From: /r/nudism
https://www.reddit.com/r/nudism/comments/avqgap/cultural_shame/?utm_source=ifttt
I'm am an unabashed Christian. I'm also a nudist. Last night, my wife and I had a long conversation on our personal challenges in mortality. As we've grown older and become less concerned with what others outside of our marriage think of us. We've begun to embrace rather than cower in shame from the challenges we've been given. My wife has mental health challenges that she has become an open advocate for and a resource for other Christian women we interact with. She's no longer ashamed of this but speaks candidly about it. People applaud her for it. The stigma has fallen away from it to a degree and to be honest, she just doesn't care what others think about it. I don't have those challenges. I hate clothes. I do and I always have. I used to be ashamed of it because I had bought into the Christian culture of modesty and the shaming of my body is the only way to achieve salvation. However, the disconnect I felt when nude, the absolute bliss of feeling nothing against my skin without the last bit of guilt went against this cultural norm. I have felt the the presence of God numerous times while reading the scriptures and felt it just as strong naked as when I'm clothed. However, the cultural shame seeps back in. While I have felt this for a long time, she articulated the difference between guilt of sin and the shame that Satan uses. It was important to hear this from her because for the first two decades of our marriage, she weaponized cultural shame whenever I wanted to be naked. She did it more as a reflection of her own insecurities than from my nudity. However, me being nude reminded her of her own shame and rather than deal with it, called me out on it. She wanted me to not push her to address her own shame. Last night, we determined and reaffirmed our commitment to reduce shame and to put our faith in Christ's infinite and eternal atonement to enable us to be made whole again. She encouraged me to be nude when practical and clothed when not. She now understands how I can separate my own nudity from sexuality. She hasn't got there for herself and may not ever get to this point on her own account. I'm comfortable with this. I will be a voice of encouragement for her. I do look forward to the day when the shame of our bodies is stripped from us and we see each other as God sees us. I look forward to the day when stigma is removed from our bodies, God's greatest creation. He sees me nude under my clothes and sees me clothed in the atoning blood of Christ while nude. He sees my faults and my strengths. He loves me despite all of them. Here's to a recommitment to reduce shame and to embrace His love. Be well.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nudism/comments/avqgap/cultural_shame/?utm_source=ifttt
I'm am an unabashed Christian. I'm also a nudist. Last night, my wife and I had a long conversation on our personal challenges in mortality. As we've grown older and become less concerned with what others outside of our marriage think of us. We've begun to embrace rather than cower in shame from the challenges we've been given. My wife has mental health challenges that she has become an open advocate for and a resource for other Christian women we interact with. She's no longer ashamed of this but speaks candidly about it. People applaud her for it. The stigma has fallen away from it to a degree and to be honest, she just doesn't care what others think about it. I don't have those challenges. I hate clothes. I do and I always have. I used to be ashamed of it because I had bought into the Christian culture of modesty and the shaming of my body is the only way to achieve salvation. However, the disconnect I felt when nude, the absolute bliss of feeling nothing against my skin without the last bit of guilt went against this cultural norm. I have felt the the presence of God numerous times while reading the scriptures and felt it just as strong naked as when I'm clothed. However, the cultural shame seeps back in. While I have felt this for a long time, she articulated the difference between guilt of sin and the shame that Satan uses. It was important to hear this from her because for the first two decades of our marriage, she weaponized cultural shame whenever I wanted to be naked. She did it more as a reflection of her own insecurities than from my nudity. However, me being nude reminded her of her own shame and rather than deal with it, called me out on it. She wanted me to not push her to address her own shame. Last night, we determined and reaffirmed our commitment to reduce shame and to put our faith in Christ's infinite and eternal atonement to enable us to be made whole again. She encouraged me to be nude when practical and clothed when not. She now understands how I can separate my own nudity from sexuality. She hasn't got there for herself and may not ever get to this point on her own account. I'm comfortable with this. I will be a voice of encouragement for her. I do look forward to the day when the shame of our bodies is stripped from us and we see each other as God sees us. I look forward to the day when stigma is removed from our bodies, God's greatest creation. He sees me nude under my clothes and sees me clothed in the atoning blood of Christ while nude. He sees my faults and my strengths. He loves me despite all of them. Here's to a recommitment to reduce shame and to embrace His love. Be well.
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