological ground for him, but he had no Biblical basis for condemning either me or my lifestyle. He simply ask me to not “advertise” that I am a nudist.

Since then, the AANR decal has been replaced with a “God created nudists/Sinners created clothes” decal. The only church friend who has commented on it had to agree that what it says is true. I am sure that quite a few others have seen it, but no one has asked me about it. I am not “advertising” that I am nudist, but I am not hiding it either.

Consequences…

Have their been consequences for me deciding to come “out of the shadows” as a nudist? Absolutely, and most of them have been wonderful. I no longer have to live a “double-life“. I am no longer afraid of who might find out that I am a nudist. My research and study has given me the material for many of the articles in this blog.

I don’t know whether anyone else in my church has “figured it out” and is shunning me as a result, but that is between them and God. I wasn’t part of an “in-crowd” before, so I haven’t been pushed out of anything that I know of. I still have a good relationship with both pastors, so that hasn’t been affected. Not everyone in my church is equally-friendly.

Final thoughts…

I wish that I hadn’t been taught and believed that our bodies are “shameful and must be kept covered” for all those years, because I can clearly recognize the negative effects those lies have caused me. I have no regrets about becoming a nudist, except that I wish I had known what I know now many years ago. I also have no regrets for coming “out of the shadows” as a nudist, because I believe that being a nudist and NOT hiding what God created in His own image gives Him glory. The next thing on my list is to participate in a nude worship service.

I am naked and unashamed in Christ!

Steve