Does God Approve Of My Sin? By Rusty Miller
"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 (Gen.
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 Gen. 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" (Ps. 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 Abundant Life magazine, currently found at http://www.justchristians.com/abundantLife/061996/1.html
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