Christian Nudists

I find the stroy of Adam and Eve pretty fascinating. There only being two people on Earth. No one else. No bosses to watch over you at work. No bad drivers on the road. The activity of people-watching (which is a favorite of mine) hadn't been invented yet. Imagine living here with just your significant other. Soulmates. I doubt jealousy was that big of a deal in their relationship. I mean, really who else was there for your mate to talk to? To top it all off, they're naked. In the buff. Letting it all hang out. It wasn't dirty or sinful. Pure. Without shame. No embarassment. Just, "This is me and this is you. We are naked and unashamed."

(Actually this reminds me of an amusing article I read the other week about Christian nudists.)

I wear clothes sometimes. I mean, usually I have to. I probably wouldn't have a job if I didn't. This leads me to the question, why do we wear clothes? Forget the aspect of sexuality and lust. Why do we really wear clothes?

Most of us have things we don't like about our body. Let's be honest. I work out 4 days a week, but I don't think of myself as having this perfect physique. We are self conscience beings who want to hide our flaws. That's why we wear clothes. Who determines exactly what flaws are, though? Who says that looking a certain way is desirable?

Who tells me how to be me?

That's the main question I am getting at. Who tells me that in order for me to be acceptable I have to act this way or dress this way?

Anytime I give someone the ability to determine who Matt is, I give them authority that is not theirs. My senior research paper in college was on the negative effects of advertising. Chiseled faces, six-pack abs, big boobs, and a model like bodies apparently sell products. They also sell us lies. They say, "This image is the standard. This is what you should wear. This is how you should act. This is what you should look like." And we fall for the trap. We give someone else the ability to define who we are.

And it's not just physical things. We have all adjusted who we are to impress someone at some point in our lives. Most guys will do it at some point for some girl and most girls will do it at some point for some guy. I have tried to adjust my personality at some point to try to impress a girl. It didn't work. It never does. I once knew a girl who dated a friend of mine and she agreed with everything he said. She didn't have any opinions of her own. This really annoyed me.

Adam never had GQ magazine to tell him how to look. Eve never had an image of a Playboy model to live up to. So what or who defined them? Adam couldn't define Eve because she was the only woman he had ever met. She was his standard for womanhood. And he was hers for manhood. So how were they defined?

God defined Adam and Eve. He created them in His image. He determined their true identity. He instilled in them the standard to live up to. No one else. Just Him. Eugene Peterson translates it best in The Message when he says, "God spoke: 'Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature' ...God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God's nature."

I was created to reflect Him. I wasn't created to reflect the image that's on front of a magazine. I wasn't created to reflect a different personality than the one He uniquely gave me. I was created so that He could define my life. I want to stop having standards for others. I don't want to think that for someone to be higher on my own list of importance they have to look a certain way or act a certain way or even make a certain amount of money. (This is not to say physical attraction is not important. God gave us physical attraction to others for a reason. But physical attraction is from God and not outside things telling you what is beauty and what is not.) I want to see the reflection of God in others.

Naked and unashamed they were. Because God defined Adam and He defined Eve.