Articles By Ian B. Johnson
In 1998, Ian Johnson, the author
of this series of articles, was the pastor of a small church and a Christian
webmaster. He was asked that Spring to join a number of other local Christian
leaders in giving his support to a bill then before the state legislature
that would have made "social nudism," a term defined
very broadly
in the bill, a felony subject to some rather draconian penalties in Kansas.
The author initially declined to support the bill because it appeared to
him that the bill was poorly written and the penalties proposed were out
of all proportion to the seriousness of the "crime." However, the stridency
of the political rhetoric in support of the bill, suggesting that anyone
who failed to support it must be both unsaved and dangerously immoral,
moved the author to search the Scriptures to see if there was really any
basis for labeling all nudists — and all who support them — as persons
living in sin.
Ultimately, the relevant
committees of the 1998 Kansas Legislature, after holding hearings, declined
to bring the "social nudism" bill to the floor of either house. No similar
bill has been proposed in any subsequent legislative session. By the time
the committees held their hearings, the author, who is still not a practicing
nudist, had completed enough of his study to write letters to the Legislature
in active opposition to the bill.
This series of articles on
clothing and nakedness in the Bible is the result of that study. The basic
conclusion of the study is that nakedness in itself is not sinful and that
nudism may be permissible under some circumstances. The principle that
should govern a Christian's choice of clothing (or the lack of it) is love:
that is, intending and actively doing right to one's neighbor. But in reaching
that conclusion, it became necessary to study every passage of Scripture
that appears to deal with clothing, and to come to some understanding of
the Christian ethics of personal privacy and of clothing. The reasoning
and the supporting Scriptures are set forth at length in these articles.
Submenu
- Clothing And Nakedness In The Bible
- What Do The First Three Chapters Of Genesis Teach About Clothing?
- Nakedness As A Form Of Symbolic Expression In The Old Testament
- Noah, Ham And Canaan
- The Law Of Moses, Nakedness, Worship, And Close Relatives
- Nakedness As Judgment
- What The New Testament Says About Clothing
- Nakedness As An Incident Of Persecution, Christian Suffering Or Everyday Life
- The Chosen Fast
- Copyrights
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